By Dr. Ken Neill, III
Big red drum continue to be caught by those fishing bait on the shoals near the mouth of the bay. Nighttime is the best time. More and more big drum are being caught by sight-casters looking for cobia. Puppy drum fishing has been excellent on the flats and inside the inlets. Some nice speckled trout have been caught on Poquoson Flats and in the Mobjack Bay area.
Some flounder are being caught at most all of the normal flounder locations. The largest flounder are coming from the CBBT, with some citation-sized flatfish being caught. Some of the best catches in terms of numbers of keepers are being made around the coastal wrecks. Spadefish can be found over these coastal wrecks, at the Chesapeake Light Tower, at the CBBT and around other structures in the bay. Some of the wrecks are holding more triggerfish. All are holding sea bass.
Nice catches of sheepshead are being made at the CBBT with many weighing double-digits. Spanish mackerel and small bluefish are biting spoons along the oceanfront and throughout the lower bay. Bottom fishing is producing good catches of croaker, decent numbers of spot and some nice sea mullet.
Offshore, the yellowfin tuna bite continues to be good. Some bigeye tuna are also being encountered. More dolphin are showing up. Billfish and wahoo are being caught on occasion. Deep-dropping is productive for both blue-line and golden tilefish.
The cobia fishing is excellent. Both sight-fishing and chumming are producing a lot of cobia. There seem to be a very large number of small cobia in the bay this year. There must have been another very good spawn, which should mean good fishing for years to come. There are plenty of large cobia around also with numerous fish over 70 pounds already landed.
Nags Head
Tw’s reports:
Surf Fishing: A few Sea Mullet, Trout along the beaches with Drum reported in S. Nags Head. The winds are W at 12 and the water temp is 61 degrees. Mostly cloudy, light winds, the ocean is flat, murky water.
Sound Fishing: The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported lots of small Trout Thursday morning, plus some small Drum and Flounder.
Pier Fishing: Avalon: Mullet.
Nags Head: Trout.
Jennette’s: Keeper Sea Mullet, small Bluefish, Flounder and Croaker.
Outer Banks: Skates and Crabs.
Inshore /Near shore Report: The trolling boats had good catches of Spanish. Inshore anglers caught some Sea Mullet, Croakers and Flounder.
Offshore Report: The offshore fleet brought good numbers of Yellowfin back to the docks and some Dolphin.
Hatteras Surf
Red Drum reports: On Tuesday the weather was a little messy. Jack Hyde, 7 years old, caught a 26-inch Puppy Drum last night at the Point around 8. Today, Specks and Puppy Drum are in the Sound. If you like to catch sharks, there have been some nice one at the Point. Hatteras inlet one Puppy 29 inch Puppy Drum caught and released. A few Sea Mullet on the north beaches.
Wednesday morning to early afternoon, we had some rain and not much fishing. This afternoon there were some Sea Mullet from Ramp 38. I weighed 2 citation Sea Mullet and one Pompano that weighed 1-1/2 pounds. Taylor caught and released two 40-inch Sharks. She had a blast reeling them in.
Hatteras Offshore
Heavy rain showers kept inshore anglers in on Wednesday morning. That afternoon, they had decent Red Drum fishing. The Billfish bite was hot for the offshore fleet with 9 Blue Marlin, 4 White Marlin, and 2 Sailfish releases. Dolphin fishing was really good. The Yellowfin Tuna bite was good as well. Blackfin Tuna provided some nice catches and a few Wahoo made it into the fish boxes. Fishing is hot – if you want to get in on the action – call 800-676-4939! We’ll set you up!