NORTHERN District

For the week ending Dec. 5

Ocean: The coldest weather so far this season, along with rough seas limited offshore activity considerably. A few boats did venture out, but catches were limited to low-to-moderate amounts of yellowfin and blackfin tuna and an occasional wahoo. Little else was caught. Midrange anglers were also limited in their efforts, with a few striped bass and red drum caught on calm days. Even those catches were inconsistent and sporadic. Near-shore anglers had very little opportunity to try their luck, as well.

Inlets/Bays/Sounds: This area was busy with anglers avoiding the rough conditions in the ocean. Striped bass catches were moderate with anglers fishing off of the Oregon Inlet bridge catwalk and south shore having the most consistent success. Boaters in this same area had similar results with striped bass, along with a few spotted seatrout and high volume amounts of spiny dogfish. Anglers fishing in more sheltered waters such as Roanoke and Albemarle sounds reported catching plenty of striped bass but most were undersized. Spotted seatrout, kingfish, croaker and assorted other species were caught in low amounts.

Piers/Shore: All Outer Banks piers were closed. Surfcasters fishing the near-shore surf zone caught a few scattered striped bass and red drum along with some larger sized bluefish in the 8-pound to 12-pound range. Unfavorable weather conditions limited these anglers to short-term fishing sessions.

CENTRAL

For the week ending Dec. 5

Ocean: Excellent catches of wahoo and blackfin tuna came from the Gulf Stream. Reports of king mackerel started to fall off. The big news was the arrival of the bluefin tuna. A number of hookups were reported and there was at least one landing. Bottom fishing produced a fair number of black sea bass, a few grouper, bluefish, red drum and trout.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays: The trout bite was still excellent. Some anglers reported catching more than 50 fish per person on a given trip. The haystacks and the rock jetty at the cape were the hotspots, however fish were found throughout the sounds. Green grubs, Gulps, and MirrOLures were the most popular baits; live bait was not really worth the effort due to the large number of undersized fish. Red drum were also still inside, with large numbers caught on the rock jetty, haystacks, and the inlet.

Piers/Shore: Most area piers had closed for the season or will close this week. Fishing from shore produced puppy drum and both speckled and gray trout, with some people reporting black drum, northern puffers and sea mullet.

Southern

Ocean: Weather conditions limited offshore activity. Wahoo fishing was outstanding over the last three weeks. King mackerel andgrouper were caught in the 100-foot-depth range, along with some really nice black sea bass. Near-shore reefs produced gray trout along with some flounders.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Fishing really slowed due to the cold weather. Trout were still caught with the best catches coming around area inlets. Little River Inlet rock jetty produced some really nice trout catches, with some weighing up to 6 pounds. Anglers using live shrimp had the best luck, but fish were biting artificial baits as well.

Piers/Shore: Most area piers had closed for the season. At the few that stay openyear-round or allow limited access to season pass holders, fishing was slow for the most part. Lots of puffers were caught, along with a few sea mullets and some spotted seatrout. When weather conditions allowed, surf anglers had some luck catching spotted seatrout along the beaches of Onslow, Pender and New Hanover counties.