Early Summer Cape Fear: Reds, Trout, and That Incoming Tide Window

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Wilmington fishing report. We’ve got a classic early-summer pattern setting up along the Cape Fear. Around Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, expect a light southwest breeze this morning, building a bit by afternoon, with warm, muggy air and only a slight shot at a pop-up storm inland. Skies are partly cloudy, with enough sun to heat things up and push bait to the shade lines and deeper edges. Sunrise hit right around 6:00 a.m., with sunset near 8:30 p.m., giving you a long window to work that low light. Local tide tables for Masonboro Inlet and the Cape Fear River show low water early this morning, a strong incoming through late morning, then high mid‑day and falling water through the evening. That rising tide has been the money window for inshore trout and reds, especially when it starts pushing clean ocean water up into the creeks. Inshore, the red drum bite has been steady. Anglers in the creeks off the ICW between Wrightsville and Carolina Beach have been picking off slot reds along flooded grass edges and oyster bars. Live shrimp under a popping cork and mud minnows on Carolina rigs are producing, but Gulp shrimp on a 1/8‑oz jighead and gold spoons are pulling plenty of fish for the artificial crowd. A few upper‑slot reds and the odd over‑slot have been reported in the lower Cape Fear around the docks and rock walls. Speckled trout are still around, especially at first light. The bridges and deeper bends in the creeks are giving up decent numbers of schoolies with a few better fish mixed in. Work MirrOlure MR17s, small paddle tails in natural colors, or topwaters like Spooks and Skitterwalks right at daybreak over current seams and drop‑offs. Flounder action has picked up around Wrightsville Beach and Snow’s Cut. Most are shorts, but keepers are coming from the inlet rocks and ICW docks on live finger mullet, menhaden, and 3–4 inch soft plastics on heavier jigheads bounced right along the bottom. Nearshore, boats running just off the beach are finding Spanish mackerel and bluefish around the inlets and along the shoals. Small Clarkspoons behind planers or casting metal jigs to surface feeds have been the ticket. Early and late in the day are best when the boat traffic dies down and the fish push closer to the surface. A couple of hot spots to circle today: - Masonboro Inlet jetties and the ICW stretch from the inlet back toward Wrightsville for reds, trout, and flounder on that incoming tide. - The lower Cape Fear near Southport, working the rock walls and nearby flats for a mixed bag of reds and trout, especially around moving water and bait pods. Best baits right now: live shrimp, mud minnows, and finger mullet. Best artificials: Gulp shrimp and mullet in natural hues, gold spoons, and early‑morning topwaters. That’s the word from the water. 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