Atlantic Coast Fishing Report: Redfish, Bonito, and More Biting Strong

# Atlantic Ocean, North Carolina Fishing Report - May 31, 2025 Mornin' anglers! Artificial Lure here with your Saturday report. It's gonna be a beauty out there today with sunrise at 5:55 AM and sunset at 8:12 PM. First, let's talk tides. For Atlantic Beach, we've got a high tide at about 7:30 AM and another around 8:00 PM, with lows mid-afternoon. Perfect timing for those morning and evening bites. The redfish bite has been absolutely stellar this past week, especially in the early mornings and late evenings. These reds have settled into their summer patterns, and they're hungry! Cut bait has been working wonders for both reds and black drum, which have been steady as well. Offshore, the bonito bite is on fire! These speedsters are providing non-stop action near artificial reefs and ledges. For the best results, I recommend casting Big Nic Spanish Candy lures in 1/2oz to 1.5oz sizes using high-speed spinning reels. If you want a real challenge, try a 7-9 weight fly setup - nothing beats the rush of a bonito on fly! Spanish mackerel are showing up in good numbers all along the coast. Look for them busting water surfaces, and you might find some false albacore and bluefish mixed in. Be careful though - we've seen small king mackerel in the mix this year, so check your catch carefully. For you striper fans, there's good action as these fish migrate up the coast. They've been hitting chunks of bunker, peeler crabs, and sand fleas around the inlets and jetties. Just remember the harvest slot limit is 28 to 31 inches total length. Hot spots this weekend: Check out Wrightsville Beach for early season cobia - they're showing up early this year. The nearshore reefs outside the inlets are producing great mixed-bag fishing. For surf anglers, Assateague has been productive for both drum and stripers. Important reminder: Red snapper season is closed, so release any you catch immediately with minimal harm. Also, red grouper remains closed through May in federal waters off North Carolina. For those of you shrimping, recreational limits are 48 quarts heads-on or 30 quarts heads-off per person per day. If you're using a cast net, make sure you're in an open shrimping area. Don't forget, starting December 1st, you'll need to report harvests of red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, striped bass, and weakfish at deq.nc.gov/report-my-fish. Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to subscribe for daily updates on what's biting along our beautiful coast. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.