# Trip Report - HI 8-27-10



## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

Well, it has been a slow week so far.
Despite reports from a notable tackle shop in Buxton, it seems that all there is to be found on Hatteras are a smattering of small blues, lots of smallish mullet and some very dinky Pompano down on South Beach and at the Inlet.
So yesterday the sweetie and I decided to take the Ferry over to Ocracoke.
(Thanks to HStew for pointing me in this direction!)
We first explored the south end of the island as that had just been re-opened last week.
The beaches were absolutely stunning, white sand, and turqoise waters as far as the eye could see. 
Unfortunately, just about everyone else and their cousin had the same idea, as it was practically non-stop truck to truck from the southernmost ramp, all the way to the point.
After an hour of not a single nibble We packed up and headed to the north to see if we could find a quieter spot.
What a difference 8 or 9 miles can make.
We got on the beach at ramp 68 and headed north, stunned to see only one or two other trucks on this section of beach.
At about mile 80 there was a turtle closure blocking any further access north, but that was OK, as there seemed to be some deep water close to the shore, and a pretty steep beachline.
At first I was dismayed to not be able to find any fleas whatsoever, so I tried some of my salted shrimp, on a 7' Mojo spinner, right in the wash.
1st cast in and bang! Hooked up to a nice pompano.
Not a monster like the Tradewinds site had pics of, but better than anything I had found on Hatteras.
In short order I had 4 nice ones in the cooler.
There was a lull of about an hour or so, and I tried the long rods out further, trying shrimp, salted squid strips, and some mullet, but not a nibble to be had out further.
I went back to the wash and in another 20 minutes had another 4 for the cooler, and tossed back 4 or 5 that were too small to keep now that I had some good sized to eat.
The best part was that not only did we have the beach almost entirely to ourselves - we could only see one truck to the north, and another to the south the whole time we were out there, but for the last hour we were there we had at least 4 groups of dolphin out past the breakers with pods of baitfish corraled and they were jumping, circling, tail-slapping and generally having a great time putting on a show for us. They must have been onto something good, because they stayed in the same spot for at least an hour.
A word of caution on going across to Ocrakoke at this time of the year;
If you are going to go, make sure to figure in at least an hour and a half for the line on the Hatteras side. We got there before 9:00 and were not on the ferry until well past 10:30. Andpay attention to the departure times coming back. We got there just as one was leaving, and 45 minutes later were finally on a boat. Had we missed that one, it would have been another 40 before the next one, and there were plenty of people in line behind us that had pretty much gotten there 10 minutes after us. So it can be a long wait coming and going.


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## HStew (Jan 8, 2009)

Great pics! When the beach is steep like you found, with no slough, pull out the short rods just like you did. Wish I was there, but just can't make it this week!


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## Thrifty Angler (May 5, 2002)

Nice job on the pomps. Good to see you had some memorable pullage on your trip there.


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## duneyeti (Feb 5, 2009)

nice fish!


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## CrawFish (Sep 23, 2003)

Nice spread you got there. How do you like that mojo rod? I've thinking of getting either a 7 or 8ft for bait fishing on the pier and surf.


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## AbuMike (Sep 3, 2007)

Those Mojo rods feel really nice in the hand.


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## Fishbreath (Nov 11, 2004)

Nice report TJ. That looks like some good eats!


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## drumchaser (Jan 14, 2003)

thanks for the report.


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## phillyguy (Aug 9, 2010)

Thanks for that little glimpse of paradise.....3 weeks and counting......


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Nice work.


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Great report,if the swell ain't too bad from the hurricane passing in the Atlantic might give that a try tommorrow..


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

CrawFish said:


> Nice spread you got there. How do you like that mojo rod? I've thinking of getting either a 7 or 8ft for bait fishing on the pier and surf.


I like it a lot, (see my post in the main forum) with one tiny exception.
The rod is so thin that after holding it for a while my hand begins to cramp and it is not so confortable to hold.
I actually got a bit of a blister on the inside of my ring finger from the threads of the reel seat. 
It is a fantastic rod in all respects, don't get me wrong, but I don't have what I would consider large hands, and after long periods of time, it was not the most confortable rod to hold.
YMMV!


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## greeneon98 (May 11, 2007)

Nice pics! Must really be some good eating! Like the way you seasoned them up! I'll be heading down the 1st week of October. Never caught any pomps. You got any tips for a newbie? Like, bait, hooks, leaders or general bottom rig setup. I'll truly appreciated it!~


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## Smally (Jan 16, 2009)

greeneon98 said:


> Nice pics! Must really be some good eating! Like the way you seasoned them up! I'll be heading down the 1st week of October. Never caught any pomps. You got any tips for a newbie? Like, bait, hooks, leaders or general bottom rig setup. I'll truly appreciated it!~


In case someone more knowledgeable doesn't chime in, i'll tell ya what little I know about targetting pomps. Double bottome rigs w/ an orange bead (fireball rigs). For hooks I would start with a #4's then adjust as needed. For bait, shrimp will work, but sand fleas are the best. If you can dig up some "soft" fleas (freshly molted their shell) then they are the best. I've caught pomps in the wash & had them bite in darn near ankle deep water as I was reeling in, so you don't have to cast out far for them. But sometimes when you're catchin alot of small ones real shallow, the big'uns are lurking out deeper. 

Good luck to ya & wish I could be there


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## greeneon98 (May 11, 2007)

Smally said:


> In case someone more knowledgeable doesn't chime in, i'll tell ya what little I know about targetting pomps. Double bottome rigs w/ an orange bead (fireball rigs). For hooks I would start with a #4's then adjust as needed. For bait, shrimp will work, but sand fleas are the best. If you can dig up some "soft" fleas (freshly molted their shell) then they are the best. I've caught pomps in the wash & had them bite in darn near ankle deep water as I was reeling in, so you don't have to cast out far for them. But sometimes when you're catchin alot of small ones real shallow, the big'uns are lurking out deeper.
> 
> Good luck to ya & wish I could be there


Thanks Smally! I appreciate the tip. Hopefully, Earl won't wipe the place out before I get there!


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

greeneon98 said:


> Nice pics! Must really be some good eating! Like the way you seasoned them up! I'll be heading down the 1st week of October. Never caught any pomps. You got any tips for a newbie? Like, bait, hooks, leaders or general bottom rig setup. I'll truly appreciated it!~


Sorry, had not been back to this thread in a while.
Best place here (and just about anywhere else for that matter) for a tutorial on catching pompano is right here in the Bible;
http://pierandsurf.com/fishing-forum/showthread.php?t=48678
There is certainly nothing that I can offer that will be more helpful that what is covered there. 
There is a reason it is in the Bible!

For all of my Pompano fishing this year I tied my own rigs.
The basic rig is an Earl Brinn Rig. Here is a link to the site where I learned it.
http://www.surfishingflorida.com/portals/2/earlrig.jpg

If you Google "Earl Brin Rig" you will undoubtedly find even more info on it. It is a great rig, very easy to tie, and I like the way the trace lines hang away from the main leader line when tied.
I tied a bunch of different combinations of beads and spinner combos, but by far the most successful of the week was one that I tied with #2 kahle hooks and little oblong orange floats (in the picture attached, it is the rig on the left, and the float is white; I used all of my orange ones while down there)with a small bead above and below the float. 
The other one that did well for the Pompano as well as mullet was the one next to it in the picture. Those may look like plastic beads in the picture, but they are little styrofoam balls that are used to float bait sacks for catfish. (At least that is what the package at Gander Mt. said). 
I just poked a hole in them with a needle, and threaded them on the trace line above the hook. It is kind of surprising how much bouyancy a couple of them provided the hook and a flea or piece of shrimp.
For bait I stick with fleas, salted shrimp, and a few times used fleas or shrimp with a small piece of Fish Bites bloodworm added. The mullet love those FBBW!
And then what everyone else will tell you... Fish in close, find the sloughs or troughs running next to the beach, and if you can find one that is emptying out into a cut or rip current through the first set of breakers, all the better.
The cleaner the water the better, at least for the pomps. 
And everyone will tell you that if the little ones are in close, try further out for the bigger ones, but I have yet to get into any really bigger ones like some of the guys talk about. 

Hope that helps, check out the links I posted, there are a heckuva lot more people out there that know a lot more than I do about how to catch the pomps, they just happen to be my favorite fish to target when I am down there.
Have fun, and good luck in October! I've caught plenty at that time of year when the water is clear enough and warm enough.
Tom


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