Sharky's Outer Banks Fishing Reports - 2018

6 year old Winn and his dad Adam, from Virginia, had fun on their soundside light tackle charter on Sunday with Capt. Toby on T-Time. It was a beautiful day on the sound with some pretty water and good bottom fishing for sea mullet. Winn's smile, here with Capt. Toby, says it all! Thank you both for letting us be a part of your father-son time and helping Winn grow in his beginning love of fishing! Come back and see us next year!

Capt. George and First Mate Noah on the Instigator had a blast fishing with the Bumbaugh family from MoCo LoCo (Rockville, MD, Lower County Montgomery County)!! You couldn't have asked for a prettier day on the ocean or a nicer family, plus getting their limit of Spanish Mackerel topped off a great day of fishing! Look forward to seeing you all again next year!

It was a beautiful day on the ocean for an Ocean Wreck Charter on the Instigator with Capt. George and first mate Hunter. The light winds and 1 to 3 foot waves made for some great fishing. We had an awesome time fishing with this fun crew from Collegeville, PA! Ronnie, Brenden, Jimmy, John, Johnny and Evan caught a tuna and their limit of tilefish. We had a blast fishing with you guys and can't wait to do it again next time you are visiting the Outer Banks!

The intermediate 3/4 day charters on Sea Hag have been very productive as well as their inshore Outer Banks charter trips.

The light winds have made offshore fishing especially nice this week. This fun family from Pittsburgh had a great Ocean Wreck charter with Capt. George and first mate Hunter on the Instigator. They caught 30 mahi and limit of tile fish. Not too bad for an offshore bottom fishing trip!

The ocean was like glass for Monday's Offshore Charter with Instigator. Our father and son duo from New York had a very successful Outer Banks charter catching their limit of tile fish. We hope you guys had a fun trip and will come back to see us again next year!

6 hr trip had ribbon fish and moon fish for the Putzu of Alexandria, VA; Draper of Mechanicsville, VA; and Ciriello of Cary, NC.

Summary of our trip by our awesome charter group!

Fantastic day of fishing on the Sea Hag with Captain Frank and Mate Cody! Had rough weather in the morning and Captain Frank patiently waited until he knew it was safe and, as importantly, productive! We had 6 in our party, including a 17 year old and 14 year old out for the first time. They now have a lifetime memory. The 17 year old was impressed with Cody and came back researching how one becomes a mate! The 14 year old asked about next year already (after catching a lot of fish and Captain Frank letting him on the bridge for the trip to the fishing grounds)! Because of the weather pattern, Captain Frank improvised when we left the dock to get to rich fishing grounds to make sure we had a great day, and we came back with a haul that became a delicious fish taco dinner for 10 (and enough meat left for another 2 dinners for 10).

Captain Frank and Mate Cody were awesome, and the time waiting for Mother Nature passed quickly from the awesome and bottomless well of stories from Captain Frank. Both are real pros and gave us a great and memorable day in adverse conditions!

See you next year!

The ocean was beautiful and clear this morning. Paul, Sam and Mason from Maryland caught some nice mullet during their Surf Fishing Clinic. Contact Mark Clippinger (717) 440-3578 if you would like to learn how to surf fish or just get a refresher course.

It was the last day of vacation for the Tybor family of New York on Friday. They said they were big fish people with a full household to feed so they brought extra coolers. Good thing because they left with over 200 lbs of meat. What a great way to end with a whole mess of Mahi and a Blue Marlin! We had a really good time fishing with you guys! Can't wait to see you next year!

For the last several days the weather has been nice and in some cases too nice and too warm. Instigator has been coming in with a mixed bag on most days. We have enjoyed fishing with folks from PA and NC this week. Catches have been really good on mahi offshore and a lot of ribbonfish mixed with a few spanish mackerel near shore.

I hope everyone had a chance to get out and go fishing for Father's Day! If you didn’t, remember any time is a good time to go fishing.

Offshore – charter boats have been catching nice sized yellowfin with several trophy citations and big eye. Good mahi fishing, some wahoo and a few billfish releases.

Near Shore – Spanish mackerel and bluefish have been reliable. The cobia fishing is slowing down but there are still reports of people catching some nice big ones. Near shore charters have also been catching sea mullet, sheepshead and red drum.

1_The Teats family from Pennsylvania had quite the adventure yesterday on their 1/2 Day Shark Charter! Taking his son on a shark trip is something this dad had wanted to do for a long time. In addition to three Stingrays, they also caught and released this 250 lb. Tiger Shark. To add to their excitement they got to be a part of towing a 55' charter boat with a blown engine drifting toward the sandbar safely back to the marina. We hope you guys made some fun memories yesterday! We can't wait to fish with you again next year!

2_We had a couple of fun guys from Connecticut on a 3/4 Day Intermediate Charter. It was a great day of fishing on the ocean. In addition to a really nice catch of Spanish Mackerel, they also brought in a shark! Good job, and we hope to see you again next time!

With some heavier than normal shore break this morning, Eric, from Virginia, landed this nice whiting on sand fleas. Take advantage of our 2 hour Surf Fishing Clinic with our expert guide, Mark Clippinger, like Eric and his family did. It is great for the novice or even if you just need a refresher course.

The Romano family from Pennsylvania had a really nice day on the ocean for their 3/4 Day Intermediate Charter. Two cobia, bonito, and some spanish mackerel made for a fun and action packed day of fishing! Great job you guys!

5/30/2018 The Pletcher family of Ohio had a blast on their afternoon half day charter. In addition to a mess of spanish mackeral and blues they also landed this nice 50 lb. Cobia! They were a fun group and we look forward to fishing with you again! Great job!

5/31/2018 Did you know we do Split Trip Charters? It is a great option if you have a large group that exceeds the USCG regulation of 6 person max. This big family of 10 from Knoxville, Tennessee fished on both the Instigator and Sea Hag on a morning half day charter. It was a beautiful day on the ocean, and they had a nice catch of bluefish on Instigator.

Carolina, Alex and Javier from Virginia had a good time learning to surf fish with our surf fishing guide Mark recently. The morning surf was unusually calm, but they still caught some nice whiting for the table!

Nice Outer Banks day for a half day charter with the Johnson family from Parker CO catching cobia, bluefish, and bonito.

Wild Card went offshore with Father/Son team Jim Watry from Pipe Wisconsin and Jeremy Watry from Norfolk VA, onboard today. They had a very calm, beautiful ocean today. The fishing was plenty good enough for our crew, with the last bite being a double header yellowfin tuna bite. Great company and conversation today with these guy's. Thank you for spending your day offshore with us today.

Marcus and his crew from Wisconsin had a great time on their 6 hour intermediate Outer Banks charter trip and we had fun fishing with them too! They had a nice catch of blues and spanish mackerel, plus this really nice cobia! Be sure and look us up next time you are in town because we are looking forward to fishing with you again!

Sea Hag's group from West Virginia caught bluefish, spanish mackerel and a nice cobia on their 6 hour trip today. Good job folks!

Another good day on Wild Card catching tuna.

Outer Banks fishing has been fantastic lately, and has been a great kickoff to the Summer season! Here are some of our more recent catches with Capt. Randy on No Sweat!

Wild Card Charters had a charter with David, Eric and Matthew Duchscherer (getting away from the snow) from Grand Island and Messena NY. As you can see Capt. Frank is on the tuna this year already. Call us now and get on a charter with Wild Card while the fishing is hot.

With Easter right around the corner spring is finally here! Even if the weather doesn’t feel like spring and temperatures on land are chilly, the air temperatures in the Gulf Stream waters can be surprisingly warm this time of year. There have been several limits of tuna caught. Great catches of yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna, a few good sized big eye tuna, and a couple nice sized wahoo.

Mark Clippinger, our Surf Fishing Clinic Guide, caught this nice 18” Speckled Trout, in the Kitty Hawk Surf this morning. It is hard to believe it is November 5th! The Outer Banks in the Fall is a very special time of the year! By the way, Mark is closing in on his 1,000th fish for the season! Give us a call if you want to take part in one of his 2 hour surf fishing clinics while you are here on vacation!!

Jane, Landen, Elliott, Jonathan, and Lauren all hailing from Warsaw, Va, had their first ever ocean fishing trip on the Instigator last week. We had a great time fishing with them. So glad the weather was so nice for your adventure! Landen was like a pro helping to reel in some of those bluefish!! We can’t wait to fish with you guys again next year! Let’s head out to the Gulf Stream next time!

Nice catch on Instigator Fishing Charters! They had a wonderful time out on the water today catching king mackerel and albacore tuna with Bill and Ray. Thank you for fishing with us and we are looking forward to fishing with you again over the winter and next year too!

Saturday was a picture perfect day of fishing on the Instigator. Calm ocean, beautiful weather, a nice catch of king mackerel and Albacore, and a fun group made for a great day! Shane and Cynthia from Maryland, Bill from near D.C., and Jamie and Tim from Virginia were a make up charter we put together. We really appreciate y'all fishing with us and hope to see you again next year! By the way, Capt. George says to say,"Hi" to the Princess!!

Finally, a fishing report! After all of the rough surf and wind we have had the last couple of weeks we were happy to finally get back on the ocean! We had a great make up trip this morning on the Instigator with Dave of Virginia and Josh and Josh of the NC mountains in Spruce Pine. The weather was perfect and the Albacore fishing was fantastic! You guys were a great group and we look forward to seeing you again!

Capt. George on the Instigator had a blast Thursday night with this fun group from PA! Tom, Colleen, Jody, Kenny and Ed all came out for a Sunset Cruise to help celebrate Colleen's birthday. In addition to seeing dolphins and a beautiful sunset they were all treated to the Harvest Moon as a special bonus! Thank you guys for being such a fun group and for allowing us to be a part of the celebration. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

Thursday was a great day on the ocean! Calm water and plenty of black tip tuna action! A 150 lb hammerhead shark was brought in by a 9th grader, all by herself!! The Focht's of PA had a blast fishing with Capt. George on the Instigator. We look forward to seeing you guys again next time. Thanks for being such a great group!

Mark, our resident surf fishing expert, landed this nice 21 1/2 inch puppy drum from the surf on Saturday. Do you want to learn how to surf fish too? Give us a call, and you can take part in Mark's surf fishing clinic for a two hour session with him.

Tuesday was a beautiful day on the Outer Banks and a great day for charter fishing! Aaron (DC), Mike (UT), Kelly (WY), Steve (CO), and Nathan (WY) had a blast catching these nice tuna and mahi on the Instigator with Capt. George and first mate Steve. Thank you guys for booking through Sharky's. Please come back and see us next time!

Bradley and Tyson from Pennsylvania caught several nice mullet while learning how to fish the surf this morning. They landed 6 nice mullet in a couple of hours.

Gavin, Conner and Joe from the Baltimore area with several nice mullet in the surf this morning. Lots of wave action had a great bite going!

Bronx, NY is in the house! It was a picture perfect day of Offshore fishing on Tuesday. Savanna, Danielle, Sarah, Bubba, Mike, and Daniel had a blast catching Blue Marlin, Sailfish, Tuna, Dolphin, and Tilefish with Capt George and First Mate Steve on the Instigator! This was their 5th year of fishing on the Outer Banks, and they said this was their best trip yet! We are glad you called Sharky's this year, and we can't wait to fish with you again next year!!

Last Thursday and Friday we had 3 groups that did Surf Fishing Clinics in Kitty Hawk.

Michael, Marc and John from Pennsylvania caught some nice mullet. Marc, the youngest caught the most fish! Water was warm and clear.

Kevin and his brother Colin from Virginia teamed up and caught a nice mullet. It was a beautiful day with clear, warm water.

Lucas and Dennis from the D.C. Area caught several nice mullet in clear, warm water. Lucas landed and released a nice striped bass too!

Instigator Charters had a pretty day on the water Friday with Lewis crew from Pennsylvania. They had a fun day of charter fishing for King Mackerel and Spanish Mackerel!

The Krystyniak crew from New Jersey fished on the Instigator Wednesday afternoon. Despite some rough conditions off the coast because of Hurricane Gert they brought in a nice haul of spade fish!

EJ, Sam and Owen from Pennsylvania with a couple nice mullet in tough surf conditions with a storm off the coast. As you can see, it was a beautiful morning!

Brady and his dad, Bob, from Pennsylvania learned some surf fishing techniques on Wednesday morning. Here they are with one of many nice mullet they landed from the surf in Kitty Hawk.

Tom, Ray, and Charles from New Jersey had a nice haul of whiting our Sharky's Surf Fishing Clinic last Thursday.

Sea Hag had a very enjoyable 6 hour trip with the Cooper Family from Gainesville, GA catching a nice bunch of spanish mackerel and albacore.

On Thursday July 13, Austin and his dad from Maryland participated in our Sharky's Surf Fishing Clinic with our resident expert surf guide Mark Clippinger. Looks like Austin had the catch of the day with a really nice sea mullet (sometimes called whiting or kingfish) depending on where you are from. These fish are very abundant in our Outer Banks surf, fun to catch on light tackle and excellent tasting on the table.

On Wednesday July 19 John and his dad Chip from VA came to the Sharky's Surf Fishing Clinic to get some surf fishing techniques from our Clinic's guide Mark. As you can see he learned a lot and had a great time. John caught these two big sea mullet while attending. Great job John!

Inshore charters are catch limits of king and spanish mackerel!

Monday was a banner day for Instigator and Sea Hag on the king mackerel.

We put two groups together on a makeup charter today. Our guests were the Puderbaugh Family from Ohio and the Ditman Family from Pittsburgh PA. They shared in a great catch of king mackerel and spanish mackerel.

Outer Banks vacationers are enjoying some great inshore fishing on the Sea Hag with Capt. Frank.

On our PM charter today we enjoyed the company of Pete Donnelly, Ryan Donnelly from Charlotte NC and Joe Lozupone from Baltimore MD. We also enjoyed catching some limits of king mackerel. Thanks folks!

Sea Hag has been on the spanish mackerel, bluefish and king mackerel. These are photos from the last few trips.

Adam and Megan, stationed in Washington DC, fished with Capt. George on Instigator Sportfishing Wednesday evening. Check out the beautiful 6 pound Citation spanish mackerel that Megan caught!! This topped off some nice mackerel fishing and some awesome weather! Thank you Adam and Megan for your service to our country!

Fishing has been almost non stop phenomenal here on the Outer Banks! Offshore fishing has been absolutely amazing for huge catches of mahi mahi and limits of yellowfin tuna. Offshore anglers have also caught a few mako sharks, bigeye tuna, marlin releases and wahoo. If you’re looking to fill your freezer or have the fishing experience of a life time now is the time!

Inshore and near shore fishing has been good as well with nice catches of mackerel, speckled trout, gray trout, some good flounder, sea mullet, mako sharks, tile fish, some amberjack, and big cobia!

Want to get in on the fishing but don't have a full group? Sharky's specializes in walk-on makeup charters give us a call or contact us through our website!

This wonderful group of anglers from Colorado had a great time while spanish mackerel fishing on their first ever trip to the Outer Banks. Thank you folks! Enjoy the rest of your stay on the OBX.

Sea Hag and anglers from Illinois and Virginia had a blast catching Outer Banks sharks

Wild Card ran a makeup trip offshore charter with Lisa Confer, Shane Babcock both from Penn State, Dick Wilkins from Lynchburg VA, Ken and Kyle Bright man from Dayton, Ohio. They enjoyed a pretty nice class of yellowfin tuna today with quite a few more of those "endangered" sharks we keep hearing about!

Instigator had a fun group from Ohio along with action catching a bunch of bluefish.

Instigator with Bill Morh and his Son-In-Law on our morning ½ day trip enjoyed the awesome run of big bluefish we are experiencing right now on the Outer Banks.

Instigator had another awesome trip with the Marino Family from NY. Check out the cooler full of yellowfin tuna.

One of our boats, Wave Runner, had a great day on the OBX tuna.

Capt Frank McCargo enjoyed the company of The Wright Family from Chelmsford, MA while catching taylor blues and false albacore on another great half day Outer Banks charter.

Sea Hag fished with the Lewis Family from St. Augustine, FL and battled some feisty false albacore

We are having a very early spring and the fish are responding. The McDonnell family from Northern Virginia took advantage of the opportunity and enjoyed a half day charter shark fishing.

The weather here on the Outer Banks has been perfect for fishing! The past few days at Oregon inlet there have been lots of giant bluefin tuna caught and released. One of the monsters was about 800 pounds! There have also been several keeper sized bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna and big mako sharks. In Hatteras the blackfin tuna fishing is hot! Huge catches of blackfin tuna, some citation sized wahoo and scattered catches of yellowfin tuna.

It's going to be a busy and exciting summer here on the Outer Banks. Yep, it's March already and now's the time to make those charter reservations while the better dates are still available! Don't have a full group? Let us know when you will be available and we'll help find some additional anglers so that you can enjoy the fishing.

The bluefin tuna are here on the Outer Banks! Several giant bluefin tuna have been caught out of Oregon inlet and Hatteras so far this month sizes ranging from 84 to 102 inches long. Three of those bluefin where caught this last week! There have also been catches of blackfin tuna, several nice sized wahoo, and a few big amberjack.

Can you imagine? This bluefin tuna was caught on Jan. 20, 2017 on a 26 ft. boat and weighed a whopping 1,045 lbs. The size of the bluefin caught each winter has been increasing steadily. This fish will not be recorded as a state record though because even though it was caught while sportfishing it was sold commercially which makes it ineligible for the NC record.

Quick update on the weekend fishing on the Outer Banks. This weekend offshore at Oregon Inlet they caught nice over 50 lb. yellowfin tuna. Surf fishing in Hatteras anglers caught puppy drum, black drum and sea mullet. Offshore fishing out of Hatteras they caught yellowfin tuna and king mackerel. Picture from Teach's Lair Marina.

Sometimes we get asked what the best months are for scheduling an Outer Banks vacation with some good fishing mixed in. One of the months that vacationers should consider for an Outer Banks visit is May. During May the weather is not yet into its hot summer patterns and the traffic on the Outer Banks is not nearly as heavy as it will become after Memorial Day. Offshore fishing in May we see plenty of yellowfin tuna as well as the big mahi that we call "gaffers" because you need to use a gaff to lift them into the boat. If you are looking for a month before the tourism season gets into full swing and yet the fishing is excellent, you might want to give an Outer Banks May fishing charter or vacation a shot.

Giant bluefin tuna have already showed up in Morehead City! That means they are likely in our waters also and it's just a matter of time before our Oregon Inlet boats will be on them. The Wicked Tuna crew from the NatGeo TV show should start filming out of Oregon Inlet soon. Let's get your trip booked so you can be fishing the same waters as the Wicked Tuna boats.