Pompano In The Wash, Flounder Staging — Week of May 25

Cape Hatteras Point is sitting at 78.1°F and that's prime pompano water. Problem this week is the SW at 20 knots on Memorial Day — gonna chop the suds up and push trash on the beach. Best window is the outgoing falling toward the 12:00 low Monday, then again working the incoming up to the 17:31 high. Tides are skinny (0.4ft high) so the current's manageable. Run a Pompano Hi-Lo with fresh sand fleas or fresh shrimp tipped with FishBites. Cut mullet on a Fish Finder will get you a slot red or a chopper bluefish working the same windows. Tonight's thunderstorm chance — clear out before it lights up.

Avon Pier same water temp, same tide schedule. Spanish macks should be showing on the second bar with this warm push — get out early before that S wind builds past 15. Cast a white bucktail or small Stingsilver on the end. Kings are a possibility on the heater rigs — live bait if you can get bunker on a sabiki at first light. Pompano in the wash off the planks with shrimp-tipped Hi-Lo's, especially the last hour of the outgoing into that noon low.

Hatteras Inlet flounder are staging on the edges of the channel. Work the Flounder Carolina Rig with mud minnows or finger mullet on the moving water — the run-out from the 17:31 high through evening is your shot. Redfish cruising the flat edges at first light before the wind cranks. Yellow/chartreuse bucktail tipped with Gulp on the grass lines. Specks possible in the deeper holes on a topwater stick at dawn if it's not already blowing.

Oregon Inlet's running cooler at 74.8°F — that's why the flounder bite has been more consistent up there than the bigger water down south. Tides are stouter (1.0–1.1ft) so you've got real current to work with. Drift the cuts with a Carolina Rig and live mullet on the last of the incoming up to 17:07. Sound side flats for reds early before that SW chop sets in. Memorial Day's got the highest storm chance of the bunch up here — keep one eye on the radar.

Murrells Inlet is fishing clean — 77.9°F, wind only 13 mph, and full 5+ foot tides moving real water through the creeks. This is the spot of the week if you want quality fishing without fighting weather. Redfish tucked in the spartina on the flood up to the 16:14 high — topwater stick at first light, then switch to a gold spoon or chartreuse bucktail as the sun gets up. Flounder on the channel drops with a Carolina Rig and mud minnows on the falling tide toward the 10:06 and 22:36 lows. Specks in the deeper holes — 4-inch topwater stick walked slow at the creek mouths early.

Folly Beach is the warmest water on the board at 79.7°F. Whiting and pompano in the trough on a Hi-Lo with shrimp — work the incoming up to the 16:51 high. Reds in the trough on cut mullet, Fish Finder Rig, same window. That 4.9ft swell at 7 seconds is going to make the surf messy, so look for cleaner pockets between the bars. Nearshore Spanish on white bucktails if the boats can get out — S wind at 15 is workable. Storm chance every day this week, so plan tight windows.