Hey obx sol members

[diamondd]

I am an sol'er (in fairly good standing, LOL) coming down to kittyhawk in april.....any tips on what i should bring and what i might be able to surfcast / shorfish for? I have all the striper geer you can imagine, but do not know if i even have a shot at a striper or blue that time of year...i frequent RI for most of my fishing, grew up on nantucket island mass, and now live in the beautiful mountains of the adirondacks in upstate ny......

i would appreciat any tips fo gear and expectations...........happy to return the favor for any of you heading my way...I have property on the wild section of the upper hudson, and I love to bring fellow fishermen out for a day of troutfishing one of americas great rivers!

thanks in advance, sol'ers

[Ron Snell]

April is a great month to fish the OBX. I head out every year on the first of April and concentrate most of my fishing in the Buxton to Hatteras Inlet stretch of the island. Usually by April the Stripers are long gone and the Drum have begun to show up, actually landed a couple of citation drum this past Easter. Other good fishing that time of year include sea mullet (whiting), puppy drum, blues and a few puffer fish. I really enjoy sea mullet fishing and it can provide cooler fulls if the fish are there. Small, two hook bottom rigs with 3-4 oz of lead will work great for the above fish except the big drum, I generally use a 10' rod rated 2-4 oz for most of my small bottom fishing. A standard fish finder rig with 8/O - 10/O hooks and a chunk of bunker or mullet will be fine on the large drum.

Ron

[diamondd]

i have most of that gear....can i leave my 30 # power pro on and then swivel it to the fishfiner rigs???

have you heard of outer banks bait and tackle - sharky's charters in the village of duck? gonna be staying near there, and hope they can set me up.....

[Ron Snell]

I'm not familiar with those guys, I usually stay further south down in the Buxton area in the spring and the Rodanthe area later in the year. Please let me know if I can help with anything else.

Ron

[beachtoad]

R you the man form Nantucket?? lol... How did you end up in ADK for there?

[savfish]

That time of year you really want to be fishing between buxton (cape point)and ocracoke due to water temps. They can be 8-10 degrees warmer if you go south of buxton as opposed to duck. Buxton will be about a 2 hr drive from duck. There might be some small stripers available in the sound up north that time of year. If in duck, check with bob's bait and tackle.

[EricF]

Power pro....yes, leave it on and knot it or swivel it to your leader....I knot mine to flouro leader/swivel/leader/hook.

[longcaster]

The second half of the month is better than the first, March sucks. We are looking for SW wind to blow in warm water & fish. Fish where the warm water blows in to. Most likely an hour or more drive will be needed to get to fish water that has catchable fish in it.

[diamondd]

i would love to take any of you out on the hudson up in the adirondacks....best trout fishing in the world IMHO

more to follow...(questions that is!!!!!!!!) LOL

[John M]

If you want to drum fish you will need a heaver of some sort for sure. NOt only do you need to be able to throw 8 ounces, you need that rod to get the bigguns to the beach in a reasonable amount of time. In april your definately going to want to go south.

[FishLipz]

You will catch em in April for sure. Stop by one of the tackle shops and check it out when you get there. Most shops will provide you with a loaner rod to test out for a day or two. Or just have them take a look at your gear and let them suggest what you need depending on what's biting at the time.

April - drum, puppy drum, maybe blues, croaker, sometimes spanish if it's warm, oh and big sharks!!!

[diamondd]

i'll be carrying a penn 10 ft rod (H) rated for 4-8 0z with 50 lb pp, and a 10 ft. pole (M) rated 2-6 oz. carrying 30 lb pp, and a 9 footer for my 8 year old that i can cast the bait out (M) with 30 pp..........all with penn 704 or 706 manual bail....

any chance to hit anything on lures? i

have a ton of blues/striper lures (like all of us) and wonder what i might be able to throw....our place is right on the water in DUCK, (just north of kittyhawk i guess)....love to set up some sand spike and be able to entertain myself with some casting on the side....

maybe bucktails with pork??? Heavy metals like castmasters.....swimmers....

anyway...i am just whiling away the days thinkin' of my trip to your great state!!!! in the meantime i will have to occupy myself with ice fishing soon!

[FishLipz]

In April yes lures will work! Bring your bag and get yourself some gold and silver hopkins, some stingsilvers and locally you can buy "glass minnows" down there.

Keep your eyes peeled for cobia on top water lures in April. It will be a mixed bag. Use cut bait for drum and puppy drum. (they also have been known to hit gold hopkins if they are real hungry)

Check out some of the local boards and search for last April's fish reports.

Here's a couple of fish reports from last April
"Blues, toads, mullet, puppys, grey trout, flounder, and a schoolie striper. All caught on bait and metal. Hopkins have been getting fish along with glass minnows, retrieved slowly. Bloodworm fish bites are getting feesh as well".
--------
"One 47 inch drum was landed today. Water temp came up to 57 degrees. Sea mullet, blowtoads, bluefish, black drum, sheepshead, flounder and puppy drums were reported being caught"
---------
"75 + most likely 100 + Drum over 40 inches were caught...... Russell had 20 over 40.. Arch had 8 + .. And the count goes on as we speak.. Ladies and gents I guess you could call this one a Blitz..Congrats to all the Anglers that PLUMB SMOKED Them today.. Sea Mullet blow toads and blue fish were also had today"