OBX sound fishing?

[dsiekman]

I'll be in Duck next week and will have the kayak with me. We are staying on the sound so I'll have daily access. Based on what I've seen, the fishing is less than stellar. I was hoping for specs and reds. Any thoughts?

[Gunner]

Consider driving south and fishing around Oregon Inlet, put in by Coast Guard Station, or go further south to Hatteras and hook up with Jam at Teach's Lair Marina. Good Luck

[DanMarino]

I have caught red drum and black drum from the sound behind Duck Donuts.

[baitball]

I have caught red drum and black drum from the sound behind Duck Donuts.

What time of year did you catch them?

It seems like fishing is always tough in Duck during the summer. I leave the kayak behind and just surf fish when our family has gone in summers past, but I can be convinced otherwise if there is something I'm missing. :-)

[DanMarino]

It was July or August. I'm not saying the fishing was great, but we caught fish.
Redfish Magic spinner bait and gulp shrimp on a jig. Fishing shorelines and grass.

[baitball]

It was July or August. I'm not saying the fishing was great, but we caught fish.
Redfish Magic spinner bait and gulp shrimp on a jig. Fishing shorelines and grass.

Ok, good to know. I'll drag the kayak down next time. Thanks!

[dsiekman]

Thanks, guys. Always good to know there's a chance. I'll have the family with me so fishing will be limited. Also I'll be loading my PA12 on top of the wife's SUV, so unlikely I'll be doing any short hops while I'm down there. If I had my truck it would be a different story.

I have surf fished down there maybe a half dozen times and have never caught a thing. I'm hoping to change that this year.

[yakscientist]

I can't offer any advice on Duck specifically, or even sound fishing, but I have been surf fishing out of Avon (south, by Hatteras) for many years now. I still don't really know how to accurately read the beach/waves to see drop-offs, sloughs, etc., but I can give you advice on what to use. I would always have a double hook bottom rig (hi-lo rig as their sometimes called) handy, and I like to use shrimp or squid as bait, and I always have a small (1/2-1") piece of the fishbites fake bloodworm strips on each hook. That makes all the difference, fish really seem to hit the baits a lot more often. During the summer, you'll probably get a lot of skates and dogfish. Please be as gentle as possible, I've seen far too many people just get angry that they hooked them (how dare a fish they don't want bite their bait!), and then stab them and throw them back, or just leave them on the sand to die. I use to just keep my mouth shut, but those days are long past. As for sound fishing, 4" gulp in the swimming mullet/curltail either chartreuse or pink color on bucktails would work nicely. I went out with a guide, Missy (Finatic Kayak Fishing), look her up, she can take you to some great spots for not that much money. I fished with her in the sound around Manteo, during the absolute hottest week of 2016, so fishing of course was going to be poor. But I managed to catch small specks, drum, and flounder, all with the gulp/bucktail combo, or a popping cork, and trolling my usual 4" zman minnow. My name's Pat btw, she may or may not remember me from last summer.

[dsiekman]

Thanks, Pat. I appreciate the tips!

I am mostly a c&r fisherman unless specifically targeting rocks in the bay. I do my best to get the fish unhooked as quickly and gently as possible and get them back in the water. The ones I do keep I typically dispatch and bleed out immediately. I think it is more humane and also cuts down on the amount of lactic acid produced by flopping around or being drug around on a stringer and, in my opinion, makes them taste a little better. That's just me.

The last thing I caught in NC surf fishing was a tern of some sort (I think) when he flew into my line. That is an adventure I will never forget. Luckily we both came out of that without injury although I thought I was going to lose a finger.

[yakscientist]

Thanks, Pat. I appreciate the tips!

I am mostly a c&r fisherman unless specifically targeting rocks in the bay. I do my best to get the fish unhooked as quickly and gently as possible and get them back in the water. The ones I do keep I typically dispatch and bleed out immediately. I think it is more humane and also cuts down on the amount of lactic acid produced by flopping around or being drug around on a stringer and, in my opinion, makes them taste a little better. That's just me.

The last thing I caught in NC surf fishing was a tern of some sort (I think) when he flew into my line. That is an adventure I will never forget. Luckily we both came out of that without injury although I thought I was going to lose a finger.

Nice! I've never caught a bird while fishing, but I did catch one accidentally once....my brother and I used to always dig holes at the beach when we were younger, and we noticed a lot of seagulls around, so we threw some chips into the hole. Sure enough, a few of them dove down, ate the chips and then flew out. There was one bird, maybe a younger one, or just a noob, it couldn't quite make it out of the hole on its steep sides. So we simply used the handle of a shovel, let it grasp that, and then gently lifted it out of the hole and it flew away. Come to think of it, the next time I'm down there at the beach, I might dig another hole. I'm 28 years old and I would be lying if I said that wouldn't be fun. I also lately have been quickly dispatching fish I intend to keep, I usually use what I call a soul pole, it's something I bought off amazon from Kufa, it's a hard wood club. I just give the fish a couple hard raps over the head, and sometimes bleed them too, and into the cooler bag they go. Although if there's any doubt that I'm going to keep them, for instance if I'm targeting WP, the first couple keepers will go on a stringer, and if I only catch 1 or 2, they simply get released later. WP are very tough so they typically do well on a stringer that's fairly deep in the water column. And back to your original question about sound fishing, I would honestly focus on flounder a fair amount as well. Just look for quick rises in depth or maybe differing structure if possible, and just bounce a bucktail/gulp combo off the bottom for a few minutes here and there. I always see a ton of smaller flounder all around the sandy bottoms of the sound if I'm snorkeling or wading around, so I'm sure there are plenty of keeper size ones here and there. You might also want to give crabbing a shot, though I've never crabbed from a kayak so I can't give advice on that.

[mchottie]

you arent a true fisherman until you've landed (and released) a flying bird. last august pier fishing, a lovely seagul decided to grab onto my double drop rig (i'm assuming for my shrimp bait) and have made it all the way up onto the pier. "just when you think you've caught it all"

[baitball]

+1 on the tips Pat had for surf fishing, I would also add these other four tips:


- Purchase two or three "Bottom Rigs". They are metal wire rigs with connections to attach your hooks, line, and weight. They sell them in any tackle shop in the OBX.



- Purchase a pack or two of Bear Paw-brand flicker snelled hooks with the flashy spinners. I've had good luck with silver, gold, or chartreuse - they seem to work best. *Buy the smallest size of hook you can get your hands on. You will only be using small (<0.5") pieces of bloodworm on the hook (see next tip), so you'll have a better hook-up ratio with a smaller hook (i.e. the hook is concealed by the small piece of bait).
http://bearpawtackle.com/index.php?r...tegory&path=59

- Spend a little extra and buy bloodworms. If you keep them on ice - and in the fridge when not fishing - a bag of them will last you about five days or so; use only tiny pieces on the hooks (see previous tip)

- Purchase a couple of surf fishing weights to help keep your bottom rig presentation from running with the current.

[Rhino]

I'll be in Duck next week and will have the kayak with me. We are staying on the sound so I'll have daily access. Based on what I've seen, the fishing is less than stellar. I was hoping for specs and reds. Any thoughts?

I'm actually down here right now with my yak, trying to get in some short trips during family vacation. My first short trip out this AM I caught 2 nice fat 19" puppy drum. The water is pretty murky in the Currituck Sound and I was advised that shrimp on a Carolina rig is more effective, compared to jigs and other artificials, which might be effective at Oregon Inlet and further south. I may head down there in the next few days and will post again if I learn anything. See a related thread where a fellow Snaggedliner posted a great article he wrote about sight-casting for puppy drum.

[dsiekman]

Thanks guys! We got down here about 7 last night and the wind was ripping. Whitecaps on the sound. Still looks pretty rough this morning. Headed to the tackle shop in a few.

[baitball]

Thanks guys! We got down here about 7 last night and the wind was ripping. Whitecaps on the sound. Still looks pretty rough this morning. Headed to the tackle shop in a few.

Good luck! Let us know how you do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk