Incredible Striper Fishing in the Outer Banks
 

Those of you who may be itching for a road trip right now is the time to do it. There is incredible striped bass fishing going on in the Outer Banks of NC, the best we have seen in many years. The fish are concentrated 1-3 miles off of the beach at this point, we are hoping they will move in towards shore this week. Unfortunately for me I sold my boat this past summer, super bad timing on my part.

Check out the fishing reports here:
TWS

Newmoon :btu:

What's up!

Havent seen 70 fish plus days like that since 06. We had 2 guys jig 30 plus bass in less than an hour. Trolling we had 7 rods go down at once... 1/4 - 2.5 miles off the beach in 40-42 degree water!

John.
Good to be in here again, it's been awhile.

Cowhunter,
You know I hadn't missed my boat at all since selling it, but I will tell you I miss her now! Hoping to maybe hitch a ride with somebody this week to get in on the action

the only thing i think about when someone mentions fishing in north carolina is that video that was posted on this site with the nets being pulled on shore with hundreds of stripers on it. i'm sure there are more sportsmen down there. 70 fish in one day....... they must have serious tendinitis from reeling them in.

Where are the small fish?
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Interesting... the only thing I think about is "how many of those fish are actually coming from outside the 3-mile mark?"

No need for anyone to run outside 3 miles.. It's loaded from 1/4 mile off the beach to the 3 mile line.. The only sad thing is it's the least amount if pogies I've ever seen.. Lot of bass are feeding on schools of croakers... Although plenty schools you can find on your own, the recs are doing a number on Em, the fleet can consist of hundreds of boats and yes it's the recs slaughtering Em there.. Never seen c&r down there... It's all about the meat!
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Not at all, we had 2 guys jig 30 bass in less than an hour down there to 36lbs... I know guys were drifting for hours down there, couldn't count the fish caught..
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4 min/fish? thats some lock and drop fishing!

Shame about the lack of C&R. Especially pre-spwan....

I think alot of the Meat fishing here is due to these fish only being here a month or two per season and recently it hasn't even been that. In New England you have the fish 7-8 months so hoarding of the catch isn't really needed.

It would be nice to rent out one of those MONSTA house's right on the water with 15 Guys,Man what a dule thrip that would be:fishin::buds:

Thanks for the heads up but I've got to much going on up here.

Shut down the SB fishery all together coast wide. No rec or comm. for 10 years. There needs to be a sanity check.

:cheers2: Couldn't agree more.

And let all that exploitable resource go to waste?

Snap out of it man. You sound like a socialist.
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No, Once you get down into Delaware and further south the folks are just a little bit more simple. Similar to some of the weekend heros we have up here along the canal.
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Yeah, try explaining to those guys down there when they are limiting in 1 troll pass that the fish are near extinction... You guys in the northeast cant take care of the most important factor effecting striped bass and thats the bait! All the charter Captains and rec guys banned together off the NJ coast and accomplished in a matter of months what you have been trying to do for years, kick the bunker boats out from .6 miles off the beach to 3 miles, they have been out of the bays for years. You guys still have them in the bays!!! No bait, no fish.. Geez Mr sandman, wonder why the fishing in the vineyard sucked this year??? Cause the squid never showed in may as did the bass! The cape had the best run in years! When one area lacks, another flourishes... These are resilient fish and the will find the bait to survive, they are moving further south than they have been in years and further north. I have caught them as cold as 38 degrees and they chewed with a vengence and as warm as 76! Those big bodies of fish need the bait to sustain them, as long as all the harbors, bays on the coast dont have the menhaden these fish will make their homes offshore more and more and surfcasting will be a thing of the past... Not being an ass just stating the reality of it.

Super high concentrations of fish that are fattening up in the prespawn before heading in to lay eggs hardly defines the state of striped bass throughout the coast.

If it were legal, I could go down to the Canal and a number of other locations in the spring and get as many river herring as I wanted in minutes. That doesn't mean the herring are in huge abundance and don't need to be protected.

Huge schools of BFT can be found in the same area pretty consistently, sometimes for months at a time (getting them to bite is a different story), doesn't mean the tuna stocks are healthy.

We definitely have problems with protecting bait up here, that's for sure. Don't try to say the guys down there are innocent of blame, especially with the widely known and accepted practices of fishing outside the 3-mile limit that goes on down there.

Guys don't get me wrong here I'm with you. The fishing down here in NC is really for the most part unregulated. Just this past week the County Commissioners voted to along with other Counties along the NC coast to ignore a new bottom fishing mandate in regards to commercial fishing, they feel if they all say no the Feds will back off. You are also correct in the past 3-4 years many ventured beyond the 3 mile limit for Stripers including the Charters, it for the most part wasn't enforced. This is why I had terrible striper fishing for the past 3 years and one of the reasons I decided to sell the boat, I wouldn't venture out past the 3 mile mark. This past weekend the commercial trawlers were lined up approx 1/4 mile off the beach scooping up anything in there path. Much of the lines and lines of fish you see in the photos are from the Charters who feel that lining the dock with fish today brings passengers tomorrow. I just hope I will get one crack at them from shore.

Kenny, that sure explains a lot. MV really was awful last year. Never seen it that bad.

Nobody said they are innocent I know for fact that boats are running due east and breaking the law this year put its probably way less than 10 percent of the fleet THIS YEAR... Its a 60 plus mile run south from Rudy, last year after Jan 8 there were no fish inside... This year there are more fish inside 3 miles than I have seen for years and it looks from being down there that the majority of the fleet are playing inside, just no need to go outside... I was there for few days and was boarded by the coast guard and checked in legal waters, so they are down there, I have heard of handful of boats busted this year. Even With all the fish inside 3 miles, There are WAAY More fish that are staying offshore and have been caught down there 13 plus miles.
As far as prespawn fish, we catch fish here From April through the end of June in NJ. I fillet Alot of fish for my clients and can tell you that the ocean run fish we are catching in Late May all through June are still loaded with Roe.

+1

They are still limited to two fish/person/day. There is more oversight there than in previous years. ...and they are still within their quota. Got the net standing by so I can make a video!

There is plenty of C&R if you look close enough...

Ken, Do you suppose those fish spawn after migrating north?

I used to fish with a captain who had a buddy who guided fly guys, and he mopped up spawners in a southern NE river in early summer.

I cut a lot of bass in May and June that were still full of roe. Sometimes it was green. ??

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