[LittleCasino]

Greetings all! My name is Mark Williams aka Willie, I'm a certified IGFA Captain and the President of the Indiana Striped Bass Association. I live and guide in Indiana, primarily for striped & hybrid bass (obviously) with some muskie and catfishing thrown in the mix too.

OK, enough of the introduction, 'lets get to the good stuff!

I'm actually heading for North Carolina for the first time in my entire life, and I'm STOKED! I will be staying on Topsail Island the last week of September, I'm really looking forward to it, especially the fishing prospects that await me.

Now, this will be a brand new experience for me and I may have some questions as far a terminal & rigging, and any tips one could cast my way will be appreciated. I will doing a LOT of shore fishing. A couple fish I would love to hook into would be blues & pompano. I'am also in the process of hiring a guide to hopefully do some shark fishing as well, and I do believe I may have already found my Captain for that excursion 'thanks to Topsail Angler' who has already been very helpful with getting me prepared for my visit....Appreciate it!

Thanks All & Best Fishes!

Mark

 

[Topsail Angler]

Hey Mark - glad to have you on board!

We have a great article on Pompano in our articles section. It has all the info you'll need on rigging and bait for Pompano.

 

[lefty]

Thanks All & Best Fishes!

<chuckle> Best Fishes -- I like that!

Welcome aboard, and welcome to NC!

 

[sundrop]

Welcome! Try our serch feature using various keywords like Blues , Pompano, Bottom, Surf.. You'll get to catch up quick on alot of good info we've posted over the last few seasons!!! Best of luck! Keep in mind those Largemouth tactics can come in handy for Puppy drum!!

 

[NCangler]

Welcome aboard Mark.

 

[sinker man]

Welcome aboard. You should be good on the timing. Pompano should be hitting well as should the small blues. Chances of catching a big blue that time of year aren't that great but not impossible.You have a good shot at sea mullet and puppy drum (red fish) if you are pompano fishing. I'd be suprised if you don't catch all 3. If you have any 1/2-2 oz chrome spoons bring them with you. A 12"-18" 30lb mono leader and you will be set for blues and spanish from the surf. A small assortment of egg sinkers will also come in handy. A 5'-6' cast net would be very handy. Any bucktails you think will cast well with your tackle. White works best. You probably have plenty of white ones. Any minnow type plastics such as zoom flukes, fin-s-minnows, bass assasins & such. Jig heads from 1/4 to 1/2 oz for plastics. Any largemouth size long minnow type plugs that you don't mind losing to a blue or spanish. A couple of smaller striper swiper/striper stike type plugs if you want to try the blues on topwater. (1-3lbs. more than likely.)
You probably have most of that kind of thing. If the surf is full of bait like I think it will be a 7' rod is as long as you really need. If you happen to have a surf rod or two they give you a good shot at bigger red drum and small sharks to about 6'. There is a good possibility of false albacore being present in the surf also. You normally need to get out pretty far for them and the spanish. Both will come in to the breakers at times when the bait is thick and the water isn't too muddy.
If you have room for them, a couple of 5 gallon buckets come in very handy for toting stuff.. If they have lids you can sit on them. Normal stuff like sunglasses, hat, pliers. You don't want to get overloaded with the tackle but a decent assortment is a good thing. Spoons and a few bucktails will get you by nicely if you want to pare it down. The rest is just change of pace stuff. Anything you need can be bought fairly reasonable on the island.

 

[sgtfish]

There are also three piers on Topsail. Seaview at the north end, Surf City in the middle and Jolly Roger at the south end. All are very good piers, with everything you will need to catch what is biting. For a little insiders advice try East Coast Sports (Surf City) they have a very large selection as far as tackle goes. Be aware that NC does require a saltwater fishing license when fishing from the shore. The piers have a blanket license that covers you (all part of the fee, $10 to $15 per pier). As far as fish go, blues are one of my favorites. They will eat shrimp and cut bait off the bottom along with gotcha plugs and spoons. Pompano love sand fleas and have been known to hit diamond jigs bounced off or near the bottom. Depending on the water temp spanish mackeral, flounder, and drum (red and black) may also be biting. I will be down there this weekend but hopefully the weather will cool off before you come down. Good luck.

 

[LittleCasino]

Outstanding gentleman!

That is exactly the information I was looking for!
The great thing is I have already (in the shop) the terminal tackle mentioned along with an array of surf plugs, jigs & spoons that have never even seen the water.
Right now, I'm going to do a little key word searching on the site and exercise my brain a little. This is good stuff!

Most appreciated!

BTW, GREAT site Randy!

 

[sinker man]

Links to the pier websites are Surf City Ocean Pier and Sea View Fishing Pier Website. Jolly Roger Pier on the south end doesn't have a website.

 

[LiveBait]

Hope you have a grand time in the Olde North State Mr. Williams! I might just be out there targeting the Pompano as well.

 

[LittleCasino]

I was actually able to get my bearings together this evening. It looks like Surf City is about 7miles south of me and Sea View is about 3mi North.

So, I gotta ask

is this a prime fishing area?

Will I be close to a fish holding hangout for the last week of September???

 

[LiveBait]

You can easily drive from one end of the island to the other. From the New River Inlet down south to Topsail Beach and the inlet there. If you go up to New River Inlet target Red/Black Drum and Flounder There is 4x4 access on the north end and you can fish along the channel. Go south to target Pompano and Blues as well as Drum in the surf.

 

[Topsail Angler]

I was actually able to get my bearings together this evening. It looks like Surf City is about 7miles south of me and Sea View is about 3mi North.

So, I gotta ask

is this a prime fishing area?

Will I be close to a fish holding hangout for the last week of September???

You'll be fine. As Livebait said, you can easily travel the length of the island (on roads, not the beach unless you have permits from the towns- three of them). There are some piling sticking out of the water from an old pier about 1 miles north of SC Pier - that is an excellent area for surf fishing.

 

[LittleCasino]

Fantastic! Thanks again everyone. I really appreciate the direction, its going to be fun!