Northern District NCDMF Fishing Report



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Northern District Dare, Hyde, Currituck, & Beaufort Counties
Contact: Brian Melott Aug. 31, 2008
For the 2008 fishing year, all owners/operators of vessels recreationally fishing for and/or retaining regulated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) (Atlantic tunas, sharks, swordfish and billfish) in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, must obtain an Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling permit. This permit has replaced the Atlantic tunas Angling category permit. In North Carolina, additional HMS harvest reporting requirements are also in place.

Please Note: Anglers sometimes confuse small king mackerel with Spanish mackerel. King mackerel and spanish mackerel have different size and catch limits. Make SURE you properly identify the mackerel you are catching. (Tips here)

A recreational Recreational Fishing License went into effect Jan. 1, 2007 for all of the state's coastal and ocean waters. Tagged Red Drum: Download PDF with reward details.

Ocean: Offshore fishing remains good with limits of dolphin, greater amberjack, blueline tilefish, wahoo, barracuda, and assorted snappers and groupers out of the Hatteras marinas. Tuna catches remain few with the exception of a few bigeye tuna out of the northern Outer Banks marinas. Billfish catches remain consistent, with good catches of sailfish and blue and white marlin. Midrange catch rates made a modest improvement, with some very large striped bass being caught 8 to10-miles offshore along with a few red drum, triggerfish, and black seabass. Artificial reefs have been producing some nice sheepshead and tautog on a fairly regular basis. Fishing slowed a bit for inshore anglers.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Flounder have been the primary target of these anglers, and for good reason! Well over 50% of the ones they hook are legal keeping size. Oregon Inlet has produced the bulk of them with most catches in the very shallow areas near the various islands, but nice specimens were caught throughout the region. Spotted seatrout and citation size croakers were caught in Roanoke Sound underneath the Washington Baum Bridge. There have been some good catches of striped bass at Manns Harbor.

Piers/Shore: Success rates slowed, with only a few bluefish and Spanish mackerel being caught. A few spot, croaker, pigfish, pinfish, blue runners, spadefish, skates, and assorted sharks were all also caught. There were some good cobia catches from piers, especially at night, with a few citation size catches being landed.

General Overview: Anglers continued to have moderate success rates in most modes and favorable weather conditions predicted for the coming week. Tropical storm Hanna may affect fishing efforts toward the end of the week.

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