North Carolina Fly Fishing

• Big Flies = Big Fish
  The old saying “the bigger the bait the bigger the fish” rings true in the fly fishing world, especially in the chilly winter waters off North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

• False Albacore Fly Fishing
• Fishing Morehead City, NC
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park Fly Fishing
• Pamlico Sound Fishing

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Freshwater Mountain Streams

Where mountain streams run through beautiful forests and are home to rainbow, brown and native brook trout, small mouth bass, bream, red-eyes, catfish and even the elusive muskies that make great eating and even better trophies.
Even when the weather is hot, North Carolina streams run cool, and there is no better place than creekside – or in the creek – on those warm summer days.
Of the more than 4,000 miles of flowing water capable of supporting trout in North Carolina (the most of any state in the southeastern United States), more than one-half are open to the public. Most of these general waters are supported by state hatcheries, which usually stock the waters beginning in March (continuing in four-week intervals until August) with both young and catchable trout. Stocked fish average eight inches in length.
Trout fishing is unique in the High Country because the quality of fishing is so high, even though it’s located near such large population centers. You can catch the “big one” of your dreams without having to spend the money and time to travel to some remote stream 60 miles off a paved road in the Rockies.

Overview of Saltwater Fly Fishing Opportunities

At the beginning of the year there is really only one option for the angler that wants to fish the salt in North Carolina. Bluefins!
Big fish that eat flies, pull hard, and bust knuckles and equipment. The fishing takes place out of the marinas on Hatteras Island. There are only a few captains that will take fly fishers-Captain Mitch McFredrick on the Chapin and Captain Steve “Creature” Coulture on Sea Creature. Both of these captains sail out of the Hatteras Harbor Marina and can be reached at (919) 986-2166 for bookings and information.

At this time of year, however, plan on booking a trip for three or four days of fishing because you’ll usually fish only one day in three due to weather. Take it from very personal experience-buy some Dramamine or other motion sickness medicine. It can make a miserable but fishable day bearable.

Tactics

The tactics used to fish for these critters, which range from 100 to 600 plus pounds, is to troll ballyhoo until you hook up a fish. The goal then is to land the fish as quickly as possible. While someone is fighting that fish, the mate will be throwing chunks of menhaden over the side to coax the other fish in the school to the surface. When the fish are up behind the boat the cast you will make is less than 30 feet. One of the best scenarios for the fly angler is for the fleet to find an active school of fish and have 25 to 40 boats all in an area chumming. It keeps the fish interested and on top.

The fish that can be realistically targeted by the fly fisherman are those from 100 to 150 pounds. I don’t care how stout your rod and reel are, you won’t be landing a fish over 200 pounds unless something very unusual happens.

The weapons of choice are 15- to 17-weight rods not longer than 8-1/2 feet, and reels that will hold over 500 yards of backing. The Billy Pate Bluefin and the Steelfin Abyss are two reels designed specifically for this fishery. Fly lines are simple and short-not longer than 50 feet. A Teeny TS-750 with the rear 50 feet of running line cut off to allow MORE BACKING on the reel is a good choice. The backing to use, if you can find it, is 50 pound spectra-not so much for the strength, but the strength per diameter and the fact that it cuts through the water much more easily than dacron. Flies can vary from big to small, and all colors of the rainbow. Deceivers in the menhaden-like colors of blue and green, tandem-rigged, from 10 to 20 inches long, seem to be the best.

The rest of the year, from April though December, is a smorgasbord of different types of creatures that all eat flies. The migratory fish-Atlantic bonito, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, tarpon, cobia, dolphin, false albacore, and other offshore species-tend to show up from south to north in the spring, and then from north to south in the fall. The resident fish-redfish, from puppy drum to channel bass, speckled and gray trout, flounder and stripers-are around all year, but are most active during the April to December time period. All of these species are best targeted with rods from 8- to 10-weight, with some of the larger migratory fish requiring 12- and 13-weights. Most saltwater reels work well here-simple, anodized, disk drag reels that are serviceable and that will stand up to fish that pull both hard and fast. If you’re setting up an outfit from scratch, I would recommend getting two extra spools for your reel. It’s best to carry a floating line, some sort of intermediate or sink tip line, and a super fast sinking line or shooting head system.

The flies for these fish vary widely. The smaller fish, such as puppy drum, speckled and gray trout, small stripers, Atlantic bonito, false albacore and Spanish mackerel, eagerly eat all sorts of flies in the three- to six-inch size range. Some of the most popular patterns are Clouser Minnows, Deceivers, Half & Half’s (half Clouser/half Deceiver), and minnow imitations that match the size, shape and color of what these critters will be eating. The bigger fish tend to take bigger bites, and thus the flies need to be sized accordingly. Crab patterns should also be in every fly fisher’s box-any of the epoxy, wool, or yarn styles work well in smaller sizes for speckled and gray trout, puppy drum, and flounder. In larger sizes, crab patterns are one of the flies of choice for anyone trying to become the first person to land a tarpon on a fly in North Carolina.

There are a number of inshore and “back country” guides that specialize in fly fishing. In the Nags Head area, the two top guides are Captains Brian Horsley (919-261-1541) and Bryan Dehart (919-473-1575). Both captains have extensive local knowledge, and have been working the waters of the sounds and beach fronts for most of their lives. Moving south along the Outer Banks, focusing on the Hatteras area, Captain Zander Brody (919-995-5269) would be a great choice. He grew up on the water, and is always entertaining when out for a day’s fishing. In the Morehead City-Atlantic Beach part of the world there are again a couple of choices. Captain George Beckwith (919-636-2733) is not only a very experienced angler, and focuses on the waters of the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound, he also has a B.S. in Marine Biology. Another good choice for an enjoyable day on the water is Captain David Dietzler (919-240-2850), and he will fish for anything from albacore to stripers to sharks. On the southern third of the coast, the center of fly fishing activity is in Wilmington, and there are several guides in this area. Captain Tyler Stone (888-325-4285), owner of Intracoastal Angler Fly Shop, focuses mainly on the inshore and near shore fishery.

There are two events in North Carolina that the saltwater fly fisher should try at least once. The first is the run of striped bass that swim up the Roanoke River from Albemarle Sound in the spring. They get all the way to the dam in Weldon, North Carolina, just down stream from I-95, where they stack up and can’t swim any farther upstream. Sinking lines and 9-weight rods are the order of the day. These fish are in spawning mode, so most of the fish landed are 3- to 5-pound males that aggressively strike at everything going by. Occasionally, a big female over 20 pounds is landed.

The second highlight is the run of false albacore that starts on the Outer Banks in October. As the water cools, the fish will move south along the coast past Cape Hatteras by the first of November, and congregate at Cape Lookout and the Shakleford Banks until after Thanksgiving. The equipment here is a 10-weight rod with a reel that has a smooth, strong drag for the explosive runs these 12-to 18-pound fish regularly make. Flies are simple and relatively small-Clousers, small glass minnow imitations, and epoxy-head flies are consistent producers.

There are dozens of shops along the North Carolina coast, and most can supply you with reliable information on where and when the fishing will be hot. This coastline is a large and diverse area that is still being explored. Give it a try. The fish are hungry, they eat flies, and pull hard-really hard! All in all, the North Carolina coast is a great frontier in saltwater fly fishing.

Article & photos by Captain Brian Horsley

Fishing for Stripers on the Outer Banks by Captain Brian Horsley
The recovery of the striped bass in Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds is a feather in the cap of the North Carolina and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council management plans-a bright spot in North Carolina’s usually-blemished record of resource protection and enhancement. After years of strict regulation and continuing rigid limits and seasons, stripers are again wide spread. Their population continues to grow, spilling over into non-traditional places and seasons.

The striped rascals are everywhere! Methods of fishing vary widely, but the best has to be with a fly. Someone once told me, “Stripers are the perfect game fish. They’re pretty to look at, pull hard but not to hard, readily eat flies, and they’re not overly smart. Their only downfall is they’re good in the skillet.” If you know where to look in Pamlico, Croatan, and Roanoke Sounds, you can find stripers every month of the year. November through early June are the prime months, but they are still around throughout the summer.

The first place to look in late winter and early spring is around the Dare County bridges: Wright Brothers Memorial Bridge, Washington Baum Bridge, William B. Umstead Bridge, and Herbert Bonner Bridge (Oregon Inlet Bridge). You can catch fish around these structures all year with a little specialized fly tackle. Stripers like to wedge in between the pilings and near the bottom waiting for prey to wash by. The first ingredient is to be able to deliver the fly next to the pilings along the bottom. This can be done with any fast sinking line available in your local fly shop, but my favorite is Cortland’s Quick Descent 425 grain on a 9-weight rod. Stripers are not overly leader shy around bridges, so a leader of 12 to 16 inches works best. I like to use 16-pound tippet because it breaks easier when you snag the bridge!

Fly selections should be basic and easy to tie-some mornings you’ll go through a dozen Clousers. Other productive flies are Dan Blanton’s Whistler and Lefty Kreh’s Deceiver. I tie my Clousers with bead chain eyes, as lead eyes don’t fair well slapping the concrete. As with most stripers flies, “if it ain’t chartreuse, it ain’t no use.” When the water is dirty, or in low light conditions, try black flies with purple flash.

Moving water is very important to feeding stripers. I like to fish up current and cast the fly at the pilings, letting it drift down before starting my retrieve. I know people who fish it just the opposite. Fish it any way you feel comfortable-just get the fly down and next to a piling.

Another good place to fish for stripers is around marsh islands, and in the rips that sometimes form around them. No pilings here, so you can scale down your tackle some. The rips off of marsh islands are slow enough that an intermediate line gets the fly down, and a cross-current cast works best.

Some of the area’s best fishing is along the rips closer to Oregon Inlet. The rips tend to be deeper, have a lot stronger current, and hold more fish. As the current just starts to move, a 5weight rod with a 175-grain line is the perfect choice. As the current increases, and 8-weight rod with a 325 line becomes the better choice. Late March, April, and May are the peak months for these rips, when most of the fish will run from 15 to 27 inches. The flies that work best here are half & halfs, rattle flies, Clousers, deceivers and whistlers. Chartreuse or chartreuse and white are good colors in clear water, and black with purple flash in muddy water.

A little more protected place is Bodie Island Light, which offers good springtime action. These are schoolie fish, so bring your 5-weight. Wading around the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center can produce good catches in the spring and late winter. On the south side of Oregon Inlet, stripers lurk on the points spring and fall. The best wading spot is off the jetty on the south side of Oregon Inlet.During late fall and early winter experienced fly anglers can land fish up to and over 40 inches.

The main wintering grounds for most East Coast lie between the Virginia state line and Cape Point on Hatteras Island. This is home to some of the most exciting striper fishing on the East Coast. On ebb tide the waters of the Pamlico empty into Oregon Inlet, spilling shrimp, menhaden, croakers, eels and other bait fish onto the shoals. Hoards of hungry stripers line up to feed on this smorgasbord. The key here is to get close enough to hook fish without getting beaten to death in the breaking surf.

When packing for a striper trip to the Outer Banks be sure to include 7- to 9-weight rods (10weight for the surf), intermediate lines, and 300- to 500-grain sinking lines (or a shooting head system). Fly boxes should be well stocked with Clousers, Deceivers, Whistlers and your favorite stripers patterns in sizes from 1/0 to 4/0. The basic colors should be chartreuse/white, chartreuse, black or gray/white.

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