Back from the annual family beach trip to the Outer Banks. Overall, good weather and decent fishing in the Roanoke Sound. Not as many fish numbers as years past due to a winter fish kill but the fish caught were solid. For the week I boated around 60 fish mostly trout averaging 14”-18”. Managed to catch a PB striped bass at 24” and a PB trout at 22”.
Baits that produced were the Do It 2.25” ES paddle tail on a 3/16 oz freestyle jig, a 3” shrimp mold, and a Bob’s (BTS mold) 5.25” jointed fluke on a Style 9 jig head I modified by removing the lead barb and tying on a wire keeper. The BTS fluke poured in Zooms albino color was deadly and the bite slowed when I tried other colors.
Put the kayak in the ocean for the first time on this trip. Due to the wind picking up to a steady 17-20 mph and big waves I used my better judgment and headed back to land about 300 yards away before I needed to inconvenience the Coast Guard. Probably the sketchiest water I’ve ever had the kayak on. Oh, and I should mention that I was surrounded by thousands of jellyfish. So any tip overs would have been double trouble.
