OBX July patterns??

[mike_richardson]

Hey guys. I will be hitting up OBX with the family in late July. Will be taking my new 10 wt outfit I got for musky since the drag system on it is completely sealed and such.

Was wondering if you all had any insights on pattern, or guides down there? I want to try and find some sort of way to catch fish down there and figured first stop would be the fly tying forum.

Any insight is appreciated.

 

[Tiogadog]

Clousers...I liked black over orange with copper flash, pink over white with silver flash, and chartreuse over yellow with silver flash.

Wade the area around Oregon Inlet for speckled trout and flounder. The area on the side of the inlet offers some decent wade fishing.

 

[thesmayway]

Watch the bait shop reports closely. If they start reporting lots of Blues in the surf it can be a blast. I never fished the sound or inlet but if you catch them when they're in the surf it can be very fast action. I personally would rather sight fish to pods of boiling bait then blind cast. Early mornings and right before dark were best for me last year, just depends on whether the bait fish are close enough to cast to. Watch for congregating birds and follow them up and down the beach until they're within range. Have a steel leader and plenty of flashy white and chartreuse clousers as their teeth do a number on flies.one morning last year the bait was so thick in knee deep water it was like minnow soup, the blues had pushed a big school into the shore, it was awesome. There is only one fly fishing guide that I'm aware of, outerbanksflyfishing.com. didn't fish with them buta follow on Instagram and looks like they've had some awesome billfishing recently...

 

[tomgamber]

If you don't see any action in the near surf, walk the beach early and look just beyond the breakers for activity. You can really get into some snapper Blues if you have a kayak and just clear the breaking water. ...think trout-sized and much tastier than the oily larger fish. I like black over orange and red over white too...but the go to combo for me is olive over orange or olive over white. Don't be afraid to throw some smaller bottom stuff into the waves. Small pompano and croaker will take sparsely tied bonefish type flies.

where in OBX are you going? I'll be down last week of July in Kitty Hawk.

 

[JoeE]

Black and orange is one of the best colors. But so are the others but the key for me is gold flash not silver. I fish a short leader Straight 20lb 4ft length. Those fish are not afraid of a leader or fly line and you don't want a belly in the leader when stripping in back. Also a must is a stripping basket (nothing worse that hooking a blue in the surf and getting the fly line wrapped around your leg. I always stayed in Avon and fish the sound and surf. My favor sound fishing spot is Avon 2nd road to the left leaving Avon. Favor surf spot is all the way down to the point past the ferry and the 2nd favor spot is follow the birds, a lot of beach miles driving and watching.

 

[mike_richardson]

Thanks guys.

I will be staying a short Distance from the Avalon Pier. I fished that last year with shrimp and a cheap spinning rod I picked up and had a ball. LOL hoping to try some flies.

I am a bit nervous to take my custom 10 wt im having built so I picked up a cheaper 10 off of ebay last night. I know it sounds crazy but when you see this rod I am having made you will understand. LOL the guy is an artist to say the least.

 

[JerryCoviello]

Crazy Charlies for the Bay.
Sea Trout (Weakfish) love them.

And the Clouser Minnow of course. All the popular colors.

 

[Brooky45]

I was down there last year in July on the 4x4 section and had pretty good luck with a black and white Clouser with pink Krystal flash tied in the middle along the sides. I tied them about 2.5" to 3" long.

The blues that we caught were in the 10" to 15" range. I would cruise the beach looking for boiling fish as recommended above. We had our best day when it was a little windy and the surf was rough