"Wilmington Fishing Report: Bonito Blitz, Drum Delight, and More Summer Hotspots"

Hey there, fellow anglers! Artificial Lure here with your Wilmington fishing report for this fine Saturday morning, May 17, 2025.

The summer fishing season is really heating up around Wilmington! The weather's been stabilizing lately, giving us more opportunities to get out on the water. Right now, we're seeing temperatures climbing, which has been great for fish activity both inshore and nearshore.

Inshore fishing has been productive, especially for redfish and black drum. The black drum bite has been particularly strong around boat docks when using fresh shrimp. If you're heading out today, make sure to hit some of those docks during the incoming tide for your best shot at these drum.

The nearshore action has been the real standout lately. We're in prime time for Atlantic bonito in the mid-May period, and they've been busting the surface waters something fierce. Spanish mackerel are running strong all month long too. For targeting these speedsters, I've been having great success with casting spoons - those Big Nic Spanish Candy lures in 1/2oz to 1.5oz sizes have been money when paired with a high-speed spinning reel.

Watch out for some small king mackerel mixed in with the Spanish - be sure to check your fish carefully to avoid keeping undersized kings!

There have also been reports of false albacore and bluefish in the mix, adding some variety to the catches. For the offshore crowd, boats heading out further have been connecting with blackfin tuna and some wahoo.

Speckled trout action has been moderate, and surf fishing has picked up with black drum and big whiting being caught on shrimp and sand fleas. Some scattered red drum are also being taken on cut bait along the beaches.

For hot spots, I'd recommend trying around the nearshore artificial reefs, ledges, and inlets for the bonito and Spanish action. Wrightsville Beach has been particularly productive. For the inshore crowd, the ICW around the boat docks will be your best bet for that solid black drum bite.

Best baits right now: fresh shrimp for black drum, cut bait for red drum, and sand fleas for surf fishing. If you're throwing artificial, those spoons I mentioned earlier are hard to beat for the fast-moving species.

The fishing is really cranking up now that we're getting into the true summer pattern. Get out there while the bite is hot, and remember to check your fish carefully with all these different species mixing together.

Tight lines, y'all! This is Artificial Lure signing off until next time.