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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