Wilmington Early Summer: Reds, Trout & Flounder Bite On the Rise

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. Weather today around Wilmington is warm and muggy, with highs pushing into the upper 80s, a light southwest breeze most of the day, and only a slight chance of a pop‑up storm this afternoon. Skies run partly cloudy, so expect decent sight conditions on the flats when the sun’s up. Sunrise is right around 5:55 a.m., with sunset close to 8:25 p.m., giving you a long window to work the tides. Around the Masonboro and Cape Fear inlets, we’re looking at a morning high tide just after sun‑up and an afternoon low mid‑day, with the second high rolling in toward evening. That means moving water during the prime low‑light hours — perfect for topwater. Inshore, the redfish and speckled trout bite has been steady in the creeks off the Intracoastal and around Wrightsville and Carolina Beach. Anglers working dawn and dusk are picking off slot reds mixed with some over‑slot bruisers along grass lines and oyster points. Trout catches have been a mix of 14–18 inch keepers with a few bigger gators showing up around deeper bends and dock lights at night. Flounder action has picked up over the last week around Carolina Beach Inlet, Snow’s Cut, and the Masonboro jetties. Most fish are in that 14–18 inch class, with the occasional doormat coming from live bait dragged tight to structure. Off the beach, Spanish mackerel and blues are running just outside the inlets, especially early when the glass minnows and small pogies are getting pushed to the top. Folks trolling are finding good numbers, and there’ve been some scattered king mackerel on the nearshore reefs and hardbottom in the 5–15 mile range. A few cobia and big drum are still popping up around bait pods, so keep an eye out. Best baits and lures right now: - For reds: cut mullet, live shrimp, or mud minnows on a Carolina rig or jighead. Artificial‑wise, paddle‑tail swimbaits in natural mullet or new penny colors, and a gold spoon slow‑rolled along the grass are hard to beat. - For specks: 3–4 inch soft plastics on 1/8–1/4 oz jigheads, MirrOlure style suspending baits, and small topwaters in bone or silver/black at first light. - For flounder: live finger mullet or mud minnows on a Carolina rig, or a white or chartreuse Gulp! swimming mullet dragged across the bottom. - For Spanish and blues: small Clark spoons or casting metal like Got‑Cha plugs and glass minnow jigs; chrome and chartreuse are producing. - For nearshore kings: slow‑trolled live menhaden or cigar minnows on stinger rigs around the AR reefs and ledges. Couple of hotspots to circle for today: - Masonboro Inlet and the adjacent jetties: work the last of the incoming and first of the outgoing for reds, trout, and flounder, then slide just outside for Spanish when the tide starts ripping. - Carolina Beach Inlet and Snow’s Cut: fish the deeper holes and dock edges with live bait for flounder and reds, and hit the bridge shadow lines at moving tide for trout. Focus your efforts on the first two hours of daylight and the last two before dark, especially when they line up with that incoming or just‑starting‑to‑fall tide. Keep moving until you find clean water and bait; where the mullet and shrimp are, the fish won’t be far behind. That’s it 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