[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

 

[Topsail Angler]

1. If we get mostly south winds (SE, S or SW) over the next few weeks (which we usually do this time of year) you can expect that water to be anywhere from 5 - 10 degrees warmer. So you might be able to add Spanish to the list.

2. Vary the retrieve to find what works on a particular day. I usually start with a Quick Jerk/Snap, pause, jerk, pause on the top. If that don't work, I'll try letting the lure sink a bit then try the same thing but with a bigger pause every second or third jerk to allow the lure time to settle back into deeper water.

3. Large mullet chunks on a Capt. Owen Majig drum rig.

4. I use menhaden milk all the time. It works well - it is water soluble which means it doesn't all rise and float on the surface like the menhaden oil. You can make that stuff up in advance and freeze it. Then stick it in the water frozen (use a mesh bag with a pound or so of lead in the bottom), it will dissolve over a period of time and release as it goes.

I'm sure others will ahve plenty of ideas too but I hope that helps some.

 

[Rob S]

1. If we get mostly south winds (SE, S or SW) over the next few weeks (which we usually do this time of year) you can expect that water to be anywhere from 5 - 10 degrees warmer. So you might be able to add Spanish to the list.

2. Vary the retrieve to find what works on a particular day. I usually start with a Quick Jerk/Snap, pause, jerk, pause on the top. If that don't work, I'll try letting the lure sink a bit then try the same thing but with a bigger pause every second or third jerk to allow the lure time to settle back into deeper water.

3. Large mullet chunks on a Capt. Owen Majig drum rig.

4. I use menhaden milk all the time. It works well - it is water soluble which means it doesn't all rise and float on the surface like the menhaden oil. You can make that stuff up in advance and freeze it. Then stick it in the water frozen (use a mesh bag with a pound or so of lead in the bottom), it will dissolve over a period of time and release as it goes.

I'm sure others will ahve plenty of ideas too but I hope that helps some.

Thanks TA, your input is always warranted and appreciated. If anyone around the area wants to fish let me know, I'll put up a post on the Fishing Connection as well.

 

[Fishingbear]

Thanks you for the good info. I will be going to Salterpath so I can use the same fishing tips for the surf. If they work that's great, if not, we shot the first salesman. No second chances. If that were true I would have been the first to go.I Will report back on the result and hoping the weather holds .With cold front coming thru the later part of the week it might change things.

 

[Topsail Angler]

If they work that's great, if not, we shot the first salesman. No second chances.

Hummmm... Sounds sorta like shooting the messenger because of the message..LOL Seriously - I hope you catch 'em up!

 

[Hampster]

Thanks TA for the great tips and thanks RobS for the question. I have a question that may or may not be dumb. The chum bag, are you planning on using it with your boat or off a pier or do people use chum bags surf fishing(thats the dumb one I think)? If so how?

 

[Fishingbear]

Just got back from Salterpath and the weather was Mixed. SW winds calm friday to Sw 10 -15 Sat pm Thunderstorms Early Sunday AM. Saturday the best day with Va. mullet 30Feet off right behind the breakers in the wash between the sandbars. Just had to look for the wave patterns and wash out . I used small ss hooks on a double botttom rig with a 2 or 3oz sinker, just to keep it in down. My friends were using 2 day old shrimp they came up with sharks and skates. Fresh shrimp did the trick on mullets.
We heard that this afternoon blues were in the surf after the storm on cut bait.

 

[Topsail Angler]

Thanks for the report - glad you caught some fish!

 

[Rob S]

Chum off the pier.. they have smaller piers where we are staying and MM is pretty cheap. Fishing bear thanks for the report! We are leaving out Wed so will hopefully have something decent to report of.

 

[Rob S]

We had a great trip, kinda busy right at the moment, but will get some pictures uploaded as soon as I can. Caught quite a few big blues from the surf, I caught a 28" red, my buddy landed a 30lb MANTA ray, yes manta and I hooked up with one but it snapped the swivel. Fun times.

 

[Topsail Angler]

We had a great trip, kinda busy right at the moment, but will get some pictures uploaded as soon as I can. Caught quite a few big blues from the surf, I caught a 28" red, my buddy landed a 30lb MANTA ray, yes manta and I hooked up with one but it snapped the swivel. Fun times.

Excellent! We look forward to the photos when you get a chance.

 

[Mattfish]

Sounds strange to hook a manta ray. They are filter-feeders. Are you sure it wasn't a cownose ray? They have a similar body profile.

 

[speckhunter80]

Rob,
It would be highly unlikely that a Manta Ray which is a tropical ray seldom ever found north of Florida was what your friend caught, especially considering the water temps right now. Mantas are large and black with white bellies and flap like appendages in front of their mouth.

 

[Rob S]

Sorry for the delay, hopefully some more pics to come especially of the ray. I'm going to my buddies house Fri so maybe transfer them then. Here are just a few, some good quality, some not so good. The first and second is the largest blue landed at the beach during our trip, 35" and 11.9lbs. Our friends we were fishing with that we met down there and fortunately gracious enough to let us fish with them at their spot was Dotty and Van. Good people. I also took some more misc pictures of the beach and sound, then my buddy holding a 33" right at 10lb blue. Again hopefully more to come, as quite a few are on his camera.

 

[Rob S]

Rob,
It would be highly unlikely that a Manta Ray which is a tropical ray seldom ever found north of Florida was what your friend caught, especially considering the water temps right now. Mantas are large and black with white bellies and flap like appendages in front of their mouth.

Yeah I don't know why I thought it was a Manta, it isn't spotted or black, it was solid brown. It isn't a cownose ray, and this species didn't seem to have a tail/whip much at all. I really am going to get his camera and upload it when I can. Either way it was amazing, it wasn't that long, very thick and VERY fast. It took out about 50yds of line before we got it off the rod holder and we were very close. Powerpro to the rescue I guess.