"Fall Fishing Frenzy on the Crystal Coast"

Artificial Lure on the mic with your Atlantic North Carolina fishing report for Friday, September 26, 2025. Sunrise was right at 7:03 this morning, while sunset will close the day at 7:03 PM. You’ll want to make the most of that daylight—today’s shaping up as a banner day for fall fishing, with moderate winds and ideal water movement up and down our coast. Let’s talk marine conditions first. According to NOAA and the National Weather Service, we’re looking at **light northwest winds shifting east in the afternoon, mostly around 5 knots**, so no rough rides today. Water is calm, with seas sitting around **2 feet**—easy going for inshore and nearshore boats. Expect the chop to pick up a touch around inlets this evening, but nothing to scare you off the water. Big news for those hunting tides: As of now, we saw a low tide just before dawn around 4:12 AM and we’re heading for a **peak high tide at 10:51 AM** here at Atlantic Beach, with another low at 4:59 PM and a secondary high toward 11:00 tonight. The solunar tables put major fish activity around tide change, especially mid-morning and again after dusk—so time your outing to catch the moving water for best results. Tides are similar all down the Crystal Coast and off Oak Island, so folks scattered from Topsail to Hatteras can follow a similar playbook. **Now for the bite:** Fall patterns are in full swing. The king mackerel run is heating up with several reports of **10 to 25-pound fish taken right off the piers and just outside the surf line**. Spanish mackerel are hitting well near Cape Lookout, and bluefish blitzes have been popping every morning. Around the inlets, flounder are showing up on falling tides with some keepers pushing 20 inches. Red drum are staging at the creek mouths, with the best numbers coming on the outgoing tide. For you offshore folks, it’s been a solid week on the mahi and a few early wahoo are sneaking onto the ledges, especially mid-morning as those clean blue water fingers edge closer. Charter captains out of Morehead and Carolina Beach report “grocery bag” catches of sea bass, triggerfish, and the occasional late summer cobia. **Best baits and lures:** For surf and inshore, look to finger mullet and live shrimp if you can get it, otherwise, Gulp! swimming mullet on a jig head is a go-to for flounder and reds. MirrOlure MR17s and Z-Man soft plastics are accounting for most of the trout around inlets and nearby grass flats. Pier anglers are cleaning up with Gotcha plugs and diamond jigs for Spanish and bluefish. For topwater bass in the sounds, early morning is producing on Spooks and Rapala Skitter Walks—bass lures guru OnX Maps lists chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits as winners for fall largemouth, and that’s holding true in our creeks and rivers. **Hot spots today:** - **Beaufort Inlet:** Flounder and slot drum thick on the flats and turning basin edges. - **Bogue Pier:** Kings, Spanish, and blues—especially between the high and falling tides. - **S This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.