Yep

This was pretty close in, maybe 12 miles or so. But they big ones come in that close in late October through the winter then they go back out deep again. Hopefully they don’t cut season short again, but not holding my breath. Thanks for watching!

@@TopsailFishing Oh wow, I'm surprised. So it's less of a miles out thing and more of a water depth thing?

More just finding their food source and knowing what depth they will be at because of water temps. They come in 60-80 feet during those cold months but push out to 120+ in warmer months. Find the grass grunts, bee liners etc. and it will hold gags. Get the bottom going with scents and action then send down what they want to eat and get ready.

@@TopsailFishing Awesome, thanks for the help!

Definitely popular spot for a reason, the snook are stacked in there and the beach is filled with pompano and mangos.

Thanks for watching! You can throw a wide range of rods at Spanish Mackerel. Light tackle is by far the most fun for me, but I would say at long as it can throw up to an ounce lure, you should be good. Distance is usually the limiting factor when they are just out of reach from a pier, but once they are in on the bait under the pier, really any rod capable of landing a potential 5 lb fish should do. The pier net is mine, but this time of year, someone probably has one out there. 90% of them you can just hoist over the rail, though, with a treble hook in them.

Thanks! We were in about 75 - 80 feet of water that time. They come in pretty shallow during the cooler months, but with season ending early, those really nice fishing days in Nov/Dec probably won’t be for a while. Will target them deeper in the summer months.

Would love to be out there chasing groupers, but will be at a bday party. Should be a nice day!

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks for watching! I head out of New River inlet. It’s a little dicey at times, especially since they dredged it and changed the channel. I’m not overly concerned with wind direction as much as someone who’s heading to the stream, or trolling more than me. Bottom fishing 95% of the time for me, and I haven’t found it plays that big a difference. Wind against tide can definitely make it sporty chop, so it’s more a comfort thing for me. There are lots of public numbers out there to fish, but you’ll find them overfished a lot, so I look at relief maps and find my own bottom spots. 2-3 foot ledges can hold a lot of fish. Seasonality and water temps plays more a part in what I fish and where. Right now, we’re looking for Atlantic bonito, and soon the Mahi will start showing up as it warms up off shore. Near shore spanish mackerel can keep you busy all day. Once grouper season opens, we’ll bottom fish for them some, but most important advice I can give is time on the water trumps everything. You’ll learn your own spots, tricks, and keep a fish journal for what you caught, where, what bait, water temp, etc. - you’ll find patterns year over year. That’s basically how guides do it, they know where the fish should be and 90% of the time they are right.

Thanks for watching! SCP = Surf City Pier? If so, I haven’t fished it, only the Sea View, but I’m definitely around Surf City a lot, especially Shaka Taco and The Peak. Probably see me grocery shopping too, ha! Anytime you see me, feel free to say hi!

Was that in the AR? We popped over there after the bonito bite shut off at divers. Lots of Albies out wearing us out though. Next time say hi, definitely won’t be bothering us! Thanks for watching, tight lines!

@@TopsailFishing Yes it was, we were a little late for the bonitos and so Mr Coffman (who was with me) wanted to go try some bottom fishing around some structures. Got a few black bass. Didn’t get anything at all on Monday. I’m new to fishing this part of the NC coast. I have always fished in the Ocean Isle Beach area. So your videos have definitely helped out!

Nice - that AR always seems to have a surprise in it. I’ve pulled Triggerfish off it, big king mackerel, huge flounder, etc. but it is fished a lot since it’s a popular spot. It’s a little warm for the near shore BSB, you’ll find them out deeper now. Christmas Rock is a pretty good spot that’s easy enough to get to for most boats and the quality of fish jumps up pretty high. I’ve pulled Mahi and Cobia there, Kings, AJs, snapper, triggers, etc. off that rock. When it gets later in the day during this time of year, we try jigging for the bonito. For some reason, they are far more sensitive to the sunlight that the Albies, who don’t seen to care either way, so try deeper for them past 10AM. Still 90% of the time, it’s going to be an Albie- someone needs to come up with a way to make them taste good, I swear they are the bane of my existence when trolling, nothing ruins a spread faster than a pack of albies!

@@TopsailFishing I appreciate that advice and I will definitely use it! We almost went to Christmas Rock and decided on the AR instead. I will be back the last two weekends of the month and definitely want to make it out there!

Yes it was!

Hey there. At least where I’m at, there is no vessel limit on bluefish or Spanish mackerel. A vessel limit is the amount of certain species you can catch regardless of how many fishing licenses you have on the boat. An example is Mahi Mahi. They have a vessel limit of 54, and a per license of 10. So even if you had 10 people on a boat, you can only keep 54, but that’s not the case of blue fish and Spanish. Fish Rules is a great app that keeps you up to date on all things regulations which can change year to year. There are also aggregates that you need to understand such as 3 grouper aggregates, reef fish aggregates, etc. but the app makes it really easy to understand.

We varied from anywhere to 55 feet out to about 110 feet. About this time of year, I want to be in at least 58 degree water but we were fishing 62 degrees at one point in this video, too. Hopefully the bigger bonito move in here soon, some smaller ones being picked off in the 12 mile range now.

Thanks for watching, and glad you enjoy the videos! The reel is an Accurate Valiant 300 SPJ, and the rod is the Temple Reef Elevate 2.0 (100-300g jigs). It’s been a solid setup. The rod does very well for its price point, and I have nothing but amazing things to say about the Accurate but they are priced towards the top. In some videos soon, you’ll see me switch it up to a Jig Star Slow Jerk rod, and a daiwa bait caster for another type of slow jigging that’s deadly and since it is super light, you can do it all day.

Thanks for the info, I'm vacationing in North Topsail July 13th-20th, any chance you would take me on your boat? I'd pay for everything. I'm looking to buy a 23-24' sportfisher and would love the experience and knowledge from you guys, if not i understand, thanks Dominick

@@antisocialracing100 unfortunately without a captains license I cannot take people out for hire. Hit me up when you get the boat, I’ll give you some good public numbers that produce fish - hope you enjoy Topsail this summer!

We only get a two day season, where you keep 1 red snapper per person. Unsure when/if it will open beyond that sometime going forward.

Yeah down at Serenity Point

Great questions! I’ve been thinking about putting together a safety video for smaller boats on how to go offshore, but I use a mixture of weather forecasting: windy.app, reef cast, and buoy weather. Within those, I check ensembles to see how the various weather forecast hold up against one another - basically are they tight and all predicting the same thing or all over the place? I’m looking at wind speeds and direction, wave height, and wave periods and if any rain or storms within 24 hours. Also, I want the primary and secondary swells to align or mostly align. When they conflict it gets choppy no matter what. For safety, I have a backup handheld radio, an EPIRB, and a Garmin In-Reach that allows me to text from satellites. When we’re not anchored and especially while trolling, you’ll see me wearing an inflatable pfd and inside it is the EPIRB. God forbid, I ever fell overboard while trolling I’d want both my pfd and beacon. For boat safety, there are two bilges, checked each time before going out, and a manual pump bilge and obviously enough PFDs for everyone. I leave a float plan before leaving and check in via satellite if I’m going to be late. It’s a lot, but every month it seems you see small boat fisherman go offshore and never seen again. There’s no such thing as deferred maintenance and as captain, I save the drinking for when I’m back on land filleting the fish.

I’m actually out in your neck of the woods now fly fishing the GSMNP. I’m not a licensed captain, so I can’t accept money from anyone, but the sound is actually a really great fishery. Even taking your pontoon down to Lea Island and parking it on the sound side beach gets you some really big Spanish mackerel during the summer, usually bluefish, too. Definitely can give your pointers on where to fish next time!

@@TopsailFishing Nice 👊! Just got back from there! I hope you land some gator rainbows, they make great ceviche. Floating artificial spiders and tiny spoons are my go to, give them a try if the fly bite gets slow. I've had better luck for trout out towards Cherokee in the Tukasegee and Ocanaluftee rivers than in GSM, but Gatlinburg and Pigeon forge are just really nice to get away to in the winter. Been to Bear island but never Lea, will for sure check it out. Hope y'all have an excellent holiday. Tight lines 🤟

We anchored around 13-14 miles out.

Glad to hear it! We enjoy making them, we don’t see too many videos from New River, so we like to make sure our fishery gets represented, too!

@@TopsailFishing NC has some of the best fisheries, both salt and fresh water, in the country, and you represent it well!

I use 6 feet of fluro leader. 80 lb, in vanishing red. Whether the red works better or not is up for debate, but I do like the anti-abrasion the fluro offers. I also tuck the second stinger hook into the fish, I’ve been surprised how often that’s the one that gets them. I’ll be doing some more crab decoy videos this fall as the water cools and the big gags move into the shallows. Tight lines!

Thanks! It’s a Scout Abaco 242. Definitely punches above its LOA with a 126 gallon tank and rides pretty well in chop.

Thanks for watching! I’ll be doing a lot more SPJ this winter, the water is so hot right now, that it can be difficult to get fish to eat unless just right time. In the winter the jig will never touch the bottom of the ocean though.

@@TopsailFishing exactly my thoughts most of my videos are currently from the kayak but will be getting offshore more on the boat as the water cools and the grouper move in.

Thanks for watching! She has an inflatable PFD on, you can see the red pull tab from her camera as she’s on the bow. Whenever the water is that cold, our inflatables are on when we are maneuvering the boat. They also have personal locator beacons attached to them, as well, but having grown up in the mid west and scuba diving there in 50 degree waters, we’re very familiar with cold shock. We have a survival kit on board, too, that has the emergency blankets. We take safety seriously, as all of our gear has backups or redundancy built into it, and people at the dock knowing what time we should return.

Thanks for watching, Clinton! It’s a Scout Abaco 242. She’s a capable 24 footer, definitely has some range to her with 126 gallon fuel tank. We definitely had slow days, too, but I’d recommend picking up some fishing maps for Onslow Bay and trying some public numbers and that will get you going on what to look for. Fish love structure of some sort, so you’ll learn to use your fish finder to see those ledges or rocks. Tight lines!

@@TopsailFishing Thanks I have a 20 foot cc with 115 suzuki. Usually dont go out if over 2 ft waves because too rough and limits me to 20 mph max . Also have not gone out over 20 miles. Say all that just to ask a simple question, would i do better to go out 30+ miles to 100+ ft water? how well do u do inside 20 miles. I catch very few legal keepers and 80 percent sharks (with live bait). i have over 500 gps spots i've collected plus all the ARs. Im yotube smart but application dumb.

@@clintonhesson1918 you can definitely do well under 20 miles. I’d say 90% of my fishing is 20 miles or less. Jan-Mar you can get keeper sized sea bass at 10 miles, Mar-Apr you can chase Atlantic Bonito just few miles off the beach, May you can start targeting Spanish, June mahi are within 20 miles sometimes even 10. Summer you can get Cobia in close, kings are in the ARs, even chance at Tarpon on the beach, as fall comes big gag grouper get as shallow as 60-70 feet. They will be there until season closes, and then start getting nice sea bass again but just need to pick your days.

@@TopsailFishing thanks very much😄

Nice! I was really hoping for a keeper gag on slow pitch. I’ve gotten close, under 20 inches, but want to get a keeper on the SPJ. I wasn’t feeling the trolling that day but want to get some more in before water starts to cool off again.

Eyeing Sunday, hoping wind stays down some models have it little gusty but maybe do some near shore trolling if it’s not too bad.

@@TopsailFishing yeah same man if it flattens down a tiny bit might push around 20-30 try and get a lucky hoo and scattered mahi. What channel you run on? I head out of topsails too will be in a 285 freeman

@@livebaitfishing4030 I’ll usually run a full scan, but if people are too chatty, I’ll dual watch 69/16 sometimes 19 in place of 69

Thanks! Hope you’re doing well - when we got home from Florida, ya’ll were gone!

Definitely! I use a variety of rigs depending on target, so I can walk through what I am targeting and the rig selection/why on an upcoming video. A lot of times I’m making the rigs ahead of time due to the crazy number of sharks we have in NC, you’ll lose a lot of them bottom fishing. Thanks for watching!

@@TopsailFishing I also think it would be awesome if you could show how to anchor over a shipwreck/reek the correct way with out getting a anchor stuck

@@user-ie4tr5dg7d Will do - anchor ball is your best bet for getting it up without issue and having a good light weight anchor like Fortress/Guardian but can walk through it next time I pull up off some structure.

I do sometimes, just depends on the target species and time of year. You have two options for Topsail for getting into the ocean - New River (north inlet) or the New Topsail Inlet (south) and Surf City is in between them. There are some good spots nearshore Surf City though, but you’d access them from either the north or south still. I’d expect some people to start looking for Tarpon on the beach around there very soon. Always Spanish on the beach in the summer, I have a Spanish video from last year running and gunning off the beach near Surf City. But for the most part, on the beach is limited to kingfish, Spanish, Cobia and tarpon and it’s very dependent on time of year and the last two are much easier with a tuna tower in the boat to sight fish which I don’t have.

We were about 10-15 miles out, going around the 6 fathom line. Water was super clear and blue near shore recently.

@@TopsailFishing man I’ve been itching to get out there. Winds have really laid out recently. Of course they looking iffy for snapper season🤣

@@livebaitfishing4030 Yeah, I am keeping an eye on Saturday morning. Debating if I even bring the camera if I go, since winds will be slappy, and might just snag my snapper and get out - we'll see. Wish they did tags instead.

Hopefully can keep that Snapper here this weekend if weather lays down. Thanks for watching!

They will hold for a bit in the strike zone, but ultimately float up. It’s a very slow float though, those twitch and pauses are often what gets the hookup on the pause because it will hold there wobbling a bit.

​@TopsailFishing thanks.. didn't see the lip on it at first.

The bigger AJs usually have a lot of worms in their meat. They taste good, but often (for me at least) there are better targets out there. Almaco Jacks are their smaller cousin and usually don’t have it as bad as them, but an AJ that size almost always have a lot of worms in them.

Pretty close, found him anchored about 14 miles out in 79 degrees.

It’s a Scout Abaco 242.

Thanks for watching, and we’re glad you enjoyed it! We love Topsail. I actually used to do a lot of backwater fishing out of my father-in-laws 25 foot deck boat, so pretty similar setup. Docks are perfect structure to fish off of, we use Carolina rigged live mullet, and red fish smoke them. You can also drop anchor and throw it up toward any creek mouth that empties into the ICW and get good reds that way. I’ll be doing some kayak in the Topsail ICW this summer and recording how to look for reds that way, definitely some flounder season videos, and more. We took a short break to travel so more videos on the way - thanks!

Thanks! We loved it!

Hi William - I believe this one was Silver Black color.