Outer Banks Questions

[Majunka]

Heading down to Outer Banks 5/6-/5/13 with a few friends for a vacation/fishing trip. Had a few questions that I hope some of you can answer. 1) What winds are good to go out of Oregon Inlet 2) How is the fishing that time of year? 3) Places to keep a boat in the water during the week? I plan to follow out a bigger boat to familarize myself with a course out of the inlet. We will be fishing on a 24 ft CC Parker. Thanks for any help

[CaptNemo]

for a 24 parker, cut your wind limit off at 10 kts; if its predicted over that I would stay in the sound. Anything NE or SW will make the inlet bad depending on tide, if you have an outgoing with NE wind, stay home, incoming tide with a SW will not be as bad as NE, but still bad. You can have 0 wind and still have a bad inlet if there is a residual swell from N to E - saw this after the hurricane this summer, 3 kts of wind and inlet was JACKED up.

Don't be surprised if you don't get out at all for your week, it happens all the time, but then again you might get 2-3 doable days. Anything N offshore, the stream will be bad.

The only decent place to stay in the water other then a water front ental on the sound side is Broad Creek, probably run you 400$ for the week for a slip. Easier just to trailer on the good days, save your money.

I have fished OI countless times, and this is what I learned mostly the hard way - if it predicted over 10kts, I don't even think about it, thats conservative, but I've had one too many close calls with a bad situation, and your parker isn't really an ocean boat.

That time of year, dont rule out hatteras, hatteras is more foregiving and might even be beter fishing in may, shorter run, and slightly better inlet, only an hour or so tow from Nags Head.

[High Line]

Have a blast down there...a great time of year to fish!

Overall, I think Nemo's advice is right on, although I wouldn't let a 10-15 from the West, SW, or South keep you from fishing though. Mostly beware the east or northeast (especially on an outgoing tide).

Also hatteras is a great option if you are mobile. You can definitely fish Hatteras on a 10-15 from any direction, including North, or North East, although it will be rough in the stream.

Enjoy the fishing. Great time of year to catch anything from dolphin to tuna or even blue-marlin out of Hatteras. Where do you usually fish out of?

Ed

[CaptNemo]

I would have said 10-15 is fine for most, but he did say they're fishing in a parker... especially if it is one of the cut out transom parkers...that boat will rattle your filling out in a 15kt wind offshore, you'd live, but you'd have a serious dental bill

[Majunka]

Appreciate the advice! Home port for us is Indian River DE or Ocean City, MD. I'm assuming that time of year is good for trolling islanders w/ballys. spreader bars.. birds... etc?

[CaptNemo]

middle fo may will have a little bit of everything offshore, could be great YFT fishing, could be great dolphin, we have even hooked sails in may on the grass lines, so a mixed spread would do it, medium ballyhoo's with a mix of islanders, seawitches, plastic etc.

[Majunka]

Thanks for the info. Want to reserve a boat slip @ OI or HI but wanted to see if anyone knew if you can leave a boat trailer @ your slip?

[Earesponsible]

You can leave the trailer at Baum ramp and lock it up. Probably not supposed to but probably not a problem either. I've done it without any issue.