Water's Hot, Drum Are Moving — Week of August 24

Cape Hatteras Point is running 83.8°F and the Point's got that late-summer rhythm — pompano in the wash on the incoming, blues and Spanish blitzing the bait pods when the storms push through. Work the morning low around 01:07 into the 06:39 high with a Pompano Hi-Lo tipped with fresh shrimp or sand fleas. Afternoon incoming from 13:20 low up to the 19:15 high is your best drum window — Fish Finder Rig with cut mullet on the outside bar. Watch that SW breeze at 5-9, it'll keep the water clean but those afternoon thunderstorms are stacking up daily. Fish the front edge, get off the sand when the lightning starts.

Avon Pier is fishing the same water. Spanish macks and blues are working the second bar early — throw a White Bucktail on a long cast and burn it back. Kings are still around for the plankers, Kingfish Wire Rig with a live bluefish or menhaden on the end. Pompano in the wash on the pier's south side around that 19:15 evening high tide.

Hatteras Inlet flounder bite is picking up as they stage for the fall push. Work the channel edges on the moving water — the outgoing from 06:39 to 13:20 is prime. Flounder Carolina Rig with a mud minnow or finger mullet, or drag a Yellow/Chartreuse Bucktail tipped with Gulp along the drop. Drum are holding on the flat edges sound-side, especially early before boat traffic ramps up.

Oregon Inlet's a touch cooler at 81°F and the tide swing is bigger — 0.5 low at 00:36 up to a 1.2 high at 18:37. That's real water movement. Flounder in the cuts on the outgoing, drum on the sound-side flats on the incoming. Topwater Stick Bait 4" at first light over the grass edges before the sun gets on it.

Murrells Inlet is 83.3°F with a solid 4-5 foot tide swing this week. Redfish are tucked in the spartina on the 05:10 and 17:49 highs — skinny water game, sight-cast with a Yellow/Chartreuse Bucktail or a Topwater Stick Bait 4" worked slow along the grass line. Flounder on the channel drops during the 11:25 outgoing, Carolina rig with mud minnows. Trout in the deeper holes early morning before that 89°F heat sets in.

Folly Beach is the hottest water on the board at 86.4°F and it's showing — Spanish and blues nearshore, whiting and pompano in the trough. Pompano Hi-Lo with fresh shrimp on the incoming to the 05:38 or 18:23 high. Redfish in the trough at first light and last light, Fish Finder Rig with cut mullet. SW wind at 7-14 will put some chop on it but that stirs the bait up. Storms in the afternoon — plan around them.