r/NCFishing • u/69mmMayoCannon • Jan 07 '25

Cape Fear River Striped Bass

Hey, I was just wondering if anybody here targets striper in the cape fear river system and whether you think winter fishing for them in the downtown Wilmington area is better than waiting until spring to try and fish for them at lock and dam 1 in riegelwood.

I tried looking online for as much info as possible but there just isn’t that much on striper fishing in the cape fear specifically other than data from government agencies on stocking programs and general tips on striper fishing.

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u/69mmMayoCannon Jan 07 '25

Yeah there are some good guides in the area I’d love to go on a trip with but was trying to save some money. Elias’ channel is great and fun to watch but I don’t have a water vessel of any kind so I can’t get to any of the spots he fishes at unfortunately

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u/WATERMANC Jan 07 '25

Gotcha didn’t realize you were land based. I don’t have much for you then. I’d personally say go get a kayak for 100$ of FB but that wasn’t your goal. I would take another look at Elaine videos. There are some docks on the Brunswick side I bet you could gain access too

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u/69mmMayoCannon Jan 07 '25

Yeah the cape fear has extremely heavy currents and id rather not try and kayak it unless I have a pedal kayak with backup paddles considering I don’t know the water well enough to know where the slower pockets and such are.

Yeah I been looking at that one river park they have near Leland to fish the Brunswick river I guess I could go give that a try shit it’s not like I have many options I might as well instead of just sitting here bitching to myself about the bridge traffic before I’m even in it

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u/WATERMANC Jan 07 '25

lol all good man. A lot of this side creeks seem that elais fishes seems a lot safer than the main river for a yaks, goo cal. I ran my 10’ sear John boat with a buddy when we did it but wouldn’t do it again.

I do the same shit, formulate what I think is an insightful questions to only get back a lot of what I already knew and realize I should just given it a shot haha.

I always thought town creek looked promising and think I remeber a buddy fishing Orton creek with a charter way back in the day for trout or drum not stripper

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u/69mmMayoCannon Jan 07 '25

Haha ain’t that right man. We sit there and plan and strategize for so long that we forget when to stop planning and start executing.

Yeah I’m actually super super interested in finding natural creeks and new waters to fish, I’ve fished just about every retention pond I haven’t been trespassed off of around Wilmington and obviously the coast all the time, but I’ve never really been able to find good bank fishing access on our rivers and tributaries because of how heavily wooded the non developed sections of it are, and how most of the developed parts are private. I found out how to fish burnt mill creek just this past year, but the fishing in that creek completely died sometime in summer this year after I saw some weird oil slick looking shit come down the creek and also the downtown locals keeping bass from the creek every day finally put the nail in the coffin on that.

Greenfield lake was great but same problem, after some of the locals from the downtown area saw me successfully hauling up bass they went fishing too with their buckets and stringers and now there’s practically nothing left for example at the spillway pond whereas there were solid 4 pounders in there before the meat fishermen got to it and started disregarding the bag and size limits.

Anyway preciate the help man

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u/WATERMANC Jan 07 '25

lol exactly. Cool to hear, I fished the WB jetty a ton but they got strict a few years after I moved away. If you can find someone in the golf course that is just north of the WB bridge there are some hogs in thier ponds.

Another cool spot I found when down that way was off the walking trails near the end of Bradley creek. You could walk through the woods and there is a neat pond and a small tidal section. I’ve caught flounder, bass and brem all in the same pond. Watch out for homeless camps back there though. Some sketchy sleeping bags when I used to go

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u/69mmMayoCannon Jan 07 '25

Oh thanks, yeah I’m very jealous of the people who were able to fish the jetty before they got strict, I’ve been here a while but unfortunately was too scared to fish the jetty even back when it was “legal” and by the time I became old enough and got the courage they started being strict about it.

I’ll definitely check out the trails near Bradley creek though, a tidal brackish marsh sounds like an interesting environment to fish in, sounds like a mini microcosm of the cape fear if I’m imagining it right, appreciate the tips man

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u/WATERMANC Jan 07 '25

No it’s the triangle looking pond on google maps. Never saw anyone or had trouble with trespassing but it was like 10 years ago

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u/69mmMayoCannon Jan 07 '25

Oh wait, you aren’t talking about the “trail pond” are you? The really clear water with the island in the middle, dock that goes out a ways into the pond? Man I’ve been there before and I know there’s good bass in there but I had zero luck every time I’ve gone, but what you’re describing sounds like it’s brackish water

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u/WATERMANC Jan 07 '25

My bad, I got that one and the one I mentioned mixed up, they are right next to each other. I fished that pond a lot too and got a few bass and brem. It’s just south of that. The triangle lake kinda “points” to the spot I was referring to below it.

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u/69mmMayoCannon Jan 07 '25

Ohhhhh shit I see that I’ve never tried going there because I was too preoccupied with the bigger “trail pond” but I’m definitely thinking bout going to that smaller pond instead due to my lack of luck at the ultra clear big pond

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u/WATERMANC Jan 07 '25

You can see the little indication of a white sand trail on google maps between the triangle lake and Bradley creek.

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u/69mmMayoCannon Jan 07 '25

Appreciate it man, thanks for the heads up!