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Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from high of 84-degrees to a low of 77-degrees with an average of 80.8-degrees (blue diamonds). By the way 77 was the most popular temperature for the month. Bogue Sound had a high of 86-degrees and a low of 75-degrees with an average of 79.5-degrees (red squares). Interestingly average Bogue Sound and surf temperatures were often very close, and we had a usual number of days when both temps were the same. A fit to the surf temps gave a horizontal line with a negative slope of about 1/4 of a degree/day. We are in the falling temperature fall regime. From the middle of the month to the end we had persistent NE winds driving a massive mullet blow lasting about 2-weeks. There were also loads of anchovies, shad, silversides and shrimp in massively biblical quantities blown out of our sounds and creeks. out the inlets and along the surf. It was remarkable and fired up the blues, Spanish, some drum, ladyfish and speckled trout.

 

 

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Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from low of 81-degrees to a high of 85-degrees with an average of 83.3-degrees (blue). Bogue Sound had a Low of 80-degrees and a high of 88-degrees with an average of 83.7-degrees (red). Interestingly average Bogue Sound and surf temperatures were very close, and we had a usual number of days when both temps were the same. A fit to the surf temps gave a horizontal line with a slope of essentially zero. We had our first mullet blow of the season running from 8/24-29, right on time.

Plot of August surf (blue) and Bogue Sound (red) water temperatures.

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Dates and surf water temperatures for the first mullet blow on Bogue Banks. For me, the day FALL fishing begins. We were right on schedule this year. Signs of a mullet blow began on Monday at Oceanana Pier and continues through Friday (8/30/16). This was not a very robust event but just the first.

 

Year Water temp
9/1/1999 81
9/6/2000 79
8/25/2001 82
9/1/2002 82
9/6/2003 82
8/24/2004 80
8/26/2005 84
9/2/2006 80
8/29/2007 85
9/1/2008 81
9/1/2009 78
8/28/2010 82
9/2/2011 79
8/25/2012 80
8/25/2013 77
8/26/2014 80
8/25/2015 84
    8/30/2016        82
Average,8/30 80.9
+/-2.2

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Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from low of 79-degrees to a high of 86-HOT degrees  with an average of 81.7-degrees (blue). Bogue Sound had a Low of 81-degrees and a high of 89-degrees with an average of 84.7-degrees (red). Another amazing month, after a cold Jan, Feb, Mar and Apr. May started about 60 degrees and from mid May to the end jumped an amazing 20 degrees or so to 4th of July water temperatures. Now July was has peaked at 86 in the surf. And guess what, surf fishing still stinks. The highest summer surf temps I’ve seen in the 20-years of so I’ve taken data were in August 2005 when the surf remained in the upper 80s for the entire month maxing at 88-degrees.

JULY 2015

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Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from low of 77-degrees to a high of 83-degrees  with an average of 80.9-degrees (blue). Bogue Sound had a Low of 77-degrees and a high of 90-degrees with an average of 83.1-degrees (red). Another amazing month, after a cold Jan, Feb, Mar and Apr. May started about 60 degrees and from mid May to the end jumped an amazing 20 degrees or so to 4th of July water temperatures. Now June was hotter than usual too and shark infested. Surf fishing stinks too.

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Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from low of 61-degrees to a high of 80-degrees  with an average of 71.3-degrees (blue diamonds). Bogue Sound (red squares) had a Low of 60-degrees and a high of 83-degrees with an average of 74.2-degrees. Amazing month, after a cold Jan, Feb, Mar and Apr. May started about 60 degrees and from mid May to the end jumped an amazing 20 degrees or so to 4th of July water temperatures. Fast and hot. By the way, the slope of the ocean curve below is 0.5, which is 0.5-degrees/day increase in water temps.

 

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NCDMF leadership wants to give rec. anglers a one fish bag limit on flounder and a season closure while keeping gill nets in the water. The southern flounder recommendations are out.
“Catch reductions were estimated for five proposed management options to reduce annual catch and increase escapement of southern flounder: (1) implement a season closure, (2) increase the minimum size limit, (3) decrease the recreational bag limit, (4) implement a season closure and also increase the minimum size limit, (5) implement a season closure, increase the minimum size limit and decrease the recreational bag limit.”
“The first option is a season closure, which allows for more escapement of southern flounder, assuming harvest is not recouped and discards do not increase substantially. Season closures at the end of the season will have different impacts geographically and for each gear. Estimates indicated a season closure for the total fishery (commercial and recreational) will need to begin Oct. 16 for a 25% reduction and begin Sept. 1 for a 60% reduction. To achieve approximately the same reduction between sectors, the recreational fishery will require a much longer season closure than the commercial fishery because the peak catch occurs earlier in the season. The second option, an increase in the size limit, will allow harvest to continue throughout the current season and also increase escapement. Commercial gear modifications will be important to help mitigate expected discard increases. Estimated reductions from increasing the minimum size limit to 15 or 16 inches for the total fishery are 14% and 28%, respectively. The third option, decreasing the recreational bag limit, was estimated to not achieve at least the minimum requested catch reduction. The fourth option, combining a season closure with an increase in the minimum size limit, will reduce total fishery catch by an estimated 25% with a season closure starting Nov. 1 and a 15-inch minimum size limit. The fifth option includes a season closure, an increase in the minimum size limit and a decrease in the recreational bag limit. To achieve an estimated 25% reduction with a minimum size limit of 15 inches and a one-fish recreational bag limit, a season closure for the total fishery of Nov. 16-May 15 will be needed. Catch reductions for Options 2, 4 and 5 (those with a size limit increase) do not include further reductions that would be expected from an increase in gill net and pound net escape panel mesh sizes. Determining reductions levels and methods that are equitable within the requested range among sectors, gears, and geographic regions will be difficult due to the nature of the southern flounder fishery.”

“The draft supplement will be presented to the MFC at its May 20-22 business meeting, at which time, the MFC has three options: reject the draft supplement (ending the process), approve the draft supplement as presented for public comment, or modify the draft supplement and approve the modified version for public comment. If the process continues, the draft supplement will be available at an announced time for public comment. All public comments received will be provided to the MFC for its Aug. 19-21 business meeting, at which time, the MFC will select its preferred management option. Selection of the preferred management option is final approval of the supplement. If the supplement is approved, management measures would be implemented by proclamation and would likely be effective Sept. 1.”

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Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from low of 53- to a high of 66-degrees  with an average of 61.5-degrees (blue diamonds). Bogue Sound (red squares) had a Low of 57- and a high of 72-degrees with an average of 66.0-degrees, very similar to 2014.

 

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Last fall we experienced what is called a “mullet blow” heralding the start of the fall fishing season. Brisk northeast winds, cool temperatures, flushing out a myriad of finger and hardhead (striped) mullet from our estuarial waters out of the inlets and into the Bogue Banks surf. Most anglers pursue these forage fish with castnets for bait, as flounder, drum, trout, king and Spanish mackerels and yes; sharks are now chomping hot at their tails. And of course there is the Swansboro Mullet Festival celebrating the commercial catch of these important species. There is however another species of mullet, pursued for their delectable taste and feistiness as fighters for these elongated and only silent members of the Sciaenids, or drum/croaker family.

The ever popular and very edible Sciaenid family includes black and red drum, speckled and gray trout, croakers, the diminutive spots, sand perch and the delectable sea mullet. Locally these sea mullet, also known as Virginia mullet, whiting and technically kingfish, come in three flavors, the Northern kingfish, with its dark angular stripes and long dorsal fin filament, the Southern kingfish, which has lighter stripes and without a dorsal filament and the more silvery Gulf kingfish, sporting a very prominent lateral line.

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To anxious winter weary fishermen, March always proves to be the cruelest month, with surf temperatures, as was the case this as well year, still wallowing in the 50s and only a few puffers, sharks and skates being the harbingers of spring fishing. April however is the breakout when we finally see hospitable surf temperatures in the 60s, with 65° being the “breakout” temperature, and multitudes of sea mullet and bluefish finally making it to our coolers.

To get the local scoop, I talked to, Gary Mohorn, a year-round resident of Emerald Isle, local fisherman and self-proclaimed meat eater, fish meat that is. “To me,” said Mohorn, “spring fishing is sea mullet, pompano and bluefish.”

“It depends on the water temperature,” admits Mohorn, “but the last couple of years the first I caught sea mullet in any numbers was mid-March. “The spring run seems to peak in mid-April, that’s when I did the best on the (Bogue) pier.”

“Fishing the piers, the sea mullet are mostly in the deeper water behind the (sand) bar,” pointed out Mohorn. “Sea mullet seem to be a low light fish, rainy days, cloudy days, muddy water, but the best time for big numbers is at night.” Also like the spots they tend to move closer to the beach on the rising tide and work their way out to the deeper water when the tide is falling. I saw this again this year.

Spring is only the start of the sea mullet season, which carries through the summer and usually well into the fall. In fact, this year looks like one of the better mullet seasons since 2012,with Mohorn and fellow mulleters frequently filling their coolers fishing Bogue and Oceanana piers on Bogue Banks and down to the Topsail Island piers too, Seaview, Surf City and Jolly Roger. They are also showing in the deeper holes and sloughs along the Bogue Banks surf, with catches of citation fish sometimes pushing the two-and-a-half pound mark, but most fish in the 10-to 14-inch range and the bigger ones, weighing in over one-pound.

For spring, shrimp is the best bait, the very freshest shrimp that is, bloodworms and small pieces of squid will also catch plenty of fish. Later in the season, the best for the biggest fish are sand fleas, and you can scratch them up for free right at the surf line along the beach, just for the taking. The use of synthetic baits like Fishbites Shrimp ‘n’ Strips, or the Bag O’ Worms, bloodworm substitutes, are popular and very effective and Berkley flavored imitation sand flea baits, have recently come into use, but I’m not sure as to their effectiveness.

Rigging for sea mullet is simple, with the usual two-hook bottom rigs being the standard, but Mohorn makes his own with extra-long leaders. “I think the long leaders (10 to 14-inches) gives the fish an extra second or two to eat the bait and get hooked,” explained Mohorn. “A lot of times I add a small orange, red or fluorescent bead above the hook,” said Mohorn. “It works good in muddy water and low light times.” The long leaders, colorful beads, small No. 2- or 4-long-shank hooks and a three-ounce pyramid lead sinker to keep your bait on the bottom will fill your cooler. In the fall, when sand fleas are the bait of choice, some sharpies use Carolina rigs for a more natural presentation of the bait.

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Sea mullet, can be caught along the surf from the piers or just off the beaches from the spring into the late fall. From a boat the hot spot is always the Dead Tree Hole (N 34 38.748, W 76 35.559) just south of Shackleford Banks towards the east end and there are often gray trout to be caught there too. Other areas include Beaufort Inlet and the Morehead City Port Turning Basin. In these deeper waters, weighted speck rigs tipped with fresh shrimp is the preferred terminal gear. Although it is under consideration, currently there are no size or creel limits for sea mullet North Carolina, but fish in the pound range are not uncommon, with citation weight of 1.5-pounds for sea mullet. To date, the NC record sea mullet was landed by Ted Drinnon from a Pier on Bogue Banks in 1971, tipping the scales at a hefty 3 lb. 8 oz. Wow!

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Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from a high of 57 to a low of 43-degrees with an  frigid average of 49.5, (blue diamonds). Bogue Sound (red squares) had a high of 62 and a low of 44-degrees with an average of 53.6-degrees. Very cold for especially for March. Unusually cold start to 2015 with both February and March ocean temps at Bogue Pier averaging below 50-degrees. I’ve never seen this before in my 20-plus years of monitoring water temps.