But if you like wading around in clear, warm water and salty air with the sun on your back then you better get here fast – especially if you like fishing! Water temps in the sound have been around 85 degrees and about the same along the beaches. Since July 4th we‘ve had a steady run of beautiful days with some occasional showers and passing squalls. Below are pictures worth a thousand words but the action on this sand bar in the Atlantic can be described in just two – Effsplicatively Fantastic!!
Gulf Steam fishing continues to be productive on any of Ocracoke’s charter boats, but if deep water isn’t your thing, consider an inshore or sound fishing trip. Plenty of tasty Spanish mackerel, blue fish, flounder, and puppy drum are caught daily onboard the likes of Fish Tale Charter with John Ferrara or Rascal Charter with Norman Miller, as well as the Gulf Stream boats like Drumstick, Gecko, and Dream Girl who also offer inshore half days and sound side trips.
July 8th
Shawn, Greyson, and Sam Bunn from Rocky Mount, North Carolina (pictured) chartered Stevie Wilson’s Dream Girl and landed nice slot-sized drum, Spanish, and blues. When I asked Bunn where he caught them he said, “Caught em in the mouth!”
Fish Tale charter captain John Ferrara offers these trips regularly. In addition to landing these nice bluefish he is seen here doing some clamming before returning to the docks at the Jolly Roger.
July 14th
Chris Blume from Alexandria, Virginia, Karen Swinehart of Raleigh, North Carolina, Elissa Jaime and Greg Wahl from Washington, DC, and John Merridew of Williamsburg caught 4 wahoo, 8 mahi, 7 snapper 1 trigger, 1 blackfin, and 2 albacore with Captain Ernest Doshier on the Gecko. (Pictured)
Hooper Moore from central Virginia and his family have been coming to Ocracoke for 16 years. They chartered Dream Girl and landed some beautiful fish. (Pictured)
Mike Little and his family from Ellijay, Georgia come here every year but this was their first time to charter the Gulf Stream. They are pictured giving a big thumbs up for a nice grouper catch as well as blackfin tuna, tile fish, and 25 “bailers” (mahi mahi) caught on the Drumstick.
July 15th:
If you like shark fishing, July 15th was the day. Captain Norman Miller said he’s never seen anything like that in all his years on Ocracoke. Along South Point 30-40 sharks were just at the water’s edge of the beach with fins sticking out of the water. I thought how lucky for vacationers that the Park Pervice had blocked off this tip of the beach – not because of the sharks, coincidentally, but for birds and turtles. This portion has now been reopened so swim at your own risk. Norman assures me the sharks are searching for fish to eat and not people, but I won’t be anchoring up here and swimming ashore with my dog anymore. I tried to capture a picture of this eerie moment but the sharks aren’t visible in the photo. Take a look at that clear water and beautiful beach, though. That’s Fish Tale off of the beach and Rascal in the far distance.
That entire week we caught lots of cero mackerel. Cero mackerel are like Spanish, but much larger with a flakier and meatier texture. The smaller “Bailer” dolphin (mahi mahi) are also trickling in about 3 -5 miles off of the beach.
Last week continued to be very productive both inshore and offshore. With the opening of tile fish season many charters began bottom fishing for these tasty treats. Dream Girl landed a terrific variety of wahoo, grouper, dolphin, and tile fish pictured below on July 20th.
John and Jennifer Wright from Indianapolis, Indiana chartered Gecko for the first time for their 25th wedding anniversary and caught a 43.5 lbs. citation King Mackerel as well as some gaffer dolphin on July 23rd. (Pictured)
Brett Dymond’s family from Sanford, NC with Brian Subin and Kyle McClelland landed a limit of huge grouper, wahoo, tile fish, and blackfin tuna aboard Drumstick with Captain Marty and First Mate Nick Piland. Drumstick future owners Charlie and Daisy pictured holding black fin tuna.
To see all this action for yourself, go to SmacNally’s about 4 o’clock any day of the week and watch the show when these boats come in for the day. It is truly a special place to be on the water having food and drinks and watching these guys haul in the catch and clean each species right in front of you.
