North Carolina Saltwater Fishing Reports
 It seems that Fall is now in full force around North Carolina. With the wind blowing and rain falling more often than not it is tough to schedule a fishing trip. Make it out when you get a chance, because the offshore boats have been loading up on Yellowfin. Water temps around the coast have already been recorded around the 60s--I would look for the Striped Bass to show up in full force this year. Sound fishing is still producing good numbers of Speckled and Gray Trout, as well as small rockfish. Puppy drum are also being caught in pretty good numbers.
Bill from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center reported: "
November 3, 2008 Fishing Report
Sunday-11-02-08 offshore the catches consisted of yellowfin and blackfin tuna.Two boats caught a wahoo each. Inshore caught triggerfish and sea bass. Monday 11-03-08 all the boats limited on yellowfin tunas.Two dolphin were caught, a marlin was caught and released. An open boat's morning trip caught rockfish in the sound. The afternoon trip had good puppy drum fishing and lots of sea bass.
November 1, 2008 Fishing Report
All the offhsore boats had yellowfin tuna. Two boats limited, the rest averaged around 10 a peice. Several wahoos were caught. Deep bottom fishing had good catches of tile fish and king mackerel."
TW's Bait and Tackle reported: "
November 6, 2008 Fishing Report
The wind and rain have prevented any long term fishing attempts on all the piers and no offshore fishing today. There have been a few catches at the small bridge but it is slow. However, on the brighter side, there have been some catches of puppy drum, trout and sea mullet in the Hatteras Fishing Tournament this morning.
November 4, 2008 Fishing Report
The Outer Banks pier anglers are catching a few Puppy Drum and Black Drum this morning. All other piers and bridge said “nothing happening.” The web site was down again yesterday. Here is some of the news from yesterdays fishing report. The Bodacious Babe's Fishing Tournament went well on Sunday. Beach Road Grill’s Jan and Jane did a fine job. I won a rod and reel for the biggest fish that was not big. Ashley Dahen won the tournament with the most points. The catch of the day was small Black Drum and a few no keeper drum. About 75 ladies fished and it made a nice contribution to Hospice."
NORTH CAROLINA FISHING REPORTS COVERING THE ENTIRE NORTH CAROLINA COAST Reported from North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries From Knotts Island to Ocracoke:
Ocean: Fishing efforts were limited somewhat in offshore, midrange, and inshore waters due to rough seas and unfavorable weather conditions. Success rates were very good on the days of good weather. Anglers caught limits of dolphin and king mackerel, along with a few blackfin tuna and wahoo mixed in. Yellowfin tuna catches improved slightly. Billfish catches were few. Midrange and inshore catch rates remained low, even on days with favorable weather conditions.
Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Weather conditions didn’t affect these anglers as much as those that fished in the ocean. There was improvement in spotted seatrout and red drum fishing throughout the area in all of the sounds. Keeper ratios for red drum were good. A few striped bass and weakfish were caught.
Piers/Shore: Shore anglers finally got a break and were able to have some calmer conditions for surfcasting. Anglers caught bluefish in the 1-2 lb. range, along with red drum, spotted seatrout, black drum, croaker and kingfish. Pier anglers’ catches were similar to those of the shore anglers.
General Overview: Weather was the most limiting factor in fishing success rates this week. Favorable fishing days were few, but when anglers were able to fish their success rates were moderate-good in all modes of fishing. Water temps in the surf throughout the area are in the lower 60s.
From Portsmouth to Surf City: Ocean: A beautiful weekend brought plenty of anglers to the coast. Wildlife ramps, marinas, piers and beaches were packed with fishermen. Small dolphin, from two to four pounds, were caught. Wahoo (many over citation size ) were also brought to the docks. Closer to shore, king mackerel were everywhere- 1700 rock, 240 rock to name some places. Little tunny have appeared at the Cape. Flounder around four pounds can be hooked at AR 315 - anglers were using strip bait. Black sea bass were all over North West Places.
Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Large sea mullet were around both inlets, around the Cape, and in the turning basin. Bogue Inlet had especially large flounder, blues up to two to three pounds, spotted seatrout and a few weakfish. Beaufort Inlet had the large blues and pigfish over 10 inches long. Spotted sea trout are around Cape Lookout, in the Haystacks of Newport River and in the marshes of North River. Puffers are in the inlets and turning basin. Several anglers had coolers full of puffers. Seatrout have appeared under the bridges- The Atlantic Beach Bridge and the Emerald Isle Bridge - the best catches were at night.
Piers/Shore: A little of everything is showing up. Again, coolers of puffers from the Radio Island area, 18-inch flounder, keeper gray trout, large pigfish, and black drum.
From Topsail to Sunset Beach:
Ocean: Offshore, the weather has been unfavorable for the last three weeks. Saturday was fishable and some boats made it offshore and reported good king mackerel fishing around frying pan tower, WR4, and the Atlantic ledge. Gags are biting well in the 80 to 100-foot range. Closer to shore, there are plenty of gray trout around the high rock area as well as some large red drum.
Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Inshore, fishing is good right now. Speckled trout and red drum are biting from Little River to Topsail Island right now. Live shrimp and artificial lures are catching fish right now. I also heard of some good striper catches in the Cape Fear River. Flounder fishing is coming to an end but there still are some big fish being caught in the river and Snow's cut. Spot fishermen fishing around Southport and Holden Beach did decent with the spots last week. And lastly, there were some great sea mullet catches coming out of the southern Cape Fear River last week.
Piers/Shore: Fishing was good. Spots, black and red drum, blues, sea mullets, speckled trout and some keeper flounder. Surf fisherman reported lots of black drum, sea mullets, bluefish, and some slot size red drum.
| Useful North Carolina Fishing Links NOAA Real Time Marine Forecasts and Buoy Reports For the North Carolina Coast
Real time Buoy data and Marine Forecasts for different locations in the Chesapeake Bay Rutgers University's Sea Surface Temperature Great site to check out sea surface temperatures which are vital to know for fishing North Carolina Coastal Fishing Rules and Regulations Check this link for the latest North Carolina Tidal Rules and Regulations North Carolina Non-Tidal Fishing Rules and Regulations
Check this link for the latest North Carolina Non-Tidal Rules and Regulations North Carolina Fishing License Information
Fishing license information and link to get your North Carolina fishing license online. Locations Where to Buy North Carolina Fishing Licenses
A listing of all the locations of where to buy fishing licenses in North Carolina
North Carolina Artificial Reef Locations and Information
Get information and the locations for all the artificial reefs in North Carolina waters.
* If you have a link that you would like to suggest that would be helpful to anglers please email me 1) the name of the site, 2) the exact URL, and 3) a short description of the information the site provides. |
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