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I wish I had a lot of fish pictures and a great report to give, but alas, overall, fishing was slow. I continue to believe that fishing in NC gets worse every year, at least inshore, probably due to the shrimp trawling, but that's a conversation for another time.
Anyway, I fished in a variety of methods and only managed to catch a few fish. Most were spanish mackerel, which was my #1 target fish this year, so that was awesome. I fished off the beach only once, and caught nothing (as did my brother and father), and everyone else we talked to said surf fishing was very slow. It's always the case wherever I go that you "should've been here last month," or "the action will really heat up next month!" Although maybe I just used all my luck catching big pelagics last summer/fall. Anyway...
I went out with a guide named Mikey Sabadic, and while he is a good fisherman and a good guide, he's just getting started in the guiding business, and it shows. He's not quite as instructive as I would like, but I think a lot of that had to do with him running an earlier trip where he was essentially babysitting a big family party, so I think he just wanted to fish a lot when he was out with me. He caught 2 drum, 1 keeper at 20" and 1 overslot at 29", and I caught only 1 white perch in about 4 hours of fishing. I will put some of the blame on the learning curve, but I think the fishing, much like here, is just about a month behind (hopefully). We stuck to some marshy areas for fishing, and it was a very new experience for me, but I would like to try again when the fishing is better. It wasn't worth me taking my kayak all the way back up to that spot, when I had ocean access all around me.
My brother, father, and I went out on my brother's small bowrider, and cruised out of the hatteras inlet around Ocracoke, trying to find spanish mackerel and perhaps anchor up and fish for cobia. Neither of them are patient fisherman, so when they told me they wanted to fish for cobia, I had my doubts, and sure enough they only sat for maybe 15-20 minutes and got bored and wanted to leave. That was fine with me, I wanted to chase mackerel, and we did. We came across several schools and trolled up 2 spanish mackerel and 1 bluefish (1 mackerel came off due to poor rod handling by my father haha). I stood at the bow and sight casted a heavy stingsilver (I think that's the name) to where I thought mackerel would be, or near where I saw activity. That yielded 3 more spanish mackerel but 1 came off as my brother was too slow to throttle the boat down, and the hook was pulled from the fishes mouth (I was casting as we were trolling). So in the end we managed 3 spanish and 1 blue, but I had a great time out there.
I've launched kayaks into the ocean before, but never my own, so I wanted to give it a shot. I found a nice access road close to where I was staying (Avon), and launched my kayak into the ocean 2 days in a row. The first day admittedly was foolish, the winds were a bit too high, I was just stubborn and wanted to get out. It was a very tiring, wet, and dangerous day, but I took all the precautions I could regarding safety equipment, float plans, etc., and I never flipped or had any accidents out there. I did encounter 2 or 3 large schools of spanish mackerel out there which were very beautiful to be around, but I was too busy trying to deal with large waves and wind in my sit-in, so I couldn't really fish for them during the short windows they appeared. The second day I launched into the ocean was much nicer, so of course, I didn't mark any fish for the whole 4 hours I was out there. However, I was determined to at least "go big or go home" so I brought the carcasses from the fish I had cleaned before, and set them out in a mesh bag as chum while I anchored in a shallower shoal a few hundred yards offshore. I was chunking tuna belly and bottom fishing with fishbites and shrimp, hoping to get some croaker or other live bait to use for cobia, in lieu of the tuna belly (which probably still would've worked). However, I instead hooked 2 massive rays that made long powerful runs, so each time I was convinced it was a cobia or big mackerel, but disappointed in the end. The one kept taking drag from my sahara which was cranked all the way up almost, and probably broke off a gear internally, but I knew it needed servicing anyway. I got both rays in and cut the line within 8 inches of the hook. It was nice to have some excitement and to see my rods really bend (even the bigwater ugly stik was bowed nicely). I trolled both days out in the ocean with lures which had produced mackerel, but only got a few quick non committal hits on my paddletail, and no fish to show for it.
Like I said, overall the fishing was slow, but I'm glad I threw everything I had at them to try to increase my chances. I now have some surf launching/ocean fishing experience under my belt, and I think it's as foolish as it is admirable that I took my 12' sit-in kayak out to the ocean and back, twice. Each time there were fisherman around me, be it on the beach, or on the pier where I also briefly fished (skunked), no one was catching anything unfortunately. I figured with the temps being in the 70s in the AM, and the water being about the same, fishing would be prime, but I think that was only true for offshore charters. Next time I bring my kayak down to OBX, I would like to charter 1 or 2 additional kayak guides to gain further insight into fishing a very daunting area. Overall, I don't regret the effort I put in, though it was more of a learning experience than a catching one.
Anyway, I fished in a variety of methods and only managed to catch a few fish. Most were spanish mackerel, which was my #1 target fish this year, so that was awesome. I fished off the beach only once, and caught nothing (as did my brother and father), and everyone else we talked to said surf fishing was very slow. It's always the case wherever I go that you "should've been here last month," or "the action will really heat up next month!" Although maybe I just used all my luck catching big pelagics last summer/fall. Anyway...
I went out with a guide named Mikey Sabadic, and while he is a good fisherman and a good guide, he's just getting started in the guiding business, and it shows. He's not quite as instructive as I would like, but I think a lot of that had to do with him running an earlier trip where he was essentially babysitting a big family party, so I think he just wanted to fish a lot when he was out with me. He caught 2 drum, 1 keeper at 20" and 1 overslot at 29", and I caught only 1 white perch in about 4 hours of fishing. I will put some of the blame on the learning curve, but I think the fishing, much like here, is just about a month behind (hopefully). We stuck to some marshy areas for fishing, and it was a very new experience for me, but I would like to try again when the fishing is better. It wasn't worth me taking my kayak all the way back up to that spot, when I had ocean access all around me.
My brother, father, and I went out on my brother's small bowrider, and cruised out of the hatteras inlet around Ocracoke, trying to find spanish mackerel and perhaps anchor up and fish for cobia. Neither of them are patient fisherman, so when they told me they wanted to fish for cobia, I had my doubts, and sure enough they only sat for maybe 15-20 minutes and got bored and wanted to leave. That was fine with me, I wanted to chase mackerel, and we did. We came across several schools and trolled up 2 spanish mackerel and 1 bluefish (1 mackerel came off due to poor rod handling by my father haha). I stood at the bow and sight casted a heavy stingsilver (I think that's the name) to where I thought mackerel would be, or near where I saw activity. That yielded 3 more spanish mackerel but 1 came off as my brother was too slow to throttle the boat down, and the hook was pulled from the fishes mouth (I was casting as we were trolling). So in the end we managed 3 spanish and 1 blue, but I had a great time out there.
I've launched kayaks into the ocean before, but never my own, so I wanted to give it a shot. I found a nice access road close to where I was staying (Avon), and launched my kayak into the ocean 2 days in a row. The first day admittedly was foolish, the winds were a bit too high, I was just stubborn and wanted to get out. It was a very tiring, wet, and dangerous day, but I took all the precautions I could regarding safety equipment, float plans, etc., and I never flipped or had any accidents out there. I did encounter 2 or 3 large schools of spanish mackerel out there which were very beautiful to be around, but I was too busy trying to deal with large waves and wind in my sit-in, so I couldn't really fish for them during the short windows they appeared. The second day I launched into the ocean was much nicer, so of course, I didn't mark any fish for the whole 4 hours I was out there. However, I was determined to at least "go big or go home" so I brought the carcasses from the fish I had cleaned before, and set them out in a mesh bag as chum while I anchored in a shallower shoal a few hundred yards offshore. I was chunking tuna belly and bottom fishing with fishbites and shrimp, hoping to get some croaker or other live bait to use for cobia, in lieu of the tuna belly (which probably still would've worked). However, I instead hooked 2 massive rays that made long powerful runs, so each time I was convinced it was a cobia or big mackerel, but disappointed in the end. The one kept taking drag from my sahara which was cranked all the way up almost, and probably broke off a gear internally, but I knew it needed servicing anyway. I got both rays in and cut the line within 8 inches of the hook. It was nice to have some excitement and to see my rods really bend (even the bigwater ugly stik was bowed nicely). I trolled both days out in the ocean with lures which had produced mackerel, but only got a few quick non committal hits on my paddletail, and no fish to show for it.
Like I said, overall the fishing was slow, but I'm glad I threw everything I had at them to try to increase my chances. I now have some surf launching/ocean fishing experience under my belt, and I think it's as foolish as it is admirable that I took my 12' sit-in kayak out to the ocean and back, twice. Each time there were fisherman around me, be it on the beach, or on the pier where I also briefly fished (skunked), no one was catching anything unfortunately. I figured with the temps being in the 70s in the AM, and the water being about the same, fishing would be prime, but I think that was only true for offshore charters. Next time I bring my kayak down to OBX, I would like to charter 1 or 2 additional kayak guides to gain further insight into fishing a very daunting area. Overall, I don't regret the effort I put in, though it was more of a learning experience than a catching one.
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