Striped bass fishing at the upper N.C. coast is suffering right now because of warm water, but just a few miles to the north at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, anglers are loading up on big rockfish — from time to time.
“Striped bass fishing picked up in the latter part of December and was going strong until four days ago (Jan. 22) when the fish just disappeared,” said Rick Caton, captain of the Free Agent sportsfishing boat out of Oregon Inlet but who spends the winter at Rudee Inlet, Va., to be near big numbers of large stripers. “Boats have been going out and catching nothing or one fish.”
When fishing was hot, stripers were plentiful from the mouth of the Bay all the way to Ocean City, Md., said Caton (Custom Sound Charters, Hatteras, 252-216-6765).
“We fished 28 miles up the Bay one day,” Caton said, “and caught six (stripers) between 35 and 48 pounds. Then the fish moved back to Rudee and Cape Henry (Va.).”
Oregon Inlet has seen “zero rocks,” he said. “The water temp is too warm. I talked to my son at Frisco Pier this week, and it’s 64 degrees 1 1/2 miles off the pier.”
Best water temps for stripers are 48 to 49 degrees, he said.
“It got down to 34 degrees and pushed a few stripers to (Oregon Inlet) in the latter part of January last year,” he said.
Best lures now are trolled 9-inch Mojo shads, Mojo jigs and umbrella rigs.
“Trolling is what does it; the jigging bite is not good,” Caton said.
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