Fall Dawn on the NC Coast: Flounder, Bull Reds, and Offshore Action

This is Artificial Lure with your Atlantic North Carolina fishing report for Sunday, October 12th, 2025. Let’s get you ready for a brisk fall dawn on the salt with the latest from the coast.

First off, expect classic autumn weather: cool in the low 60s at sunrise, climbing into the 70s by afternoon. Winds are howling offshore today—NOAA and the National Weather Service both have a Gale Warning in effect, with gusty north-northeast winds over 25 knots, and seas stacking up to 7 feet at times. Boaters, keep a lookout and maybe think twice before running outside the inlets today. Sunrise hit at 7:15 a.m. with sunset set for 6:42 p.m.

On the tidal front, Oak Island and nearby surf spots saw the first low tide at 5:51 a.m. at around 0.2 ft, rolling to high around 12:27 p.m. with nearly six feet on the board. The evening sets up another low near 6:55 p.m.—so you’ll want to plan your pier and surf efforts around the moving water, when bites heat up fast according to Tides4Fishing.

Now to what’s been caught—and there’s plenty to talk about. The shortened October flounder season is all but wrapped, but what a finish: Atlantic Beach and the lower Crystal Coast saw multiple doormat flounder over 10 pounds this week. A 13.04-pounder hit the scales fresh off a live minnow, while several other local legends broke double digits using either mullet strips or Gulp! grub tails.

Beyond flounder, giant red drum action has been fire, especially for those targeting the inlets and deeper sound channels. These bull reds are rolling through ahead of their offshore move—so if you want a trophy, now’s the time to focus on cut bait or big, noisy popping cork setups. Also, king mackerel are around in force—some over 40 pounds landed off nearshore wrecks and piers, and that’s drawing live bait trollers and tournament teams from all over. Don’t miss the Atlantic Beach King Mackerel Saltwater Slam ongoing through the 25th, with winners weighed right downtown.

Inshore, sheepshead, puppy drum, chopper bluefish and especially speckled trout have ramped up as water temps drop. Anglers wading and drifting the marsh points around Morehead and Bogue Sound are reporting strong limits of specks every moving tide, especially on MirrOlures, Z-Man soft plastics, and popping corks tipped with shrimp. In the Nags Head and Hatteras surf, mullet runs are strong, leading to solid catches of pompano, slot drum, and big Spanish mackerel in the wash. Offshore, those lucky enough to sneak out earlier this week before the blow found dolphin, citation sheepshead, and even a few late blue marlin.

Top baits this morning: fresh finger mullet, menhaden, and mud minnows for live lining; Gulp! grubs or a 3" twister tail on jighead for any species cruising structure; and, for the kings, nothing beats a big live bluefish slow-trolled on a stinger rig. Surfcasters are still loading up on fish-bites or sand flea chunks for pompano and blues.

Hot spots to check this weekend: Atlantic Beach Bridge access and Chasin’ Tails Bait and Tackle for the latest flounder—these local shops have weighed some of the best fish lately. On the Outer Banks, Jennette’s Pier and Oregon Inlet both saw blitzes of drum, blues and mackerel on yesterday’s evening tide.

Thanks for tuning in to your local tide and tackle line. Hit subscribe to catch each daily report in your feed. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease dot ai.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is artificial lure. With your Atlantic North Carolina fishing
report for Sunday, October twelfth, twenty twenty five, let's get
you ready for a brisk fall dawn on the salt
with the latest from the coast. First off, expect classic
autumn weather, cool in the low sixties at sunrise, climbing
into the seventies by afternoon. Winds are howling off shore today.

(00:21):
Noah and the National Weather Service both have a gale
warning in effect, with gusty north northeast winds over twenty
five knots and seas stagging up the seven feet at times.
Boaters keep a lookout and maybe think twice before running
outside the inlets. Today, sunrise hit at seven fifteen am,
with sunset set for six forty two pm. On the
tidal front, Oak Island and nearby surf spots saw the

(00:45):
first low tide at five point fifty one am at
around zero point two feet, rolling to high around twelve
twenty seven pm with nearly six feet on the board.
The evening sets up another low near six fifty five PM,
so you'll want to plan your peer and surf efforts
around the moving water. When bites heat up fast according
to Tides four Fishing Now to what's been caught, and

(01:06):
there's plenty to talk about. The shortened October flounder season
is all but wrapped, but what a finish. Atlantic Beach
in the Lower Crystal Coast saw multiple doormat flounder over
ten pounds this week. A thirteen point zero four pounder
hit the scales fresh off a live mino, while several
other local legends broke double digits using either mullet strips

(01:27):
or gulp grub tails. Beyond flounder, giant red drum action
has been fire, especially for those targeting the inlets and
deeper sound channels. These bull reds are rolling through ahead
of their offshore move so if you want a trophy,
now's the time to focus on cut bait or big
noisy popping cork set ups. Also, king mackerel are around

(01:49):
in force, some over forty pounds landed off near shore
wrecks and piers, and that's drawing live bait trollers and
tournament teams from all over. Don't miss the Atlantic Beach
King mac cl saltwater Slam ongoing through the twenty five,
with winners waded right down town inshore sheep said. Puppy
drum chopper, bluefish and especially speckled trout have ramped up

(02:12):
as water temps drop. Anglers waiting and drifting the marsh
points around more Head and Bogue Sound are reporting strong
limits of specks every moving tide, especially on Miur Lores,
z Man's soft plastics and popping corks tipped with shrimp
in the nag's head and hatter A surf mullet runs
are strong, leading to solid catches of popinot, slot drum

(02:35):
and big Spanish mackerel in the wash offshore. Those lucky
enough to sneak out earlier this week before the blow
found dolphin citation, sheep's head and even a few late
blue marlin top baits this morning. Fresh finger mullet men,
haden and mudminnows for live lining gulp grubs or a

(02:56):
three twister tail on jighead for any species cruising structure,
and for the kings. Nothing beats a big live bluefish
slow trolled on a stinger rig. Surfcasters are still loading
up on fish bites or sam flea chunks for pomp
and oen blues. Hotspots to check this weekend. Atlantic beach
bridge access and Chasin Tail's Bait and Tackle for the

(03:18):
latest flounder. These local shops have weighed some of the
best fish lately. On the outer banks. Jenets Peer and
Oregon Inlet both saw blitzes of drum blues and mackerel
on yesterday's evening tide. Thanks for tuning in to your
local tide and tackle line. Hit subscribe to catch each
daily report in your feed. This has been a quiet

(03:38):
please production. For more check out quiet Please dot ai