Wilmington Fishing Report: Crisp Weather, Hungry Fish, and Classic Fall Patterns

Artificial Lure here with your Wilmington, North Carolina fishing report for Thursday, November 6th, 2025. Conditions are shaping up for a solid fall bite with crisp weather and plenty of fish moving through our inshore creeks and the surf. Tides are running classic autumn patterns, with a low early this morning around 3:44 AM and the next high tide hitting about 9:05 PM, according to Tide-Forecast.com. Expect the tide to be moving good most of the day. Sunrise is at 6:36 AM and sunset at 5:14 PM, trimming the day but setting up those magic low-light windows for trout, red drum, and flounder action. Weather-wise, the National Weather Service keeps us in the upper 50s to low 60s with light north winds and no serious threat of rain, perfect for both wading or boating the area creeks, the Cape Fear, and Intracoastal hotspots. Inshore, the trout bite has been firing up at first and last light, especially around Bradley Creek and the docks at Wrightsville Beach. Anglers have reported limits of solid specks, many right in that 15–18 inch sweet spot. Most are biting on soft plastics worked slow—think Z-Man Trout Tricks, white or chartreuse flake, and classic MirrOlures for that twitch-and-suspend presentation. Folks using live shrimp under popping corks are getting consistent numbers too. Red drum are schooled up in the creeks, especially behind Masonboro and up into the estuaries around Carolina Beach State Park. Cut mullet and fresh menhaden on Carolina rigs work, but the artificial crowd has had luck with Gulp! shrimp and paddle tail swimbaits. Slot drum are abundant, with a few over-slot catches reported this week. Flounder action is holding steady, with the last of the season’s flatfish moving out of the inlets. Carolina Beach Inlet is your best bet for a doormat. White bucktails tipped with gulp or finger mullet are still getting it done right on the bottom. Surf anglers are picking up some nice pompano and black drum at Fort Fisher and Kure Beach using sand fleas and fresh shrimp on double-drop rigs. The mullet run is pretty much wrapped, but bluefish and a stray Spanish mackerel have been mixed in—throw a silver spoon or gotcha plug for the speedsters. Topwater has slowed as the mornings get colder, but don’t count it out if you’ve got a calm sunrise. Plugs like Spook Jr. or Rapala Skitter Walk can draw explosive bites right at dawn. Offshore, the window for big kings and false albacore is still open. Trolling dead cigar minnows around 10 Mile Boxcars and AR425 has produced steady action for those making the run out. Two hotspots to put on your list today: the rocks at Masonboro Inlet for a mixed bag of reds, trout, and blues, and the drop-offs along Snow’s Cut, especially as the outgoing tide gets moving. Both are reliable with artificials this time of year. That’s the word along the Lower Cape Fear—good weather, hungry fish, and classic fall patterns. As always, respect the limit, check your regs, and leave it better than you found i This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.