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October/November Newsletter
Hope you enjoyed last month's restaurant guide.
Sara and I enjoyed doing the "research". This month
will be geared towards the fishermen who make there
way down to the island all year long in search of their
favorite species. I will be outlining what I
target each month around the waters of Ocracoke and
some basic tactics. I'm sure some of you will
have other favorites and methods, but these are the
fish that I target during each month of the year.
Some fish will be listed multiple times but take
note that tactics and areas will change with the
seasons. Here we go.
October; Let
us
start with this month as it is my favorite month of
the year for fishing. I will be boat fishing only
this month, so no help here for the surf fisherman.
"Old drum" are hanging around the inlet (inside and
out). These fish are in small to large schools
and can be caught by sightcasting with bucktails.
Clear water helps for seeing the schools but the
drum
will also be chasing flounders off the bottom up to
the surface, so look for that as well as slicks on
the surface. The
speckled trout bite, just behind Portsmouth, is
really reaching its peak with the end of the month
seeing the most quantity and quality fish. I
use mirrolures of all shapes and colors exclusively
now but the specks can also be caught on grubs.
Puppy drum are also present near the speckled trout
holes with natural color swimbaits being the lure of
choice. The wahoo bite offshore is typically
excellent during this month and I will slip off to
the deep as time and weather allow, armed with dark
colored skirts and ballyhoo. Don't leave the
dock without your planer rod and a trolling weight for
the way back "shotgun bait". You will be sorry
if you do!

November:
Okay you surf guys, this is my month for the old
drum from the beach. If we get a SW blow of
15mph or so during the first two weeks, I will head down somewhere south of
Point Rd. Less people on the beach and cool nights
makes for an enjoyable night of fishing. There
will be pups and yearlings mixed in also, but fish
with your bigger surf tackle at night so that you
can handle the big ones. Offshore, king mackerel fishing
is world class this month. Live baiting and
dead baiting on light tackle will produce the
biggest fish of the year and some of the most
exciting strikes you will ever see. If you
have never done this, I highly recommend booking a
charter and trying it. There are also still
some pups and trout around inside to be caught on lures if you can't get
offshore.

December,January, February:
Go blackfin tuna jigging
offshore! You talk about fun. Dropping
butterfly jigs and high speed jigging will produce
both blackfins and bycatch of false albacore .
These are nice sized blackfin tuna from 15-30lbs and
put up a great fight on the jigging tackle and are
also good eating. Bluefin tuna will also be around from the 75lb class
right on up to the giants. Back in the surf,
their are speckled trout and pups. Fish the
sloughs along the beach with gold hopkins, grubs,
and mirrorlures. Sometimes they are there,
sometimes they are not, but there is hardly anyone
on the beach so enjoy it!

March:
If we get a SW blow towards the end of the month,
look for the old drum in the surf. Once again,
not many people here on the beach so this makes night and
day fishing enjoyable. I am getting ready to
open the motel back up, so not a whole lot going on
fishing wise for me. Had good luck this year
in March with dead baiting king mackerel and also hit the
black sea bass pretty good bottomfishing.
April:
Water is beginning to warm a bit. Will be
catching a few inshore pups on lures from the boat.
I'm always hoping the yellowfin tuna will show up
offshore, so I will take a pretty day and try
and find them and if not, do some bottomfishing.
Early April is also good for the old drum from the
beach and I will do this once or twice if late March
did not cooperate weather wise.
May:
This is my second favorite
month of the year for fishing. "Cobia fever"
will begin to set in about the second week. I
will spend most of my free time when weather allows sightfishing for cobia in and around the inlet.
A white bucktail with grub is the lure of choice on
80lb flouro leader.
Hope for clear water and calm winds. Nice
gaffer-sized mahi will also be starting to show up
offshore in force by the mid to latter part of the
month so I always try to spend a couple of days
offshore. Small
ballyhoo with mylar skirts and brighter colors seem
to work best for me.
June:
The beginning of June sees me doing much of the same
as the end of May. Still looking for cobia
nearshore and fishing offshore when I can for mahi.
Lots of spanish macks around if you are inclined.

July, August:
When we get to July, my focus goes from solely
fishing to also gigging flounder. We tend to
have the highest number of gigged fish these months
and in very shallow water. The fish are in no
way as big as the fall fish, but tend to be in
higher concentration. I will also be
bottomfishing and trolling offshore. I had
some great triggerfish catches this summer and there
are normally mahi around of varying size offshore
and nearshore with the occasional wahoo thrown in.
We also begin to wade fish in the inlet for puppy
drum on the incoming tide. We have had some
great days sightcasting to the slot size fish with
small bucktails in knee deep water. In past
years, we have had excellent catches of pompano, but
this year seemed to be a slow one. Use sand
fleas and anchor up along the bars around the inlet
for a shot at these tasty fighters. Also use the sand fleas on inshore structure for a shot at the
"convicts" (sheepshead).

September:
Inshore fall fishing begins to heat up with puppy
drum making a good showing in the deep and shallows
around the oyster rocks in the sound. You can catch them on
bait in the deep and lures in the shallows depending
on tide. Speckled trout will start to trickle
into the holes I fish and I will also be targeting sheepshead inshore. Offshore, we will be
focusing on wahoo. All trolled baits will have
wire leader and ballyhoo with dark color combos.
Lots of sailfish out there if billfishing is your
game. Bottomfishing offshore can be very
productive with great catches of triggerfish and snappers.
Well,
there you go. A brief overview for each month
of what I target when fishing the waters of
Ocracoke. As most of you know, I enjoy talkin
fishin with you when you arrive and I will be glad to recommend charter captains
depending on the type of fishing you are most
interested in. I will see you out there.
Bert
Clark
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