Wilmington Fishing Report: Slot Reds, Trout, and Black Drum Bite During Falling Tide and Evening Push

Name’s Artificial Lure checking in with your Wilmington-area fishing report. We’re sitting in a classic early-winter pattern. According to PredictWind’s Masonboro forecast, we’ve got west to northwest winds around 10 knots today, with gusts pushing into the 20s, cool morning temps in the 40s climbing into the low 70s this afternoon, and low, short-period seas around 2 feet just off the beach. That’s breezy but very fishable if you tuck in behind the islands or work the river banks. Tides4Fishing shows a predawn high around 4:20 a.m. at just over 4 feet, a late-morning low near 11 a.m. around half a foot, and another solid evening high just before sunset. That gives you a strong falling tide from mid-morning into early afternoon and a nice push of clean water coming back in for the evening bite. SolunarForecast calls today a “better” day, with a major window late morning into early afternoon and minor flurries right at first light and again toward sunset. Sunrise is just after 7 a.m., sunset a hair after 5 p.m., so your prime windows line up nicely with that dropping tide late morning and the first of the incoming right before dark. Inshore, the Cape Fear and Northeast Cape Fear are still giving up **slot reds and puppy drum**, with a mix of **speckled trout** and a few **black drum**. The docks and shell banks from Castle Hayne down toward downtown Wilmington are holding fish on the last of the falling tide. Think slow and low: 1/8- to 1/4-ounce jigheads with 3-inch paddle tails in natural shrimp or mullet colors, and MirrOlure-style twitch baits in chartreuse/silver. For bait, you can’t beat fresh shrimp or small chunks of mullet on a Carolina rig tight to the pilings. Over around Wrightsville Beach and Masonboro, folks have been picking at **trout and reds** along the ICW grass lines and creek mouths. A popping cork with a Gulp shrimp in new penny or white has been steady, especially on that first hour of the falling tide. Live mud minnows or finger mullet, if you can get them, are still money on jigheads around the jetty rocks and deep bends. On the surf side near Carolina Beach and Kure, recent catches have been a mix of **whiting, scattered blues, and a few schoolie reds**. Fresh shrimp, Fishbites strips, and cut mullet on double-drop bottom rigs are the ticket. Work the sloughs just off the beach change, especially mid-tide when there’s some current. A couple of local hot spots to key on today: - **Masonboro Inlet and the ICW edges north toward Wrightsville** – work the deeper drops and docks for trout and reds during the late-morning fall and again as that evening tide starts pushing in. - **Carolina Beach Inlet and Snow’s Cut** – great place to get out of the wind and find current breaks. Target reds and black drum around rip-rap and bridge structure with shrimp or fiddler crabs on a bottom rig. If you’re sliding just off the beach on a calm window, nearshore reefs out of Wrightsville and Carolina Beach have been holding **black s This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.