hatteras island
 

so my father in law rented a house on hatteras island, nc the middle of september. heading down for 7 days. is it worth bringing the rods? i've heard the surf fishing is not very good down there. any tips? thanks

well it is not striper country ..
but i can guarantee you if you don't bring the rods , you will wish you had them with you :)

Isn't that Albie country?????

Mid-September is a bit early for big red drum,albies and definitly too early for stripers.
But there should be some nice puppy drum, blues and maybe,if the waters still warm enough,spanish macks.
Definitly bring a rod or 2................the fish will be bustin' if ya don't :D

thanks. targeting the puppy drum and macks similiar to striper fishing? better chance of hooking up at night? any recs for plugs to bring down there?

puppy drum , 2hook dropper rig -shrimp or squid
macks , metal -sting silvers . just get them there in the color of the day . it is mainy a sight fishing thing
always a chance of a drum at night , heavy tackle bait and wait and weight
more than likely sharks
plugs ??? not often fished there . more a bait area and metal ....

derf

Take me with you.

look to the sound
 

If it were me I would definitely bring a light tackle rod. I make a few trips down to Hatteras each year one of them usually being in early Sept. I fish every day when I am down there but that time of year I almost exclusively fish the sound. I fish out of the kayak but much of that huge body of water doesn't get deeper than 4' so it can be waded as well. The sound offers some nice speckled trout, weakfish, puppy drum, small bluefish and if you are really really lucky small cobia. A 6-8 ft rod rated 1/4-3/4 oz with 10 lb braid used to throw 4" grub tails and berkley gulp shrimp is all it takes. A popping cork ahead of the grub tail is always good to try.

the house has 6 rooms. so you could have your own room.

did you check the dates he'll be there? september new

You WANT to bring the surf gear down. There will be some drum, albies, spanish and possibly bluefish around that time. If its a warm summer you may have shots at Cobia also. If you have a 4x4 the beaches are open and free to drive on for the time being...

argh, i'll go if I have 2 50's already.

avatar
 

179,

Could you arrange to have your avatar enlarge
when I click on it. Very cruel of you to tease like this.
:thanks:

springer, are you mostly sight fishing by day or heading to spots at night.?

The only sight casting I have done is on an inshore charter boat when we putted around the flats looking for cruising schools of drum. When I am in the kayak I am targeting specks by looking for a mottled bottom of broken up grass beds. The speckled trout seem to hang out along the grass beds chasing grass shrimp hence the effectiveness of the grub tail on a jig head. But I also would never go out there without a MirroLure 52M. The popping cork (the one I use is called "cajun thunder") ahead of the grub adds a splash and rattle that at times can really help draw the specks in. I also would look for chanel edges or oyster beds. There is a ton of life in the sound and I am always catching some sort of fish, lizard fish, pin fish, oyster crackers. I don't want to give the wrong impression, I am no expert about the fishing down there but have had some very good days fishing back there in the last 3 years. Bring your rods and when you get there talk to the guys at Hatteras Jacks (Rodanthe), Frank and Frans (Avon) or Red Drum Tackle (Buxton). They will set you right. Good luck.