Northern Beaches – December 2022
Madison, of TW’s Bait and Tackle, reports that even with ocean waters steadily cooling, anglers have found successes while surf fishing the Nags Head area beaches. Bottom rigs have helped produce strikes from a wide variety of sea mullet, black drum, pufferfish, bluefish, puppy drum, and speckled trout.
The Little Bridge anglers are locating some speckled trout, especially when getting out at first light. Striped bass and puppy drum round out the bridge fishing catches.
Soundside fishing has been fairly productive, with anglers still finding both slot-sized red drum and the occasional big drum around.
Some nice-sized speckled trout are being caught inside the inlets and by wade fishing the soundside shoreline down Hatteras Island (mostly between Rodanthe and Buxton).
The northern island bridges have started to produce some good striped bass action.
Offshore fishing has been spotty as weather patterns have kept most boats inshore. When weather windows open, anglers can expect to see a mixed bag of the tuna species.
Kelly Hogan, of Nags Head, hooked this striped bass on a chartreuse bucktail near the Manns Harbor Bridge.
Aaron, of Carolina Sunrise Charters, reports that fishing has been steady along the beaches and back in the sound.
Surf anglers have bene finding speckled trout and red drum eating cut mullet or shrimp in deeper sloughs along the beaches. The action has seemed to be best in the times just before low tide.
The soundside anglers have been able to find a few schools of drum back in the shallows. Both spoons and popping cork setups have been best at enticing strikes.
Speckled trout have mostly started to set up in the backs of creeks where they will hold over for the winter. Anglers targeting these fish will find success by slowly retrieving the smaller MirrOlure MirrOdine suspending plugs. This goes with all the inshore species—as the water cools down, the angler’s approach needs to slow down as well.
Anglers running offshore have been catching good numbers of king mackerel and a mixed bag of tuna.
Hunter, of Fishing Unlimited, reports that surf anglers have mostly been catching sea mullet.
Fishing cut shrimp down off the old Oregon Inlet Bridge has been producing black drum.
The Little Bridge has seen some speckled trout action, with most fish being caught both early and late in the day. There are keepers around, but most of the fish have been on the smaller side.
Soaking bottom rigs from the pier is producing puppy drum and an assortment of smaller bottom fish species.
Andy, of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, reports that tuna have made up a majority of the offshore action, with limits of yellowfin tuna and scattered blackfin coming back to the docks when boats make it out.
Some good pockets of mahi are around, too, which has been a nice bonus for anglers, and a few wahoo round out the daily counts.
Meredith, of Pirate’s Cove Marina, reports that tuna fishing has been good, with anglers catching mixed bags of yellowfin and blackfin tuna.
With the cooler offshore water temperatures, there is also the occasional wahoo mixed in.
Some anglers have started to make runs out deep to drop for swordfish.
Jim, of Nags Head Pier, reports that bottom fishing has remained steady to close out the fishing season at the pier. Anglers have been catching a mixed bag of speckled trout, sea mullet, pufferfish, and a few bluefish.
John, of Bob’s Bait and Tackle, reports that anglers have still been able to find plenty of action out along the beachfronts when looking to take advantage of a good weather pattern.
Speckled trout are staged up in the deeper beachfront holes and around the area’s piers.
Bottom rigs tipped with fresh shrimp have produced a variety of catches, including black drum, red drum, bluefish, sea mullet, gray trout, and spot.
Inshore anglers are starting to find some striped bass action around the area’s bridges, and there are scattered white perch in other locales.
Down around Oregon Inlet, speckled trout are still on the inshore flats.
Anglers looking to fish over the winter months can find action along the beaches. Cut baits should generate bites from dogfish sharks, skates, and the occasional red drum.
Jeff, of Albemarle Fishing Charters, reports that there has been a bunch of good striped bass fishing around the mouth of the Pasquotank River. With a keeper season open, anglers are having success trolling 3/8 oz. Rat-L-Traps around structure in the 8-9’ water depths. The river areas have been holding better numbers of fish than structure further out into the sound.
The river mouth areas should produce action well into the winter, with only bad weather requiring that anglers move upriver into the more sheltered areas. It won’t be until the early stretches of spring, though, when anglers see the stripers start to move into a spawning pattern.
Grey, of Hyde Guides, reports that there has been some good speckled trout fishing going on in the mainland area’s creeks. Most have been a fun class of 15-18” fish, with some days anglers finding groups of larger fish (to 4+ lbs.).
There has been some solid sight-casting action for red drum around the sound. Anglers have had a lot of success with soft plastic baits such as the Z-Man Kicker CrabZ.
On calmer days, there is also the opportunity to catch some nice gray trout around hard or shell bottoms in the 7-15’ depth range throughout the sound. Both jigs and fresh shrimp will work in enticing a few bites.
Moving into the coming winter season, look for the puppy drum action to stick around until waters drop under that 50-degree mark, and speckled trout continue to make a reliable target for anglers headed back into the mainland creeks. Go with MirrOlures and similar suspending lures.
Also, trolling the bridges and structured areas in the lower section of river (below Plymouth) can provide plenty of striped bass action (and some reprieve from winds).
