Northern North Carolina Tidal Waters Fishing Reports (Ocracoke Inlet to Surf City)
Overall Summary for the region
Ocean: Offshore anglers continued to catch their limit of dolphin, along with moderate amounts of assorted tunas like Atlantic bonito, little tunny, skipjack, yellowfin, and blackfin. Amberjack and some citation-sized whaoo were also caught on a regular basis. Boats out of Ocracoke and Hatteras that bottom fished landed blackbelly rosefish, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, blueline tilefish and assorted groupers. Midrange anglers had a moderate increase in catches of king mackerel 8 to 10 miles offshore from Rodanthe southward.* Striped bass and red drum were caught from Oregon Inlet northward to the Virginia line. Artificial reefs yielded a few sheepshead, spadefish, and black drum. Near shore catches were dominated by larger and more numerous bluefish.
Oregon Inlet Fishing Center brings us these reports
5/11/2012 Our Offshore boats had great catches of Yellowfin tuna as well as some scattered Dolphin catches. Our Inshore boats reported good catches of Speckled Trout, as well as some catch and release flounder action. Our headboat the Miss Oregon Inlet reported flounder releases and a skate.
5/10/2012 Offshore fishing was great today. We had four boats out and they all returned with their limits of yellowfin tuna and good amounts of dolphin.
5/09/2012 Leaving the dock at 5:30am with beautiful weather forcasted for the day...unexpected heavy rain and choppy seas forced the offshore fleet back to port early...still delivering BOUNTIFUL catches of DOLPHIN and some YELLOWFIN TUNA.
Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Anglers targeting spotted seatrout, striped bass, and flounder had varied results. Spotted seatrout was the most abundant catch, particularly during the early morning and evening hours in Roanoke Sound, Oregon Inlet and Green Island Slough.* Striped bass catches were fair but mostly undersized, mainly in the Mann’s Harbor and Mashoes areas. Anglers caught flounder in the Oregon Inlet area in shallow water near island and land masses.
Piers/Beaches: Big bluefish were consistently being caught with a few large 14- to 16-pounders. Large sea mullet, and puffers were caught on a regular basis. Anglers caught moderate amounts of spot, silver perch, croaker, striped burrfish, shad, skates, stingrays, and dogfish sharks. Red drum and pompano catches increased from Avon south to Ocracoke.
Central North Carolina Tidal Waters Fishing Reports (Ocracoke Inlet to Surf City)
Overall Summary for the region
Ocean: Offshore anglers continued to catch their limit of dolphin, along with moderate amounts of assorted tunas like Atlantic bonito, little tunny, skipjack, yellowfin, and blackfin. Amberjack and some citation-sized wahoo were also caught on a regular basis. Boats out of Ocracoke and Hatteras that bottom fished landed blackbelly rosefish, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, blueline tilefish and assorted groupers. Midrange anglers had a moderate increase in catches of king mackerel 8 to 10 miles offshore from Rodanthe southward.* Striped bass and red drum were caught from Oregon Inlet northward to the Virginia line. Artificial reefs yielded a few sheepshead, spadefish, and black drum. Near shore catches were dominated by larger and more numerous bluefish.
Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Anglers targeting spotted seatrout, striped bass, and flounder had varied results. Spotted seatrout was the most abundant catch, particularly during the early morning and evening hours in Roanoke Sound, Oregon Inlet and Green Island Slough.* Striped bass catches were fair but mostly undersized, mainly in the Mann’s Harbor and Mashoes areas. Anglers caught flounder in the Oregon Inlet area in shallow water near island and land masses.
Piers/Shore: Big bluefish were consistently being caught with a few large 14- to 16-pounders. Large sea mullet, and puffers were caught on a regular basis. Anglers caught moderate amounts of spot, silver perch, croaker, striped burrfish, shad, skates, stingrays, and dogfish sharks. Red drum and pompano catches increased from Avon south to Ocracoke.
Southern North Carolina Tidal Waters Fishing Reports (Surf City to North Carolina line)
Ocean Isle Fishing Center brings us these reports
5/10/2012 If you have not been around the beach this weekend you have missed some of the highest and lowest tides of the year. Relate that to fishing means don't bother fishing the inlets during mid tide times. The current has been ripping. Not to mention piles of marsh grass as big as beaver dams.*I did fish Tubbs inlet today for a bit just to see what was around. I picked up 5 fish none over 13 inches. I perfect size pogies are thick in* the ICW between the bridges. I took OIFC's newest fisher person Katelynn fishing for a few minutes,long enough to find a real nice redfish in the ICW just east of the bridge. Hopefully the east winds and decreasing moon fishing should get better towards the weekend.
-- Capt. Jeff Williamson
5/09/2012 Yesterday we had some strong bites that we just could not control. I decided to change up some of my terminal gear and prepare for toothy critters. I invited Ben and Derrick along for the show. We started off tossing artificials just to break the ice. Derrick drilled a little trout to start off the day. I got our first keeper flounder to the boat with a few more cast. Derrick drills what looks like a little Jack Carvelle. I decided it was time to look for those monster fish. It seemed like a very long wait and I was beginning to wonder if they were going to show. The fish hit like a frieght train! I could feel my reel heating up as the line screamed out for mercy. Ben and Derrick cleared the lines. Ben pulls the anchor. We were in hot pursuit now. After a good long battle the monster bluefish hit the net. A quick picture and quick release to fight another day. We had two more lighting fast runs, but both fish hit fluorocarbon leaders cutting the line during their initail runs. Exciting to say the least though. We finished the day landing several flounder picking up a couple more keepers. It is nice to see a game plan come together. See ya on the water!
-- Capt. Jacob Frick
Overall Summary for the Region
Ocean: Offshore fishing remained productive. Boats caught good numbers of blackfin tuna, wahoo and dolphin. Grouper season opened May 1 and boats brought back large red, gag, and scamp groupers and an assortment of reef fish. Note: No possession of black sea bass until June 1. Anglers fishing near shore caught scattered amounts of Spanish and king mackerel, along with some cobia.
Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Inshore anglers reported catching a little of everything. Fishermen targeting flounder did best in Brunswick County from Ocean Isle south to the state line. Tubbs Inlet, and the Cape Fear River from Snow’s Cut to downtown Wilmington, were good fishing areas. Spotted sea trout and red drum catches were limited to the creeks and bays behind Bald Head Island.
Piers/Shore: Area piers reported catching small sea mullet, spot, and pompano. Anglers targeting Spanish mackerel and bluefish had limited success. Fishermen targeting flounder with live bait had some success landing keepers. Piers reported no landings of king mackerel. Surf fishing produced sea mullet, bluefish, and some slot-sized red drum.
See you on the water,
Bryce Butner
Tidal Fish North Carolina Associate Editor
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