Tips for OBX?

[DonV]

Anyone care to help me out with some advice or tips for fishing OBX. Heading down this weekend to Rodanthe and will be taking the kayaks. Bodie Island looks interesting and I'm also consdering the pea island area. Any advice greatly appreciated. Hope to target redfish and sea trout.

[ronaultmtd]

Been a bunch of years, but fishing the sound was always productive...launching from the beach is an adventure if the surf conditions aren't right...and recovery can be equally challenging. Good luck and let us.know the details of your trip.

If you are fishing off the beach- This time of year I would be float fishing with a live bait- I would target smoker Kings and big Cobia and there is the possibility of a stray Tarpon just a few hundred yards off the beach in clear water- I always used #9 tobacco colored solid wire to make up my float rigs- 4/0 short shank live bait hook just under the dorsal fin with a short piece of wire (4-6 inches) attached the 3/0 or 4/0 treble hook to the first hook- about five feet of total length for the wire under the float- Tinker bluefish, small bar jacks (blue runners) pigfish, spots, pin fish, etc. all make decent baits so long as they are frisky and lively- Corn Cob mullet and Threadfin Herring are superb baits but hard to find sometimes-

[Reelaxin10]

I visited and fished OBX twice this summer. Once in Corolla and once in Duck. On both occasions I fished the sound side one day each and caught both redfish and trout on a 1/8 jighead with a chartreuse gulp swimming mullet. I also fished around structure on the ocean side and caught triggerfish and a few other species on a t&b rig with sand fleas. Wish I had more time to fish some love baits out in the ocean like Ron mentioned above. Good luck!

[DanMarino]

I had similar experience to Reelaxin10 at Duck, NC.
It was the first time I ever tried to fish the structure of a pier out in the ocean and I enjoyed it. I look forward to going back. I enjoyed fishing the marshy areas of the sound. It minded me of tidal largemouth bass fishing.

[DonV]

Thanks guys. I really want to try the ocean but don't know if I am going to have the nerve, especially with a kayak loaded with gear. May try the surf a few times empty before giving it a go.

[DanMarino]

You'll be amazed how sometimes it isn't rough at all. It depends on the direction of the wind. There was several days that it was rougher on the sound side than in the ocean.