If you’ve waited until late July to take your summer vacation at a Nags Head cottage – your timing is very good. Capt. Reese Stecher of Beach Bum Guide Service says his parties have been catching lots of fish and a wide variety. Just offshore, Stecher has been putting clients on hard fighting amberjacks and the Mahi-Mahi are also close in. Some near shore Mahi’s have been gaffers. The amberjacks are holding just offshore over some wrecks. The cobia bite has been steady for the past few weeks. Stecher says they hooked up with five up to 50 pounds last Thursday. Boats are also bumping into big red drum in the ocean waters out of Oregon Inlet.
The speckled trout bite has been red-hot, lots and lots of fish and quite a few keepers. The puppy drum are also hitting inshore and flounder have been scattered.
A 26-inch striper was caught this week in the sound. That is a really big striper for those waters.
Nags Head fishing? Inshore or near shore, it all sounds good.
Contact Reese Stecher at www.beachbumfishing.com
(252) 449-0232.
Nags Head Surf
TW’s reports Sea Mullet, Croaker, Spot and Bluefish off the beaches. A nice Speckled Trout and a Spanish were caught Tuesday.
Sound Fishing: The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported Trout, some keepers, Black Drum, Puppy Drum, Flounder and Stripers.
Pier Fishing:
Avalon: Spades, Triggers and Puffers.
Nags Head: Spadefish, Sheepshead, Blues and Spanish.
Jennette’s: Spadefish, Spot, Bluefish and Black Sea Bass.
Outer Banks: Blues, and Perch and small Trout.
Inshore/Near shore Report:
A good variety of fish were caught inshore including Specks, Red Drum, King Mackerel, Amberjack, Sea Bass, Bluefish and Albacore. Near shore boats also had a good day catching Spanish, Bluefish, Amberjack and Albacore. The Headboat caught sea mullet, flounder, gray trout, bluefish, sea robin, pigs, pins, puffers, and stripers.
Oregon Inlet Offshore
On Tuesday, the Fishing Center noted that anglers brought in good numbers of yellow fin – some were some real beauties. Some gaffer Mahi’s also found their way into the fish boxes. Shane Wines had his sailfish release .
On Wednesday, there were lots of yellow fin tuna reported, plus a few Mahi-Mahi and wahoo.
Rebecca Dickerson had a White Marlin release
The Miss Oregon Inlet Headboat anglers kept the mates hopping with nice catches of sea mullet, flounder, gray trout, bluefish, sea robin, pigs, pins, puffers and stripers.
Virginia Piers
Lynnhaven: Pier jockeys are catching spot, bluefish and trout with a few croaker and sea mullet thrown in the mix. Excellent crabbing.
Virginia Beach: It’s spot, croaker and sea mullet with Spanish mackerel and bluefish showing at first light.
Sandbridge – Spot, sea mullet, croaker and flounder are the mainstays, with Spanish mackerel and bluefish caught on plugs. Cobia hookups are coming on a regular basis.
Chincoteague
Lots of of keeper flounder are being caught at Queens Sound, Cockle Creek and near 2TL Buoy. The inlet mouth has lots of smaller flounder, while bottom fishermen are taking croaker, a few spot, puffers, snapper blues and sea mullet. Sea bass are plentiful around the bridge pilings and on the old oyster beds. Surf anglers are taking spot on bloodworms.
Offshore, bluefin tuna action is picking up at the Parking Lot. Chunking butterfish and trolling cedar plugs are producing bluefins to 100-pounds. Also biting are yellow fin tuna and some bigeye tuna. King mackerel, large bluefish and an occasional dolphin round out the catches.
Virginia Saltwater
Dr. Julie Ball
In the bay, it’s cobia and flounder.
Cobia action is noteworthy, with anglers reporting a dozen or more hook-ups in a day’s fishing. Plenty of fish up to 30-pounds are taking offerings by sight casters in the lower Bay waters and along the oceanfront. Chummers battling the heat continue to hold their own, though lots of trash fish are competing for their baits.
The summer flounder scene continues to draw attention, with some doormat size flatfish hitting the scales. Anglers working structure with jigs and Gulp Jerk Shads are scoring along the Bay Bridge Tunnel pilings and tubes. The 4th and 1st island areas of the CBBT and Back River Reef were the best flattie hot spots this week. Several boats are also finding good hauls of nice fish on inshore and near shore wrecks. A few keepers are also responding in Lynnhaven and Rudee Inlets, while the Eastern Shore seaside inlets continue to hold their own.
Along the Bridge Tunnel, sheepshead anglers are catching nice fish with fiddler crabs and clams. Triggerfish and Spadefish are biting as well. The inshore wrecks are producing good catches of sea bass, triggerfish and flounder.
Spanish mackerel, some citations, continue to dominate the trolling scene along the ocean front., King mackerel have been reported. Red drum are still providing top water action as they school around the mouth of the Bay and along the Virginia Beach coastline.
Croaker catches are reported from the HRBT to Cape Henry. Decent fish up to a pound are biting near Buoy 42 and off of Kiptopeke. Some nice fish are also coming from Rudee and Lynnhaven Inlets, along with some spot. Puppy drum and speckled trout are also still possibilities in the shallows and inlets.
Virginia tarpon are drawing the hard-core tarpon hunters to the backwaters of Oyster, with reports of sightings and hook-ups.
Deep dropping tactics are producing blueline tilefish, golden tilefish, black-bellied rosefish and some jumbo sea bass. Amberjack are available near offshore wrecks and at the Southern Towers. The offshore bite is still good, with the billfish scene improving daily. Boats are raising a decent number of white marlin in spreads recently, but those using live-baiting techniques are out-performing others. A smattering of blue marlin are adding some excitement for the blue water trollers. Yellow fin tuna in the 50-pound class are hitting in the Canyon, with school-sized Bluefin and bigeye tuna ranging to 100-pounds rounding out catches. Mahi catches are guaranteed right now, with some gaffers up to 50-pounds boated. Wahoo catches are becoming more common.
Hatteras Surf
Tuesday Fishing Report
07-19-2016, 09:29 PM
Red Drum & Tackle said it was rainy Tuesday and the fishing was slow. There were a few Spanish on Ramp 38 caught in the morning. Later, there were some Bluefish caught on lures across from the motels. Small Sea Mullet and Croakers were up and down the beaches. The inshore boats were still doing well with Puppy Drum and Trout.
On Wednesday, things picked up. Ramp 55 had Pompano and Sea Mullet. When the tide started to change, Hatteras Inlet produced lots of Bluefish. Ramp 44 had a good bite on Spanish in the evening. Carla Meekins beached a nice 3-10 Spanish along with a two-pounder.
Hatteras Blue water
Hatteras Harbor said that fishing was on the slow side on Tuesday with reports of some Wahoos, a few Dolphin and some Blackfin Tuna. Bottom fishing was decent for Grouper and Amberjack. Lots of billfish are being seen in the spreads. Some Blue Marlin and Sailfish were released. In the afternoon. Spanish Mackerel, red drum and Bluefish were biting near shore
On Wednesday, there were excellent catches of Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish in the Pamlico Sound.