Hot Water, Hot Bite — Week of July 6

Cape Hatteras Point is running 86.4°F and the pompano bite is on. Work the low slack around 08:31 with a Pompano Hi-Lo tipped with fresh sand fleas or shrimp — fish tight to the slough on the second bar. Bluefish are cutting through the wash on the SW blow, and a white bucktail thrown into the current seam off the Point will get bent. Afternoon high at 14:25 is small (0.2ft) but that swing is when the drum have been showing on cut mullet — Fish Finder Rig, 6-8oz, hold bottom in the trough. Watch the storms tonight, SW winds 15-21 will chop it up.

Avon Pier is fishing the same tide schedule. Spanish macks are running the end on the morning outgoing before 08:31 — Got-Cha plugs and a white bucktail worked fast. Kings have been picking up on live bait off the T — Kingfish Wire Rig with a live bluefish or menhaden, best shot on the incoming push toward 14:25. Pompano in the wash on the Hi-Lo, same as the Point.

Hatteras Inlet is where the flounder game is right now. Strong current on the outgoing between 02:11 and 08:31 will stack fish on the flat edges — Flounder Carolina Rig with a live mud minnow or a Yellow/Chartreuse bucktail tipped with Gulp. Drum are working the sound-side edges early before the sun gets high. Water's warm so fish the deeper cuts once the sun's up.

Oregon Inlet's got more tide swing — 1.1ft high at 00:23, low 0.2ft at 07:34. Flounder in the cuts on the last two hours of the outgoing, Carolina rig with finger mullet. Sound-side flats have been holding drum at first light — Topwater Stick Bait 4" walked over the grass edges before the sun burns it off. After that, switch to cut bait on a Fish Finder.

Murrells Inlet is at 86°F and the redfish are tucked in the spartina on the top of the tide — high at 12:42 puts water up in the grass. Weedless soft plastics or a topwater walked along the edges. Flounder are stacked on the channel drops on the outgoing toward the 18:48 low — Carolina rig with mud minnows or a chartreuse bucktail bounced through the drops. Trout in the deeper holes at first light on a topwater before the heat kills it.

Folly Beach surf is 86°F, sunny, SW 10-18. Whiting and pompano in the trough on a Hi-Lo with shrimp — fish the outgoing toward the 06:52 low or the drop off the 12:56 high. Redfish are cruising the trough at dawn and dusk — Fish Finder Rig with cut mullet, or throw a topwater along the bar for the low-light window. Spanish macks nearshore if you can get past the break.