Fishing conditions are difficult at the Crystal Coast today as residents and the habitat tries to recover from the effects of Hurricane Irene.
“A few people are trying to go out (and fish),” said Noah Lynk of Harkers Island (Noah’s Ark Fishing Charters, 252-342-6911, www.noahsarkfishingcharters.com), “but the water’s so beat up you can’t troll because you’re liable to hang up on anything (floating).”
Before the storm, Lynk said anglers had experienced great Spanish and king mackerel success, good flounder fishing and red drum had begun to show up in the marshes with baitfish starting to make their fall migrations to the ocean.
“Now I think about the only folks fishing are catching small blues and a mixed bag of small stuff,” he said.
Lynk, whose main occupation is captain of the Minnesott Beach third-shift ferry run across the Neuse River, stored his fishing boat inside a welding shop where it rode out the storm in safety, but his rods, reels and tackle were in a shed near his home that was flooded by 2 feet of saltwater.
“I expect things to settle out in a week or so and fishing should return to normal,” he said. “Right now your best bets probably will be offshore.”
Lynk said he expected fishing to return to normal soon “after the tides take care of the debris in the water,” he said. “We’ve got docks, pilings, everything in the water, so you’ve got to be careful if you’re running a boat. A lot of the stuff is just below the surface and you can’t see it, so people are leery of running their boats.”
The storm forced most of the baitfish, mainly what Lynk called “shad” (menhaden) out of the inshore water.
“Once the shad come back, fishing should be good,” he said.
Just before the storm hit, Lynk said the region experienced a rare good stretch (three days) of king mackerel fishing with one angler landing at 45-pounder between Cape Lookout and Beaufort Inlet.
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