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Regional Saltwater Fishing Reports
Northern District  Dare, Hyde, Currituck, & Beaufort Counties
Contact: Brian Melott November 12, 2006
For the 2006 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. Tagged Red Drum: Download PDF with reward details.

Charterboats/Private Boats: Anglers fished the same waters with very similar results.  Offshore fishing continued to yield limits of yellowfin tuna on most trips, and a few very nice wahoo & dolphin were caught.  Billfish catches improved slightly.  Midrange success improved, with nice specimens of king mackerel being caught about eight miles offshore.  Striped bass & red drum were caught with increased regularity in these same waters.  Inshore anglers continued to primarily target striped bass & spotted seatrout in the sounds with average-good success on most trips. Striped bass were caught at Manns Harbor in large numbers, but less than half of them have been legal size.  Oregon Inlet catches of striped bass were slower, but most of those that were caught 18" and greater.  Spotted seatrout catches continued to improve throughout the sounds with most activity concentrated at Oregon Inlet’s Green Island Slough during the pre-dawn to mid-morning hours. Bluefish and flounder were caught in moderate amounts throughout the area.

Headboats: No trips being booked at present time.  Most trips resume mid-late April.

Piers/Shore: Anglers fished the same waters with very similar results.  Bluefish have most prevalent for all of these anglers, with plenty of small 1-2 lb ones availabl.  Red drum catches were much improved, with more than 50% of them falling into the legal slot limit.  Anglers should concentrate their effort in the back-wash surf zone as opposed to long distance casting using the readily available mole crabs,[sand fleas] that are easily dug up at the waters edge.   

General Overview: Water temperatures in the surf on the Outer Banks remain in the lower 60"s.  The weather can make it a little tougher to get in the fishing this time of year, but there are still good catches to be had.

Central District  Pamlico, Craven, Carteret, & Onslow Counties
Contact: Suzanne Hill November 12, 2006
For the 2006 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.

Tagged Red Drum: Download PDF with reward details.

Ocean: Headboat fishing is still strong.  Anglers are having good catches of banded rudderfish, which seem to be everywhere right now. No matter where the boat moved, the rudderfish popped up.  Boats also had nice gag grouper, sea bass, grunts and red porgies. There were a few triggers and snappers.  Charter boats caught kings and wahoo.  Smaller boats were chasing little tunny, spotted sea trout and flounder and red drum..
 

Inshore: Rivers and sounds were speckled with boats  primarily after spotted sea trout. This week many undersized trout were reported along with nice 2.5 and 3.5-pound fish. Anglers are getting big pigfish and small spots from the turning basin at the state port. Flounder are being caught around Shackleford. Red drum are still out there. Striped bass (small) are reported at Cherry Point and Pamlico and  Beaufort counties. Fishing is still good at the local hot spots- Cape Lookout, Newport River,  Beaufort Inlet, Bogue Inlet, Bear Island.  

Piers/Shore: Bluefish, kingfish, puffers,   were caught.

Southern District  Pender, New Hanover, & Brunswick Counties
Contact: Dennis Trowell November 12, 2006
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.

Tagged Red Drum: Download PDF with reward details.

Ocean:  It was too rough most of the week to venture too far offshore. Friday and Saturday were nice and boats reported king mackerel in the 30-mile range, and good grouper fishing in the 35 to 45-mile range. I did not hear of any gray trout reports but there should be some around the near-shore reefs.

Sounds/Bays/Inlets: The speckled trout bite slowed last week due to muddy water conditions from the wind and rain earlier in the week. Fishing improved towards the end of the week. Riches, Mason's, and Masonboro inlets all produced fish when the conditions were right. Along with the trout there are some drum and a few flounders as well.

Piers/Shore: For the most part fishing was slow. High surf, and muddy water conditions made fishing difficult. There have been some good trout and drum catches in the surf when water conditions are right. Piers saw much the same, with the exception of the good sea mullet fishing taking place on the ends of most piers.

 

 

 

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