Hatteras/Ocracoke Main Thread

[Wolf Island Diver]

Funny you tag me... We're planning a tour de Cape Area beaches for the end of this month. Is there a comprehensive guide available online? No hard agenda. The basic plan is to visit different places and stay in hotels but if there's a locale with too much to sea and/ or do, we could stay there for a couple days.

Also as username might suggest I would definitely not mind sampling the local surf/ pier fishing.

I don’t know of any specific guide but I’m sure they’re out there. I’ll take a look at some local fishing shops. The NC visitor center has a general one. Of course its full of ads. If you go north to Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, it's touristy. But with that comes more places to stay, more restaurants, more things to do (mini golf!) and a better spread of hotel pricing. Hatteras and OI are way more low key. There’s still hotels and rental houses, trinket shops, bars/restaurants, etc.

For fishing, the best place is the point on Hatteras.

Fishing there at the point is shoulder to shoulder and sometimes 2-3 deep. You’ll see trucks parked at the shore like a parking lot. Because the close proximity locals are militant about braided line because everyone is on top of each other. They want to see neon yellow or chartreuse mono. I don’t know anything about pier fishing in OBX.

Elsewhere, you can get away with braided no problem, but the fishing isn’t as good elsewhere.

Full disclosure, I’m a Bass fisherman who’s just gotten back into surf fishing. I started going down there since I can stay on the beach under the awning, with my fridge full of beer, do some surfing/body boarding and chill while fishing. I haven’t yet really made the real effort to be truly successful, e.g., scouting out the best spots (beyond the HI point), following tide tables, seeking out local intel, etc.

That being said, I like most folks down there I run a fish finder rig. I run a larger post weight leader (12-18”) and I usually attach a float to avoid the crabs. I use a 10’6” pole and a 12’ pole. You need a long pole to get out far enough. There’s usually 2 breaks. I often wade out with the 12 footer to get out past the sand bar. A lot of people run custom 15’ one piece rods to cast as far out as possible. Most folks run a conventional reel. I use a long casting Shimano spinning so I can let other people fish without spending the day clearing other people’s backlashes. Honestly, I’m thinking of starting to bringing a fishing kayak down there with me. It’s normally easy to get out last the breakers.

As far as general use, the farther south you go the clearer the water (not Florida clear) and the more room you have on the beach. I frequently am a good distance away from the next truck in OI. The surfing sucks unless a storm is coming but long boards do okay. Wind and kite surfing is excellent. The Wright brothers picked OBX for their first flight for a reason. Birding is good in OBX, but you’ve got to go to Bodie island and south to get more wild places. For enjoying nature in general Hatteras and OI are great. I honestly haven’t spent much time exploring the sound side of any of the islands.

There’s fishing shops on both islands for gear and local intelligence and the local grocery shops have fresh and frozen bait. There’s basically one drag on both islands so you can’t miss these places.

I’ve had a hard time finding dog friendly restaurants. I haven’t eaten at any of them on OI but several have porches so they’re probably good. There’s a brewery/pub on OI as well. The Cockeyed Clam on Hatteras has a porch and allows dogs if that’s important to you.

The NPS maintains pretty decent camp grounds on both Islands. They’re well maintained and have cold showers as water filling stations. Reservations are available on recreation.gov. I’ve rented houses in Nags Head for a couple grand for a week but I’ve never stayed in a hotel or rented a house in OI. Just looking at prices, hotels and rentals get expensive fast down there but it’s also the off season so YMMV.

You MUST have a beach driving permit to drive on the beach in OBX and the rangers patrol consistently. You can get a 10 day permit. Those are also available on recreation.gov. I would recommend driving on the beach even if you stay in a hotel or rental. You don’t want to walk or wheel a cart that far. Here’s a map of beach access: This is available on the NPS.

September is usually when overnight beach access is starts being allowed again, but it’s dependent on sea turtle nesting so I don’t know the current status. It may be listed on the NPS site. You need a permit for beach bonfires but they’re free. You just print and fill one out. Dogs are allowed but must be on a 6’ leash. They really just don’t want dogs running into the marsh, digging up turtle eggs and making a nuisance of themselves to other beach goers. I let mine off leash in the surf all the time to catch frisbees and just stay on the lookout for the rangers.

Obviously you will need a North Carolina fishing coastal or combined fresh/coastal license.

I’ll post more as I think of it.

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[ifishihuntiplay]

Funny you tag me... We're planning a tour de Cape Area beaches for the end of this month. Is there a comprehensive guide available online? No hard agenda. The basic plan is to visit different places and stay in hotels but if there's a locale with too much to sea and/ or do, we could stay there for a couple days.

Also as username might suggest I would definitely not mind sampling the local surf/ pier fishing.

@Wolf Island Diver gave a good run down. I'll 2nd him on not using braid at the point. Also, if you end up night fishing there, go with either red or black light headlamp. I can't confirm that drum are light sensitive, but that is the thought, and a bright white headlamp may draw some ire. Generally speaking, most folks down there are friendly and helpful. When I was younger, the shoulder to shoulder fishing was intimidating, and I avoided it. But when I finally did it, I realized most of those guys were desk jockeys down for their annual trip with a handful of locals mixed in. There is a method to the madness, you just have to observe and then fall into what everyone else is doing.

I haven't pier fished in years, but the main ones are Avalon and Jennette's piers in Nags Head and Avon pier in Avon.

Tackle shops, north to south, are TW's and Oceans East in Nags Head, Hatteras Jack in Rodanthe, Frank and Fran's in Avon, Red Drum Tackle in Buxton, Frisco Rod and Gun in Frisco, and Tradewinds on Ocracoke Island. Red Drum is closest to the point and they also have a decent online fishing report and forum.

Besides fishing and what was already mentioned, there are five lighthouses on the OBX (one is on Roanoke Island), the Wright Bros Memorial and Museum and Jockeys Ridge in Kill Devil Hills, and wild horses up at Corolla. Also on Roanoke Island is one of three NC aquariums, Fort Raleigh and the Elizabethan Gardens, and Roanoke Island Festival Park/Museum in Manteo. And the opposite end of Roanoke Island is Wanchese where the big fish market is if you happened to have watched Wicked Tuna Outer Banks.

Bottom line is you can easily fill up every day for a week, or you can hang out on the beach and soak some bait. My buddy's dad is there now and said they were stacked up on the point yesterday catching drum. ?

 

[ifishihuntiplay]

The start of 10 days at the obx. Couple of days on Ocracoke before moving up to Buxton/Avon. ?

 

[ifishihuntiplay]

This guy had a bad day. And he's gotta pay to have it cleared...

 

[Jaxmax]

Hey JB, how is it going down their vacation is almost up? I usually like to head down from way up North after Thanksgiving. Agree the Point is like Mecca for Surf rats, but I am at the “point” in life where fishing the north pocket of the point is more relaxing and still go enough. Last year Hatteras took my Lami custom rod with a drilled Penn 706, cause of me taking a work call, shark spooled the reel in no time, I got to chase my rod into the surf never to be see again! Only rod I have lost since 1978, had to be the special one that loved to throw lead.
Before and after picture of my rod pictures taken five minutes apart!….Jack

 

[ifishihuntiplay]

Hey JB, how is it going down their vacation is almost up?...

Dang, Jack. That was a nice setup, too. I've witnessed that almost happen twice, once on this trip, and both sharks. The guy this year was close and able to grab it. The one a few years ago was an older gentleman. If his son hadn't been with him (and possibly a track star), he would've lost his. It was shooting across the sand like a missile towards the surf. But his son was able to run it down. There were also several days this trip where we had to deal with big sharks. Two of us landed 5 and 6 foot sand tigers and got nearly spooled and broken off multiple times. Saw one cruising inside the bar easily 8-10 footer.

Always a good trip, but saw very few red drum and puppies this year. Persistent north wind cooled the water off pretty quickly, but the biggest factor I think was a lack of current. Most days 2-3 oz would've held. We did catch more black drum this year than the last 25 combined. And big mullet, too.

The last day was epic. We had a blue run like I haven't seen in years. It started outside the bar near the point so all we could do was watch. Probably covered five football fields, looked like a sprinkler system across the water with all the fish jumping. Easily a thousand birds working over them. Eventually they came inside the bar and moved north where we were set up between 43 and 44. We slung metal until our arms fell off. Caught bluefish almost every cast. It was crazy. A couple hours later, the wind turned out of the NE at 25mph, temp dropped 20 degrees, the ocean went from a lake to a 5' chop and 8 oz wouldn't even try to hold. But that's when we caught several upper slot puppies. Just an awesome last day.

Good luck to you. We definitely didn't catch them all!

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Prepping hard for my first 2024 trip….

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...and-accessories-wtf-thread.75580/post-1256185

nO, Mr oCifer rAnGer, mAn. ITs wAtEr, nOt rUM!

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