Atlantic Coast surf and shore fishing

Well, I actually stayed in Avon thanks to the hospitality of an old high school friend, but most of my fishing was on Ocracoke Island.  In  years past, when I made more frequent, short weekend trips to the Outer Banks, Ocracoke was an early spring favorite.  On southerly winds in early April, chances are good for finding hungry spring bluefish hitting lures by day and big drum on the shoals by night.  This past weekend lined up nicely, in the middle of a long stretch of unseasonably warm weather.

I scraped out a nice schoolie striper at a favorite soundside location on the way in Friday and dropped another, both on a nightstalker mirrolure, but the action was slow and it was getting late.  Ferried over to Ocracoke Saturday morning for a long day of fishing and after a little prospecting found a decent bite of scrappy 1-4 pound bluefish on small metal lures in one of the nice holes just north of South Point.  The fish were mostly cruising along the inside of a bar and were fairly scattered.   They were definitely spring blues picking around the bottom, as I need to switch to a slightly heavier lure and a slowish, halting retrieve to get hook-ups.  Landed 7 and lost a few that shook the hook – plenty sporty on the trout rod!  Unfortunately, that was the end of my action for the weekend.  There was no repeat bite on the falling tide in the afternoon and the night bite at South Point didn’t materialize despite a surging south wind and some nice surf.  Sunday was also a bust; I got to the Island late, around high tide and again, the fall did not produce.  I wound up fishing a nice break in the bar between Ramp 55 and Hatteras Inlet in the late afternoon, but my bait (and lure) did not get touched.

Ocracoke is shaped up nicely.  Its always interesting to see how the ends of the island have weathered the winter.  The north end continues to gain sand and I must say I liked it much, much better when the channel was chewing up against the vegetated banks – great flounder fishing off those banks and often some nice action for fluke, gray trout and blues in the deep channel a short toss away.  The south end also can vary a lot from year to year – this year is more of the classic South Point formation, with a well-defined inlet, shoals at the mouth and a shallow sand bar running a few hundred yards up the beach.   The ocean beach at Ocracoke can sometimes suffer from a mild slope, but there are some well-developed holes and sloughs along the beach that should hold fish at most tides.

South End

North End - look at all that sand!

Despite some incredible, warm weather, fishing has been a bit slow to pick up yet this spring.  As the saying goes, it should bust open any day now.  The best surf fishing thus far is, not surprisingly, on Ocracoke Island.  Ocracoke almost always has the warmest winter surf temperatures in the  state and is the first to fire up once the water temps push into the low 60s, where its been holding for a week or two on the south end.  The Hatteras Island water temps are cooler, but I heard the Point hit the 60 degree mark today.  Farther north, up at Duck, the water temps have been fluctuating wildly between the mid-40s and low-50s, and in-between, at Rodanthe, Hatteras Island Fishing Pier is at about 56. The south-central NC beaches are holding in the mid-upper 50s…close, but not quite where they need to be just yet.

Ocracoke has seen some pretty good, but inconsistent, fishing for big drum (just a few), puppy drum, and a decent class of 1-5 pound spring bluefish.  Both the drum and bluefish have been hitting lures as well as cut bait.  For whatever reason, gold Hopkins lures are very popular on Ocracoke and a variety of gold metal lures have been working well.  This past weekend, most of the action came from some of the nice points and holes north of South Point, rather than in the inlet proper.  As baitfish start pouring in, the ebb and flow of the inlet currents will start attracting more of the action.  Right now, it seems like the blues are patrolling the holes looking for a stray meal.  Hatteras Island from the Inlet to the Point has had some decent catches of blowtoads along with a few sea mullet, puppy drum and bluefish.  The north beaches are still slow with sharks and skates, along with some nice catches of croaker reported from Nag’s Head. The southern and central NC beaches are reporting scattered catches of all of the above, with sea mullet attracting most of the attention so far.

Look for the bluefish action to explode all over the coast once water temps consistently hit the mid-60s.  If the past few springs are any indication, we should have loads of fish of all sizes.  Big drum should start hitting more consistently as well and I expect to start hearing of some speckled trout and puppy drum catches from the beaches north of Oregon Inlet as well as the sounds in the next couple weeks.

Not much fishing to report as yet, save for some puppy drum on bait and lures on Ocracoke, but the water temps are steadily rising.  Upper 40s at Duck Pier is quite an increase over just a few weeks ago.  Pretty surface water temperature map from Rutgers today with the forecast below it and I expect to hear of a good drum bite from Ocracoke and maybe even on up to False Point and Cape Point on Hatteras Island.  Stay tuned…

Rest Of Today…SW winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft dominant period 10 seconds.

Tonight…SW winds 10 kt. Seas 2 to 4 ft dominant period 9 seconds.

Sun…S winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft.

Sun Night…S winds 10 to 15 kt…increasing to 15 to 20 kt after midnight. Seas 2 to 4 ft building to 5 to 6 ft late. A chance of showers and tstms…mainly after midnight.

Mon…S winds 20 to 25 kt. Seas 6 to 9 ft. A chance of tstms. Showers likely.

Mon Night…SW winds 20 to 25 kt…diminishing to 15 to 20 kt after midnight. Seas 5 to 8 ft. Showers likely with a chance of tstms in the evening.

Well, I feel obligated to post something about the fishing, but really, there is almost nothing to tell.  The Hatteras Island puppy drum bite did indeed end just after my last in-person reports in mid-late January.  However, the drop-off could largely be due to the weather which has been absolutely miserable…it will be interesting to see what the fishing is like if and when the weather moderates again.  Surf water temperatures along much of the North Carolina coast have gotten really cold, but the south-facing Hatteras and Ocracoke Island beaches are still holding around 50 F.  The surf north of Cape Hatteras is just frigid, in the mid-upper 30s.  And south of the Outer Banks, the surf temps are in the mid-upper 40s.  There are still some pups coming from these south-central NC beaches when the surf conditions allow for sight-casting lures to the schools.  Otherwise, I don’t expect much to report from the surf till the weather improves and water temperatures warm a bit.

In non-surf fishing news, striper action for boats out of Oregon Inlet has been good, with large fish, including a potential state record caught today.  Sounds like the bluefin tuna bite has been good the past week or two as well.

More often than not, my fishing trip  – or in this case, season – ends by making just one more cast into a cold, lifeless ocean, in desperate hopes of enticing a stray fish to hit my lure.  Not this time! The last two weeks – which incidentally are likely the last two weeks of my fishing season till spring – have been sensational.  I wrapped up last night, with a solid hit from yet another upper slot puppy drum, one of well over a hundred I’ve caught in the past couple weeks.  Yesterday was reportedly a “slow” day, but I had little trouble finding and landing over a dozen fish – and pulling off at least double that – all but one, after dark.  But last night was actually pretty pedestrian by the standards set over the past two weeks, so let’s take it from that epic bite (see the last post below) from last Thursday…

On the heels of Thursday’s fabulous all-day puppy drum bite, Friday’s fish were more scattered, but still a blast.  After a solid morning bite near the pier, the name of the game was sight-casting to smaller schools of pups (maybe 10-40 fish per school) cruising the surf zone from Frisco to Hatteras Inlet.  The fish were easily visible in the waves as the tide fell and it was a pretty easy drive along the beach to scan the shore break and find your own pod of fish to work.  Very short but precise casts were the ticket to entice hits out of these fast moving schools.  After dark I waded into the calm surf with my headlamp illuminating the water and was enraptured by the schools of fish I saw – lots of pups, but also a speck, a black drum, a cob mullet and some scattered baitfish.  So cool to see what they do up close and personal.

Frisco Pier at sunset

Saturday started very slow but as the morning progressed, a growing weekend crowd started following a huge school of pups on the prowl in the surf zone.  The fish apparently started at the Pier and finally stopped about a mile south of Cape Point, almost 5 miles later!  (I think the school found some bait as the air started smelling very fishy once they stopped)  I joined the fun near Ramp 49.  Yes, it was combat fishing, but it was a blast.  Dark outlines of fish swimming along the shoreline like a 100 yard long school of finger mullet added to the excitement and the scene was much like an old fashioned bluefish blitz with everyone and their grandmother getting a piece of the action.  I still don’t understand how people can wade in 49 degree water in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt!  After the fish finally stopped moving, part of the school stuck around one of the holes, creating some nice afternoon action for the handful of us who stopped chasing.

Weekend crowds, but lots of fish

Everyone gets in on the action!

My Avon rental has come to an end after nearly two months and I couldn’t have dreamed of more exciting conclusion, especially after such a miserable December.  Last week, in particular, was one of the finest stretches of Outer Banks weather and surf conditions I can remember, and likely the best sustained fishing I’ve experienced in over 15 years of fishing there.  So often, the season peters out, leaving me wanting more; this year, I can say I’m totally satiated going into our brief Carolina off-season.

Boy, I’m really reluctant to use the word “epic”; however, Thursday’s bite was worthy of the title. Since its been posted on a bunch of tackle shop websites, I’m not betraying any confidences by saying that Frisco Pier is where this thing went down. What made this day special was that you could see the school; usually just a red tint to the water, but sometimes the sun would backlight a breaking wave just right to give us a glimpse of the tightly packed school of drum we were on.

The fish started as a few smaller schools cruising the sloughs and bars just north of the pier (accompanied by at least two big, 20-pound plus stripers I saw caught), but then coalesced as a big school which basically stayed in one general location – a bar about 500 yards up the beach – from 9:00 am till dark.  Hundreds of fish were caught.  I estimate that I caught around 40 pups.  My big fish was 13 pounds, but the vast majority were in the 5-7 pound range – mid-slot fish.  Thank God for the Boga (thank my parents actually for the very well timed Christmas present) or my hands would be even more shredded than they already are.  Many of the pups were snagged, but many were hooked in the mouth.  Most of mine were mouth hooked; the secret of course is to not jig your rod so hard – just a short twich and a very slow retrieve.  Its more appealing to the fish and less likely to stick in the side of a nearby pup.  The mouth-hooked fish are easier and more sporty to fight.

At dark, the big school seemed to disperse, but I whacked a few more pups closer to the pier after dark and also snagged a most welcomed, respectable 18″ trout.

Note that I didn’t use the word blitz (although many have used that word).  To me a blitz must include at least three prerequisites:  fish on every cast or almost every cast, visibly feeding fish (fish thrashing or busting water) and bait being chased into the wash or onto the beach.  This was an awesome school of fish just chilling out on the bottom, waiting for a meal to crawl their way.  But it was a great bite – epic.

The scene north of Frisco Pier, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010

The dark, reddish spot to the right of the bar behind the breaking wave is a school of puppy drum

Combat fishing, but fun

Clear water - yea!

One of many pretty fish

I’m in Avon and puppy drum are everywhere.  From this hole…

North Beach

…to this hole:

South Beach

Fishing, so far, has been outstanding with lots and lots of puppy drum with a few speckled trout mixed in.  The trout are there (the nets tell us so), but they are just not as aggressive as the pups in the borderline water temperatures.  Since last night, I’ve landed 16 pups and one trout and pulled off countless numbers of fish.  The pups are mid-over slot fish in the 22-32″ range.  Great fun on trout gear.  My trout was 19″, but I saw some heftier and some smaller fish in a net today.

The conditions are finally perfect for exploring the many beautiful holes these winter storms have produced.  Time to rest up for a day of my favorite kind of fishing.

Tues. evening with frostbit fingers

Wednesday's first pup

Water temps are very low for early January, but the worst of the cold spell should be over and it looks like we are in for a nice, seasonable warm-up over the next couple weeks.  Coastal temps are varying from about 40 north to the low-mid 50s along the south facing Outer Banks beaches, to the mid-upper 40s in southeastern NC, but they should start creeping up soon.  The onslaught of frigid weather over the past week and a half has triggered some of the best surf fishing of the season, with big schools of puppy drum feeding in the surf zone in several locations along the Carolina coast.  Some of the nicest surf trout of the season have been mixed in, but its been harder to get them to hit in the borderline water temperatures and a number have been snagged rather than hooked in the mouth.

Cold fronts are a big driver of our fall surf fishing season, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a cold spell having such a dramatic effect this late in the season.  Its quite ironic that the prime months of November and December were so slow and some of the best fishing is coming in mid-January with water temperatures along many beaches too cold for a bite.  The thought is that the dangerously cold inshore water pushed a big slug of fish out of the sounds and along the surf.  With a nice bunch of fish along the beaches, a warming trend and some much more serene surf conditions than we’ve seen most of the fall, the next days and weeks should be very interesting.  I’m heading to Avon tomorrow and should have some first-hand reports through the rest of the week.

In Monday’s report, I said that I thought pups would be a good bet on the southeast facing Hatteras Island beaches (south beach through Ramp 55 to the Inlet) when the weather moderated and I’m happy to say “told ya so” today.  Yesterday (Wed.) was apparently a stellar day for pups along that section of beach.  And, lo and behold, there were nice trout mixed in!  One of the best reports in a while.   Hopefully those fish will stick around the surf zone as I am planning a trip next week which looks to be seasonably warm.

Onto the trout kill in the creeks, opinions vary as to the severity of this particular event.  The next few days should be particularly telling, as snow or other frozen precipitation (as forecast for tonight) can wreak additional havoc on the water temperatures, as can the melting of ice that’s formed on the surface.  We’ll have a better read next week.

Fishing is at a standstill during one of the coldest winters in recent memory.  Despite the frigid temperatures, the Rutger’s site still shows some relatively warm water along the southeast facing beaches of Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands.  If and when the weather moderates, these will be the beaches to fish.  It looks like we might start seeing some more reasonable and seasonable temperatures next week.  Surf temperatures are in the low-mid 40s north to about 50 south, with those aforementioned beaches pushing toward the upper 50s.

With subfreezing temperatures settling in on the entire state, the inside waters are dangerously cold and there have been unfortunate reports of widespread trout kills.  Most of the reports I’ve seen have come from the lower Neuse area, but I’ve seen some photos of frozen banks along the sounds of the Outer Banks, so I’d guess the fish are taking a hit in the creeks in the Albemarle/Pamlico area too.  We’ve been riding a long wave of relatively warm winters without any major trout kills.  Accordingly, many, including myself, expected this to be a banner year for specks, but rather it has been a disappointment.  Our expectations will certainly now be much lower next fall.  With very strict gray trout limits looming due to their recent population collapse and the ongoing speckled trout kill, us trout-hunters might be in for a tough year or two.  Rest assured, it will turn around and surprises always abound in the ocean!

Once the weather does finally moderate, I expect fair puppy drum fishing along the south beach of Hatteras and on Ocracoke Island.  A few trout might also be around (the few that appear to be in the surf zone should weather the cold front just fine) and who knows, the slow onset of cold water inside may have even pushed a few more into the surf or down from the Chesapeake.  Just after Christmas prior to the arctic blast, there were reports of big trout around Masonboro Inlet between Wrightsville Beach and Masonboro Island, but the water temps have dropped a few more degrees since.  Big stripers are plentiful in the Chesapeake area, just outside of Rudee Inlet and off of Cape Henry, and the Oregon Inlet charters are still finding them some days.  The wind and weather have been the biggest challenge.