Capt. Bill Dillon of the Beagle, a 62-foot sportfisherman docked at the Capt. Stacy Fishing Center at Atlantic Beach, has one word for September saltwater ocean anglers — sailfish.
“The bite of sailfish has been phenomenal the last few years during September,” he said.
Sailfish begin to show up at the N.C. coast from Oregon Inlet to Cape Fear beginning in July and usually hang around through September. With September water still warm from August’s heat, sailfish come ever closer to shore.
“They’ll be 30 to 50 fathoms and you can catch them anywhere,” Dillon (252-728-7221, www.beaglecharters.com) said. “The water will be hot enough to pull them almost onto the beaches.”
Eighty degrees is the ideal water temperature for sailfish.
Dillon trolls small ballyhoo in tandem with a small pink, pink-and-white or pink-and-blue Sea Witch.
“I just like plain pink,” he said. “That works best for me.”
Incidental catches may include citation-size wahoo, dolphin and king mackerel, which will hit the same lures trolled for sailfish.
“The wahoo will be really big, the biggest of the year, and we’ll also maybe get a yellowfin tuna, although they haven’t shown up the last three years. They used to show up in September, but they haven’t in a while, so we’re hoping.”
When the Beagle would land a September yellowfin, Dillon said the sizes would be impressive — as much as 50 pounds.
“You wouldn’t catch but five or six per trip but they’d be good ones,” he said.
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