Spring run of big bluefish turns Cape Lookout shoals into a destination not to be missed for topwater sight-fishing and 15- to 20-pound fish.
Noah Lynk enjoys fishing so much that on the few days he isn’t guiding other fishermen, or when he has a cancellation, he goes fishing.
He has fun all the time. And occasionally, he discovers something new — like the large bluefish that spend part of the spring on the sandbars around Cape Lookout.
Fish up to 20 pounds make for quite a surprise. And Lynk has turned the fishery, which usually begins in mid-April and can last until June, into a regular part of his guide trips.
When the time comes, Lynk begins the day checking the close-in sandbars just off the point at Cape Lookout. He firsts looks for the large “chopper” blues closer in. But sometimes they prefer the outer lumps, off the end of the cape and beyond Shark Island. He spends plenty of time on the mini tower on his boat, searching for the shadows that give away the schools of marauding bluefish.
On one such morning, he spotted an area of whitewater just out of sight of the exposed nearshore sandbars, caused by swell coming from different directions and crashing into each other over a sandbar that was barely under the surface.
Topwater lures are a blast for bluefish anglers
“Hopefully, they’ll be here,” Lynk said. “We’ll see if they’re here pretty quick.”
Lynk eased into the shallows around the sandbar searching for fish, all the time keeping a close watch for a large or odd wave. He had worked more than halfway around the whitewater when he got excited and pointed to a dark spot in the water.
“There they are,” Lynk said. “I thought when we didn’t find them up close they would be out here where it’s a little rougher. It must keep the bait stirred up better. It’s time to see if anybody is hungry.”
Lynk pulled a spinning combo from the rack on the side of his boat’s console and lofted a Roosta Popper a few feet into the shadow in the water. As soon as he reeled in the slack, he popped the lure once. His rod bent deeply and began pulsing. The reel squealed loudly as the panicked fish ripped off a bunch of braid.
“Oh yeah, they’re here,” Lynk said, a grin spreading across his face.
A while later, Lynk led a tired bluefish to the landing net and managed to get most of it in before lifting it from the water. He carefully removed the hooks while avoiding the fish’s sharp teeth. The bite from a small bluefish is painful, and Lynk said that no one wanted to find out how much a bite from one this size hurt.
Bluefish are competitive
With everyone armed with an outfit and a topwater lure, Lynk eased back toward the whitewater. On this approach, the bluefish spread out and weren’t making the shadow that made them easy to spot. However, part of the school swam past the boat and paused off the bow.
The first cast landed in the middle of the small group. All of them turned to attack the lure. The water frothed as the first ones ran into each, and one of the ones a little farther back grabbed the lure first. It hadn’t moved more than a few yards when another tried to take the lure from it and found the other hook.
This was a mess for a couple of minutes as the big bluefish slugged it out against each other. Lynk was helpless; all he could do was keep the line tight. Finally, one pulled free, and Lynk began working the other fish to the boat. But it came off just a few yards off the boat.
Most times, that would be upsetting, but on this morning, it wasn’t a problem. There were hundreds of hungry bluefish feeding around this small sand lump along the shoals. Lynk eased the boat back within casting range of the school, and a pair were quickly hooked.
The action continued wide open for several hours. Lynk would approach the whitewater from downwind and point out the school of bluefish. His fishermen would cast to them and pop their topwater lures as soon as they got the line tight. At least one would be rewarded with a hard strike, and there were several doubles. If an angler popped a lure more than a half-dozen times without a strike, the school had turned or moved quickly. When the fish saw the lure or saw and heard the splash, they attacked immediately and without hesitation.
These feeding frenzies are what anglers live for
Once the fish were in the fish box or released, Lynk would ease back to within casting range to continue sight-fishing topwaters for fish from 12 to 20 pounds. To say it was exciting was an extreme understatement. It was a feeding frenzy, and it appeared that colors didn’t matter. The bite was spurred by the lures’ popping action. Lynk pointed out that it was important to use large lures so the fish couldn’t swallow them and become deep-hooked.
The blues didn’t tire or leave and were still ravenously attacking lures when it was time to head in. Lynk didn’t want to leave any more than the fishermen did, but he had to trade them for an afternoon group back at the marina. It had been a good morning fighting big, rambunctious bluefish along the shoals within sight of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse.
These are big fish, feeding hard before continuing their journey northward, and Lynk expected the second shift to find them just as hungry and aggressive.
Bluefish
Bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix, are nearshore, saltwater pelagic fish found around the world in most temperate and subtropical waters. They range in size from 7-inch snappers to large fish found primarily from Cape Hatteras northward that are called chopper or Hatteras blues. The nicknames come from a mouth full of pointed sharp teeth that are always willing to clamp down on anything in their range.
Bluefish weighing up to approximately 3 pounds travel in large schools. They are very aggressive and seem to always be feeding. They readily attack anything their size or smaller and sometimes larger fish, too. Fishermen have long joked about schools of wildly feeding bluefish being the saltwater counterparts of piranha.
As they grow larger, bluefish typically abandon the large schools and live in smaller groups that might more correctly be called packs. They feed on schools of forage fish and occasionally attack ruthlessly in a frenzy called a blitz. North Carolina’s Outer Banks is famous for bluefish blitzes, when packs of bluefish chase many species of fish through the surf zone unto the beach. Bluefish are voracious predators and are almost always feeding.
These fish run up the coast each spring
A spring run of 6- to 20-pound bluefish moves up the North Carolina coast each spring. Depending on how quickly or slowly the water warms, bluefish are in the Cape Lookout area from about the last week of April through mid-June. James Hussey caught the current North Carolina and world-record bluefish. He caught the 31-pound, 12-ounce fish at Cape Hatteras in 1972.
Opinions vary as to the table quality of bluefish. The opinions are skewed towards those who talk disparagingly about the table quality of bluefish. But many people enjoy them. Larger bluefish eat a lot of menhaden, which are oily themselves and contribute to the stronger flavor of larger bluefish. Smaller, younger, bluefish eat small minnows and crabs. And most fishermen agree they have a milder flavor. Bleeding larger fish and removing the dark strip of meat on each side helps mellow the flavor. Smoked bluefish is a favorite of many who don’t care for it prepared otherwise.
DESTINATION INFORMATION
- HOW TO GET THERE — US 70 and NC 24 are main highways to access the Morehead City area, and US 70 continues to Harkers Island Road and Harkers Island. A public ramp on the mainland just across from the island is popular. Several marinas on the island have fee ramps.
- WHEN TO GO — Bluefish arrive around Cape Lookout in the spring, usually sometime in April. Smaller bluefish will be around until the late fall. The large bluefish are migrating north and just passing through. They take advantage of the abundance of forage fish along Cape Lookout Shoals to feed ravenously and stay until the water warms, usually leaving by the middle of June.
- BEST TECHNIQUES — Sight-casting to big bluefish is the ticket. Use a spinning rod rated at 6 to 14 pounds with 3000 to 4000 class spinning reels spooled with 12-pound braid and a short leader of 30-pound fluorocarbon. The best lures are large, loud and make lots of splash, like Halco’s Roosta Poppa, C-gar and Sli-Dog and Jerk Minnow and Surf Walker from Savage Gear.
- FISHING INFO/GUIDES — Noah Lynk, Noah’s Ark Fishing Charters, 252-342-6911, www.noahsarkfishingcharters.com; Cape Pointe Marina, www.capepointemarina.com, 252-728-6181. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.
- ACCOMMODATIONS — Cape Pointe Marina (www.capepointemarina.com) has R.V. sites and Harkers Island Fishing Center (www.harkersmarina.com) has a small motel. Both have ramps and dockage. There are also rental condos and cottages on Harkers Island. The closest chain motels are roughly 30 minutes away in Morehead City and on Atlantic Beach. Contact the Crystal Coast Tourism authority, 800-786-6962, www.crystalcoastnc.org.
- MAPS — 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.offshore-fishing-map.com; GMCO’s Chartbook of North Carolina, 888-420-6277, www.gmcomaps.com.
