Ocean Isle Beach, NC 
United States
United StatesOIFC Weekly Report & Sales Update
Submitted by Ocean Isle Fishing Center
Submitted on 11/03/2010Fishing Spot:
Team OIFC and others heading to SKA Nationals in Ft. Pierce, FL
We are on our way out of town headed to Ft. Pierce, FL to fish the 2010 SKA National Championship. Last year was a magical event for the OIFC team as we weighed the record setting 74 pound King and 118 pound, 2 fish aggregate to win the 2009 Nationals. They say lightning never strikes twice, but we are sure going to give it all we got. Dozens of other teams from the area are also hitting the road with the same goal in mind, bring the trophy back home to the Carolinas. Stay tuned as I'll try to keep you posted on how the tournament is going and how Carolina teams are fairing.
Inshore Report-
Capt. Jacob Frick, OIFC inshore guide and tackle manager
This past week a few trout started to show up in the area. Rumors of some nice ones caught at the Jetties earlier this week, but not a lot of numbers. A few trout were caught in the Shalloute Inlet and few reports of trout being caught up the Lockwood Folly river. I myself fished on Monday this past week with the owner of High Point Productions who filmed our trip. Capt. Brant gave me hang about feeling the pressure and only having one shot at success. Truth is...when you are trying to put people on the fish...the pressure is always there until that first fish goes in the box. As luck would have it, that did not take too long. Grant drilled the first trout of the day and it was a keeper trout. The wind was blowing hard and making it hard to feel the bite. We both made claims of missed fish, but the only ones that count are the ones on ice. I finally drilled a second trout that was about average, 2 to 3 pounds. The weather delay we had cut our timing short and the tide turned shutting the trout bite down. We rolled to our next spot and caught a few flounder pretty quick, then they just shut down for some reason. I figured we needed a menu change and went searching for pogys. It did not take long to locate a perfect size school and first cast floated the net. We headed back to our spot with a livewell full pogys and immediately landed a few more flounder. Just for the camera I talked my crew into trying to find a redfish to complete the slam. We slid down the creek a few yards and made a cast. The first cast produced an 18 inch flounder, that hit like a redfish. The next cast completed the slam! We stuck around landing a few more redfish and flounder. The action was hot and we captured some great material. With the camera full of great material, we let the cameraman get in on the action for a bit. Grant and I each completed the inshore slam!
I worked during the middle of the week and could only watch as Capt. Kyle kept bringing fish to the dock. Where did he catch them? The usual answer you get down south...over yonder...corner of the mouth...in the water...ha ha ha!
Friday would be my next opportunity to get back out on the water. The wind was blowing a bit hard, so I elected to scout out the woods for deer. The scouting was a success as I jumped a buck and put him on ice. This ain't no catch and release sport!
Saturday was beautiful...Fished in the afternoon catching six trout and missing several more. Watched a boat land a 30" redfish and then saw another boat put a 5 pound flounder in the box. It was on for a moment there. Moved around and landed a few flounder myself. As the tide was bottoming out I landed a redfish and completed my slam. Another front heading our way with some stiff NE wind predicted. I would expect this will bring cooler tempertures and should turn on the spot bite. The spot bite the best with a blistering cold NE wind. When you can't stand being out there is when they show up. Stay tuned for next weeks report....
Offshore Report by Capt. Brant McMullan
The bite went off red hot at the Lighthouse Rocks again this weekend. Reports of more than one fish over 50 pounds and 30 pounders biting like they were going out of style. The beach water temperatures have still been hanging in the low to mid 70's, which will keep the Kings in close. We are set for a cool snap this week, but it won't push the Kings much if any. Maybe start looking for them in 65 feet after this week. Pogys are still on the beach. The Grouper bite in 60-80 feet has still continued pretty good, but with lots of throw-back size Gags. The Gulf Stream fishing is decent for Wahoo, but that will greatly pick up once inshore waters cool more and a temperature gradient forms along the edge of the break. Stay tuned for more next week.
Team OIFC wins 1st annual Marshes Light King Mackerel Tournament by Capt. Brant McMullan
Rube, Amy and myself loaded up the OIFC Yellowfin to fish the 1st annual Marshes Light KMT held out of Manteo, NC. The event is a start up with a nice $10k guaranteed first place prize that is hosted in an effort to draw awareness and attention to a great little waterfront development in the heart of Manteo- Marshes Light Marina-- www.marsheslightmarina.com . You know us, we can't turn down a tournament, especially in that neighborhood in the Fall. The fishing is just too good. We put in the water at Morehead City on Saturday AM, caught bait quickly in Morehead and crossed over the Cape Lookout Shoals to go find the fish. We ended up in 65 feet of water where we found a fair bite of Kings, mostly in the 20-30 pound range- save the 41.9 we weighed, that eventually took first place. We won by less than 5 ounces, it was a squeeker. We ran into Hatteras inlet where it was another 50 miles up the Pamlico sound to the weigh-in. Fortunately the weather was good and the run was nice. The ride home was not. We stayed in Manteo that night for awards. The report was for the wind to pick up strong from the SW. Buddy, when they say the wind is going to blow up there, they mean it. It was nothing short of 30 knots SW. We decided to take the protection of land north of Diamond Shoals, then get beat for a distance to Ocracoke before ducking in the Core sound to get home. It seemed there wasn't much protection anywhere. To make a long story short, it took us 3 1/2 hours to get from Oregon Inlet to Ocracoke Inlet. Crossing Diamond Shoals in easy 8-12 footers that were standing straight up, confused and breaking was quite the thrill. I actually did something I havent' in a long time, put on a life jacket. The ole' Yellowfin chugged along and held her own. The fishing may have been good and the weather equally as good, but we did earn that tournament paycheck.
NC Kingfish Championship- 2010 - by Capt. Barrett
So, for those who just can't get enough, let me remind everyone about the NC Kingfish Championship slated for November 13th - 21st. That's right, 9 DAYS!. Teams will select 2 of those 9 days to count as their fishing days. That decision can be made up until 6am of the fishing day selected by calling the declaration hotline at 910-253-3474. This tournament does not have a captains meeting as all entries and awards take place on line at www.oifc.com. Teams must enter either on line or by printing off an entry form from the tournaments page on the website and mailing it in. Before fishing teams must select their fishing days and lastly, GO FISH!
This is a simple tournament designed to be easy for the fishermen to fish. We have TWO weigh in locations. Teams may either weigh their fish at Town Creek Marina in Beaufort, NC or Hatteras Village Marina in Hatteras, NC. The idea behind the weigh in locations was to offer options for the fishermen on the north and south end of the fishing grounds again in an attempt to make it easy to fish. Entry fees are low with several TWT options for the gamblers. Most importantly somebody is going to walk away as the 2010 NC State Champion.
Fishing Report:
The big fish have already started showing up on the east side of Cape Lookout all the way to and past Hatteras. I have reports of giant kingfish just on the east side of Cape Lookout with fish being caught over 60lbs already. Up towards Hatteras fish in the 40lb range are becoming more and more prevalent every day with the monster kingfish to arrive any day. There are lots and lots of fish right now in Hatteras.
Accommodations: For those teams with 2 or 3 days to devote to this event I highly encourage you to check into staying in Hatteras. I just spoke with Billy Webster of Hatteras Landing Marina (our host location) and he has put together some smoking deals for us on accommodations and boat slips. Contact Billy at 252-489-0458 and tell him you're coming to fish the tournament. His facility is top of the line with your choice of condos overlooking your boat in the marina or hotel rooms. Both options are priced very very reasonably. The condos are big with 4 or 5 bedrooms so sharing with another team is also an option. He is also going to have a vehicle for us to use if there are teams who travel to Hatteras by boat. We will be up there for the week staying in a condo.
Some folks who haven't been to those waters may be a little hesitant as you've heard the legend and lore of the outerbanks. Fishing Hatteras from a weather perspective is very similar to fishing the Brunswick county coast. If it's blowing hard out of the south it's going to be rough. The nearshore waters are protected on a north wind. The good news is the fish are usually within sight of land and the weather typically in years past has given us ample opportunity to get our fishing days in. For those with questions or concerns about getting to Hatteras, navigating around or fishing Hatteras please don 't hesitate to contact me and I'll do everything I can to help (captbarrett@oifc.com). We may try to organize a boat caravan up to Hatteras if everyone's schedule works out where we drop in the water at Morehead and run to Hatteras. But, if Hatteras isn't your game, Morehead has plenty of fish to offer and is certainly easier to get to.
Ocean Isle Fishing Center
65 Causeway Drive-Ocean Isle Beach, NC 28469
(910) 575-FISH - www.oifc.com
