Pleasant weather, with air temperatures hitting the mid-eighties, drove up the water temperatures a few degrees. Light winds for a few days allowed the boaters to get on the water and moderate surf conditions made it easy for surfcasters. And on top of all that, the fish cooperated along several fronts. It was a good week for fishing along the Outer Banks. Details to follow.
It looks like the timing is good for next week’s Outer Banks Surf Fishing School, and we will have fish for participants to catch! There are still a few open seats for the spring session, which kicks off on Thursday evening at the Comfort Inn in South Nags Head. If you are looking for an information-packed long weekend at the beach while learning surf fishing from the pros, and hopefully catching a few fish, visit my website at www.joemalat.com, or give me a call at (252) 202-4189 for more information.

As water temps crept up along the northern beaches, some fish were caught from the surf. I didn’t see any speckled trout on the beach last weekend, but there were right many shad taken by anglers fishing lead head jigs rigged in tandem. The smaller trailer jig was fooling the shad. Bluefish in the one to three pound range were taken on bait in the Corolla area.
Sea mullet, small black drum, spot and some croaker were reported from Rodanthe to Avon. The South Beach of Cape Hatteras produced sea mullet, a few puppy drum and bluefish in mixed sizes from one pound up to 12 pounds. I would like to see some of those big blues trickle into the surf this spring. Vehicle access to Cape Point remains restricted, due to pre-nesting activity by shore birds.

The Ocracoke Surf Fishing Tournament kicked off today and it looks like the anglers might have some fish. Several big red drum were caught this week from the south Point, plus scattered sea mullet, two to three pound bluefish, a few flounder and some puppy drum were reported.

Small bluefish and some flounder were caught near Oregon Inlet, but Hatteras Inlet boaters had a lot of bluefish to three pounds, plus a fair number of puppy drum inside the inlet.

The piers reported fair action. Avalon and Nags Head piers had sea mullet, lots of small bluefish, skates, dogfish and a 29-inch drum was released from Avalon. Hatteras Island piers reported sea mullet, some small black drum, skates, dogfish, spots and croakers. Some undersized flounders were also caught.