It’s time to catch a few togs’. Tautogs, the fish. They don’t mind the cold weather if you don’t. They put up a decent fight, and they are good to eat.
Some big tautogs are now being caught on the ocean wrecks. Dr. Ken Neill successfully fished the triangle wrecks with Johnny Boyd over the weekend. They kept a few big ones and tagged and released the rest. Four already had tags in them. The largest weighed 10 pounds. I’ve heard anglers are finding Fishbites E-Z Crab strips to be effective.
Our February black sea bass season returns for 2023, last year we didn’t have one.
Rockfish anglers are still finding some large stripers, but it’s all catch and release now. The speckled trout action has slowed. It should get better if it warms up, but the weather forecast calls for colder temps’ in the near term. Water temps are around 47 degrees now.
OBX
Outer Banks North Carolina anglers are picking up some giant bluefin tuna offshore. The bite isn’t gotten red hot yet, but some boats have managed to find some. Along with the bluefin, there have been reports of blackfin tuna, king mackerel and an occasional wahoo.
Inshore fishing has been good on the western side of the sound with plenty of nice trout and a few puppy drum being caught.
In the surf, fishing has been slow for those fishing the beaches north of Oregon Inlet, however to the south from Buxton to Ocracoke there has been a decent amount of puppy drum, scattered black drum, and large sharks caught.
Freshwater
Nothing much has changed. A few big bass are being caught at Anna along with some stripers at mid-lake. It’s still early for crappie and the yellow perch are just beginning to stir. Trout fishing has been surprisingly good and steady in the urban fishing program – lakes stocked near metropolitan areas. The best freshwater fishing continues to come from the Chickahominy Lake.
