Early Summer Bite: Red Drum, Trout, and Flounder Off Wilmington's Cape Fear

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Wilmington fishing report. Out on the lower Cape Fear and the creeks off the ICW this morning, we’ve got a classic early‑summer setup. Light southwest breeze building to 10–15 by afternoon, muggy, and a mix of sun and clouds. Air temps running from the low 70s at first light into the mid to upper 80s by late day. Marine forecast has 1–2 foot seas nearshore, a little chopped up with the afternoon sea breeze. Sunrise is right around 6 a.m., with sunset close to 8:25 p.m., so you’ve got a long window, but the **best bite** has been early and then again toward dusk when that heat backs off and the bait pushes shallow. Tide-wise, around the riverfront and Carolina Beach Inlet you’re looking at a mid‑morning high and an afternoon falling tide. That outgoing water has been the moneymaker: cleaner edges on the bars and good current around dock pilings and creek mouths. Inshore, redfish and flounder have been sitting right on those drops where the water spills out of the grass. Recent catches up and down the Wilmington area have been solid: - **Red drum**: plenty of slot fish with a few upper‑slot mixed in, mostly around marsh points, oyster bars, and ICW docks. - **Speckled trout**: numbers aren’t crazy, but some nice keepers showing early in the morning on topwater and soft plastics. - **Flounder**: a decent pick for folks working live bait along channel edges and around the bridges. - Nearshore reefs a few miles off Wrightsville and Carolina Beach are holding **Spanish mackerel**, **blues**, and the odd **king** for folks trolling spoons and small plugs. If you’re throwing artificials, early and late go with **topwater**: Spook‑style walkers or poppers in bone, silver, or mullet patterns over grass flats and around creek mouths. Once the sun’s up, switch to **paddle‑tail soft plastics** on 1/8–1/4 oz jig heads in natural colors—mullet, silver/gray, or new penny—bounced along the bottom for reds and flounder. For trout, a 3‑ to 4‑inch soft plastic on a light jig, worked mid‑column on current breaks, has been consistent. For bait, you can’t beat **live shrimp**, **mud minnows**, or small **finger mullet** under a popping cork around shell and grass for reds and trout. On the bottom, Carolina‑rigged mullet or menhaden along channel edges will find flounder and the occasional drum. Nearshore, small **Clarkspoons** or similar metals behind planers or trolling weights are producing Spanish and blues when the sun gets up and they start slashing on glass minnows. A couple of local hot spots to circle: - The creeks and marsh behind **Masonboro Island**, working the edges on the last of the incoming and the first of the fall for reds and flounder. - The stretch of ICW and adjacent creeks around **Carolina Beach Inlet**, especially on that dropping tide as water runs out of the grass. If you’re willing to run a little, the nearshore reefs off Wrightsville and Carolina Beach—like the closer ARs—have been steady for Spanish and the occasional king when the bait is thick on the surface. That’s your Wilmington area fishing rundown from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn