Tradewinds Tackle

The water around Ocracoke offers many angling choices. In addition to casual surf fishing while the family is playing on the beach, there are numerous opportunities for the small boater and serious surf caster. While some of the same techniques work in either case, some specialized rigs and baits can increase your luck.

Pompano are an extremely great tasting fish that are great fun on light tackle. They can be caught both on the beach and on near shore bars, as they are feeding on sand  fleas. Shrimp and sand fleas are the best baits, and most fishermen use a light two hook pompano rig. Others prefer to fish for them with light egg sinkers and a Carolina rig. Either way, these fish are great fun and can be abundant in the July surf.

Flounder, one of the most prized of all fish for eating because of its light sweet flavor and few bones, can be caught from the shore or boat. Flounder like sandy bottoms near deep water. They rest on the bottom, partially buried and wait for prey to swim by them during the day. The best bait to use are strips of squid or live minnows. From the shore use a flounder rig such as a Fluke Killer with a piece of squid attached and slowly reel it in by fits and starts to stimulate fleeing prey. From a boat, use ball jigs, squid strips and minnows rigged with up to a 3 ounce weight to reach the bottom and allow the boat to drift.

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