Fishing report - OBX (Week of 8/24/09)

[wgmiller]

I know this isn't warmwater fishing in PA, but I figured I'd toss up a report from my fishing journey of this past week in the Outer Banks while on a family vacation. This was a much-anticipated first attempt at fly fishing in the saltwater and I learned a tremendous amount.

My first outing was with "Amish Outlaw" from the board. He happened to be vacationing down there as well and we hooked up to wet a line at Oregon Inlet. We started fishing around 07:00 and ended about 10:00. Since we both have families, we had to keep the wives happy!

Oregon Inlet is very easy wading with a hard sand bottom. You could probably wade out over a half mile and not be in over your waders. There are some "pockets" of deeper water, but by and large it is all wadeable. It was neat to see the crabs and other bottom life scurry as we waded. I did see a ray the one day as well, so shuffling the feet was always a good idea!

"Amish Outlaw" landed the only fish of the day which was a sea robin. I had to dig around a bit to find out what the hell kind of fish has wings, but it's a sea robin. We cast line for quite some time and covered a lot of water. There's a lot of searching that goes on with few hookups, but it's all good! I had on Clousers of different colors (orange/black, red/black, etc.) and had a slow day. "AA" also was fishing streamers. We fished this area during low tide, so it was easier to cover a bit more ground.

Here's a few pics from our outing:

Prop Slough @ Oregon Inlet - one of the "hot spots" for wade fishing

"Amish Outlaw" with his monster sea robin

"Amish Outlaw" working the water

I was able to get out on Friday with some of the guys I was staying with at our beach house. They bait fished and caught croakers; I fly fished and kept my hands clean. I again fished Oregon Inlet and tossed Clouser after Clouser. I did tangle with one smaller speckled trout that the threw the hook on me (story of my life!) and landed one unidentified species fish on white/gray Clouser. I also had another very strong hookup that got off. This turned out to be the "hot fly" which I didn't figure out until the end of the fishing trip. Figures!!!

Me and my monster fish. Need to check on what the species is...

All things considered, mixing in fly fishing with vacation was highly enjoyable. I fished three or four days and got our around daybreak during low tide. Once the sun pops up, it heats up pretty good and the water isn't much relief, so it's nice to get the fishing in early. The surf was way too strong to even attempt fly fishing due to Hurricane Bill and the approaching TS Danny.

I attempted to fish the creek at Bodie Island, but got absolutely eaten alive by mosquitoes. Not the kind like we think of, but these things looked like a mix between a gnat and a skeeter. 100% DEET wouldn't have worked on those things, I'm sure!

I'm truly 'hooked' on saltwater fishing and can't to get out another time. The only downside if there is one is the constant cleaning of gear to keep the saltwater off.

Tight lines!!!

 

[gfen]

wgmiller wrote:
I'm truly 'hooked' on saltwater fishing and can't to get out another time. The only downside if there is one is the constant cleaning of gear to keep the saltwater off.

Every day when I got home from the salt, I'd just rinse everything off in the outside shower. When I left permanently, I just took the reels into the shower with me and broke 'em apart and got them good and wet.

I meant to grease them up, but never bothered. I figure as long as I get them before I go out again next year.

Fishing in saltwater is a real change of pace, isn't it? I've become a huge fan even though I barely caught a thing on my own vacation.

 

[wgmiller]

I was a little anal in the beginning with rinsing everything in warm, soapy water and by the end of the week was just rinsing it off. I'm going to give it all a good bath, cleaning and servicing now that I'm home.

Yes, saltwater fishing is very addicting because you just don't know what you're going to hook up with and everything has teeth! :-o I really wanted to hook into a speck to get a look at their chompers!

Overall, I think that having a highly productive day fly fishing in saltwater is rare, but it sure is fun trying!

 

[Fredrick]

Nice report . It sure did look crowded were thier alot of fly fishers there ?

 

[wgmiller]

We were the only two the first day - the rest were spin fishers who were jigging minnow imitations. The last day two fly guys did show up, but I didn't get a chance to chat with them. It may have looked crowded due to the camera angle, but I can assure you there was plenty of room to fish and lots of water to cover.

 

[Fishidiot]

Neat report. I know the area you're fishing well having spent many weekends launching my kayaks on the propeller flat there near Oregon Inlet when I lived in VA. And yes, there is a lot of water there although wade fishermen often stack up along the channel line where you guys were fishing. It's a good fishing spot although I stayed away from the inlet in my kayak as that was an area known to be dangerous for boating. The spot you're fishing was also best avoided late in the afternoon as all the charter sportfishers were returning to the marina and throwing huge wakes. Anyway, neat pics, thanks for bringing back the memories.

PS: The fish you're holding appears to be a lizardfish. They're more common in FL but they get 'em in NC too. They're notorious for aggressively hitting lures repeatedly until they are hooked and are considered pests.

 

[wgmiller]

PS: The fish you're holding appears to be a lizardfish. They're more common in FL but they get 'em in NC too. They're notorious for aggressively hitting lures repeatedly until they are hooked and are considered pests.

After doing a little Googling, you're absolutely correct, it's a lizardfish. I was actually reeling my line in to help my buddy when he hit. It sounds like they're an aggressive fish and will hit just about anything; he had some sharp little teeth too! I'd see baitfish jumping across the top of the water on occasion and I was guessing that something down below (like a lizardfish) was stirring them up. As you probably know, it's pretty weird to be standing there fishing and see a bunch of small fish go scooting across the water right next to you. The jumping sea mullet were pretty neat too!

Most of the fishermen seemed to be staying away from the boat channel that day. They were between the channel markers and the Bonner Bridge. I can only imagine what kind of wake those boats create when they come storming in. Not where I'd want to be in a kayak or closeby wading.

Glad I could bring back some memories for you!

 

[AmishOutlaw]

You just had to post the pics of the "monster fish", LOL. I too had a good time, a nice change of pace. I did try to fish the surf one morning but with all of the tropical storms the surf was a bit rough. The biggest problem I had was trying to strip the fly fast enough, with the current being rough my fly was being washed in too fast. The pic with the 4 guys in the background were the only ones out that day.

I definately will try out Oregon Inlet again next year!

 

[gfen]

I was up in OC, NJ the week before the storms were supposed to hit.. The latter part of the week, the surf was so rough that I was throwing 6 plus bait into the surf, in less than 5 minutes the waves had it almost paralell to where I cast it in.

I can only imagine how much rougher it was down there as they got closer.

 

[pratt]

funny enough, I think that I saw you guys that week at Oregon Inlet....(was it tuesday/wednesday?) I was kayaking around the marina and bridge, jealous of the crew wetting their line at the slough! couple of guys had a few nice specks on stringers.
I usually fish alot behind the bodie island lighthouse, but do the majority of my fishing in the surf when I'm there (though next year I'll be hitting propellor slough as well as the lighthouse). Surf fishing more or less sucked that whole week because of the outgoing/incoming storms.
I did have a huge dolphin surface right next to my kayak right in the marina channel though - and that was pretty amazing!
do you guys ever fish new inlet or the south side of oregon inlet?

 

[wgmiller]

That could have very well been us. Quite honestly, I can't remember the exact days, but Tuesday/Wednesday does sound familiar. There were some spincasters aside of us I think a few of them even had luck with the specks.

I didn't figure out the "go to" fly until the last day, end of fishing. I had all the 'essential' OBX flies (black/orange Clousers, etc.), but really started to get strikes on a gray/white Clouser. Live and learn!

This was my first year "on the fly" in the OBX and I didn't fish anywhere other than Oregon Inlet. The bugs were too bad to fish behind Bodie and I just threw in the towel.

I'm definitely planning on going the kayak route next year when we go down. I'll be able to cover much more water and hopefully make it more productive!

I've never fished the south side of the bridge, but read that wading can be treacherous. Lots of steep drop-offs!

Tight lines...