| Regional
Saltwater Fishing Reports
Northern District Dare,
Hyde, Currituck, & Beaufort Counties Please Note: Anglers sometimes confuse small king mackerel with Spanish mackerel. King mackerel and spanish mackerel have different size and catch limits. Make SURE you properly identify the mackerel you are catching. (Tips here) A recreational Recreational Fishing License goes into effect Jan. 1, 2007 for all of the state's coastal and ocean waters. |
| Charterboats: Fishing has slowed down
offshore. Catches include small amounts of yellowfin & blackfin tuna, wahoo,
and dolphin. Midrange charters have had moderate success with striped bass,
red drum, and king mackerel. Inshore charters have had the most success with
limits of striped bass and ever increasing amounts of red drum. Headboats: Anglers can expect slow fishing on the very few trips that are being made. Catches include small croakers, pinfish, black sea bass, kingfish, and both species of seatrout. Private Boats: Similar to charter boats. Anglers are happy to be able to fish for stripers on a daily basis & limits are being caught most of the time,(weather permitting). Most improved fishing is the ever-increasing amount of spotted sea trout being caught in Oregon Inlet with many “keeper” size. Flounder fishing has dropped off considerably with only a few undersize ones being caught. Piers: High-volume numbers of red drum are being caught on a semi-regular basis. Lesser amounts of bluefish, Spanish mackerel, kingfish, pigfish, skates, striped bass, and a host of others are also being caught. Shore: Catches are similar to piers. Anglers are delighted with nice red drum caught in the surf close to shore well within casting range. I have personally had good success using sand fleas (mole crabs) on a bucktail jig or bottom rig and have caught something every time that I have been fishing for them! General Overview: Fishing success has been slow to moderate in most situations. Most improved is the success with red drum in the surf. Water temps are dropping & a cooling trend is predicted for the upcoming week. |
| Central District Pamlico,
Craven, Carteret, & Onslow Counties Contact: Suzanne Hill October 23, 2005 For the 2005 fishing year, all owners/operators of vessels recreationally fishing for and/or retaining regulated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) (Atlantic tunas, sharks, swordfish and billfish) in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, must obtain an Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling permit. This permit has replaced the Atlantic tunas Angling category permit. In North Carolina, additional HMS harvest reporting requirements are also in place. Please Note: Anglers sometimes confuse small king mackerel with Spanish mackerel. King mackerel and spanish mackerel have different size and catch limits. Make SURE you properly identify the mackerel you are catching. (Tips here) A recreational Recreational Fishing License goes into effect Jan. 1, 2007 for all of the state's coastal and ocean waters. |
| Headboats: Fishing remains very good. Anglers
are catching triggers, beeliners, black sea bass, grunts, tomtates, and
grouper.
CharterBoats: Wahoo is the fish of the month. Everyone is bringing them in. If the angler is bottom fishing there are great catches of sea bass, porgies, and grunts . Private Boats: Spanish and kings are all over AR 315. In fact a 6 pound Spanish was boated. Half the state of North Carolina seems to fishing by the Beaufort drawbridge and the channel around Duke Marine lab all week. There are lots of nice spots there although they are not the fall yellow bellies- some are 10 inches or so. Also being caught are 12-inch pigfish and some nice croaker. There are a few spotted seatrout in the White Oak River and the West channel down in Swansboro. There have been red drum reported off Bear Island and Hammocks Beach and the Newport River marshes. Small weakfish are in Beaufort Inlet. Wahoo reported on the Southwest ledges. Flounder around Browns Inlet, Beaufort Inlet and Bogue Inlet. Piers/Shore: Piers report lots of spot, pigfish,
pompano, skates. |
| Southern District Pender,
New Hanover, & Brunswick Counties Contact: Dennis Trowell October 23, 2005 For the 2005 fishing year, all owners/operators of vessels recreationally fishing for and/or retaining regulated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) (Atlantic tunas, sharks, swordfish and billfish) in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, must obtain an Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling permit. This permit has replaced the Atlantic tunas Angling category permit. In North Carolina, additional HMS harvest reporting requirements are also in place. Please Note: Anglers sometimes confuse small king mackerel with Spanish mackerel. King mackerel and spanish mackerel have different size and catch limits. Make SURE you properly identify the mackerel you are catching. (Tips here) A recreational Recreational Fishing License goes into effect Jan. 1, 2007 for all of the state's coastal and ocean waters. |
| Headboats: Boats did fair on vermilion
snapper, triggerfish, grunts, and some grouper last week. Half/day boats
caught black sea bass.
CharterBoats: Only a few area charter boats ran stream trips last week, with catches of wahoo and blackfin tunas. Full/day trips had catches of grouper and king mackerel, and inshore charters reported gray and some speckled trout, along with a few flounder. Private Boats: Boats that went to the stream last week reported
some wahoo. Numbers ranged from 1 to 8 fish a boat. The king mackerel fired
off in the river channel over the weekend, fishing should be good for them
there over the next couple of weeks. Gray trout have begun to show on the
near/shore reefs, and there still are some good catches of flounder coming
off these reefs as well. Boats fishing for spots in the waterways did well
over the weekend. Shore:Blues, spots, sea mullets, pompano's, and a few black drum are keeping surf fisherman busy. |
