March on Oak Island. The water temperature is below 60 and there's not much biting but puffer. That's great news! It's true that puffer don't put up much of a fight, unless you like the feeling of dragging in a football. However, they do make excellent table fair! I know what you're thinking, "You eat those things? I thought they were poisonous." This is a common misconception. The Japanese puffer, found in the Pacific Ocean can contain the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, an extremely potent poison. However, the puffer we catch in the surf of North Carolina is the northern puffer which is not poisonous at all. Video: Puffer & the Pirates Deck How to Clean Puffer In this video above, we take a look at how simple it is to catch and clean puffer. We also stop by the Pirates Deck to check out their four pepper wings! However, if you're only interested in learning a quick and easy way to clean puffer, skip ahead to 7:30. Catching Puffer Catching puffer is reality easy. You can purchase a store bought double drop rig or make your own. Fishing with a small, #1 circle hooks will work fine, though some people prefer to use a j hook. Fresh shrimp is always best when fishing but puffer aren't all that picky. Puffer will eat frozen shrimp, squid and even cut mullet. Pay Attention to the Rod. Unlike whiting or bluefish, puffer don't make a big initial hit. Instead they sort of suck on the bait. Sometimes, if you are not holding your rod, they can take the bait without you even knowing they were there. Because of this, it's best to pay attention to your rod as opposed to leaving it in a sand spike. When you feel the tap tap, reel it in. At first you won't feel much. Puffer don't put up much of a fight. Then, the rod will feel very heavy, as if you have snagged a large clump of seaweed. This is because the puffer will puff up as you reel it in, making it feel very heavy. Video: How to Make Fish Tacos with Puffer
Cleaning and Cooking Cleaning puffer is easier that you might think. As mentioned earlier, Watch the first video, scroll to the end, around 7:30, to see how to clean the puffer. Unlike most fish, there is no need to filet them. Instead, a fork is used to peel the meat away from the rest of the fish. Fried puffer is very tasty! You don't need to worry about the bones. They come out in one single piece, more like cartilage than tiny bones you find in other fish.
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Whiting, AKA Virginia Mullet, AKA Kingfish start to show up in March here on Oak Island. Many are small but you can catch some 12"+ keepers. They're pretty good to eat. Dealing with Seaweed The other thing that shows up in March is the seaweed. It tangles up your line, makes it hard to reel, and overall is a big pain in the butt! Recently, I discovered a little trick to get passed the grass and catch more fish. Check out this video above! Once you start fishing beyond the seaweed, catching whiting is straight forward. I suggest a double drop rig. You can purchases these at your local tackle shop. However, they aren't that hard to make. Searching YouTube for "how to make a double drop rig" will produce plenty of results. Video: Dealing with Seaweed Rigs & Bait Smaller hooks, anything between a size #1 to a 1/0 circle hooks will work fine. You don't need anything larger than that. The amount of weight you'll need to attach will depend on the wind. March is funny. One day the wind will calm and you can get away with a 2oz weight. Other days the wind will kick up and you'll need a 4oz to keep it from washing back up on the shore. My rule of thumb, I try to get away with the lightest tackle that will work for the conditions of the day. Bait is straight froward as well. Whiting like shrimp. Fresh is best but you can catch them on pieces of cut frozen shrimp as well. You might also try squid, sand fleas, blood worms, or fish bites. Video: March Whiting on Oak Island Where to Find Them Best bet when fishing for whiting is to look for the structure. Walk the beach at low tide and look for holes and ruts along sand, any place that isn't flat. Come back and fish those areas at high tide. Keep in mind that you don't have to cast out that far. Casting out just beyond the breakers should be fine. It seems simple enough. Grab your rod and reel, pick up some frozen shrimp and toss your line into the surf. All that's left to do is sit back and wait to fill your cooler with fish tacos! After all, that's how it works in all those fishing videos we watch on YouTube! Sometimes that does work. However, it's more likely we just got lucky. More often, we just sit there and never see the rod bend. So what are we doing wrong? Here are a few simple things we can do to improve our chances when fishing the surf. 1. Reduce your Gear: Sometimes fish are hungry and they will bite anything. When they are not, they are often wary of all that metal that just dropped into the ocean. We want the fish to focus on the bait, not the rig. Using light tackle can help. Reduce the size the size of the weight so its the lightest it can be in the conditions your fishing. No sense dropping a 6oz weight if a 2oz will hold just fine. Reduce your hook size. No need to tie on a 7/0 if a 1/0 will catch the fish. Reduce the rig. When purchasing a store bought rig, buy the one with the least about of hardware. Another option is to learn how to tie your own rigs. There are many tutorials online that teach how to make a double drop rig. It can save you money in the long run. Video: Surf Fishing Mistakes made on Oak Island 2. Fish Where the Fish Are: When we arrive at the beach, we tend to fish at the first open spot we find. If we drove there, that spot will be right near the parking lot. If we are lucky enough to be staying at an ocean front beach house, we tend to fish right in front of the house. After all, why carry all that tackle around? The fish are in the ocean, right? Not necessarily. Fish like structure. They like docks, piling, and rocks. Fish like any place they can either hide from bigger fish or find fish hiding from them. When fishing the surf, you don't usually have this kind of structure. Instead, you have changes in the sand. Visit the beach at low tide and you will see where some places the sand will be deeper. This is called a hole. Sometimes there will be a long, deeper channel where water funnels off the beach and back into the sea. This is called a trough. This is the type of structure both the fish and fisherman are looking for. Returning to the beach at high tide and fishing the holes and troughs will increase your chances of finding the fish. There are visual examples of holes and troughs in the video, Surf Fishing Mistakes made on Oak Island Video: 5 Reasons I'm Not Catching Fish on Oak Island 3. Target your Species What would a fisherman say if someone asked them what they where trying to catch? The most common answer would probably be, "I'm trying to catch a fish!" It's a good answer but it's not the best answer. A better answer would be more specific. "I'm trying to catch bluefish", "I'm trying to catch whiting", "I'm trying to catch a pompano". All three of these species, bluefish, whiting and pompano, can be caught on similar rigs using similar bait. However, when you target the species, you can modify your set up which will increase your chances of catching that particular fish. For example, all three species mentioned, bluefish whiting, and pompano can be caught on the same rig using the same bait. However, pompano tend to be more wary of heavier tackle. They also don't mind being right up in the wash. When targeting pompano, using light rigs, adding floating beads, using smaller hooks, and fishing in the wash will increase your chances. Video: Bad Luck Fishing at Oak Island
4. Dealing with Bad Luck As the old saying goes, I'f it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Sometimes even when we do everything right; when we use the right gear, when we find the structure, when we target the species, we still don't catch fish. It's understood, there are no guarantees. However, there's another old saying, you can't catch fish sitting on the couch. Plus, even if you don't catch a fish, there's nothing better than standing in the surf with a rod and reel and the anticipation of the bending of the rod. |
Ian SandsFish along with Ian Sands of 'Sands in the Surf' on beautiful Oak Island, NC. We’re fishing the surf and surrounding areas targeting everything from puffer, to blues, to black and red drum, to sharpnose and bonnetheads. Archives
February 2021
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