I have tried to go month by month, and give you a breakdown of what you can expect to catch in the gulfstream waters off of Hatteras. Remember that fishing is fishing, and there are always exceptions, nothing is ever set in stone. For example, just because you don't see dolphin and marlin as normal species we see in the winter months, it's never out of the question to find something unexpected! I have based this on what I've observed historically, since the late 70's.

The winter months are unusual in a lot of ways. If you are used to Hatteras in the summer, then the first thing you will notice is the quietness of the island. Since it's the "off season", things are at a much slower pace, no crowds.

We have a few things going on in January, offshore. Normally our yellowfin fishing continues right on from where it picks up in the fall, although not many take advantage of it.

The possibility of a bluefin is always there, in fact, up until several years ago, people would come from all over the world to see, what we realized, was nothing short of phenomenal fishing. As of late the bluefins have become more scarce during the winter months, and what bites we have are on the troll. I am hopeful that any winter they will return in great numbers.

We usually have pretty good king mackerel fishing in January. We don't normally catch the "smokers" that we see in the fall, but a twenty pounder wouldn't be uncommon. I would probably troll until I find some fish, and then break down to some lighter tackle for some top water action.

Last, I would have to mention our winter striper fishing. We normally fish for these 20 - 40 pound stripers on or around Diamond Shoals. I usually troll with stretch lures on TLD's, and keep a couple of spinners handy for casting bucktails up in the shallow white water where they often feed.

February is quite like January, in all aspects. I would have to say that yellowfin tuna would be our most likely targeted species. We normally troll for our yellowfin, and usually have multiple strikes when we get over some fish. We most commonly catch 20 - 30 pounders in the winter, but I have, on occasion, caught fish over 60 pounds.

There is still a possibility of some king mackerel action, and, again, you never know when you might have a bluefin encounter. The stripers may stick around, but if the water cools off too much, they may disappear.

March is interesting because so much is pending on our conditions. Of course, water temperature, current, etc. always play a great roll in determining how successful we will be, but in March, things can get hot real quick, if we have an early spring, or trickle in if things stay cool. Personally, I like the latter. A late Spring/Summer always seems to stretch out our season, I think. Anyway, I have had great success in March, particularly with the yellowfins, although I have caught a few wahoos in March. It is quite possible that the kings will still be around, but the stripers are usually gone by now.

April has traditionally been our "peak" yellowfin month of the spring, but I think that happened before we really started fishing much in the winter. Never the less, the yellowfins are usually rockin' in April, and with the water starting to warm up, it's possible to start seeing some of the other pelagics common this area.

I have caught a few blue marlin in April, and even though it's not the norm, it becomes more of a possibility. There are usually a few wahoos around, in fact once in a while we have a "flurry", and catch several fish in a day.

An occasional dolphin (mahi) will be caught as well.

Often times in April, the kings get pretty thick, and we will drop down to some lighter tackle to catch them. They are smaller in the spring, usually 5 - 10 pounders, the best eating size!

To me, May begins a huge transition from spring to summer. Sometimes it's a gradual one, and sometimes it seems like somebody flipped a switch. Again, it's all about our conditions. At some point in May, we usually have a pretty good push of gaffer size dolphin, joined with, and followed by, a lot of school size, or "bailer" dolphin, which we are usually blessed with for the rest of the season. Upon locating a school of dolphin (often times there are hundreds in a school), we switch over from trolling gear to our "bailing"tackle, which is much lighter. My mate tosses a little chum, and we simply use cut bait to catch the fish, which usually swarm around the boat. Dolphin is one of my favorites to eat too, as I'm sure you have all seen it in restaurants, commonly sold as "Mahi - Mahi".

With all of this talk about dolphin fishing, don't forget that we still do quite well on the yellowfin in May as well.

The water temperature is warming up, and so is the wahoo fishing. While they aren't as common as the dolphin or tuna, we still catch wahoos on a regular basis. We catch them trolling, and it is necessary to use wire leaders, due to their sharp teeth. Wahoos range in size from under ten pounds to over a hundred, but the average wahoo here would be a twenty-five pounder.

I'm happy to announce that in May, we start to see a few billfish, and though it's not quite "peak"season, its right around the corner!

Ah, June. By now it's definitely summer. Things are booming on the island, there are marlin tournaments going on, lots of people around the docks, and lots of fish on the docks as well!

Our mainstay in the summer, as far as meat fish, is dolphin. We usually continue to do well with them in June, and even though we still catch our share of bigger fish, we commonly find schools of the "bailers".

The marlin fishing starts heating up in June, and we often see good numbers of blue marlin, white marlin, and sailfish. I get a kick out of catching billfish, and even though we release all of them, it's always a thrill to me to catch another one. I'm sure you will agree!

Wahoos are fairly abundant up and down the ledges, usually a little shallower than where I would typically fish for the marlin. They are still welcome on board my boat anytime!

The tunas may still be hanging around, but often get "picky" in the warmer water. That's not to say we don't catch them in the summer, it's just that we don't consistently have big days on them, but there is plenty to do.

July is a favorite of mine as well, because most of my "big number" days on the billfish have occurred in this month. Even though they can be unpredictable at times, my observations are that July has yielded the best numbers for billfish in general, over the years. We gear up with 20 lb. tackle for the whites and sails, and 80 lb. gear for the blue marlins. Most of the time, we are able to switch the right fish on to the appropriate tackle, but occasionally a blue marlin unexpectantly eats the small rod, and then we've got our hands full!

The dolphin fishing remains hot in July, with numerous schools of fish feeding in and along the grass lines and tide rips. Dolphin fishing is very "hands on", and with the size of the fish we catch out of the schools, and the smaller tackle that we use, makes for great fun for kids and adults.

Tuna fishing can be hit or miss later in the summer for us. The ones we catch are usually nice size fish, but they aren't always as abundant as they are in the cooler months.

It's still pretty common to catch a wahoo or two, sometimes several on any given day in July.

August is usually our warmest month, and my parties in August are thankful, most days, for the air-conditioned cabin! We also tend to have some of our best weather late in the summer. As with fishing, there are always exceptions to the rule with weather as well, but generally, we have more pretty, calm days than windy ones.

August is fine with me because we can still expect to have good marlin fishing. This month is quite similar to the previous month in most ways. I've caught lots of billfish in August, but to me, the sailfish become a little more prominent than the others late in the summer, and in to the fall.

Nothing much changes with the dolphin, still plentiful, and if anything, maybe a few more wahoos than in July.

In September, we begin to see the beginning of a transition from summer to fall, not only in the weather, but in the fishing. The dolphin fishing is still terrific, but the sailfishing usually gets even better. Its not uncommon, in fact it's normal to have multiple strikes from schools, or "coveys" of sails. On many occasions I have seen four, five, or six fish in a group, hot on our teasers, flatlines, you name it!

You guessed it, the wahoos are getting more abundant too. Its funny, but a lot of times, in the fall, the sails and wahoos are in the same area, but fishing for both, at the same time, is complicated. As I mentioned in an earlier month, we use wire leader for the wahoos, simply due to their razor sharp teeth. This, however, is totally opposite to how I would normally fish for the sails. We use light tackle, and light mono leaders, which aren't exactly wahoo friendly. Ok, so we'll bait and switch, right? Let me tell you, you don't even see a wahoo coming, much less have a chance to crank a bait away and switch over to another one. So what do we do? Hope, and pray, fish some wire, and some mono, and if luck is on your side you get the right fish on the right rig!

There are still some white marlin and blue marlin around in September as well, maybe not as consistant as the summer months, but we do have flurrys of good fishing.

Normally we will begin to see a few more tuna starting to show about now, as well.

We get a little bit of everything in October, although, the billfishing is usually on its way out by now. Yellowfin are coming in pretty good by now, and our tuna catches are consistently better than the last few months. We still troll for them, but I have chunked for them on occasion.

There's some dolphin fishing to be found, but you will normally find them in the hotter water, where we would quite possibly be fishing for tuna in cooler water.

It's still fairly common to have a couple of wahoo bites, sometimes more, and you will often find them along a color change in the fall.

The smoker kings usually show up in October, and a lot has to do with conditions, but it seems like lately it's been later in the month before there are any numbers of fish caught. We catch blackfin tuna all year, but in the fall they seem to be more prominent than the other seasons. They usually range from 10 - 30 pounds, with our average fish being 20-25 pounds. We did catch a 44 pounder once, but it's unusual.

When asked which month is my favorite, I almost always say November, and then I think about all the great marlin fishing in July, tunas in April, wahoos in September, and after considering all of that, I still say November! November is the total package. If we could have white marlins here in November too, I would wish for December to never come. Not only is the fishing CRAZY in November, but the weather is perfect. Now, please understand that we have our share of Northeaster's that typically screw things up for three days at a whack, but on a typical Hatteras November day, it's 68-70 degrees, long sleeved tee shirt in the morning, short sleeves by 10:00 AM.

A normal November holds two options. Trolling for yellowfin tuna, and live bait fishing for king mackerel. I've talked a lot in previous months about tuna fishing, but the fall season is at its peak in November.

I haven't discussed live bait king fishing in any other months, simply because this is when you need to be here to do this. You can ask anybody who knows and they will tell you that Hatteras in November is the place to be for this action. We catch live menhaden in the morning, and then head on out to find the smokers. It's generally less than an hour till we're fishing. We use 20 pound class tackle to catch 20-50 pound kings. The strikes are impressive, most of them on the surface, and a great number of them "sky rocket" out of the water with the bait in their mouth. My biggest, so far, has been 60 pounds, but years ago when my father was fishing, he landed one that weighed in at 73.

There are usually a few bluefin sightings by now and we are grabbing our 130's and getting ready to put them into action.

The tuna fishing remains hot in December, really it's no different than November, as far as the yellowfins are concerned, lots of fish, cooler weather.

The kings are still abundant, but at some point in December, the biggest fish will become scarce. We still catch nice size fish, just not as many over 30.

As I mentioned, the last few years, our bluefin fishing has been unpredictable, but it seems that if you are going to have a shot at one, December is the month to try.

Finally, I look forward to the stripers showing up in December. Back up to Diamond Shoals we head for light tackle action on these 20-40 pound rock fish.