Recreational fishing report

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on May 29, 2005 2:09 AM

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Courtesy N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries

Northern District: Dare, Hyde, Currituck, & Beaufort Counties

Charterboats: Lots of dolphin, lesser amounts of tuna caught offshore. Midrange charters are catching tautog, black sea Bass, and tilefish. Inshore charters are catching mostly bluefish

Headboats: Slow fishing with only small bluefish being caught.

Private Boats: Catches similar to charter boats both inshore and offshore.

Piers: Endless amounts of bluefish, increasing amounts of kingfish, spot, and gray and speckled trout.

Shore: Catches similar to piers, lesser amounts of bluefish and more kingfish as compared to piers.

General Overview: Favorable weather conditions and opportunities along with warming water temperatures have made a definite increase in fishing success.

Central District: Pamlico, Craven, Carteret, & Onslow Counties

CharterBoats: Charter fishing is sizzling. Boats are bringing in beautiful catches of dolphin and tuna. Half day trips have brought in bluefish and Spanish. Dolphin range from peanuts to gaffers. The tuna are fat.

Private Boats: Cobia are here. Several around 80 - 90 pounds were caught this weekend off Cape Lookout. Spanish are on the Cape Shoals and along the beaches from Shackleford down to Bogue. Kings from 6 to 8 pounds are being caught off AR 345 and Topsail Beach. AR 355 has black sea bass and they are also found on AR 345. Some weakfish are in the Turning basin and Beaufort Inlet. Pigfish are also in the Inlet with sea mullet. Reports of bluefish everywhere.

Piers: Spanish and bluefish are here especially in the early morning. A 13 pound bluefish was caught on the Triple S pier along with a 60 pound cobia. Lots of small croakers around.

Shore: Sea mullet and bluefish here and there.

Southern District: Pender, New Hanover, & Brunswick Counties

CharterBoats: Stream trips are producing dolphin along with some tunas and wahoo's. Full/day trips are yielding king mackerel and bottom fish such as grouper. Inshore charters are catching king and Spanish mackerels close to shore and some flounder and drum on the inside.

Private Boats: Stream fishing is producing some dolphin and a few tunas and wahoo's. The red grouper are biting in the 35 to 45 mile range. Good size Spanish mackerel are being caught along area beaches, along with some small king mackerel. The cobia have begun to show up, any near/shore reef like yaupon reef, is a good place to look. There were a few nice flounder caught last week, I saw one fish close to the seven pound range, along with some smaller fish.

Piers: The piers in Brunswick county saw there first kings of the year. One was a nice 44-pound fish that came off of yaupon pier. There were several nice cobia taken as well. Sea mullets, blues, and Spanish mackerels were also reported as well.

Shore: Blues, pompano's and, sea mullets are the main catch right now.