by Outer Banks Admin | Fishing Reports
OCEAN: Offshore fishing success out of Hatteras was moderate to good on most trips with gaffer dolphin and citation size wahoo being caught on a daily basis, a few yellow & blackfin tuna hit the docks as well. Billfish catches were fair with almost exclusively sailfish being reported. Nearshore fishing efforts remain low due to poor catches and better success elsewhere. Offshore trips via Oregon inlet were a bit more productive with limits of both dolphin and yellowfin tuna on a regular basis, very large bigeye tuna- some in excess of 200lbs were also caught this previous week along with a few wahoo, blackfin tuna, and assorted billfish. Nearshore anglers had moderate success with bluefish, spanish mackerel, and weakfish being most prevalent along with a few kingfish, and little tunny.
INLETS/SOUNDS/BAYS: Anglers fishing these waters in the Hatteras region caught two species for the most part-but this was just fine with limits of spotted seatrout and small undersize up to giant citation size red drum being caught with relative ease. Northern area water’s continue to offer much diversity with limits of spotted seatrout on a semi-regular basis along with moderate amounts of weakfish, spanish mackerel, bluefish, and undersize striped bass. A mixed bag of species was also caught in low-moderate amounts including lizardfish, pinfish, pigfish, puffer, searobin, black seabass, and kingfish.
PIERS/BEACH: Rough seas has limited this fishing to a certain extent from North to South, no particular species stood out in high numbers, kingfish, little tunny, red drum, bluefish, spanish mackerel, spot, pompano, skates, stingrays, and a host of others were caught.
Brian A Melott
Recreational Port Agent
Division of Marine Fisheries
NC Department of Environmental Quality
by Outer Banks Admin | Fishing Reports
OCEAN: Post Tropical Storm Hermine fishing success has been moderate-good across the board in all water bodies and locations. Offshore catches out of Hatteras were very good, citation size wahoo were a daily catch in high numbers. Dolphin were caught in moderation along with a few yellow & blackfin tuna. Billfish catches have improved with mostly sailfish reported. Bottom fishing in deep waters offered triggerfish, vermillion snapper, black seabass, amberjack, and a few assorted groupers. Anglers heading offshore via Oregon Inlet had good success also, limits of dolphin was almost a daily event this previous week along with low-moderate amounts of wahoo, bigeye and both yellow & blackfin tuna’s. Billfish catches were about as good as it gets with plenty of sailfish and both blue & white marlin catch and release action. Nearshore fishing out of the Hatteras region was dominated by spanish mackerel catches with limits caught on some outings, bluefish, red drum, flounder, and spotted seatrout were caught in moderate amounts along with a few king mackerel. Nearshore action out of Oregon Inlet was similar with limits of Spanish mackerel caught on most trips along with moderate amounts of amberjack, bluefish, kingfish, black seabass, and little tunny.
INLETS/SOUNDS/BAYS: Anglers in Hatteras were very pleased with the improved catches in these water’s after a very slow period previously. Citation size red drum fishing was the” news of the day” with almost everyone catching at least one , a few other assorted species were caught in low amounts. Northern region catches were good with spotted seatrout being the primary target due to the high catch rates, nice specimens were caught almost everywhere with the time of day seeming to be the most important factor – early- mid morning has produced most of the catches dropping off sharply afterwards. A mixed bag of species was also caught in varied amounts including bluefish, red drum, little tunny, weakfish, puffer, pinfish, pigfish, silver perch, and black seabass.
PIERS/BEACH: Catch rates for these anglers has been fair from North to South in most cases, this is an improvement for sure after a slow time due to unfavorable weather conditions. South beach catches were mostly red drum, sea mullet, croaker, bluefish, and pompano. North beach fishing offered more with limits of spotted seatrout on a few occasions along with a moderate amount of over-slot red drum, pompano, sea mullet, bluefish, sheepshead, spot, and little tunny.
Brian A Melott
Recreational Port Agent
Division of Marine Fisheries
NC Department of Environmental Quality
by Outer Banks Admin | Fishing Reports
OCEAN: Tropical Storm Hermine & Tropical Depression # 8 limited fishing effort this previous week & will affect the first few days of this week as well, anglers should try their luck as soon as conditions allow being that fish tend to feed heavy after departing major weather systems. Prior to the unfavorable weather offshore action out of Hatteras was good with plenty of citation size wahoo hitting the docks along with limits of bailer dolphin on some outings, a few black & yellowfin tuna were also caught. Billfish catch & release success was moderate with sailfish, blue & white marlin reported. Bottom fishing offered a diverse mixture including black seabass, vermillion snapper, amberjack, and triggerfish. Inshore catches were dominated by plenty of both bluefish and spanish mackerel along with a noted increase in king mackerel and a few over-slot red drum. Anglers fishing offshore via Oregon Inlet caught limits of yellowfin tuna and dolphin on a semi-regular basis. Billfish catch & release action was awesome with very high numbers of all species reported. Inshore catches were moderate but varied with cobia, amberjack, cutlassfish, bluefish, spotted seatrout, and spanish mackerel being most common.
INLETS/SOUNDS/BAYS: Hatteras anglers once again did not fish these waters to any great extent due to poor catches and much better opportunities in the Ocean, a low amount of a mixed bag of species was reported. Oregon Inlet northward produced decent catches with flounder and spotted seatrout being most noteworthy . Bodie Island Lighthouse /Off Island access has been” Flounder Central” with heavy activity and very good results yielding plenty of legal specimens and very few undersize one’s. Spotted seatrout catches have made a significant improvement throughout the area with Roanoke & Croatan Sound anglers fishing in the early morning hours catching the majority of them. Low-moderate amounts of kingfish, pinfish, pigfish, puffer, red drum, searobin, bluefish, and spanish mackerel were also caught.
PIERS/BEACH: Rough sea’s from storms has made this fishing a bit limited, anglers fishing from Rodanthe southward caught bluefish with a few spanish mackerel mixed in on a short term basis, pompano and sea mullet were caught on a daily basis but numbers were low. North beach anglers had similar success, the large size spot have been an almost daily guarantee with moderate amounts of croaker and kingfish mixed in, bluefish and spanish mackerel were caught by those lucky enough to be there at the right time. A mixed bag of species was caught from North to South in varied amounts.
Brian A Melott
Recreational Port Agent
Division of Marine Fisheries
NC Department of Environmental Quality
