akid,
start here. http://outerbanksflyfishing.com/forum/ Nearly every question you just asked has been tackled on here. Great forum.
Here is an example of a helpful post:
Wading the Outer Banks
Spring is a great time to get out and fish some of the Outer Banks hot fishing spots. You don’t need a boat or a 4x4 to sample some of springs hottest angling! With a good pair of waders and a little sense of adventure you can experience some of the seasons best fishing. It doesn’t matter whether you cast a fly or throw a grub all persuasions can be satisfied.
Wading has many appeals to many people whether you are on a budget, a hard core do it yourselfer or just taking a morning off and looking for a little solitude. I will warn you sometimes solitude is harder to find than the fish. More and more people are discovering the sounds and the wade fishing that is available to them.
Springs sunshine warms the creeks and shallow sound side sloughs. Bait begins to arrive and predators are not far behind. There are several different predators lurking around in the sounds this time of year. They are schoolie stripers, speckled trout, bluefish and puppy drum. All of these fish are eager to please after warming up from a long winter nap.
Tackle doesn’t need to be complicated. A good choice for spinning tackle is a 6 to 7 foot rod with a matched spinning reel spooled with 6 to 8 pound test monofilament. I like to carry three types of lures in my vest pocket. The first and my favorite are several bags of Finn-s lures. These soft baits are the deadliest artificial bait in the sounds. Colors seem to be a personal preference. My choices are different from most people but they work very well for me. They are devilfish (black/red) Texas Chili (orange and black) and Rainbow trout color; other people favor the greens and chartreuse colors. Don’t limit yourself take a bag of each. I like using ¼ ounce heads on all Finn-s, the light the head the better action. The second bait is small bucktail jigs. These are a little heavier and will let you fish in a strong current. The last bait is a Rebel Pop-R, stripers love to chase these top water plugs.
Fly fishing tackle is almost as simple. A 7wt to 8 wt rod is almost perfect but anything from a 6wt to 9 wt. rod will work. You will get more use out of an intermediate fly line than a floating or a super fast sinking fly line. An intermediate fly line will let you fish more of the water column. Your rate of retrieval will let you present your fly from sub surface to the bottom. The second most important thing to have along if you are a fly fisherman is a stripping basket. This apparatus keeps the resting fly line from sinking and lets you cast with out any drag. Besides you fly rod and a stripping basket you will need a fly box full of Bob Clouser’s Deep Minnows AKA the Clouser and Lefty Kreh’s Deceivers. Both of these patterns are extremely effective and easy to fish. If you tie make you sure you tie several in each of these colors; chartreuse / white, black/ red, red/chartreuse, red /white and if you buy these are local colors and they can be found in several tackle shops here on the beach. A simple leader from six to eight foot should work. Most tackle shops now stock a few leaders and if you want to tie your own here is a quick formula for an 8wt. Four-foot butt section of 40lb mono, one-foot section of 30pound, one foot sections of 20 pound then a two-foot section of 15 or 12 or 10 pound. This Lefty Kreh’s formula taken out of his new book 101 Fly-Fishing Tips.
There are numerous wading spots, enough to fill a book, but I am going to mention three that are the easiest to fish and access. All of these locations are on the north side of the inlet. The first one you come to is the Bodie Island Lighthouse Visitor Center. When you are traveling south towards Oregon Inlet it is on the right hand side of the road marked by a brown National Park Service sign. Turn in and head toward the lighthouse , when you arrive at the visitor’s center you will pass a dirt road with a gate across it. You can park on the side of the road. Follow the dirt road until it comers out a creek. This creek is Blossies Creek or Off Island Gun Club. Fish up and down the creek. This is a prime spring spot for stripers and speckled trout. In years past ebb tide was the best tide to fish.
The second spot is actually the mouth of Blossies Creek. Continue to the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center and park in the public boat launching parking lot. Beside the parking lot you will see a paved road leading to the Coast Guard Station follow this road until you reach a gate then take a couple of steps the side and follow the path and this path will bring you out to the mouth of Blossies Creek. This is an excellent spot for stripers and trout as well as bluefish. Walk up the left side of the creek until you see riprap this is a great spot to catch stripers when the tide is running strong enough to cause a rip. Ebb tide is the best but any moving water will produce fish.
The last place is in the same area. Hope in your car and move it to the front side of the Fishing Center and drive down the eastside docks all the way to the end. You will find parking places and a big propeller. This is the Propeller Slough. It is bet to prospect here on dead low water. The sloughs will be easier to find and you can learn your way around. The best time to fish here is the incoming tide after dead low water or an ebbing tide This spot is very good in the summer for speckled trout, croakers, flounder and puppy drum.
All of the spots are safe with mostly hard sand bottoms except spots at Bodie Island Light. Take a few mornings and learn these places and excellent spring fishing can be just a step away—
