# Terrible fishing!



## Papa-T (Sep 5, 2011)

So, don’t know about anyone else but the past 30 days have been the worst beach fishing at Hatteras that I remember in probably the last 15 years. Now that being said: The sound has been pretty good. Caught lots of trout, drum and a few blues out of the kayak.


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## ncst8man1999 (Apr 3, 2020)

Kinda agree, was there 17-24 and caught lots of little fish including black drum, pomp's, and whiting. Few keeper whiting, a citation pomp and my cousin caught a 7lb6oz pompano off ramp 32. Not a drum in sight. There were 300+ anglers there for NCBBA and maybe 20-30 drum caught? 

W and SW winds are to blame with the remaining warm waters. 

Weather was beautiful, but not fishy.


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## TomW (Jun 3, 2010)

I agree. I fished the surf in Hatteras village from Oct. 11 to the 22 and caught only a few small fish (and crabs) and lost several rigs to rays. Other than a couple of days the weather was beautiful for sitting on the beach, in the 70's every day.


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## JRHorne (Oct 27, 2021)

We stayed in Avon from the 16th-22nd and it was a rough go of it. We had some luck middle of the week in Salvo. 4 Reds close up, 23-28.5". I did hook up to about a 75 pound ray and fought him. Otherwise, small pomps and black drum. We did get 1 keeper black drum. A few nice blues, but the water was still too warm for anything of note.

My one Red, 23"









Mark had two good ones, including this one at 28.5"









This one was 25" and over 7 pounds! Chunky one!









And my dad with a 27"


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## ncst8man1999 (Apr 3, 2020)

Good eating right there


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## pcbtightlines (Aug 9, 2020)

Papa-T said:


> So, don’t know about anyone else but the past 30 days have been the worst beach fishing at Hatteras that I remember in probably the last 15 years. Now that being said: The sound has been pretty good. Caught lots of trout, drum and a few blues out of the kayak.


Same experience the last 3 days fishing the surf in Buxton …caught one drum Sunday near motels …28 inches…nothing Monday or Tuesday …fished all day both days…water was really rough Monday and Tuesday …barely holding 8oz. Today wind was blowing 25 with 35 gusts …didn’t attempt to fish.


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## fishdude (Nov 3, 2015)

I was there 22-24 OCT while tournament was going on. Agree the weather was beautiful, but fishing was slow for late OCT. I plan to go back down in Nov (or even Dec) if things pick back up. I also did decent from the sound if you check my report in the Kayak section. I put myself in position each evening at the point for drum, but ended up in a 'shark-nado' of spooled line and lost 8oz sinkers on South Beach. 😠
BTW, that is a NICE pomp, ncst8man. Wow. Assume it was caught out on a long cast.


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## JRHorne (Oct 27, 2021)

ncst8man1999 said:


> Good eating right there


We released everyone one of them so they can be caught again!


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## Trevfishin (Apr 10, 2019)

Was there October 16-22, South Nags Head, surf fishing was slow, a few blues, small pompano. Sound produced 3 flounder under OI bridge. Great sunrises though.


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## ncst8man1999 (Apr 3, 2020)

Cast was medium distance, in front of the bar off 32. All the small ones along with black drum about 12in size we're about 15 yards out


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## big minnow (Dec 18, 2009)

ncst8man1999 said:


> my cousin caught a 7lb6oz pompano off ramp 32.


No disrespect but that's not terrible fishing. That is a fish of a lifetime. Ask River or Bronzeback or any other hard core pomp fisherman what is the biggest pomp they ever caught.


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## ncst8man1999 (Apr 3, 2020)

Oh I know it was an awesome fish. But it was about the only thing we caught all week that was not a palm size bait stealer and not the target species for the drum tourney. Nevertheless, we had a great time.

I think I was most proud because I tied all my rigs for the week and they all worked well, float rigs, bead rigs, and naked.


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## JRHorne (Oct 27, 2021)

As I understand it, there was very little of note caught all week through most of the tourneys. I know a 40" red was caught I believe Monday morning near maybe Ramp 38? Otherwise, that Pomp, some decent sized spanish from the pier, and that's about it.


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## ncst8man1999 (Apr 3, 2020)

I believe a 48" won and there were a couple other large ones but few and far between. 

Still a great week. Beautiful weather. Last year it was blowing 30+ NE when I was there. So you never know.

Prob try to catch a weekend in Nov and try a bit.


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## JRHorne (Oct 27, 2021)

ncst8man1999 said:


> I believe a 48" won and there were a couple other large ones but few and far between.
> 
> Still a great week. Beautiful weather. Last year it was blowing 30+ NE when I was there. So you never know.
> 
> Prob try to catch a weekend in Nov and try a bit.


My dad and his buddies were there last year same time. They said the weather was absolutely dog crap, but the fishing was unreal good. He sent me these pics. It's cold if my dad has on pants, he normally makes it wearing jorts until like January!


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## reeldude56 (Mar 27, 2015)

Got to fish the 27th and the 28th Wednesday we caught all small pompano whiting black drum blues on the small rods a ray on the heaver a couple of decent flounder all released and a small spanish on a sand flea Fished 30? 34 44 48 had very strong current with 10,12’s and 6oz spudnick washing. Thursday was much worse with current and catching however we saw couple of pups caught


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## jahtez (Aug 29, 2021)

Fished Jenrette's pier the past couple of days, there was a bit of everything being caught but the fishing overall was slow. The wind was strong out of the NW, N, and NE., the water was really stained up and turbulent, and the current was strong and required at least 6 oz. The fishing was best when I could find clearer water near the end of the pier. I was basically pan fishing and caught pompano, flounder, spotted and grey trout, bluefish, black drum and mullet (whiting). Nothing was keeper size except for a run of big mullet Wednesday evening and they tore up Fish Bites in shrimp flavor with the day-glo colors. They were were all in the 1lb to 1.5lb class. I also caught a couple of small specs on a double bucktail lure.

The drum guys at the end of the pier seemed to be doing well (when I paid attention) and I saw at least 4 large drum landed, as well as quite a few sharks. I tried puppy drum fishing the beach break at the pier pilings and the trough right behind it but didn't get any bites, and I didn't see anyone else fishing there hook into anything either.

One thing I learned from that trip is that I don't like braid for that kind of fishing in those conditions. Folks around me were able to anchor their baits with the same size pyramid sinkers I was using, but they had 12lb mono and I had 20lb braid, and I was having a much harder time staying put and keeping contact even though I might have had smaller diameter line. Both the wind (10-25 mph) and the current were pretty bad and the braid seemed to me to be offering too much resistance and thus dragging me around. Mono must be more slippery.


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## River (Sep 30, 2006)

big minnow said:


> No disrespect but that's not terrible fishing. That is a fish of a lifetime. Ask River or Bronzeback or any other hard core pomp fisherman what is the biggest pomp they ever caught.


Thats tough to beat for sure .... my best a little over 4 lbs and I've caught over 200 citations ....


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## ncst8man1999 (Apr 3, 2020)

River, you still make all your rigs naked? (The rigs,not you😂) 

I experimented with floats, beads, and naked, all on 20lb flouro and found results not much different 

Cousin caught the 7lber on a triple float and I caught a citation 2lber on a naked rig. Lots of small pomp's, sea mullet and black drum on all. Only notable difference is most sea mullet caught on the naked rigs.


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## retired (Oct 20, 2016)

Stayed in Haterras from 12th to day ago. As far as drum fishing, yeah it sucked. I kept a rod out but decided to not worry with it much. Got in a couple great blue runs where metal and a light rod was a blast. Caught some spanish in the surf. LOTS of pomps and good ones. Several huge whitings. All in all not the best but I would rate the fishing as fair to good.


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## retired (Oct 20, 2016)

ncst8man1999 said:


> River, you still make all your rigs naked? (The rigs,not you😂)
> 
> I experimented with floats, beads, and naked, all on 20lb flouro and found results not much different
> 
> Cousin caught the 7lber on a triple float and I caught a citation 2lber on a naked rig. Lots of small pomp's, sea mullet and black drum on all. Only notable difference is most sea mullet caught on the naked rigs.


I do the same. I found that a 4 or 6 circle hook with no floats did BY FAR the best. To bad flounder season was closed is all I have to say.


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## slosh (Jul 1, 2017)

In a different area, but I've been fishing Topsail Beach the past week. For two days this week, I couldn't get a bite on fresh shrimp, salted shrimp, sand fleas. That doesn't include the day with the gale. Spanish and blues on metal were the high note. 

Two years in a row here we struck out in late October. Next year will either be Topsail in early October, or Gulf of Mexico.


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## Jhmiller94 (Oct 29, 2020)

One heck of a nice pompano. Congrats to your cousin!


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## River (Sep 30, 2006)

ncst8man1999 said:


> River, you still make all your rigs naked? (The rigs,not you😂)
> 
> I experimented with floats, beads, and naked, all on 20lb flouro and found results not much different
> 
> Cousin caught the 7lber on a triple float and I caught a citation 2lber on a naked rig. Lots of small pomp's, sea mullet and black drum on all. Only notable differenc


"One More Cast" makes them in numerious bead color along with floats of different colors and Naked rigs in hook sizes from 6/0 to 6 .... Ninja Tackle makes naked RiverRigs from 8 to 1 hooks ... but 90% of the time I use naked ... definitely my faverite .


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## ncst8man1999 (Apr 3, 2020)

Thx for the info!


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## dboyd351 (Mar 25, 2021)

ncst8man1999 said:


> Kinda agree, was there 17-24 and caught lots of little fish including black drum, pomp's, and whiting. Few keeper whiting, a citation pomp and my cousin caught a 7lb6oz pompano off ramp 32. Not a drum in sight. There were 300+ anglers there for NCBBA and maybe 20-30 drum caught?
> 
> W and SW winds are to blame with the remaining warm waters.
> 
> ...


My God, that's one hell of a pompano!!!
Looks like a permit!


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## ncst8man1999 (Apr 3, 2020)

Yeah, we kept comparing and looking to make sure.....never seen one that big


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