Joe’s Tip of the Week

Spanish mackerel have great eye sight, and a mouthful of very sharp teeth.  When casting artificial lures to them from the beach, avoid wire leaders that will turn them off. Use fluorocarbon or monofilament leaders.  You might lose an occasional fish, but you will get the bites!

Overview

Wow, what a great week! Sporadic showers popped up at a few locations, the surf was choppy and we had a day or two of wind, but overall conditions were pretty good and enabled anglers to get out on the water by the end of the week. The surf was a bit choppy early in the week and the water temp dropped a few degrees—down to 68 degrees on Saturday from Avalon Pier.  By yesterday (June 24) the water temp rose to 72 degrees and conditions improved considerably.  The prospects for a reappearance of the bluefish and Spanish macks by the weekend are good. I drove across the causeway between Nags Head and Manteo this evening about 6 pm and the water was slick flat calm. Winds are predicted to be moderate out of the south/southwest by the weekend. Looks like a good weekend to be on the water.

This week the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division announced that several runs at the Swan Quarter-Ocracoke and Cedar Island-Ocracoke routes will be suspended until at least June 29, while mechanics work to fix problems on the Motor Vessel Carteret.

The following runs have been suspended:

• The 7 a.m. run from Ocracoke to Swan Quarter, the 10 a.m. run from Swan Quarter to Ocracoke,
• the 2 p.m. run from Ocracoke to Cedar Island and the 5 p.m. run from Cedar Island to Ocracoke

The following runs will continue as scheduled:

• the 7:30 a.m. runs from both Ocracoke and Cedar Island,
• the 10:30 a.m. runs from both Ocracoke and Cedar Island,
• the 1 p.m. run from Ocracoke to Swan Quarter,
• the 2 p.m. run from Cedar Island to Ocracoke,
• the 5 p.m. run from Ocracoke to Cedar Island
• the 5 p.m. run from Swan Quarter to Ocracoke.

A return to the normal year-round schedule will occur as soon as the MV Carteret is fixed and running safely. Travelers with reservations for any of these runs during this week should call the reservations center at 1-800-BY-FERRY to make alternative arrangements.

Surf

Beginning with the weekend a brisk northeast to easterly wind kicked in.  It roughed up the ocean and dirtied the water from Corolla to Cape Point, and slowed surf fishing action along the east facing beaches.  Unfortunately for swimmers, rip currents also developed, especially around low tide at several locations along the beach. Most of the fish that I heard about were caught from the beach just north of Cape Point and from the South Beach.  The species selection included a few remaining big bluefish near Ramp 43, plus scattered sea mullet, croakers, small bluefish and a few puppy drum. Ocracoke had sea mullet, flounder, bluefish, pompano and croakers. A few big drum were caught and released after sunset.

Piers

The surf was a bit choppy early in the week and the water temp from Avalon Pier dropped down to 68 degrees on Saturday.  The chop muddied the water and slowed the Spanish action, but anglers caught small spot, sea mullet, a few flounder and speckled trout from the northern piers. By yesterday (June 24) the water temp rose to 72 degrees and conditions improved considerably.  Rodanthe Pier reported a real mix of fish, including croaker, flounder, black drum, Spanish macks, blues, sheepshead, triggerfish, spadefish and sea mullet.  The water temp hit 80 degrees down here.

Soundside

The soundside of Hatteras produced speckled trout, flounder and puppy drum at several locations, plus bluefish and Spanish macks around the inlet. 

Boaters are finding speckled trout at several locations. The fish have been scattered from Hatteras to the north end of the Croatan Sound and I don’t think any one location has been a definite hot spot.  Wade fishermen are finding some specks around Off Island and along the edges of the Propeller Slough near Oregon Inlet.

Grass bed flats, and the deeper water channels that are often found along the edges of marsh islands have produced specks.  There was a good bite of them as far north as the area around the Wright Memorial Bridge that connects the Outer Banks with the Currituck County mainland.     

Cobia fishing has slowed for the nearshore boaters, but that slow report could have been due to the rough conditions of the ocean early in the week that kept many boats inside the inlet, or because a lot of the fish have headed north to terrorize anglers fishing around the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Today, the conditions were great at Oregon Inlet. Around mid-day I saw about a dozen half-day charter boats and a few outboards trolling around the same location just a couple hundred yards off the beach, directly in front of the beach access ramp on the north side of Oregon Inlet. My guess was bluefish and Spanish macks were chewing on the high tide.