Firepower Saturday — August 23-24

Weekly Trends & Intel

• Smokies: Flows near normal with pop-up storms refreshing creeks. Sulphurs, Yellow Sallies, and terrestrials steady the bite; nymph the deeper slots mid-day.

• Central NC Lakes: Bass in late-summer mode—low-light topwater on points, then slide deeper to humps/brush (12–18 ft). Shade-line jigs producing around grass/wood.

• Coastal NC: Flounder staging around inlets/creek mouths. Reds roam grass edges/oyster bars on moving water. Trout holding in bends and at current seams. Spanish/blue best early on a falling tide just off the beach

Suggested Regional Rigs:

Smokies
Dry Flies — Parachute Adams · Yellow Sally · Elk Hair Caddis
Nymphs — Pheasant Tail · Prince Nymph · Green Weenie
Streamers — Woolly Bugger · Sculpin · Muddler Minnow

Central NC
Topwater — Whopper Plopper · Buzzbait · Hollow Body Frog
Mid-depth — Deep-Diving Crankbait · Carolina Rig · Chatterbait
Shallow/Weed — Texas-rigged Worm · Flipping Jig · Swim Jig

Coastal NC
Flounder — Gulp Shrimp · Bucktail Jig · Mud Minnow on Jighead
Red Drum — Popping Cork + Shrimp · Gold Spoon · Topwater Spook Jr.
Speckled Trout — MirrOlure 808 · Z-Man Soft Plastic · Live Shrimp under Float
Spanish/Blue — Clark Spoon · Got-cha Plug · Mackerel Tree Rig