MIKE MARSH Live bait often will work in winter when artificial lures fail.

Boats lining the banks of the Brunswick River south of the U.S. 17-74-76 Bridge between Leland and Wilmington have become part of the winter scenery. They create a flotilla rivaling the cruisers in Banks Channel during a busy summer weekend.

The air temperature and water temperature are obviously much colder in December and January, and the boats are considerably smaller. But dozens of skiffs, john boats and other small river craft are there because of the speckled trout fishing.

One john boat held two anglers. Gary Pszczultkoski and Randall James cast to the shoreline at a river flat where the tide had left a swath of exposed mud.

“I like fishing for speckled trout because they’re good eating,” Pszcsultkoski said. “Sometimes we catch red drum right along with the specks. Occasionally some of the boats also catch a few stripers.”

The fishermen get together as often as possible, at least a couple of time each week in winter, to try their luck at catching a few speckled trout. They were quick to point out that not all boats catch fish every time.

“The fish seem to bite best in one spot on any given day,” James said. “There were 22 boats here yesterday. The boats crowd along the bank, trying to get into a good position. But you’re either on the fish or you’re not.

“Today they bit near a certain cypress tree and a pole someone stuck in the mud. Tomorrow, they might bite all the way upriver to the bridge.”

James said he uses a variety of lures to catch specks at the Brunswick River, including jigs with soft-plastic trailers because they’re inexpensive and come in many color combinations.

“I like D.O.A lures and Sassy Assassins,” he said. “I usually try chartreuse, red rooster first. But you never know what they’re going to bite for certain. We use spinning rods and make lots of casts.

“If someone leaves a good spot after catching a limit of specks or if they just have to go home, we might move over to that spot and give it a try. We might anchor in several different places over a morning’s fishing.”

There are a couple of conditions that make good speck fishing at the Brunswick River when it’s winter. Pszczultkoski said first, the weather has to be nice.

“If it’s good weather, we get tired of not going fishing, so we go,” he said. “You can catch fish in bad weather. But if it’s blowing and cold, it isn't as much fun.”

The other is tidal conditions. The river has filled in since it was used decades ago to house mothballed Liberty Ships. The channel can be treacherous to those who don’t know where concrete debris is located in the river. Some of the worst areas are just offshore of the boat ramp at the John. D Long Park at Belville.

“You have to launch and return at higher tide stages,” James said. “You can see some of the concrete sticking up at lower tide stages. But the river is extremely shallow all along the banks and flats.”

David Franklin made the run all the way from Carolina Beach to fish the river. He caught some live mullet in a cast net before fishing near the bridge.

“Live baits are the trick when the fish are finicky,” he said. “Anytime I can net a few, I get them to fish along with lures.”

Franklin saidt many fishermen had walked down from the highway right-of-way to fish. They were wearing waders and hip boots and fishing along a steep drop-off at the channel edge. Anglers in boats were casting to the outside edge of the drop-off and anglers at the bank were casting over the ledge.

“The fish are along the drop-off,” Franklin said. “I use a bottom rig to catch them,” he said. “It’s just a flounder rig with a short leader and an egg sinker just large enough to take the bait to the bottom and allow it to roll with the current. I cast it out and let it fall to the bottom. As the line tightens up and moves away from the ledge, I reel it back in and make another cast.”

The idea is to keep the bait or lure in the strike zone. Speckled trout are mobile fish, but they’re structure oriented. Often Franklin finds the fish are biting in just one small spot.

“A guy on the bank is catching all the fish today,” Franklin said. “He’s using a soft-plastic jig with a fire-tail plastic grub and just casting it out and letting the current do the work. The disadvantage of fishing from the bank is that you get hung up a lot. When you’re fishing from a boat, you can move upstream and pull a lure free if it gets hung on a cypress stump or something else in the river. The fish are close to structure, but you want to get close enough to catch the fish without getting hung up all the time. Once you move to a spot to retrieve a lure, it might be a few minutes before the fish start biting there again because you’ve chased them away.”

Anglers once parked at the highway and walked down to fish in the river near the bridge. But the practice was discouraged when it was reported some anglers received tickets for parking at the road shoulder near the bridge. Anglers may still park in Leland and make short walk to the fishing area. It’s a longer walk, but parking and walking makes the crowded interchange near the bridge safer.

Anglers can also launch their boats at the City of Wilmington’s Dram Tree Park at the foot of Castle Street. But they should be aware of the situation at low tide. A steep drop-off at the end of the concrete ramp can damage boat trailers.

Launching at Wilmington allows navigation along the Cape Fear River and entry into the Brunswick River from the north, rather than from the south as is the case at John. D. Long park. This northern stretch of the Brunswick River is deeper than the southern section extending downstream of the bridge and therefore provides safer access.

Nevertheless, bad fouls mar this river, including the remains of an old vessel, which someone marked as the U.S.S. Belville in white paint as a prank in the 1980s. A mock battle over a local radio station ensued over the old hulk, with one side claiming to be the U.S. Coast Guard on route to removing the Belville by helicopter, obviously in jest since no helicopter could have moved it, and the other side proclaiming their allegiance to the cause of saving the Belville.

The remains of the old ship sank suddenly into the river at the north side of the bridge near the east bank of the river more than two decades ago.

But the old ship still serves as an attraction for speckled trout, deep down in its watery grave.

A warning buoy marks the location of the sunken hulk, just to the north of the bridge at the west bank of the Brunswick River.