Fishing report

Published in Sports on September 19, 2004 8:13 AM

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Northern District -- Dare, Hyde, Currituck, and Beaufort Counties

Charter boats: Billfishing continues to be hot this week as well as dolphin fishing. Gulfstream fishing will be curtailed for the next several days due to heavy seas from Frances.

Headboats: Fishermen caught pigfish and croakers mixed in with some nice grey trout and throwback flounder

Private boats: Bluefishing was good this week with some scattered Spanish mackerel in the mix.

Piers: Bluefishing has remained steady with a good number of small to medium pompano in close. There were also a fair number of spot reeled in as well. By Friday a.m., heavy seas were curtailing good fishing.

Shore: Surf fishing was fair to good early in the week, but heavy surf and currents have just about stopped surf fishing.

Central District -- Pamlico, Craven, Carteret, and Onslow Counties

Headboats: Bad weather meant little activity for the offshore headboats. There is no report.

Charter boats: Fishing trips have been scant. One boat that fished returned with nine big wahoo, small dolphin and three released sailfish.

Private boats: Slow fishing all week with rain, rain and more rain. The weekend saw activity with a king mackerel tournament. Many boats participated and kings were caught. There were some nice weakfish caught in Beaufort Inlet and the Turning basin of the port. Small pigfish came from the North River area. The water everywhere was coffee colored from the fresh water and it obviously drove the fish offshore. There were some Spanish in Bogue Inlet .

Piers/Shore: Slow fishing, the only fish seen were small kingfish, tiny pinfish, slim spots and some rays.

Southern District -- Pender, New Hanover, and Brunswick Counties

Headboats: Full/day trips produced vermilion snapper, grunts, tiggerfish, porgies, and some groupers.

Charter boats: Weather has slowed fishing way down. There was one nice day last week, and most charters did good on bottom fishing trips. There were some good catches of wahoo's several weeks ago, but the weather has been to bad for any of the boats to make the trip. Inshore charters are catching red drum and flounders.

Private boats: No reports from offshore last week due to weather, Inshore flounder have been biting in the southern part of the river, Carolina Beach Inlet, and Masonboro Inlet, as well as near/shore reefs. There are some nice drum, fish over 30 pounds being caught on the near/shore reefs as well as in the inlets.

Piers/Shore: Bottom fishing has begun to pick up of lately with sea mullets and spots. Some keeper flounder as well as some over the slot red drum were reported last week. Surf, there are some nice drum being reported on topsail and bald head island. Almost all fish are over 27 inches.