Head to Hatteras and Ocracoke for some awesome island fishing this weekend and you won’t be disappointed.

Alan Sutton of Tradewinds Tackle Shop says everyone’s thrilled that south point is open and the fishing has been great there recently. The upcoming holiday weekend looks good too.

“The forecast for the next ten days is pretty weather,” he said Tuesday morning.

Spanish mackerel have consistently been biting morning and evenings at south point with some scattered puppy drum in the mix. The ocean water has been too muddy as of late for pompano, Sutton said.

But he expects things to improve. Water temperatures there are in the high 70s to low 80s. Inshore, speckled trout fishing has been great and anglers have been catching a few flounder as well as some puppy drum.

On the inside, behind the island on the sound, there have been a few big drum caught. Offshore, Sutton reported catches of wahoo, tuna and dolphin.

At Cape Hatteras, Bob Eakes of Red Drum Tackle in Buxton says fishing was phenomenal at Cape Point.

“It was about as good as it gets last Thursday, Friday and Saturday,” he said. “Spanish and sharks out on Cape Point.” The cold front over the weekend messed that up but by Tuesday morning, things were looking good again.

The water was clearing up and there were signs of fish and birds just off the beach, Eakes said. He added that shark fisherman have been hooking up by throwing top water poppers out to the sharks.

“It makes the bass fisherman go crazy,” he said. “My son caught an eighty-pounder.”

Another hot spot for fishing has been on the soundside, where folks have been enjoying a great speckled trout bite “to beat the band,” Eakes said. He predicts a great fall run of specks on the beaches.

Landon Haas holds a bigtime bluefish that was one of several reasons he won the Kids’ Fishing Tournament at Fran and Fran’s last week. He also caught a sea mullet and northern puffer. Courtesy Frank and Fran’s Fisherman’s Friends

Up at Frank and Fran’s Fisherman’s Friends in Avon, Ginger Knight reports lots of great fishing on both sides of the island.

“Even though its been rough, there’s been a good amount of Spanish and blues with some five-pound Spanish” in the mix, she said. Anglers are using Sting Silver or Glass Minnow lures, she noted. They’ve also seen sea mullet in the 11 and 12 inch range along with “lots of croaker.”

In Avon sound waters, anglers are also enjoying plenty of speckled trout action with a few puppy drum mixed in. For the trout, anglers are using popping corks with lead heads and either Zman and Gulp baits.

So this weekend, don’t “labor” about where to go fishing, just head south.

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