NCsaltaire

Waiting for the Fish to Arrive

December 18, 2011 at 7:34 am Leave a comment

Fishing has been extremely slow over the past two weeks. I am just now hearing that some nice Rockfish are being caught both in the ocean and sounds. But anglers need to work hard due the stubborn water temperatures. Water has become too cold to fast in the sound but staying too warm in the ocean.

It also seems that the regular migration of big Rockfish and Blues has changed. On a typical fall/winter season, we see the decreasing water temps in the upper Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay drive the fish right to the near waters of Outer Banks for several weeks. Then after feeding heavily, they head off shore to winter in deeper water. Recently, the warm water temps have dropped up north but stayed too warm here. So once the fish arrive, they head straight out to deeper water and away from us.

The slow period has given me time to re-line several of my reels and purge my tackle boxes of used equipment that has seen better days.

One focus should definitely on winterizing your water crafts. Stabilizing fuel, fogging engines, emptying water tanks and hoses, removing all equipment and storing batteries in a protected environment.

A good cleaning of the hull, decks, and other surfaces plus applying a good coat of wax should be standard procedures. Plus installing your winter cover will save you many hours of agony in the spring.

Hopefully there will be better news in the coming days and weeks.

Until next time, Tightlines

Entry filed under: Places. Tags: beach weather, boating, cape hatteras, chesapeake bay, cold weather fishing, duck, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, nags head, outer banks, Rockfish, surf fishing.