Lots of people travel to Cape Hatteras to fish the Gulf Stream waters that lie just a short distance from the coast. Many plan a day or two offshore for an exciting activity during their week long stay on the Outer Banks, while others make the drive just for a day's fishing.

Either way, an offshore adventure can be an event of a lifetime, and you never know what will happen from one day to the next. We can, however, try to predict the best time to fish for a particular species based on years of experience, but it's not uncommon for the Gulf Stream to "throw us a curve" from time to time.

The cooler months tend to produce our best catches of yellowfin tuna. I like March and April in the spring, while preferred fall months for yellowfin are October and November.

The month of November also ushers in one of my favorite fisheries. Our "live bait" king mackerel fishing is unlike anywhere else in the world. You just have to experience it, 20-50 pound kings on 20-pound class tackle. It is a blast.

The last few years have produced some excellent bluefin tuna fishing in the late winter and early spring. February and March have been productive for 80-150 pounders. The bag limits change according to what quota has been caught, but we can normally keep one, and release the rest.

In May, we usually begin to have excellent dolphin (mahi) fishing. We catch dolphin all year, but May through September is the best time.

I like late summer and early fall for wahoos, and we often do well on these lightning fast pelagics.

Hatteras is known for its great marlin fishing too. May through September holds pretty good promise of a billfish bite. I tend to think that our better blue marlin fishing is earlier, May to June, while our white marlin and sailfish bites seem to pick up in July. It is not out of the question to catch any and all of our billfish species through the summer months, and there is always that possibility of a "grand slam," especially in July and August.

This is just a brief overview of what you can expect offshore of Hatteras, throughout the year. For more information, go to the Species Sought page, or feel free to email me with your questions.

Read the latest from the Outer Banks Fishing Report

BIG Gaffers!

- 5/21/2013
Today Justin had the day off so my old friend and veteran mate "Fog" filled in. The gaffer fishing was amazing!

We caught most of our catch by 10:00 and drug baits for a marlin the rest of the day. We did miss one sailfish bite, and picked off a few more gaffers while we skipped baits. I'd say that we had more BIG gaffers today than any other day so far this year. Everyone in the group caught a 30 pounder and a couple of them were 35. Thanks guys!

Scattered Gaffers In The Deep

- 5/18/2013
The ride offshore was greasy slick calm, but about the time we started fishing we wound up being wrapped up in a thunderstorm.

Fishing was scrappy compared to how it has been. The current was screaming, the wind was from the southeast, and every boat in the world was out. In spite of it all, we wound up catching a handful of gaffers and having a fun day offshore! Thanks again guys and I'll see you as soon as you can make it back down!

Better Late Than Never

- 5/17/2013
Part of my group missed the boat today, due to navigational errors (in the car not the boat). We wound up leaving the dock an hour late but still put together a nice catch of fish!

The ocean was crowded with boats today, so finding a spot to yourself was tough. We managed to come up with a nice catch of dolphin this morning, but it was pretty slow after that. Near the end of the day I was able to hit a bottom spot that was inside of the hard current for a couple of drops. We landed a grouper and a handful of rosefish. Thanks a bunch Reggie!

Killed 'Em Early!

- 5/15/2013
The wind was forecasted to breeze out of the southwest early in the day. Once it started blowing, it was the real deal. Fortunately I stopped on a spot that was loaded with gaffers and big bailers. We filled up the box and wrapped it up early!

Today was the first day of the Hatteras Village Marlin Tournament, and it sounded like there were a few marlin bites too. Thanks for another great one Howard. I'll see you guys again in the morning!

Cool Day In The Gulf Stream

- 5/14/2013
We had a brisk northerly wind today and I was one layer shy of being warm all day!

The wind had the grass streaked out and the fishing wasn't as good as it has been, but we still scrapped out a nice catch of dolphin, mostly gaffers. There were a few marlin seen and a couple of wahoos caught as well as a couple of yellowfins. Thanks for another fun day Greg, I'll see you next spring!