OBX This Weekend

[BuckTales]

I am heading to the OBX this weekend for a buddy's bachelor party. A bunch of us are heading offshore Saturday, but want to do some wading, bridge/pier, and/or surf fishing on the other days.

We are staying near MP 17. I know the 3 piers - Jannette's, Nags Head, and Outer Banks. I think we are close to Jannette's. I assume they are still only a few bucks to fish?

So, being that I only get down there once or twice a year, what is a good time of day to fish? Should I fish from the surf, the pier, or is there a catwalk on any of the bridges that is fishable from?

I definitely want to surf fish for awhile, as I'm trying to learn how to surf-cast. I'm just looking for some general direction on the best times to fish.

Oh yeah, not to make this the longest post ever, but my planned surf rig is 20# test line, to a 3' long 50# shock leader (uni to uni knot ok)? Then a fish finder rig. Maybe a 20" flouro leader to a 5/0 or 7/0 mustad circle hook. Change weights as necessary. Tip with mullet or squid strip.

Any thoughts for a newbie? Many thanks!

[JimInVA]

Jennette's Pier is no more. Kitty Hawk Pier is also gone. Your choices are Avalon, Nags Head and Outer Banks. My son and I did an all nighter at Avalon - $8/person all day. Used squid and could only entice skates. Used FishBites, both bloodworm and pink shrimp triangles and caught a mess of mullet. After 2AM, we had the entire pier to ourselves.

Also did some surf fishing on the beach on the south side from Jennette's. Used FishBites and caught a couple of mullet and a puffer... on the incoming tide. Water temps were then at about 57.

Good luck to ya!

Jim

[reelrebel18]

use enough shocker to rap around the spool 5 times then up through the guides and back down to the reel
also use bunker chunks for bait

[BuckTales]

Thanks guys!

Any recommendations on the knot from my line to shock leader? Uni-to-uni ok? Any place on the web that diagrams how to tie one?

[CrawFish]

http://www.midcurrent.com/articles/knots/slim_beauty.aspx

[BuckTales]

Turns out we were staying about 400 yards south of Janette's pier right on the beach.

Sunday evening I finally got to fish for a few hours along with one of the other guys. I caught a few nice blues on whole mullet and 2 big ol' skates on squid. This is the first fish I've caught from the surf in probably 15 years! I was pumped.

I ended up using a surgeons knot to tie the shock leader to the main line - as I couldn't figure any of the other knots out!

Thanks for all the help and suggestions guys. People seemed to be doing pretty well this weekend on the blues and skates.