Fishing gets good around the first week of August. You usually catch a nice Drum or two while fishing for Tarpon on the edge of the shoal in the middle of the Pamlico Sound.
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When most anglers think of tarpon, they imagine tropical beaches on the Florida coast. However, anglers should not overlook the excellent tarpon fishing in North Carolina.
The two primary tarpon destinations are at Bald Head Island and Pamlico Sound. In the shallow waters of Pamlico, tarpon can be seen basking at the surface on calm days. Sometimes they crash from the water when attacking baitfish.
At Bald Head Island, the fish move through the sloughs and sandbars at Cape Fear. They head inshore from the ocean and pass through the shoals to get to the Cape Fear River channel. Late in the evening and early in the morning, anglers can see the fish as they jump from the water.
At both locations, the fishing techniques are the same. Anglers try to arrive in a good spot ahead of the fish to avoid spooking them, anchor, set out their baits and wait for a strike.
Whole dead spots, croakers, menhaden or bluefish are used as tarpon baits. Sometimes when the fishing is slow, anglers troll large plugs through a known tarpon hangout. While strikes on lures are rare, they do occur. But moving around will often startle tarpon into jumping and reveal their location to the fisherman.
About one strike in 10 results in a hookup and half of the hookups result in a landed fish. Once the leader is in the hands of an angler, the fish is considered landed, whether the leader breaks or whether the hook is worked free of a bony jaw with pliers.
Many tarpon break the line during the battle because anglers do not give enough slack when the fish leaps by "bowing" to the fish. If tension is kept on the line during a leap, the fish falls back toward the boat and parts the line with its body weight or slices it with its hard mouth. Bowing to release tension during a leap allows the fish to fall away from the boat, saving the connection between angler and fish.
North Carolina tarpon achieve weights exceeding 200 pounds, although any tarpon is a trophy fish. Some anglers use 20-pound-class king mackerel tackle to land the powerful fish. But most successful anglers prefer line weights from 30 to 50 pounds so they can land fish in a shorter period of time. At Pamlico Sound, the water can get rough without warning. Anglers must fish from boats as large as they use for fishing in the ocean for king mackerel.
At Bald Head Island, anglers fishing from johnboats and small skiffs land tarpon when the weather is good. However, larger craft are needed to fish the ocean side of the shoals.