[CobraAviTek]

I'm not sure if this qualifies for saltwater or freshwater but I assume the fish I saw were saltwater so I'll post here.

I went out to Fishers Landing tonight in the Croatan, I got there around 7pm and there was a small school going absolutely nuts on baitfish. I don't know what they were, does anyone have an idea what they might have been? The water was swirling everywhere, maybe a small school of redfish? Maybe specks?

Anyway, I started off with a Slurp shrimp in natural color, got one swipe but it missed the hook. Then I moved to a Slurp jerk shad in electric chicken color. I got one bite there but it bit the tail off this time. They wouldn't touch the electric chicken mirrolure that I had and they also bit the tail off of a bass assassin white body and pink tail grub. It took a lot of casts to get the few bites that I had. They weren't really very aggressive to anything I threw. It looked like they were chasing small menhaden maybe? Any advice on what to try for these fish? What lure and what techniques? Does anyone know what they probably were? They were very shallow, 1 to 3 feet, I was fishing off the bank.

 

[Jeffonc]

Not sure where Fishers Landing is, but would a school of small blues make sense?

 

[Scott Hobbs]

Thats what I was thinking blues......small blues always tend to hit the back half of the grubs and cut them off clean as a whistle just behind the hook.

Where is Fishers Landing...?????????

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[Topsail Angler]

Doesn't sound like specks or reds, like the others my first guess would be bluefish. Next time try throwing a metal lure like a gotcha or small sting silver - if its a bluefish those will usually hook 'em up.

 

[ParrotHead]

I agree with TA (& others) sounds like blues. Like TA said metals are good option if you suspect blues. I they're small ones a small clarkspoon will do the trick too.

 

[CobraAviTek]

Blues would make sense but the problem is that Fisher's Landing is maybe 3 miles east of New Bern on the Neuse. I've never heard of blues being that far up the river. If you go to google maps and type in fisher's landing, nc, it should bring the location up on a map so you can see it. It's a public camping ground in the Croatan. Click on the image below to see the location on the satellite.

 

[ParrotHead]

On the White Oak River, I've caught blues while catfishing near Haywood's Landing and that's also several miles up from the accepted Salt/Fresh line. When you're talking about tidal rivers and creeks, I think it all depends on the tide at the time. AND if the minows were pogies (menhaden) you could certainly have blues there as well.

 

[ccobb]

I have caught blues at the bridges in New Bern. With very little rainfall the saltwater wedge comes way up the river. We sometimes get into small blues around the mouth of goose creek around live oak bay

 

[Scott Hobbs]

10-4 if its in that area you have marked as Fishers Landing then there is a 99.9 percent chance that it was blues...

In that area there are thousands of small peanut menhaden (pogies) and large schools of them. A few weeks back trigger22 and myself saw a school of small blues tearing up the menhaden. They were pure jumping out the water and had sea gulls having a feast along with them. They had about an acre of them and doing some pretty work on em.

That was happening right in front of Slocum Creek which is about a mile down river from where you are talking about.

We catch red drum, speckled trout, flounder and blues all the way to the bridges in New Bern and at Union Point and beyond. The creeks straight across from there are Broad Creek, Goose and Beards creeks and you should have seen multiple posts on these areas.

Arm yourself with some spoons and let em fly for them. With the expensive grubs you will only get half of it back. They have an uncanny ability to cut them off right behind the hook and seldom get hooked.

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[CobraAviTek]

Cool, I'm going to have to give one of my Gotcha! plugs a try or the clark spoon that I have. I'd really like to get into some drum or specks though. But without taking my boat out, I'll just have to wait till luck brings them to that spot for me I guess.

 

[sundrop]

I've caught little blues on the waterfront here in Washington and in Belhaven. If there is ANY salt to the water you can find blues and small flounder....

 

[CobraAviTek]

Maybe I should start fishing more saltwater stuff around this area. I've always thought that they were bass waters because of the gar and catfish that I've seen in the area. I've caught a few bass but have had trouble locating them outside of brices creek. The best part is, Fisher's Landing is a 3 minute drive from my house, I could make that a nightly trip after work and try to catch some small flounder, reds, or specks, and now I could even try for blues! This site is awsome for this type of information.

 

[Scott Hobbs]

Brices creek is a great area to catch bass and brim......but the main river of the Neuse by Fishers landing is best for saltwater species. The back of the creeks feeding the river are also good for freshwater but the mouth of the creeks and a ways back is best for red drum, flounder and specks.

We have had very little rain and the intrusion of salt into the water is greater. So the salt pushes farther up river and farther up the creeks pushing freshwater fish back up.

Catch some fresh bait that you see in the area and put it on a carolina rig and wait for the drum. Might also want to put some under a popping or rattling cork.

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[CobraAviTek]

Will do, I had the popping corks rigged and ready to go, but they had soft plastics on them. I'll change them out tomorrow after a couple throws with the cast net. I was going to go out there tonight but the fiance made me go look at wedding bands and update our registry....women! She's working tomorrow night though, so that means she won't be here to stop me, I'll just have to do what was suggested to me in another post, ask for forgiveness instead of permission.