Anglers catching plenty of speckled trout, redfish According to Capt. Pete Cruger of Sneaky Pete OBX Fishing Charters in the Outer Banks area, the speckled trout and redfish are feeding heavily. They don’t seem bothered […]
May marks the return of big red drum in a big way to the nearshore waters of North Carolina’s Hatteras Island after the winter’s offshore respite. […]
The Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education will be held April 17 in Corolla, N.C. […]
This has been one of the best years in memory for speckled trout along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, according to guide Ken Dempsey, and it will get even better this month if it’s anything like past Novembers. […]
Although blue marlin may be the most-romanticized member of the marlin family due to their size, it’s their smaller cousin, the white marlin, that will be causing all the fuss around North Carolina’s Oregon Inlet this month, when fish congregate around massive bait schools found in Gulf Stream eddies, fattening up before cooler weather pushes them south. […]
The blackfin tuna are biting along North Carolina’s Outer Banks! Scott Rhodes of Statesville and Carrie Kibler of Winston-Salem caught these four blackfin — and 23 others — on a Sunday trip with Capt. Bruce Armstrong on the Sea Angel II out of Hatteras Landing Marina. […]
When July gets hot, the fishing gets even hotter inside Hatteras and Ocracoke inlets. Bull redfish up to 50 inches are all around, and there’s no more exciting way to catch them then chunking jigs and spoons to schools of 300 to 400 fish. […]
May is the month when bluewater fishermen flock to North Carolina’s Outer Banks for the year’s best chance at doing battle with big yellowfin tuna and their blackfin cousins. […]
October is a special month for many of North Carolina’s fisheries, and none more so than the Outer Banks’ adult red drum stampede. Pier fishermen will get the first taste of reds longer than 40 inches as they follow baitfish evacuating the sounds and Virginia waters in anticipation of cold weather.
While sight-casting is certainly the most-thrilling means of targeting big red drum, it’s not always the most practical. Low-light conditions, high winds and occasional stained water can make putting eyes on a school nearly impossible.
The mouth of the Neuse River and the western Pamlico Sound aren’t the only places to hook into a trophy red drum this month. Massive schools of the bronzed beasts still haunt Hatteras and Ocracoke Inlets, where they entered the estuary last spring after a long winter at sea.
While the western side of Pamlico Sound has gained notoriety for the size of the gathering, the clear waters of the Outer Banks grant a special opportunity to anglers: sight-casting to schools of mature reds that number in the hundreds.
The first bluewater fish to arrive off the Outer Banks each year are tuna, and their names include a small variety of colors. Bluefin have become regular visitors in March, staying until the water begins warming in April. Pods of blackfin pass through in winter, but the schools get larger and hungrier as spring arrives. They are joined by a few yellowfin and occasional bigeye tuna in late March and early April, and the fishing continues to improve.
For saltwater fishermen who visit the Outer Banks regularly, September is a magical time. People from all over the world elbow their way to our docks, fill the motels, and mostly fill all the available boats.
The reason? A silvery-blue billfish that rarely reaches the 100-pound mark and is known by the name “white” marlin.
They used to be known as the dog days of summer, but from Oregon Inlet to Hatteras and Cape Lookout, offshore anglers have been spoiled by a white marlin bite between July and September that is only getting better each year.
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