“Now that’s what we’re looking for!” I exclaimed. “
“Is it always this easy?” Brian laughed.
Clear flats are limited, though fly fishers and spin fishermen do sight fish throughout Pamlico Sound.
After we landed and released the red, the school moved off to deeper digs. I poled a short distance, but when we realized the window had closed, I hopped to the bow and lowered the trolling motor to do some blind casting along an oyster bar. We landed several more specks, a flounder and a small red, by which time the wind freshened up out of the northeast and the water became choppy. I knew it would not be long before the wide river would become rough.
The Neuse River flows into Pamlico Sound from the west/southwest and strong winds from the east to northeast can make things a bit interesting to say the least for small-boaters. Fortunately the River and Sound have a multitude of creeks and coves. What we refer to as creeks here are actually small rivers lined with tall hardwoods and pine woodlands. This added protection provides anglers with lee shores and fishing opportunities that they would not have elsewhere on the coast. Breezy days can actually be a benefit. There is not much of a tide here, but wind can drive water in and out of the Sound. Around Oriental, on the north bank of the Neuse, easterly winds push water in, essentially creating a flood tide, and appreciable current around points. This sets up good feeding stations for a variety of fish.
Later that morning, we left our starting point, headed upriver, and made a left into the Intracoastal Waterway. As I reached one of my favorite creeks, I dropped off of plane and eased into the shoreline where we were greeted by countless schools of juvenile mullet and menhaden, two of the primary food sources for puppy drum during the fall months.
“Look at the baitfish! Is it always like this?” asked Brian.
“Most of the year,” I said. “Cast up to the bank and work your fly out. Expect a strike within the first 15 feet or so. Sometimes the fish are tight to the shore and sometimes they’re out a bit. We won’t have any sight casting here—the water is two feet deep at the back and it’s a dark bottom.”
While Brian cast, I picked up a spinning rod and I went back to work. It wasn’t long before I had a hookup. A copper flash and a boil told me it was another puppy drum.
Whether you prefer to sight fish exclusively, or mix things up with some blind casting as most local anglers do, light- to medium-action rods with reels holding 6- to 8-pound test are ideal for redfishing or mixed-bag fishing. However, many traditional redfish lures do no not work well in this area. With such an abundance of bait much of the year, the fish can get choosy and are generally not willing to run down topwater or fast-swimming plugs. This is a limited sight fishery. Redfish do not tail here as much as they do in some shallow marshes from Georgia to South Carolina. The Pamlico Sound and Neuse River have miles and miles of shoreline with varying depths to cover, so given a choice, I recommend 1⁄8- to 1⁄4-ounce plastic-tail jigs. You could head out with nothing else in your box and do well with these jigs. They work well in all areas of cover and structure and will elicit strikes from fish that are actively feeding or just cruising the shoreline. As far as color selection goes, dark tails with gold flash score, but all-white, silver and green tails are all top-notch choices. It is usually not necessary to tip the baits with shrimp, as this will often invite more pinfish and croakers than puppy drum, trout and flounder.
It is important to identify the fishiest parts of the typical Pamlico creek. A top spot is a point at a creekmouth. Ideally, it will be partially exposed so as to be easily found. If it is windy, a good wind rip can develop there, which holds bait and attracts gamefish. Locating and fishing “windy” points throughout your fishing day can keep you in the action all day. When it is so windy that holding position with a trolling motor is difficult, it’s best to anchor up within casting distance of a point. However, that’s not a fly rod-friendly situation, and even casting and detecting bites on artificial lures is tougher. It’s then that the bait fisherman has a big advantage.
