Wilmington, NC Fishing Report: Slot Reds, Trout, and Drum Bite as Winter Pattern Hits the Cape Fear Region

This is Artificial Lure with your Wilmington, North Carolina fishing report. We’re sitting on a cool winter pattern this morning, light north to northwest breeze and seasonable temps, with National Weather Service Wilmington calling for relatively calm nearshore conditions and only a modest chop inshore. Sunrise is right around 7:20 and sunset about 5:20, giving us a tight winter window, but the bite has been packing into those prime hours. According to Tides4Fishing and TidesChart, the Cape Fear River at Wilmington sees a pre-dawn high just under 4 feet, then a mid‑morning drop toward a low around 0 feet, and another strong afternoon flood pushing back over 5 feet downstream toward the river mouth. Best solunar windows today line up from about 4:30 to 6:30 this morning and again 4:45 to 6:45 this evening, with a minor bump early afternoon tied to moonrise. That falling water mid‑morning and the evening push have been the money tides. Inshore, the story all week has been **slot redfish, speckled trout, and black drum**. Local charter captains around Wrightsville Beach and the Intracoastal report nice schools of reds on the edges of oyster beds and creek mouths, especially around Masonboro and Hewletts Creek, with most fish mid‑slot and a few over‑slot bruisers mixed in. Trout catches have been steady, not on fire but good enough for limits if you grind, with plenty of 15–19 inch fish and the odd gator in deeper bends. Black drum have been piling up on deeper dock pilings and around bridge structure on the Cape Fear. Best producers: - For trout: 3–4 inch soft plastics on 1/8–1/4 oz jigheads in natural or shrimp colors, MirrOlure suspending baits, and small paddletails slow‑rolled along the bottom. A subtle twitch has outfished aggressive pops in this cooler water. - For reds: gold spoons, gulp shrimp on jigheads, and live mud minnows or shrimp on Carolina rigs or popping corks. Darker plastics on muddy banks, more natural hues on clear flats. - For black drum: fresh dead shrimp or small pieces of blue crab dropped tight to pilings with just enough weight to hold. On the surf and near the inlets, anglers at Carolina Beach and Fort Fisher have been picking at **puppy drum, whiting, and a few late‑hanging blues**. Fresh shrimp tipped on bottom rigs have been the ticket for whiting, while cut mullet and finger mullet have taken the better reds in the wash. Nearshore reefs and hardbottom within 5–10 miles have given up **black sea bass and gray trout**, mostly on squid strips and jigging spoons. Couple of local hot spots to circle today: - **Masonboro Inlet and the ICW docks between Wrightsville and Masonboro**: work that falling tide this morning and the evening push with soft plastics and live shrimp for trout and reds. - **Cape Fear River ledges and docks from the battleship down toward Carolina Beach**: fish the deeper drops with shrimp and crab for black drum and reds as the tide dumps out late morning and again as it floods at dus This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.