Northern Beaches April 10, 2014
Paul Collins and his son with a 478 lb., 97″ bluefin tuna that inhaled a ballyhoo offshore of Oregon Inlet while they were fishing with Capt. Lee Collins on the charterboat “Strike ‘Em” out of the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center.
Betty, of TW’s Tackle, reports that anglers are starting to see some signs of life in the spring fishing. Anglers are still hooking puppy drum around the southern parts of Hatteras Island, but some are also now being caught on the Nags Head beachfront around Oregon Inlet. A citation-class bull red was also released at Hatteras Inlet last weekend, so the spring big red bite shouldn’t be too far away. Both cut baits and shrimp on bottom rigs and soft plastics pinned to jigheads are fooling the puppy drum.
Panfish are also showing up along the beachfront, and anglers caught some healthy sea mullet and a few pufferfish around Ramp 43 last weekend as well. Shrimp and cut baits on bottom rigs are the way to fool the tasty bottom feeders.
The Oregon Inlet offshore fleet is still connecting with bluefin tuna when they can make it offshore. Most are falling for trolled ballyhoo and skirted lures, but anglers can also hook up with the big tunas while dropping vertical jigs and working topwater poppers around fish visible on the depthfinder or feeding on the surface.
A few yellowfin tuna are also around and falling for anglers’ baits.
Bottom fishing offshore is producing fast action with delicious tilefish.
Capt. David Peck, of Skiligal Sportfishing, with an upper-slot puppy drum he hooked on a Gulp bait beneath a popping cork while fishing the sound near Oregon Inlet Fishing Center.
Mike, of Jennette’s Pier, reports that anglers are still catching plenty of dogfish and skates while bottom fishing from the pier, but the puppy drum have also returned. All the bottom-feeding fish are falling for shrimp and cut baits pinned to bottom rigs.
Anglers also caught some hickory shad over the past weekend.
The water is 44 degrees.
Deborah, of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, reports that the boats are still finding action with bluefin tuna offshore when the sea’s calm enough for boats to make the run. Trolling ballyhoo and skirted lures has been fooling most of the fish, but some of the boats are also finding action with artificial squids dangling from green stick gear. Dropping vertical jigs around fish visible on the sounder and casting topwater poppers to those chasing bait on the surface are also effective and allow anglers to hook up with the fish on lighter gear.
Some yellowfin tuna are also feeding offshore and biting trolled baits, and the spring yellowfin bite should crank up over the coming month.
Boats dropping weighted bottom rigs offshore are stuffing their fish boxes with tilefish.
Inshore, anglers are starting to hook some puppy drum around the Coast Guard station and Oregon Inlet.
Dave, of Skiligal Sportfishing, reports that the boats fishing last weekend saw some solid bluefin tuna action while trolling east of the inlet (with mixed fish from 75-400+ lbs.). Most are falling for trolled ballyhoo and skirted lures, but boats are occasionally finding strong enough marks on the sounder to drop vertical jigs and hook up.
Inshore, there’s been a solid puppy drum bite around the inlet and in the sound nearby. Most of the fish have been upper-slot class, and they’re readily biting Gulp baits fished under popping corks.
Rob, of Strike’Em Charters, reports that boats are still connecting with some giant bluefin tuna while trolling off Oregon Inlet, but the fish will likely be moving on to the north in the coming weeks. A few yellowfins have also been feeding offshore and falling for trolled ballyhoo.
Bottom fishing offshore has been producing big numbers of tilefish when the trolling action slows.
