Questions for late April trip Atlantic Beach, Morehead, Beaufort

[Rob S]

Hey guys,

Going down to Atlantic beach last weekend of April 23rd-28th for a fishing trip. Had a few questions for you.. I'll list em in numeric format for ease of reading/answering. Thanks for your input.

1.) What fish would you expect/target most during this time. I'm thinking blues, drum, mullet, shark and skates. At least that's what it appears right now so I don't really expect it to warm up alot over the next two weeks. Would you expect any spanish macks?

2.) I plan on taking a few artificials, primarily gotcha plugs, bucktails and sting silvers. What action do you usually use when fishing these? A fairly aggressive retrieve or fish it like I would for largemouth?

3.) Soaking bait, whats your favorite for drum? I plan on using cut mullet/mud minnows/pinfish assuming we can find plenty. Fresh/frozen shrimp will also be used as we already have a bunch of frozen shrimp down there.

4.) My buddy has a 17' skiff that we may take out on the inlet or alittle ways out if the seas are calm, other than that we may fish the sound but surf fishing is more appealing. I saw a recipe using menhaden milk, macaroni and red food dye that would be pretty easy to make and cheap and make ALOT. Has anyone had any experience with MM making chum?

Thanks for your time