Atlantic Coast surf and shore fishing

Water temps bumped up a bit, especially south of Cape Hatteras (check out the surface water temp plot below) ranging from high 40s way north to low 60s mid-coast, but the weather and winds generally still won’t cooperate.  When they do, a few good fish have been caught.  Puppy drum fishing near Cape Point was good on some easterly winds Christmas Eve and Day and at least one big striper was landed.  Speaking of stripers, the nearshore charters out of Oregon Inlet have been scoring with easy limits the past few days.  I don’t know how far the boats are running, but there clearly are some fish in our waters.  I heard a report of what were likely big blues working the suds in Nag’s Head Sunday morning, but no one was there to fish them.  I’ve been in Avon since Saturday night and all I’ve landed was a small flounder Sunday morning.  The wind was calm Sunday, but there was a big swell that made plugging and grubbing a challenge (though the surfers were loving it).  Today (Monday), the wind was back up to 25 kt with muddy water all over; even the dogsharks were scarce.  Fishing is much the same along the rest of the coast and the forecast doesn’t look promising.

Surface water temperatures - 12/28/09