Fishing Report

Spring is all but here, flowers are in bloom and the National Park Service has already placed the initial pre-nesting closures at our favorite fishing holes.  I could also add that Negotiated Rule Making produced no off-road vehicle plan, but I’m sure that will be addressed elsewhere in this issue.  And, life goes on!  This organization owes President Jim Keene and Vice-President David Joyner more than a great debt of appreciation for the hundreds of hours they spent as our representatives on the Negotiated Rules Committee.  The failure to reach any sort of agreement falls squarely on the fact that three environmental groups would not budge from the consent decree and their steadfast position dominated every meeting over the past two years.

In the last issue I talked about a trip to Florida where I just knew my wife, Sharon, and I would catch black drum in Naples and big pompano at Vero Beach.  Well, guess what? No targeted species at either place!  Weather may well have been a factor at Vero. We did catch some nice blues in the three to four pound range, lots of little pompano and bar jacks, a few sea mullet, and three six to seven pound black-tip sharks.  On one day I fished there, the temperature was a tropical thirty-two degrees and windy – the same day it was balmy here.

But enough of what I didn’t do. Apparently I didn’t miss much here either, but that is going to change very shortly.  There have already been two great fishing days of puppy drum fishing in the ‘pond’ at Oregon Inlet, but it required a boat to reach the fish that crowded into the northeast corner.  We are working with NPS now trying to get access from the northeast corner east to the beach which would open up that fishery as well as access to net finger mullet.

There have also been scattered reports of sea mullet in the Frisco area and a few big drum from the south end of Ocracoke.  As Porky Pig would say…”That’s all, folks!”

This time of year, fishing can break out at any time, and I know you’ve cleaned your reels, checked your drags, and changed your lines, but what about hooks?  The best shot at hooking and landing a fish is by using new hooks that are factory sharpened for quick and sure penetration.  Yet, many anglers go to the beach to fish with rusty hooks from last year.  Loose and snelled hooks are cheap compared to the cost of every thing else.  Also, change the hooks on your plugs, sting-silvers, Hopkins, whatever.  Split rings enable you to do this easily.  Shimano makes   nice, fairly inexpensive split-ring pliers to make the job a piece of cake.

On a sad note, Fishin’ Fever has had to close it’s doors.  With beach closures, the economy and no fish, Scott and Carol could no longer afford to stay in operation.  We all wish them the best.