Fall is finally here and fishing has started to pick up, with bull drum and speckled trout being the most sought after fish. Trout and drum have been reeled in mainly on live shrimp under a popping cork or float rig with (vudu shrimp if live is not available). Followed by almost any particular brand of white/pearl soft plastic on a red jig head attached to a fluorocarbon leader.

For the really large bulls, whole or live fat finger mullet on a carolina rig has been very productive. The trick when fishing with a popping cork is to cast out right to the edge of any grass beds during the falling tide, slowly letting line out and gently jigging the rod as it floats away. This process keeps the shrimp at the bottom of the rig making it look as natural as possible. If a pull is felt jerk the rod back to set the hook and hang on for a fight. Just keep in mind the slot limit for drum in NC is 18”-27”(1 a day per person), and a trout is 14” and up(4 per person), so throw back the dinks and release the monster drum.