Fishing News and Information

	Bald Head Island is unique Bald Head Island, often shown on older maps as Smith Island, is the only part of Brunswick County east of the Cape Fear River at its mouth. The island features a village with a year-round population of less than 200. It is also the southernmost point in Brunswick County and the only place in North Carolina where palm trees are native. MORE ...

	Tying the loop knot Capt. Rick Bennett ties a loop knot to secure his line to every lure or jighead he uses. He said the knot allows the lure to move in the most-natural way, and he believes it helps draw strikes. When tied properly, any of the several versions of the loop knot will not slip or cinch down on the eye of the hook or lure. MORE ...

	What’s ‘The Point’? The Point is 34 to 42 miles southeast of the Oregon Inlet sea buoy, at 35.32.57 to 35.33.00 (north) by 74.50.67 to 74.84.00 (west). It appears as a box canyon where the deep shelf has eroded into the upper shelf, as though a chunk was removed from the slope. Start searching for a steep drop-off once you’ve reached the 560-590 line and dropped from 40 to 50 fathoms. The bottom of the “box” is 400 fathoms and appears suddenly. MORE ...

	How to identify bigeye tuna Bigeye tuna school with their own or with other tuna, including skipjacks, true albacore and yellowfins. MORE ...

	One ‘app’ for two functions Bluefin and bigeyes are the only tuna with a warm-blooded circulatory system that allows them to recycle oxygenated blood one more time before sending it to the gills for re-aeration. The difference is, bluefins use a complex of blood vessels lying in close proximity — the ‘rete mirabile’ — to warm them in cold waters, and as a result are the only tuna that regularly inhabits cold water. Bigeyes use the rete mirabile to feed in oxygen-depleted cold water beyond the scattering layer, and are the only tuna that can do it. MORE ...

	Bigeye facts Dr. Craig Brown, chief of the highly migratory species branch of NOAA Fisheries in Miami is an expert on bigeye tuna biology. Here are some of his observations: MORE ...

	Smith, Padrick win N.C. Spring Redfish Shootout Dwayne Smith and Lee Padrick won the N.C. Spring Redfish Shootout on May 11 out of Sneads Ferry with a pair of redfish that weighed 11.89 pounds. MORE ...

	Hatteras offshore action turning on at opportune time The offshore fishing out of Hatteras has been consistently good all spring, and it’s ramping up another notch heading into this week’s Hatteras Village Offshore Open tournament, with a variety of tuna, a growing number of dolphin, good wahoo and some hungry billfish in the baits lately. MORE ...

	Offshore fishing excellent out of Atlantic Beach. The offshore fishing out of Atlantic Beach appears to be reaching one of those points when it is about as good as it gets, according to Capt. Mike Webb of Pelagic Sportfishing. MORE ...

	Crappie on fire, bass biting on Yadkin system reservoirs Nearly every species of gamefish is biting at the Yadkin chain of lakes now — especially crappie and largemouth bass. MORE ...

	Davidson County team scores big in Badin FOM tourney Robert Mixon of Lexington and Robert Lambert of Denton took advantage of high winds to capture the May 4 Fishers of Men Piedmont Division tournament at Badin Lake, their second victory on the circuit. MORE ...

	Why fish slime matters Afew months ago, I accidentally dropped a bass in the bottom of a dirty old johnboat at my favorite pond. I felt bad, as it was covered in sand when I let it go. Two months later, I took a friend and his son back to the same pond. Every fish we caught was beautiful — except one my friend’s son caught. It had sores all over it. I think it was the fish I dropped in the bottom of the boat. MORE ...