January has come and gone. I have either been in my new 4/3 Ripcurl Wetsuit or on the Cape Fear River hitting Stripers. The striper bite slowed as water temps climbed into the mid 50's but after a recent cold snap and some rare snow fall the fishing has improved. There have been some nice catfish caught by guys using cut bait and I got one mid January hitting structure with a crankbait. There are lots of schoolie sized stripers with a few in the 8-10 pound range playing every now and then. A few red drum have been caught in the river lately also. There are some large schools of drum huddled up on the beaches but you have to get out and ride the swell to find them. There has also been some nice black drum around Wrightsville Beach. There are some nice schools of black seabass offshore in the 20 mile range. The blue fin tuna were on Frying Pan Shoals most of Jaunaury.{%image_id=8015%}{%image_id=8016%}