Captblock
01-07-2004, 03:24 PM
Striped Bass A Good Catch On The Outer Banks ; N.C. Fishing Center Filled With Activity
Winter striped-bass fishing has been robust on the Outer Banks since before Christmas. On Friday, it went through the roof.
"I've never seen so many in my life," said Billy McCaskill, owner of Whalebone Tackle in Nags Head since 1977. "They're everywhere. I would say yesterday and today, it's the best it's ever been. Some of these people, they don't usually catch anything, and they're catching them."
"They're all over the place," agreed Currituck angler Nathaniel Kinnaird.
Once the word got out, the fishermen didn't waste any time. By Friday morning, vehicles spilled onto both sides of N.C. 12 at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. Trucks and trailers were in every possible spot in the parking lot.
At the fishing center, stories abounded about seeing wall-to- wall fish for miles, about catching two, three stripers at a time.
"They're thick - thick as flies," said Eugene Jordan, who drove down from Burlington, N.C., on Thursday to get in on the action. "It just seems like the numbers are increasing. And it's been a madhouse with all these people."
While waiting near a boat ramp at the fishing center in his skiff, Jordan was surrounded by other fishermen coming in from a day of fishing, their holds or coolers brimming with stripers and maybe a few bluefish. Bobbing boats were backed up by the dozen, waiting for a turn on the ramp.
Judy Williams, the fishing center's manager, said that it was the busiest Jan. 2 in memory, better than some July 4 weekends she has seen. First thing in the morning, vehicles trailing boats were backed up, she said, for 3? miles toward Nags Head. When she arrived at work at 7:30 a.m., there were two state Highway Patrol officers directing traffic into the fishing center - another first for a winter weekend.
Williams said 200 boats, most recreational, were launched at the ramp Friday, and at least 50 were turned away because there was no room to park. She also said that 20 boats were booked for half-day charter trips today - unheard of in January.
Williams said that the fishing center usually closes from mid- December through March. But this year, they'll stay open as long as the fishing is good.
"I've never seen anything like this," she said. "It's been excellent, just excellent, striper fishing."
Hundreds who didn't go out in boats took their gear to the beach to surf fish. Many drove onto the beach at dawn or dusk, when the stripers are known to follow bait fish to shore to feed.
Anglers fishing in the Atlantic are permitted to keep two fish per person per day, with a minimum size of 28 inches. A striper that size weighs about 15 pounds. But some anglers recently have been catching them as big as 48 inches and 50 pounds.
In recent years, fishing for striper, or rockfish, a once- threatened fishery, has become a late fall and early winter rite for avid anglers, who flock to the Outer Banks from all over the East Coast. Striped-bass fishing has been an increasingly booming business since the species rebounded in the 1990s after years of decline.
Doug Mumford, a marine biologist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said striper fishing has been good for the past three years. This year, he said, may prove to be even better.
"They've had a real good year from all the reports I've heard," he said.
Bluefish, once a favorite Outer Banks catch, seem to have moved farther offshore than is readily available to most recreational fishermen, Mumford said. A few have been caught lately, apparently because they're following the menhaden and the stripers closer inshore.
A blitz - when the voracious bluefish would come in large numbers to the beach chasing bait fish - has not happened on the Outer Banks in a number of years, he said. That does not mean their numbers are depleted or that they won't blitz again.
"Bluefish are highly migratory," Mumford said. "It's not uncommon to have slow years on certain species."
But fishermen seem content - thrilled, really - with the plentiful striper catch. It's been worth putting up with the unusual crowds for a good day of fishing, Kinnaird said.
"It doesn't normally get like this," he said, nodding to the bustling activity at the boat ramp. "But if somebody says 'Stripers!', this happens."
Winter striped-bass fishing has been robust on the Outer Banks since before Christmas. On Friday, it went through the roof.
"I've never seen so many in my life," said Billy McCaskill, owner of Whalebone Tackle in Nags Head since 1977. "They're everywhere. I would say yesterday and today, it's the best it's ever been. Some of these people, they don't usually catch anything, and they're catching them."
"They're all over the place," agreed Currituck angler Nathaniel Kinnaird.
Once the word got out, the fishermen didn't waste any time. By Friday morning, vehicles spilled onto both sides of N.C. 12 at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. Trucks and trailers were in every possible spot in the parking lot.
At the fishing center, stories abounded about seeing wall-to- wall fish for miles, about catching two, three stripers at a time.
"They're thick - thick as flies," said Eugene Jordan, who drove down from Burlington, N.C., on Thursday to get in on the action. "It just seems like the numbers are increasing. And it's been a madhouse with all these people."
While waiting near a boat ramp at the fishing center in his skiff, Jordan was surrounded by other fishermen coming in from a day of fishing, their holds or coolers brimming with stripers and maybe a few bluefish. Bobbing boats were backed up by the dozen, waiting for a turn on the ramp.
Judy Williams, the fishing center's manager, said that it was the busiest Jan. 2 in memory, better than some July 4 weekends she has seen. First thing in the morning, vehicles trailing boats were backed up, she said, for 3? miles toward Nags Head. When she arrived at work at 7:30 a.m., there were two state Highway Patrol officers directing traffic into the fishing center - another first for a winter weekend.
Williams said 200 boats, most recreational, were launched at the ramp Friday, and at least 50 were turned away because there was no room to park. She also said that 20 boats were booked for half-day charter trips today - unheard of in January.
Williams said that the fishing center usually closes from mid- December through March. But this year, they'll stay open as long as the fishing is good.
"I've never seen anything like this," she said. "It's been excellent, just excellent, striper fishing."
Hundreds who didn't go out in boats took their gear to the beach to surf fish. Many drove onto the beach at dawn or dusk, when the stripers are known to follow bait fish to shore to feed.
Anglers fishing in the Atlantic are permitted to keep two fish per person per day, with a minimum size of 28 inches. A striper that size weighs about 15 pounds. But some anglers recently have been catching them as big as 48 inches and 50 pounds.
In recent years, fishing for striper, or rockfish, a once- threatened fishery, has become a late fall and early winter rite for avid anglers, who flock to the Outer Banks from all over the East Coast. Striped-bass fishing has been an increasingly booming business since the species rebounded in the 1990s after years of decline.
Doug Mumford, a marine biologist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said striper fishing has been good for the past three years. This year, he said, may prove to be even better.
"They've had a real good year from all the reports I've heard," he said.
Bluefish, once a favorite Outer Banks catch, seem to have moved farther offshore than is readily available to most recreational fishermen, Mumford said. A few have been caught lately, apparently because they're following the menhaden and the stripers closer inshore.
A blitz - when the voracious bluefish would come in large numbers to the beach chasing bait fish - has not happened on the Outer Banks in a number of years, he said. That does not mean their numbers are depleted or that they won't blitz again.
"Bluefish are highly migratory," Mumford said. "It's not uncommon to have slow years on certain species."
But fishermen seem content - thrilled, really - with the plentiful striper catch. It's been worth putting up with the unusual crowds for a good day of fishing, Kinnaird said.
"It doesn't normally get like this," he said, nodding to the bustling activity at the boat ramp. "But if somebody says 'Stripers!', this happens."