Capt. Alan Cain
Fishing here along the NC coast has been good up until this last week’s bad weather, but with a few more days of tide flow the water should clear up quickly. We have been having some very good days targeting schools of redfish on the low tides and tailing redfish on the flood tides. Flounder fishing has also been very good with lots of quality 3-5lb. flounder being caught. Speckled trout fishing hasn’t really taken off yet but with the cooling water temperatures it should be good in the coming weeks through December.
Cast & Blast trips for redfish and Clapper Rails(Marsh Hens) has also been very good on the flood tides. This is hunting and fishing at the same time and I still have some open days for these trips this month.
False Albacore fishing has been very tough the last few weeks due to very rough ocean conditions. But with good weather in the next few days the albacore fishing should really take off and be very good until mid November. These are my favorite seasonal fish we get here and some of the hardest fighting fish you will ever hook.
October offers some of the best fishing of the year due to the consistent weather and large variety of fish species available. Provided we don’t get another big storm system, fishing should be very good the rest of this month.
For a sight fishing trip in NC/SC call Capt. Allen Cain at 336-613-2975 or go to www.sightfishnc.com
Virginia Saltwater
Dr. Ken Neill III
Now that boats are back out there, the fishing is good. In the Norfolk Canyon area and just south, boats are having good catches of dolphin and wahoo. Yellowfin tuna have shown up and the bigeye tuna are still there. Nighttime boats are encountering both bigeye tuna and swordfish. Bottom fishing for tilefish is very good. Boats are coming back to the docks with all kinds of fish. The wrecks are loaded with sea bass, which are off-limits until Oct. 22. If you can get through the sea bass, this is an excellent time to catch triggerfish. Wrecks closer to shore are also holding sheepshead. Flounder are stacked up pretty good around wrecks from about the Chesapeake Light Tower out to the Triangle Wrecks. Boats trolling the oceanfront are catching limits of bluefish, but there have been no reports of any mackerel catches this week. There are still flounder in the bay to be caught and catches have picked up a bit as the waters have cleared some. Spot are still around. That fishery is winding down, but there are still some being caught off of the piers and inside the inlets. Tautog are biting at the CBBT and on other bay structures. There are still some sheepshead holding on and big red drum continue to be caught. Speckled trout action is decent on the flats, inside Back River, and the other speck spots. Most of the fish are little, but they give us some hope for a recovery of this fishery. There are plenty of small gray trout around, especially at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. Striped bass appear to be fairly numerous for school-sized fish. There are a lot of 18-20 inch fish around with some to over 30 inches being caught.
Nags Head
Tw’s Daily Fishing Report for 10-22
Surf Fishing: Plenty of Bluefish, Black Drum and Trout, most of them are throwbacks. This morning the water is calm and clear and hardly any wind. The winds are SW at 5 and the water temp is 66 degrees.
Sound Fishing: The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported small Trout and Stripers.
Pier Fishing:
Avalon: 5 Red Drum, lots of Blues on artificial lures. Plenty of bait in the water.
Nags Head: Small Trout and plenty of Blues caught on Got’chas.
Jennette’s: Bluefish, Gray Trout and Puffers.
Outer Banks: Bluefish, Black Drum, Trout and Sea Mullet.
Oregon Inlet
The Oregon Inlet Fishing Center reports a huge big-eye tuna, at 165 lbs. Anglers also brought in great numbers of black-fin tuna with trophy citation for a 30 lb. catch! There were also scattered catches of yellow-fin and mahi mahi.
In-shore anglers enjoyed a wide variety of catches, great bluefish, sea mullet, shark, and gray trout. There were also multiple red drum citations for catch & release.
Nearshore boats scored with another great day of bluefish catches.
The Headboat, Miss Oregon Inlet, had catches of flounder, blues, sea mullet, sea bass, puffers, spot, croakers, pinfish, and pigfish.
Hatteras Surf
On Tuesday, Red Drum & Tackle noted that Ramp 43 was opened to the Point. From 43 to the Point Black Drum, Sea Mullet, Bluefish, and Puppy Drum were caught on bait mullet or bunker. Ramp 55 had keeper Flounder, Bluefish, and Puppy Drum. Avon had Sea Mullet, Bluefish, Black Drum, and Puppy Drum.
On Wednesday, Ramp 55 south had Puppy Drum, small Speckle Trout, keeper Flounder and Bluefish. North of the Jetties had Puppy Drum. Behind the Motels Bluefish. The Point had Bluefish using bait and glass minnows. Puppy Drum and Sheepshead also caught at the Point.
Hatteras Offshore
On 10/17, Capt. Dave Wilson had some sailfish action. “Yvonne landed one, we pulled off a second one and missed a third. We missed our only wahoo bite. Fortunately my ol’ buddy Spurgeon spotted a tree floating and called me to it. It was loaded with bailers and we made our day! Further to the east the guys had some fair blackfin action and maybe a couple of yellowfins too. On 10-16, the party had a great catch of tuna and dolphin.”