The Fishing
Yellowfin Tuna
You can catch yellowfin tuna out of Oregon Inlet 12 months out of the year. It is the most popular fish to catch amongst charters and is our bread and butter of our business. The size of the fish usually varies from year to year or even month to month but you can expect fish from 20-70lbs. People always ask what is the best month to target yellowfin. I would have to say May and June would be the most popular months to book but July and fall months can be great as well. Oregon Inlet offers the best Yellowfin fishing on the east coast hands down!!!
Bigeye Tuna
Bigeye tuna seem to be more random than the yellowfin. We catch them anywhere from May through November but it’s not as consistent as our yellowfin fishery. Sometimes we will catch just single fish or sometimes the schools will hang out around a certain bottom and they will wipe you out. It just depends on the year. Bigeyes size range from 70-250lbs. We normally catch them on the same tackle as the yellowfins because they both usually swim together. If your goal is to catch a Bigeye tuna than Oregon Inlet is as good a place as any to fish for them.
Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi)
In late April and early May we start seeing the dolphin show up. May can produce some extremely good action on what we call gaffer dolphin. We call them gaffers because they are bigger and we have to use our gaff to land them. We will catch gaffers up into June and then the smaller fish we call bailers show up. They are a blast to catch because we use a lot lighter tackle to catch them. Most of the time they are in schools and are visible behind the boat. No matter the size of the dolphin we are catching, we usually find them on a current edge with some type of sea grass or debris floating. Dolphin fishing can be fun for men, women, and children of all ages.
Wahoo
Wahoo is one fish that Oregon Inlet isn’t known for. We catch them randomly from May through December but rarely do we straight target them. Our neighbors in Hatteras and Morehead can have very good wahoo fishing but not many times does the main body of fish extend up to our area. On the days we catch a wahoo we will call it our center piece of our catch photo. They are fun to catch and great to eat and we welcome them aboard at anytime.
Blue Marlin
Considered to be the King of the Ocean, blue marlin can be caught out of Oregon Inlet from May through the fall. There is usually a good run of blue marlin between the last couple weeks of May and the first couple weeks of June. Then we will see a scattered fish throughout the summer. August and September are our best overall billfish months and the full moon of August is a great time to see some of the bigger class fish. There is nothing more exciting to see than an angry blue marlin trying to grab a teaser. It should be on every anglers bucket list.
White Marlin/Sailfish
Starting in June we start catching scattered whites and sails while we are tuna and dolphin fishing but it isn’t until August that they show up in good numbers. Usually toward that end of July we start having days where we see multiple fish and by August its usually game on. The sailfish sometimes get stacked up 30 miles from the inlet and you can have days where you catch 10-20 sails in a day. Also toward the end of August and all through September the white marlin show up in great numbers as well. Oregon Inlet in August and September is known as one of the best places to fish for white marlin in the world. We will have days where we catch 2 or 3 but a lot of days we have 10-20 bites. Most if not all of the white marlin and sailfish we catch are on light stand up tackle that any person no matter the size or skill level can handle.
