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Fly Fishing North Carolina's Outerbanks Outer Banks Ocean Run Striped Bass Fly Fishing Striped Bass in North Carolina |
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Trophy North Carolina Outerbanks striped bass on fly tackle can be an easy
quarry for the avid saltwater fly fisherman; provided the weatherman
is on your side. It starts around November 15th, it's almost a sure bet that before the 17th of the month passes, somewhere close to the Nags Head area the first striped bass surf blitz of the season will occur. Many local fishermen keep a watch on Kitty Hawk Fishing Pier as the bellwether of the fall ocean striper season. Bait fishermen often catch the seasons first fall run striped bass from the end of the Kitty Hawk Fishing Pier. Those first groups of striped bass are seldom big. Most will not scale more than 18 pounds, and there is a good chance that they'll be mixed in with bluefish of equal or slightly greater size. By Thanksgiving Day you can be sure that the roil shoals of Oregon Inlet will be holding enough stripers to make a day of it, provide the sea state is conducive for safe fly fishing. Oregon Inlet can be big, mean, and is a proven man eater. Fishing the inlet's breaking shoals is a feat that might best be left to those with considerable local knowledge. Small skiffs or 200 ton steel hulled trawlers, Oregon Inlet has taken them all to Davy Jones's Locker. By Christmas Day dense schools of striped bass will all along the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Cape Point at Buxton will have had some banner Striper fishing days, and nights. The shoals off the "Point" out to a couple of miles will now hold every size Striped Bass, from those that will not meet the State minimum 28" length requirement, up to some real trophy size bass. Hatteras and Ocracoke Inlets shoals will now both offer fairly consistent conventional fishing opportunities, but it might be more hit and miss with fly tackle. There are a few savvy fly fishermen who under the cover of darkness will quietly fish the beach sloughs adjacent to both these inlets. Of all the places to fly fish in the surf for a trophy size striped bass, the areas close to both Hatteras and Ocracoke Inlets would be my first choices to invest the time necessary to land and exceptionally large striped bass in the surf and on a fly. As a former commercial waterman, I have seen a lot of really big striped bass over the years that were captured in various types of gear. With out exception, the very largest striped bass I have ever laid my eyes on were captured very close to the beach around both of these inlets. By mid to late December the Oregon Inlet Charter Boat Fleet will continually find large schools and scattered striped bass from just outside the inlet to a dozen or more miles to the north and south of Oregon Inlet. The best striped bass action may be just clear of the breaking surf, or out two to three miles offshore. Everyday, some boats will head north, some south, and some will stick close to the inlet. Very seldom will any of the experienced skippers fail to find fish. New Years Day. If I was forced to choose. If I could only pick one day a year to fish for big striped bass off the North Carolina coast. If I had to pick one single day to bet on form now to the end, it would have to be News Years Day at Oregon Inlet. Barring a coastal storm that keeps the entire fleet at the docks, New Years Day through out my lifetime has consistently been exceptionally good to me as day to catch big striped bass and bluefish. If you are considering at trip on or near New Years Day, plan ahead! Book that charter early. If you intend to fish your own boat, get to the ramp early. Park Rangers will turn away boaters when the parking area at the ramp overflows. New Years Day has also historically been a good for surf anglers too.
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Wind & the Weather. A bluebird sky, a genteel ocean, and a warm breeze is the exceptional winter day along the Outerbanks. They do come along, occasionally several in a row. But, often they don't. Bad weather can keep even the largest sportfishing boats tied to the dock for days on end. As the season progresses, the frequency of bad weather tends to increase, and the length of the good weather windows tends to decrease. By the time February rolls around, the time when the biggest of the big fish are available. Those of us with smaller boats often must be content with a few early morning sprints into the ocean. Buy keeping a close eye on the weather map, one can often foresee a brief window of opportunity just before the next low-pressure system rolls up out of Georgia. I spent almost twelve years of my early working life plying a living from the costal waters of North Carolina and Virginia. I can tell you from hard earned experience that the winters along the Outerbanks will often settle into a pattern of wind shift 360 degrees every two or three day; or into a pattern when the weather shifts ever 4 or 5 days. The longer the period between 360 degree wind shift, the more likely there will be a brief period of light wind and a calm sea for anglers to take advantage of. It's a game of wait and see, a game you'll have to play if you want to chase big stripers in the winter ocean off North Carolina.
Cape Point in Buxton, one of the primer surf fishing destinations in North Carolina, but is seldom a friendly place for fly anglers. Anglers are often elbow to elbow, the current runs hard, and the stripers tend to remain out of fly casting range. If you did manage to slip away from the crowd and hook a fish on your fly rod, chances are there would be a dozen or more anglers sling 12' surf rods and 8 oz leads all around you before you got your fish to the beach. One might have half a chance of fly fishing close to the Point in the middle of the night. Surf Fishing at Night. Fly fishing the Outerbanks surf for striped bass is quite simply not extremely productive for most anglers. Yes there are some surf blitzes that are almost mind boggling. I have seen angler simply sit down on the beach, too exhausted from catching fish to make another cast. Unless you are fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time, you might (as most) find you surf fishing on the Outerbanks less that fruitful with your fly rod. There is an alternative to being just pain lucky. You can save your energy and concentrate your efforts at night. Simply switching you daylight tactics to night might not be any more productive. You'll need to learn the ways of the "dark side." There is a small group of fly angler who regularly ply the dark winter water of the Outerbanks surf. They are as secretive and stealthy as the anglers who regularly pull 3, 4, & 5 pound speckled trout from the same dark waters. Unless they know you, they'll never admit success; and even then there response to your queries may be cryptic. The nocturnal fly fishing the surf techniques are basic, the execution is mostly a matter of hard work and perseverance. The smart anglers search the beaches during daylight hours. They look for deep holes and sloughs within casting range; they look for signs of bait, for signs of big stripers out away from the beach. They make detailed notes on how to return to these spots after dark, and without the aid of light. They know all too well that one sweep of a trucks headlights will clear all the big stripers from a slough. Some go as far as to cover the dome light and cargo lights of their 4x4 pick-ups so as to not emit any illumination when they open the vehicle door.. I to have played this game of mid-night madness. It is a game that can become quite addictive. Big fish are always fun to catch, but catching a big fish when you are standing in the surf with just a fly rod adds a bit more spice to life. For me, one of the more successful nocturnal surf technique in North Carolina is to employed a fast sinking line. I like to used a Teeny 550 on a fast 11wt rod and a leader about 5 foot long. The fly I use with this setup is a long Black Deceiver with a slider type foam head (made from a "cane pole" fishing bobber) that is threaded on the leader and pulled down on the fly head. I fished the fly by casting out into the slough and allowing the heavy line to carry the fly down close to the bottom. The fly is fished with a long hard pull. The weight of the heavy shooting head will pull the suspended fly toward the bottom (remember that we are fishing from the beach, low angles), and on the pause the fly would "swim" up from the bottom. Most of the strikes will come as the fly is "swimming" up. The take is seldom subtle, these fish are in the slough close to the beach to feed. I never invest too much time in any one spot. I would work each hole in a methodical pattern. From one end to the other. Some areas I like to fish are so small that three or four cast is all that was needed to cover the area. No fish in one hole, then I would move on down the beach to the next area I had previously scouted during the daylight. From two hours before high tide, till two hours after high tide are often the most productive times to fly fish in the nocturnal surf zone. I also would never pass up the opportunity to make a cast or two during the periods just before and after sun-up and sun-down. Following a few sun-down cast, and if I intended to do some after-dark fly fishing in the surf; I always leave the beach for a few hours. It always seemed like after it got too dark to see your rod tip, it then took about two hours for the striped bass to resume activity. My only assumption is that it took a while for their eyes to adjust for nocturnal feeding. |
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| Beach Launch Striped Bass Fishing Aluminum skiffs and kayaks are becoming an ever popular alternative for chasing winter striped bass within a mile or two of the Outerbanks beaches. Wetsuits and a quality PFD are probably a much better alternative than chest waders and pure dumb luck. COLD WATER KILLS ! I see way too many anglers venturing off the beach wearing boot foot loose fitting chest waders, no wader belt, and no Personal Flotation Device . We can catch striped bass on the fly with water temperatures as low as 43 degrees F. An unprotected swimmer (even with a PFD) that is in peak conditioning might at best last 10 or 15 minutes in water that cold, before losing the ability to maneuver. Remember, the harder you swim, the quicker you loose body heat. Flies for Outerbanks Striped Bass Menhaden, Croakers, Spot, Whiting, as well as sand eels, bay anchovies, and silverside minnows are all on the menu for striped bass that winter along North Carolina's Outerbanks. Getting a big fly down deep is often the key to success if you are angling for a trophy size bass. Even when fish are rolling all over the top; as a general rule, the biggest fish will be down below the smaller ones. When the wind is not howling, and I can stand a few tangles; my rig of choice is 30 foot of LC-13 attached to a mono shooting line. In my experience, this rig will get a fly down to the bottom as fast or faster that shooting heads of even higher weight. Big flies are not always the key. These big Outerbanks striped bass will also key on much smaller forage. When you see flocks of terns down tight on the water, picking and plucking the surface; hen it's a good sign that the stripers are feeding on small bait. Whales feeding in the area is also a sign that there may be large shoals of small bait in the area. The fly angler who does not have a few small olive over white Clousers in his bag may miss the boat in a situation like this. Size matter, sometimes small is the key to a big fish. When the Ocean is too rough, there are always inshore opportunities to catch striped bass on the Sound-side water of North Carolina's Outerbanks.
Harry Hall
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