The bluewater off North Carolina’s coast holds plenty of aggressive, electric-blue predators — plus some other offshore bonuses like blackfin tuna.
The short chop finally gave way to a smooth ocean about a dozen miles out of Beaufort Inlet, becoming a small, rolling swell as Capt. Mike Webb’s Pelagic passed the Knuckle Buoy at the end of Cape Lookout shoals. With the water temperature rising a few 10ths of a degree every few minutes and the water changing to a blended blue-green, Webb called down from the bridge, as excited about the day’s prospects as was his mate, Kevin Cowles, and the day’s fishing party. The mild winter had warmed as the first day of spring approached, and reports had the fish — especially wahoo — hungry and biting.
Cowles was in the cockpit putting the finishing touches on several more packages of ballyhoo when Webb called down and said he’s spied something that looked like a current rip with a color change, and asking how close was Cowles to being ready.
A few minutes later, Webb pulled back on the throttles, and Cowles put out Ilanders with ballyhoo on several lines, sea witches with ballyhoo on others and a couple of naked ballyhoo.
As he was clipping the planer into its bridle to set the deep line, there was a very loud snap, quickly followed by the raspy rattle of one of the larger Shimano reels rapidly giving up line.
The fishermen had already drawn straws, and one rushed to the fighting chair. Just as Cowles finished strapping him to the rod and reel, there was another loud snap and a second rod bent deeply. Unfortunately, the second fish didn’t hook up, and when Cowles got the lure back to the boat, there was no remnant of the ballyhoo that had been secured behind the Iland Sea Star lure.
The first fish was still on and the fisherman was making progress getting some of the line back on the reel when the fish saw something it didn’t like and made a second run, though not as strong or fast as the first one.
Finally, the electric-blue striping was visible in the water off the transom as a nice wahoo came to the gaff. Bright blue flashed in the sunlight as the big wahoo gave a last shudder on the deck. Once the big fish stopped struggling, everyone got a good look and Cowles slipped it into the fish box as Webb was turning his boat around to run back to the spot where the two fish had hit.
For Webb and other charter captains along the North Carolina coast, wahoo are the primary target late in the winter and early in the spring. The timing and ease of how winter transforms into spring affects how other species that spend most of the year along the edge of the Gulf Stream arrive, was well as their numbers.
Yellowfin tuna have been a favorite of bluewater fishermen in the spring, but they have been painfully absent for a handful of years; a few are caught each spring, teasing fishermen into thinking they’re back, but the numbers of fish caught 10 years ago are MIA.
Blackfin tuna numbers have greatly increased during the time yellowfins have declined, and while they aren’t considered the ugly stepsister, many fishermen prefer yellowfins.
Also, a few dolphin and billfish swim off the coast early in the spring, but their numbers increase later during the transition into summer.
When he’s primarily targeting wahoo but hoping for other spring visitors, Webb and Cowles deploy what they consider a standard spring setup, including long and short lines on each outrigger, a planer and flat line from the transom, and long and short rods from the bridge, with teasers on both sides.
He fishes ballyhoo naked and behind lures including Iland Trackers, Sailures, Jr. Ilanders and standard sea witches. The rods fished from the bridge get smaller lures, as they are primarily targeting blackfins, but all are rigged on No. 9 piano wire because wahoo carry a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth.
After the first wahoo, Webb spent the morning at trolling speed, working up and down the current rip, putting wahoo and blackfin tuna in the fish box, especially when he worked out that the best bite was on the warm side in 74-degree water.
During a mid-day lull, the fishermen were startled by the clip snapping on outrigger line, followed by the singing of the reel, then the sight of a yellow-and-green fish leaping from the water and turning a somersault.
“Holy cow, that’s a dolphin,” one of the fishermen shouted.
“Yep, and it shouldn’t be here yet,” Webb said from the bridge. “That’s a nice dolphin, and we certainly don’t want to lose him.”
It took 10 minutes before Cowles grabbed the leader and pulled the fish within gaffing range, and then sank the gaff home and hoisted a big bull dolphin over the transom, directly into the fish box — an unexpected but welcome addition to the day’s catch.
Before turning the boat back toward Beaufort Inlet, Webb’s party put another wahoo and two more blackfin in the box, with several more strikes that didn’t result in hookups. Webb and Cowles surmised the fish that weren’t caught were wahoo, and Webb explained that wahoo have a way of throwing hooks that is second only to billfish.
Once Webb had the Pelagic pointed toward port, Cowles found himself alone in the cockpit, cleaning and straightening things out, while the tired fishermen were all asleep — not dreaming of sugarplums dancing in their heads, but of brilliantly colored dolphin and electric-blue wahoo.
DESTINATION INFORMATION
HOW TO GET THERE: US 70 and NC 24 are the main highways that lead to Morehead City and Atlantic Beach. Offshore fishing trips are offered from several marinas in the Morehead City and Atlantic Beach areas, and from the Morehead City docks. As far as public ramps, one is located off US 70 behind the Crystal Coast Welcome Center and the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries headquarters. And two are in Beaufort: one on the east end of Front St. and one between Town Creek Marina and the airport. Morehead City has a municipal ramp for larger boats next to the Radio Island-Morehead City bridge off US 70.
TACKLE/TECHNIQUES: Offshore trolling requires heavier equipment. Most charter boats troll with a mixture of 30- and 50-pound class outfits. Braided lines are popular, especially on the lighter outfits, because more of the smaller-diameter line can be spooled on smaller reels. Leaders are normally wire in the early spring because of the numbers of wahoo around; later in the year, fluorocarbon is the preferred leader material because it is less visible. J hooks are commonly used when targeting tuna, wahoo and dolphin, but circle hooks are required when using natural baits to target billfish. The standard offshore trolling bait is a ballyhoo rigged plain or in tandem with a variety of lures, with cedar plugs, Green Machines and Wahoo Whackers some of the more popular ones that can be fished alone.
REGULATIONS: There is no limit or size minimum of blackfin tuna. FIshermen are restricted to two wahoo per day (with no size minimum) and three yellowfin tuna per day, with a minimum size of 27 inches (notes to fork of tail). The daily limit on dolphin is 10 per person, not to exceed 60 per boat. A Highly Migratory Species permit is required to keep yellowfin and most tuna. The HMS permit is not required for blackfins, false albacore and bonito. For more information on the HMS permit visit https://hmspermits.noaa.gov.
FISHING INFO/CHARTERS: Pelagic Sportfishing, 252-904-3361 or www.pelagicsportfishing.com; Wet-N-Wild Sportfishing, 252-723-1110, www.wet-n-wildsportfishing.net; Sunrise Offshore Fishing, www.fishsunrise.com, 252-726-9814; Dancin’ Outlaw Fishing, www.dancinoutlaw.net, 252-504-2342. See also Guides & Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS: Crystal Coast Visitors Bureau, 800-SUNNY-NC or www.crystalcoastnc.org.
MAPS/CHARTS: Capt. Segull’s Nautical Charts, 888-473-4855, www.captainsegullcharts.com; SeaLake Fishing Guides, 800-411-0185, www.thegoodspots.com; Grease Chart, 800-326-3567, www.greasechart.com; Maps Unique, 910-458-9923, www.mapsunique.com; GMCO’s Chartbook of North Carolina, 888-420-6277, www.gmcomaps.com.
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