Northern Beaches – September 15, 2016
Betty, of TW’s Tackle, reports that surf fishing has been decent from Nags Head to Corolla, with a good trout bite, small puppy drum, sea mullet, spot, and pompano all along the shoreline.
On the Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway, anglers are catching keeper trout, croakers, spot, black drum, and stripers.
The inshore/nearshore boats continue to catch good numbers of speckled trout and puppy drum in the sound, while spanish and bluefish have been plentiful nearshore. Anglers are also having solid luck on the local head boats, with recent catches of trout, sea bass, sea mullet, gray trout, and pufferfish.
Offshore vessels are having banner days for meat fish, with good numbers of yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna, and dolphin. Wahoo fishing has been exceptionally enticing with both releases and citations, and a recent 183 lb. bigeye tuna was recently caught as well.
Bob Lambert Sr., of Grandy, landed a 33 red drum using cut bait while fishing on the Outer Banks Fishing Pier in south Nags Head.
Denise, of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, reports that the fishing has been picking up since the initial days after Tropical Storm Hermine. Offshore vessels have reported limits of yellowfin tuna, as well as blackfin tuna, bonita, white and blue marlin, wahoo, and steady dolphin catches.
Nearshore vessels have reported spanish mackerel and bluefish, as well as a few albacore, while inshore boats have reported spanish mackerel and hefty cobia, including a recent 40 lb. catch.
Head boats have been reporting a nice mixed bag, including gray trout, sea mullet, spot, sand perch, and croaker
Evan Marshall with a 47 lb. cobia caught on Avalon Pier. Photo courtesy of TWs Tackle.
Daryl, of Jennette’s Pier, reports that there has been a steady stream of catches in recent days, which includes a wide variety of species. There was a recent run of puppy drum in the 15” range, which came in thick after the departure of Tropical Storm Hermine. In addition, there were a number of big drum catches, a few false albacore, and a recent spot run.
Anglers have been reeling in bluefish on an almost daily basis, and they’ve also been steadily catching pompano, speckled trout, spanish mackerel, black drum, croaker, and a couple of cobia.
Tim, of Nags Head Pier, reports that anglers are catching a mixed bag of species including blues, spanish mackerel, sea mullet, trout, puppy drum, spot, pompano, albacore, cobia, and a few big sharks.
Pam, of Avalon Fishing Pier, reports that anglers are catching a sporadic mixed bag of species including bluefish, puppy drum, a few speckled trout, and spanish mackerel.
Ed, of Bob’s Bait and Tackle, reports that fishing has picked up very well after the storm, with a wide variety of bottom fish and a steady stream of red drum making appearances along the surf. The drum that have showed up so far are the smaller variety, with not a lot of keepers yet (about one out of 8 or 10 are keeper sizes). The larger drum are not far behind and will make an appearance in the very near future.
The trout bite is also starting to pick up well, and anglers will have the best luck for speckled trout on Gulp baits.
An assortment of bottom fish are also being caught, including sea mullet, spot, croaker, pufferfish, and pompano, mostly on bloodworms and Fishbites. Anglers should stick close to shore and avoid the common error of overcasting, as the fish are coming in close to the beach to feed on the local sand flea population.
When the wind switches to the east, the flounder bite will pick up, and fishermen will want to be prepared by heading to the beach with flounder rigs with squid strips, as well as chartreuse and white Gulp bites for speckled trout, drum, and flounder.
There have also been lots of bluefish caught on bluefish rigs and spoons. Cut bait, fresh mullet, shrimp, and bloodworms are all working well as bait.
Offshore, the wahoo bite has been fantastic, and anglers are also steadily catching tuna, dolphin, and billfish.
East winds will be bringing clear waters in the not-so-distant future, so expect good spanish mackerel and shark fishing in the days to come.
Keith, of Corolla Bait and Tackle, reports that there have been a lot of puppy drum caught along the northern beaches. Many of the drum are undersized, but a handful are larger and a few are in the over 30” range. The bluefish are still around, and the trout showed up along the shoreline. Surf fishermen are also catching plenty of sea mullet, croaker, and spot.
Inshore vessels are reeling in spanish mackerel, as well as bonita and false albacore, while head boats are catching flounder in the inlet.
