Northern Beaches – March 5, 2015
Betty, of TW’s Tackle, reports that anglers have been seeing some action with puppy and some over-slot drum in the surf down on Hatteras Island. Fish have been caught around Cape Point, Ramp 49, Frisco Pier, and the beaches south to Hatteras Inlet in recent weeks. Bottom rigs baited with shrimp and cut baits are producing some of the fish, and anglers are also hooking up while working jigheads paired with soft baits like Gulps or curlytail grubs. Some days have produced some excellent fishing recently, with the action highly weather-dependent. Anglers who get out between and in advance of the cold fronts that have dominated February have fared the best with the drum.
Capt. Ryan Williams and Jeff Blair with a 104″ bluefin tuna (core weight 506 lbs.) they landed off Beaufort Inlet in late December.
Some black drum were also landed over the month around Frisco, with bottom rigs and shrimp producing most of the action.
Speckled trout have been feeding around Cape Point intermittently, and they’re biting the same soft baits that anglers are casting at the pups (some to 22”).
As the water and weather hopefully moderate over March, anglers can expect the surf fishing action to become more consistent and some of the first pufferfish and sea mullet of the season to begin trickling into the surf.
Some rather large speckled trout have been caught recently by anglers fishing at night around Oregon Inlet as well.
Deborah, of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, reports that offshore boats finally made it out of the Inlet on Sunday, and the bluefin tuna have arrived and are hungry, boding well for the action with the big fish over the next few months. Boats trolling ballyhoo and pulling greenstick rigs found fast action with the bluefins when they were able to get out (one landing five fish). There have been a few under the “trophy” 73” size limit for recreational anglers to take home and more fish upwards to 95” (most 200-400 lbs.).
Anglers can also target the bluefins by working large vertical jigs around fish they’ve marked on the sounder, often with success when the tuna won’t rise to strike trolled baits. Casting topwater poppers to fish chasing bait on top can also be effective and produce incredible surface strikes.
The bluefin action can hold up until May, so anglers looking to do battle with some of the largest gamefish in the ocean have several months to target them out of Oregon Inlet.
Before the bluefins arrived, the limited number of boats making it offshore were finding a few blackfin and yellowfin tuna, along stray mako sharks. A 200 lb. class blue marlin was also released by one boat in early January.
Inshore fishing action has been slow to nonexistent recently, but one boat did find some action with large speckled trout over the weekend while fishing near the inlet at night. Anglers can target the specks with a variety of hard and soft plastic artificials including MirrOlures and Gulp baits.
Daryl, of Jennette’s Pier, reports that anglers have been hooking scattered dogfish and clearnose skates while bottom fishing over the winter, primarily on baits like cut fish and shrimp.
A run of hickory shad generally signals the first signs of spring fishing and that run shouldn’t be too far away. Anglers can hook the shad on a variety of small artificial lures.
As the water warms up a bit further, bluefish, puppy drum, and speckled trout will be the next targets for early spring anglers.
