The first week of September on the Outer Banks is the calm before the fall run. The surf is full of pompano and sea mullet, the Spanish and blues are running the piers, and the first big red drum have been landed at Cape Point and Ocracoke Inlet. Offshore, the Gulf Stream is still holding wahoo, mahi, and a few billfish. The fall is coming, and the fish know it.
What’s Hitting
What’s hitting this week: pompano and sea mullet in the surf from Nags Head down through Hatteras and Ocracoke, with the best action on the incoming tide. Spanish mackerel and bluefish are on the piers and the beaches early. Big red drum have started showing at Cape Point, Hatteras Inlet, and Ocracoke Inlet, which is a couple of weeks ahead of the traditional peak. Flounder are in the sound and around the inlets. Offshore, wahoo, mahi, and a few white marlin and sailfish are on the Gulf Stream edge out of Oregon Inlet and Hatteras.
Where to Find Them
The surf from Kitty Hawk to Nags Head is producing pompano and mullet on the sloughs. Avalon, Nags Head, Jennette’s, and Avon piers have Spanish and blues in the mornings. Cape Point at Buxton is the big drum spot on the evening incoming, and Ocracoke Inlet is producing drum on the north side. Offshore, the fleet has been fishing the 100-fathom edge from the Point south.
Tides & Conditions
Water temps are in the upper 70s to low 80s along the beach, and the first cool nights of September have the fish moving. Incoming tides in the surf for pompano, and the evening incoming for drum at the Point. Northeast wind days are the ones that bring the big drum in tight. Watch the tropical outlook — a distant hurricane can build a swell that shuts the surf down for a week.
Tackle & Tactics
Pompano and sea mullet take sand fleas, shrimp, or Fishbites on a two-hook bottom rig with small hooks. Spanish and blues want a Gotcha plug or a small spoon cast from the piers. Big drum take a chunk of fresh mullet or a spot head on a fish-finder rig with an 8/0 circle hook and 8 ounces of lead on a heaver — cast to the bar edge on the incoming. Offshore, rig ballyhoo with skirts for wahoo and mahi.
Local Intel This Week
Public ramps: the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center ramp, the Hatteras Landing area ramps in Hatteras village, the Frisco ramp on the sound side, and the Ocracoke National Park Service ramp. Fish are concentrating in the surf sloughs for pompano and at the inlets and Cape Point for drum. Beach driving on Cape Hatteras National Seashore requires an ORV permit, and NC has a slot limit and one-fish bag on red drum — check current NC Marine Fisheries regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
Big drum at the Point feed on the edge of the bar where the outer slough meets the beach, not in the deepest water. Read the surf at low tide, find the break in the bar, and set up so your bait lands on the inside edge of that break as the tide floods.
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