Trolling the Interwebs – Online Resources for the OBX Angler
By Matt Dalia-
Yahoo! It’s time for fall fishing on the Outer Banks! Cooler weather, less people and migrating, hungry fish all add up to primo angling conditions on our coast. There is no better time to be wetting a line from the surf, the pier or the boat.
And with so many different options, how does a fisherperson find valuable information to make decisions? Decisions on where to fish, how to fish, what to fish with, etc. Sure, chatting with the folks at local tackle shops or one of the piers is a good start. But for more in-depth info, look no further than your computer, tablet or smart device…lots of fish intel right at your fingertips!
Below are some of the best online resources for the Outer Banks angler.
Fishing Reports
Even though conditions can change from day to day (even minute to minute!) you can make some good assumptions on what will be biting based on previous fishing reports.
- TW’s Bait & Tackle report – Provides a high level snapshot of all the waters: sound, pier, inshore and offshore.
- Pirate’s Cove report – Provides a summary of species and number of fish that the nearshore and offshore fleet brought in the previous day.
- Avalon Pier’s twitter feed – Sometimes there are some gaps in the reporting, but you can also find “live” reports of the action happening on the pier.
Conditions
There is no silver bullet that provides a “green” or “red” light gauge of timely fishing conditions. But here are some resources to help form the equation—and hopefully the right answer.
- Weather Underground – In an easy to read and find layout, you can find key data for fish finding: wind direction and speed, air temp, chance of precipitation and more.
- NOAA Graphical Marine forecast – Excellent boating resource, showing conditions in the sounds and nearshore.
- Rutger’s Sea Surface Temperature images – Satellite imagery of the water temperature in and around the Outer Banks.
Other Goodies
Here are a few more sites that can help stitch together a decision of where, when and how to fish.
- OBX Cams – Sometimes seeing is better than reading. This site provides numerous live cams to not only see conditions but also see if people are actually catching fish from the piers and surf.
- Tides4Fishing tide charts – This site provides a good view of tidal changes on the Outer Banks. This sample link is to Kitty Hawk’s timing.
- Cape Hatteras Beach Access status map – If you have a permit and drive the beach on Cape Hatteras, here is an updated map of what ORV areas are open and closed.
Mattie Dalia has fished the coastal waters his entire life and made a lifelong dream come true by moving to the Outer Banks in 2006. You can usually find him in the evenings on Nags Head Fishing Pier, pursuing his favorite fish, el Spanish mackerel. Feel free to contact him at mattdalia@me.com.
