Oregon Inlet Rockfish Report – 12/20-12/21

It’s that most wonderful time of the year…. holiday parties, visions of sugar plums, hitting the malls, family time, egg nog, going to the Nutcracker. NOT. Here in NC, the talk at Christmas parties invariably comes down to one thing: “Have the stripers shown up yet at Oregon Inlet? When can we go?” A couple egg nogs and phone calls later, ‘arrangements’ were made. I would tow the boat up to OI and meet Steve and Jay (from MD), and Mike and John (from Durham) at OI Fishing Center Tuesday morning.

Monday afternoon: Due to a few things that ‘came up’ during the day (truck needed new brakes, furnaceman had to come, wife’s car had flat tire), I didn’t get out of the driveway till midnite. Drove to Harkers Island, picked up Asa Gray, hauled her to the Cedar Island Ferry. Caught the 7 am ferry to Ocracoke. Beautiful morning, clear skies, low wind, temps in the 20s. Got to the fishing center around 11:30, the other fellers were ready to roll.

Tuesday fishing a little slow, bait still scattered, but the seas were pretty flat so we covered a lot of water and caught up with the rest of the fleet off of Nags Head. Lots of bunker in the water, not much catching until Jay (18 yr fishing savant from Annapolis) finally hooked up with our only fish of the day. Jay already has a reputation in Maryland as a pro kayak fisherman and ‘fish whisperer’, and its no surprise that he crossed paths and teamed up with Steve ('Perch Stalker’). Steve hooked another but lost it at the boat. Oh well, the stink was off. Had an exciting ride on a following sea heading back into the Inlet as the tide was coming out. Mike and John had to head back that nite, so you’re mojo’s paid up. Next time fellas.

Wed morning, the Jackson boys show up. Rob and his sons Robert and David were ready, stripers better watch out. Funny thing, wind was up from the NE, the Inlet a bit meaner- seas around 5-7 ft, with some big NE swells, and it was cold. At OI, west wind is fine, east wind is brutal. Fished about an hour until one of the boys starting chumming (I was not far behind), decided it was time for plan B (maybe tow the boat to Mann’s harbor?). Headed back to the docks, just as the Poacher was unloading some GIANT rockfish onto the docks (up to 40 lbs). They had their limit by 8:00 am about 8 miles up the beach, and were getting ready to take another charter out for the afternoon- maybe we should reconsider plan B? A couple hot chocolates and Dramamines later, the boys and I got our mojo working again. We were going back to get those rockfish, come hell or highwater. Everyone, back in the boat!

Didn’t have to go far this time, in fact we never made it out of the inlet!
Spotted some birds diving under the OI bridge, so we headed straight for ‘em and that was it. Again, first one on was Jay (kid knows how to keep his line wet). The fish were all good size, most over 20 lbs. All caught on light tackle (one of my rods had 12 lb mono!). Everyone got hooked up, even had a quadruple on once. Had our limit within an hr.
Note to self for next time: “Screw plan B”.


By the end of day 2, everyone had their hands full on this trip! By the way, all of these fish were caught casting and jigging with light tackle!



Drs. Rehner and Jackson doing some research on rockfish stomach contents.












AG boat report. The boat is parked up in Manteo for rockfish season. Come on down, and fish it! Boat running really rough at the docks on day 1. Running better in the ocean- what’s up with that? Changed out the lower unit oil Tue nite, and that did the trick (the water temp inside was 42, enough to congeal the lower unit). Average speed increased by about 5 knots as well. The trailer, well that’s another story. Still need to switch out leaf springs and right fender (see photos) before trailering back to Harkers next month.

Rock fish ought to be running until the real cold weather hits sometime in January. Let's hope there's still time to get out and fish with 'Wild Hog' Silman, 'Lefty' Talbot, 'Mad Dog' Willis, and everyone else who couldn't join us this time out! Wishing everyone peace, love, and tight lines in 2006!