Cape Lookout Jetty

[wjsmith82]

My last two trips to the Jetty (Oct31 and Nov22) was a literal gold mine of puppy drum and trout. I will post pics tonight.

If I may ask, how is the fishing at the Jetty in December and January? Is there any good times for fishing the Jetty for stripers?

Thanks.

Bill

[Dave]

December is good but it all depends on the water temp - if it holds in the high 40's, low 50 range, fishing the rocks should stay steady. Yesterday the water temp was 52.6 when we arrived at day break and moved maybe a half degree all morning. Gulp baits caught plenty of fish, but (as is typical) we saw the biggest fish caught with mud minnows. The minnows also caught fish when the bite slowed, when nothing else seemed to work. If you are like me, you'll want to get on the rocks as early as possible, and their isn't any bait places open before I launch. If you want live bait, you'll have to either make arrangement the day before (to pick up live bait), catch your own, or wait until the bait stores open (7ish if your lucky). I'm planning to go out again on Saturday, maybe I'll see ya there *thumbsup* Puppy drum are still there too, with an outside chance of catching a slot fish in the mix.

We were loading up at the dock and fellow said some folks had caught some stripers from the surf near the jetty, the night before. Didn't see any stripers being caught in the daylight, but then, I wasn't watching what was going on up on the beach.

Good luck,
Dave

[Shakespeare]

Dave, I know this is a little out of your way, but for anybody in the MHC or AB area Freeman's Discount Bait & Tackle (http://www.freemanstackle.com/) opens at 6:00AM this time of year and they have mud minnows and last week had live shrimp... gotta check on that on a daily basis though.

[Tparkin]

There's also Chasin' Tails on the AB Causeway...they open at 5-6ish. We bought minnows there Saturday and were at the Jetty before sunrise. There's also a public ramp right behind their store.

[Ed&Brenda]

Whats the weather and seas supposed to be like this weekend.

[Tparkin]

This is from weather.gov (NOAA) N to NE should be best for the jetty.


AMZ158-042030-
S OF CAPE LOOKOUT TO N OF SURF CITY NC OUT 20 NM-
401 AM EST THU DEC 4 2008


TODAY
SW WINDS 5 TO 10 KT...INCREASING TO 10 TO 15 KT THIS
AFTERNOON. SEAS 2 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 10 SECONDS.

TONIGHT
W WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 2 TO 3 FT DOMINANT PERIOD
7 SECONDS.

FRI
N WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING NE 15 TO 20 KT IN THE
AFTERNOON. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

FRI NIGHT
N WINDS 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 3 TO 5 FT. A CHANCE OF
SHOWERS.

SAT
N WINDS 15 TO 20 KT...DIMINISHING TO 10 TO 15 KT IN THE
AFTERNOON. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

SAT NIGHT
NW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING W 15 TO 20 KT AFTER
MIDNIGHT. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT.

SUN
NW WINDS 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT.

MON
N WINDS 5 TO 10 KT...BECOMING E. SEAS 1 TO 2 FT.

[Dave]

Ed, you'll want to check NOAA http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/coastal/am/amz158.txt the day before and again just before you hit the rack ... and don't be surprised if it changes (as it often does) overnight - so check it again when you get up, before you start loading the skiff, and can make adjustment if necessary. For the Cape LO jetty, the best conditions are winds from the N or NE and seas 4 feet or less, with swells in the 8 to 12 range. Best place to put in is at Calico Jacks on Harker's Island, IMO, the $10 ramp fee is well worth the cost of the short (and mostly protected) run to the jetty.

Dave