It’s a great time to be on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, especially if you’re in a fishing boat. The Oregon Inlet Fishing Center says that it’s great fall fishing right now.
Norma notes that the fish are cooperating after the storm.
OFFSHORE: Anglers, including those from a make-up charter group, brought in good numbers of mahi mahi, near limits of yellow-fin tuna, and good numbers of black-fin tuna. Multiple wahoo were landed in as two different anglers earned citations for their wahoo catches at 40 and 44 pounds respectively. There were 2 white marlin released on Oct. 12.
IN-SHORE: Anglers enjoyed a wide variety of catches today bringing in some nice bluefish and some puppy drum.
NEARSHORE: Anglers enjoyed a busy day of fishing and brought in some nice numbers of bluefish.
HEADBOAT: Miss Oregon Inlet sails one trip daily, departing at 8 a.m. and returning approximately 12:30 p.m. Morning anglers had catches of flounder, sea mullet, sea bass, puffers, croakers, pinfish, and pigfish.
Call the Fishing Center at 800-272-5199! Visit our website oregon-inlet.com to view charter availability and book online. To buy tickets in advance for Miss Oregon Inlet, please call or visit missoregoninlet.com! We look forward to seeing you!!
Virginia Saltwater
Dr. Julie Ball reports that although the recent stretch of severe weather and flooding is history, weather is always an issue this time of year. And just as things are calming down, another cold front will pass through the area over the Columbus Day weekend.
Red drum action was a hit for surf and pier anglers during the nearly two week stretch of stormy weather, with daily catches of big reds coming from most lower Bay and oceanfront shorelines and piers. Many bulls measured well over 48-inches. Once boats were able to make it back out after the blow, the bite around the islands of CBBT picked up where it left off, with one boat using live bait reporting three released drum. Both live and fresh cut bait are good offerings for red drum. Puppy drum are also starting to come back around in the lower Bay inlets this week.
Spot also ruled during the recent blow, with anglers reporting incredible action all along the Southern Bay shorelines, inlets, and piers. Folks are still finding decent spot activity this week, with bloodworms the bait of choice. Some croaker are also hitting in Lynnhaven, Rudee, and Little Creek inlets on bloodworms and squid.
As water temperatures cool this month, striped bass will become more active in lower Bay waters and inlets. Expect improving striper fishing after dark along all the lower Bay crossings, with school-sized fish hitting in the light-lines, especially along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. Right now, shallow water and surf and pier anglers are finding some school-sized rockfish along bulkheads and piers, especially at night. Speckled trout, with some exceeding 16-inches, are responding to a variety of lures in many of these same backwater locations and shorelines.
Inshore tautog activity will also evolve on many lower Bay structures and along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel tubes and pilings as water temperatures continue to drop. Look for some late season sheepshead in these same locations, especially over the tubes of the CBBT. Deeper wrecks will earn more attention this month, with some nicer tog and ample numbers of respectable triggerfish available for the taking. Sea bass are also on these same structures, but you must throw them back until the 22nd of this month.
Flounder fishing will remain poor until the water clears, as many boats opt for offshore wrecks, with both inshore and offshore structures harboring big flatfish.
Deep dropping will gain momentum as fewer species are available inshore. Boats can find good numbers of blueline tilefish, golden tilefish, a variety of grouper, barrelfish, and black bellied rosefish along the Canyon edges once they can get out. Once the seas calmed this week, boats making it offshore found plenty of bailer dolphin and some wahoo. Yellowfin tuna are still a possibility, and swordfish catches should improve as temperatures cool. A big 220-pound swordfish weighed in at The Fishing Center this week.
Nags Head
TW’s Bait And Tackle reports on Oct. 13:
There has been a change in the local beach driving permits. You need a permit to drive the Kill Devil Hills beach this year. The Nags Head permit and the Kill Devil Hills permit has been combined in to one. When you purchase a Nags Head Beach Permit, it will also include Kill Devil Hills. The cost remains at $25.00. They can be purchase from Nags Head Town Office or TW’s Tackle in Nags Head. The permit is good from Oct 1 to May 1.
Surf Fishing Report: A beautiful day on the Outer Banks on Tuesday. Surf fishing improved some yesterday. John Totels checked in with news of Bluefish and a throwback 17-inch Puppy Drum in S. Nags Head. There were Trout and Bluefish beached north of the inlet and a report of Trout caught in near Avalon pier. Also some nice Sea Mullet. This morning there are lots of Trout fishermen on the beach early. Early is good. We have calm seas this morning.
The winds are SW at 13 and the water temp is 68 degrees.
Sound Fishing Report: The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported a really good day on Monday. A tremendous number of Trout were caught with some keepers. Also Puppy Drum, Stripers and Flounder.
Pier Fishing Report:
Avalon: Specks, Black Drum, Trout and Bluefish. Caught Red Drum last night.
Nags Head: Caught 3 Drum last night, small stuff this morning.
Jennette’s: Bluefish, Spot and Trout. Released a 44 in Drum this morning. Caught 4 Red Drum yesterday.
Outer Banks: Spot, Trout, Bluefish and Sea Mullet. Caught 6 Red Drum yesterday
Hatteras Surf
On Monday Red drum & Tackle filed this report: Small Black Drum at Frisco Pier. Avon had Sea Mullet and Bluefish. Ramp 32 had one 32-inch Drum, Bluefish and Sea Mullet. Fishing was a little slow today but tomorrow will be better. We have fresh Mullet and Bunker. The wind will be SW tomorrow which should bring the Drum Bite on. Have a Great Day Fishing.
Hatteras Offshore
Capt. Dave Wilson sailed on 10/12 with good results. “Fortunately the northeast winds and thunderstorms dissipated and the day turned out to be quite nice. There was a report of some good yellowfin action in the deep yesterday, so I was anxious to go look around. Unfortunately there was no sign of life out there today. While I was offshore roaming around most of the other guys were back on the break catching wahoos. We worked back in and landed two out of five wahoos to go with a citation blackfin and a handful of dolphin.
Most of the day was pretty nice on Oct. 10, but by afternoon the wind had breezed up out of the northeast 20-25. Fishing was good again today. We wound up with another nice catch of dolphin, bailers and gaffers. There were a few wahoo bites further south.