The best thing to do on the Outer Banks, particularly at Nags Head, is to pull up a lawn chair beside the sound, pour a glass of white wine and watch the sunset. Each one is spectacular. The next best thing is to open the curtains on your ocean side room and watch the sunrise. Those two events make the 5-hour drive from Central Virginia worthwhile, but there are lots of other things to do and one involves a fishing rod.
Fall is an ideal time to surf fish at OBX. Within a 100 foot cast into the surf lurk pompano, croakers, flounder, spot, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, speckled trout, sea mullet and puppy drum, to name a few. If you’d rather stay dry, there are 4 piers in the area with a little better vantage point. On the sound side, there is good fishing on the Little Bridge to Manteo and a good spot to fish on the other side below the bridge.
A few pointers.
If you are not a veteran saltwater angler, one of the best things you can do is stop at either of the TW’s Tackle Stores on the highway and ask them. These guys have a daily pulse on what’s going on. They can tell you what’s biting (or not biting) and what to use for bait. Pick their brains and save a lot of time of futile experimenting.
I also have a couple of tips.
First, don’t use hooks and gear big enough to land a great white shark if only the spot are biting. A smaller hook will catch both big and small fish, but not the reverse. Second, if you only have one bait, shrimp is the universal fish catcher. If possible, go to a grocery store and buy fresh, local shrimp that has the shell on and has not been deveined. It stays on the hook much better. Another great choice for bait is a GULP Jig or Swimming Mullet. GULP is Berkley’s line of injected, artificial bait and it works like the real thing – sometimes better. A GULP jig will catch stripers, blues, flounder, trout and puppies – no problem.
Finally, if you want a super, duper captain, call Reese Stecher with Beach Bum Fishing. He’s a Virginia Tech grad and fishes full time, not just on weekends. If it’s happening in the water on the Outer Banks, he’s aware of it. I have enjoyed many spectacular days seaside and sound side with Reese over the past 20 years. There is excellent fishing out of Oregon Inlet in the Gulf Stream, but for less than half the cost and without a 2 ½ hour boat ride each way, you can fish with Capt. Stecher all day with no long boats rides and catch anything from a 5 pound flounder to an 80-pound cobia. Contact him at www.beachbumfishing.com or (252) 449-0232.