Nov. 16-22. NW wind?

[pksurfish]

I am headed to Hatteras for my annual week in fishing heaven. I'll be there Nov. 16-22. The big question mark always seems to be the weather. Past years have featured in turn: great weather, heavy rain, heavy wind. This year's forecast at the moment seems to be: sunny to cloudy but not a lot of rain, pretty moderate wind. Any where from 8MPH to high teens. But the wind forecast seems to be largely from the NW or WNW. What I have read about Hatteras suggests that's not a good direction for fishing. Any suggestions as to how to fish that condition - very generally where to go, including around the Point, beaches north of there, near Hatteras Village or on Ocracoke? Thanks.

[derf]

from an 'old post' on the original 'mo-wire'

THE BASICS per MO

First: Which way is the wind blowing? More important than bait and tackle is knowing which way the wind is blowing before picking an area to fish. Fish into the wind. Meaning: You want the wind in your face. Weenies fish in a tailwind. Successful anglers face into the wind because they know that fish are driven closer to the beach in onshore winds.

SE, S, SW... be on Cape Point, I'm talking about standing down there with the rest of them right on the tip of Cape Point. Not 100 feet to the right, sitting in a chair, not 100 feet to the left sitting in a chair. I mean right in the thick of it, with everybody else, waves crashing over your head like everybody else. Fishing on Cape Point means you fish on Cape Point. Right on the tip. Fish at night on a rising tide, fish all night if you have to, especially if others are catching fish. That's a dead giveaway that fish are indeed around. Drum and Stripers are the target fish, not skates, or dog sharks contrary to popular belief...

N or NE... no matter how hard its' blowing, unless you're in danger of drowning due to rising tides smashing against the dunes, you want to be on North Beach somewhere between Salvo and Avon. It's going to be cold as crap, the sand is going to be lifted about 3 feet off the beach, but I guarantee there will be Bass or Drum chewing under the foam. Fish at night. All night. You can sleep when you get home. (Notice the pattern?) Day fishing is for weenies. Weenies sleep at night. Successful anglers fish at night. They ain't weenies. They came to fish, not sleep.

W or NW... Drink Beer or catch up on your sleep. Unless you just have to fish. You never know, a stray school may follow some bait within casting range. As was demonstrated not too long ago, sometimes, for some unknown reason, fish will bite in a NW wind... doesn't happen very often, but... on rare occasions it happens. Fish also bite sometimes on N. Beach Between Avon and Salvo in a NW wind. Bass most likely. Fish at night. All night. You can sleep when you get home.

Now we've covered most of the wind thing, and we've determined that you aren't a weenie, lets go over the bait and tackle thing.

Bait: Atlantic Menhaden is the BEST bait to use on Hatteras Island. Weenies fish with eels. There are no eels in the surf off Hatteras Island. Atlantic Menhaden are in the surf off Hatteras Island. Bass and Drum come here to eat Atlantic Menhaden, not eels. Yes, occasionally some lucky bastard will catch a fish on an eel and then he'll swear to God that it was the eel, not luck. Believe me, it was luck. Successful anglers don't rely on luck. They have a clue. Yes, luck plays a part of it, but having a clue is paramount to being a successful angler. Bring your rabbit's foot and rub that dude often, but plan on having a clue.

Fresh Bait: Atlantic Menaden more than 40 hours old is rotten. Use eels or Mullet. You'll stand a better chance.

Picking Fresh Bait: The way you pick out Atlantic Menhaden is you feel each one. You reach into the bait cooler at your favorite tackle shop (any tackle shop that has Atlantic Menhaden) with your bare hands and you feel each bait. You gently squeeze the bait to check for firmness. Fresh Atlantic Menhaden will be hard as a rock. Rotten Atlantic Menhaden will be squishy and soft. Don't buy soft Atlantic Menhaden. It's not fresh. Don't complain to the tackle shop, just look somewhere else. They'll know you know what you're looking for and they might even point you somewhere else. They respect that in a person looking for Atlantic Menhaden because they know it's hard to keep and it has to be fresh.

Keeping Fresh Bait Fresh: Do NOT put Atlantic Menhaden under the seat of your truck. It must be kept on ice. In fact, it must be covered with ice. It must NOT sit in ice water. It has to be constantly drained and each fish must be separated by ice. I pays to wash as much of the slime off the bait as possible and you must pack Atlantic Menhaden in layers separated with ice. Do NOT put beer in the bait cooler. The bait cooler is for bait, not beer.
Do NOT bring a 2 quart bait cooler and expect to put 20# of bait in it. 20# of bait should be put in a 48 - 72 quart cooler that's only purpose is keeping Atlantic Menhaded as close to freezing as possible. Leave the drain plug off (if it's in your rack, doing so inside the vehicle is not wise unless you have a hole drilled in the floorboard with a hose run out it).

If you find some really fresh Atlantic Menhaden buy at least 20# and pack it properly. Atlantic Menhaden is cheap. Buy plenty if it's fresh and pack it properly in an effort to keep it as fresh as possible. You're going to be using it quickly.

Mullet: Ok, you can't find any fresh Atlantic Menhaden. Mullet is ok, but it better be fresh. If you have to beat the crap out of it to keep the lid on the cooler it's probably going to be ok. If you can't get a heartbeat, try CPR, but if it's pronounced dead, check the gills. They want to be blood red, not gray. If the mullet is bigger than the fish you're after, you'll probably have to fillet it, or you could try to find one a bit smaller. Dress it out like you would an Atlantic Menhaden if it's smaller than 5 pounds. Read On.

Baiting Up: The way you use an Atlantic Menhaden goes like this.... Buy a good knife. Serrated edge. Sharp as 10,000 SOBs. Cut the head off and retain it. You're going to be using the head. Successful anglers use heads because they know heads catch fish. Fish eat the whole dam thing, head and all and have no problem sucking up a head. In fact, they'll do it in a heartbeat. It's how they make a living. 50 pound fish get to be 50 pound fish by eating, heads if they have to. They ain't that picky.

Ok, you've lopped off the head and have it sitting on top of the ice in waiting. The next stroke of the blade takes off the belly meat and innards.. you may discard that part INTO THE WATER as flavoring. The trick to being a successful angler is having the scent of Atlantic Menaden in the water around where you're fishing. Feeding the birds does squat for your fishing efforts. The scent of bird crap doesn't draw fish all that well. Fish don't eat bird crap. They eat Atlantic Menhaden and they know dam well what it smells and tastes like. They can smell it for MILES. There won't be any birds around at night anyway, but you get the idea.

Now, what you have is a hot-dog of an Atlantic Menhaden... no head... no belly meat... just the top of the fish above the spine and the tail. The cutting board is a bloody mess because your bait is very fresh and bloody. You went through all the trouble of picking the very best and that's what you have. Out of your standard sized Atlantic Menhaden you're going to get about 4 or 5 pieces of bait. They will be perfectly manicured chunks of bait that will fit perfectly on a great big circle hook. They are aerodynamically approved for the cast and they afford the least amount of drag both in the air and in the water.

You bait up, you cast and if you don't catch a fish in 10 or 15 mins, you reel in and change the bait. If you reel in and your bait is still perfect you do NOT throw it back in. You change the bait. Successful anglers use fresh bait and they change it often.

You're going to want to stay busy. It's cold as crap and you have to keep moving. No better way to build up body heat than changing the bait on two or three rods constantly. Of course, if you're fishing on Cape Point, you will have just the one rod, but your bait box on your belt will have a nice fresh piece of bait in it and you're going to be changing it regularly.

Tackle: Circle hooks on SHORT leaders. Fishfinder set ups. Enough weight to hold. Or enough weight to slow it down a bit so that the fish might be able to catch up with it and eat the bait. This part is not rocket science. If you're fishing on N. Beach and there's enough current to drag a cinderblock you're going to have to be inventive... like not throwing it out as far... if the current is moving that fast the fish will be right up on the beach.. or at least we hope they will. Pick a deep spot or fish down current of a shoal or something, or use a bigger cinderblock.

Well... that will get you started at least.... Lexx is on Sci-fi and I got to go....
Good luck, but remember, luck has nothing to do with it. You have a clue and you know what you're doing.
__

mo had a way of saying **** !!!

[pksurfish]

I will keep looking for other messages - but AAAAAGH! Thanks for bringing this old message back. It looks very informative. And I will pray for a wind change. My past experince has been that long range forecasts are not very accurate. Let's hope that's true in this case.

[Steve Coleman]

Originally Posted by pksurfish

I will keep looking for other messages - but AAAAAGH! Thanks for bringing this old message back. It looks very informative. And I will pray for a wind change. My past experince has been that long range forecasts are not very accurate. Let's hope that's true in this case.

I have been in a couple of few nice drum bites on a NW wind along the north beaches.

[savfish]

Don't put any faith in a forecast for the outer banks that is more than "tomorrow's weather". Even that they get right only 50% of the time. The marine forecast changes twice a day sometimes. NW winds aren't nearly as bad as alot of people think. Last week, the drum bit in 3 different locations on a nw. You might want to fish the piers if it is a hard nw. Also there have been some great trout bites (previous yrs) on south beach on a hard nw. I could go on but the bottom line is you are coming to fish. Check in w/ the tackle shops upon arrival. It is howling nw right now and I will probably be fishing late tonight.

[DennyH]

After favorable winds, the first day or two of a NW should still be ok. Seen it with my own a few weeks ago on the north beaches. 3rd day of the NW shut it down.

[rockhoppingmike]

thats alot to read!

[Stripehunter]

Winds goin to be blowin 50 by tommorow!! 12' seas by wednesday!!!

[John M]

as Sav said.....dont put much stock in the forecasts. they go from nice light winds to gale in about 4 minutes........the latest forecast looks l ike it will keep me home until firday anwyay.........of course it can change at any time. this is the forecast as of mondya morning........I posted it just to compare forcasts the next couple days to.
GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY
MORNING

THIS AFTERNOON
N WINDS 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT.

TONIGHT
NE WINDS INCREASING TO 25 TO 35 KT. SEAS 6 TO 7 FT
BUILDING TO 8 TO 11 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN IN
THE EVENING...THEN A CHANCE OF RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.

TUE
N WINDS 30 TO 40 KT. SEAS 10 TO 15 FT. A CHANCE OF RAIN IN
THE MORNING...THEN RAIN LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON.

TUE NIGHT
NE WINDS 35 KT. SEAS 9 TO 13 FT BUILDING TO 13 TO 16 FT
AFTER MIDNIGHT. PERIODS OF RAIN.

WED
NE WINDS 30 TO 35 KT. SEAS 14 TO 17 FT BUILDING TO 16 TO
20 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. PERIODS OF RAIN.

WED NIGHT
NE WINDS 30 TO 35 KT. SEAS 18 TO 21 FT SUBSIDING TO
14 TO 16 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT. PERIODS OF RAIN.

THU
NE WINDS 25 TO 35 KT DECREASING TO 20 TO 25 KT. SEAS 11 TO
15 FT SUBSIDING TO 9 TO 12 FT. PERIODS OF RAIN.

FRI
N WINDS 15 TO 20 KT DECREASING TO 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 6 TO 9 FT
SUBSIDING TO 3 TO 5 FT.

[pksurfish]

Am back from Hatteras tonight. Left a day early because of upcoming heavy wind and rain. Fishing and weather were somewhat less than good during my week there. Caught some puppy drum, bluefish, sea mullet, and flounder - nothing on last day, Monday. Typical weather was 55 degrees with 10-15 mph wind from the NW or NE. Had to bundle up, and time on the beach was not that enjoyable. Am thinking about switching my annual trip to May for better weather. despite the above, Hatteras is still a special place - miles of beautiful beaches with sandbars and sloughs, plenty of dedicated surf fishermen, and great b and ts. I love it.

[savfish]

Weather here around tday is like that. You can be in shorts and t shirts during the day some yrs or it can be blowing 35+ out of the ne like tonight. Too bad you had to cut it short.

[spada84]

After the storm -

Cape Point is closed off, barrier on the road at the maintence area. No access from south beachs as the jeep trail is flooded.

Access at Frisco is open, beach is very wide, but very flat, may not be able to access at high tide. Surf is less than I expected to see, probably because of being shielded by the northern cape.

North Beaches (Avon Area) are accessable, at least at low tide. The tide last night washed right up to the top of the dunes. Surf is extremely heavy there this afternoon.

Red Drum B&T said that Puppy Drum and Red Drum were being taken on the south beach, and at least 1 Striper was pulled in on the north side. Speckled Trout are being caught in the sound.

12 is closed just north of Rodanthe, and at several other spots in the Pea Island area due to sand drifting, and ocean overwash. Overwash is expected to occur again tonight at high tide.

Power is out for the whole island, from my understanding also out in Nags Head and Mateo due to a major transformer blow out.

We're in Buxton and planning on FISHING this evening, tomorrow and Friday.

If you want to say HI, call me 804.731.0565

Roger