I'll be arriving in KDH tomorrow morning for a week long stay. Any reports from sound or surf, besides the usual tackle shop reports? If not, would be interested to know about water clarity. Thanks in advance.

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I have not fished the surf yet but have been catching trout and blues in the roanoke sound

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Caught a mess of nice trout in Pamlico two days ago. Largest was 21.5”. All were nice and fat. Yesterday it was like a switch flipped. Only a couple of smaller trout and a 24” drum. Last Sunday I caught some trout in Rodanthe. All on the smaller side. I haven’t fished north of Oregon Inlet in a week. Last time I fished Little Bridge area there were trout, but small keepers. I’ve seen that some decent ones have shown up in the past week. Water has been clear everywhere I’ve been. We hit the Point on Wednesday where 2lb bluefish were thick. No drum caught during the hours we were there although the day before drum were chewing.

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Fished Pamlico today. Trout were chewing. Caught 3 over 20”, one at 20”, a 19”, a few smaller, lost one about 20”. Biggest was 6.54 lb almost 27”. Caught a few small drum and lizardfish.

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My son and his group of friends are at our place in Frisco right now. (Egads)Fishing report is drum off of the sound via kayak and at the point blues and flounder surf fishing. Released the flounder he said. Having a nice fishing trip! He always likes to fish the point unless it is too crowded. In the meantime, playing cornhole in our front yard!

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I spent the month of October in Corolla. Three weeks working and one for vacation. Caught everything I could think of. Black Drum, Puppy Drum, Speck, Mullet, Shark and a Stingray. I then went to the sound and was told to fish the channels created by the jet skis and boats leaving the dock and within 15 minutes I caught a Perch, another Puppy Drum and a nice Large Mouth.

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Nice job. I just realized I never posted a report...spent Oct 8-15 in KDH at the house we rent for 2 weeks every summer. I've fished many times down there in Oct and Nov, but it was the first time the wife and daughter came along for a fall trip. They loved it...the lack of heat, lack of crowds, lack of long waits at dinner spots (except Blue Moon, which was just as long a wait as summer. Go figure).
Anyway, fishing was solid. For the week got around 30-35 trout, mostly small keepers, a few good ones, nothing bigger than 19". Around 20 flounder which all had to go back. Some would have been turned into flounder sandwiches if it had been Sept. A few blues, one pompano (not from the surf...but from the sound near Oregon Inlet fishing center). Several lizard fish, including one that never had the hook in his mouth, just chomped onto the tail of my plastic lure and held on all the way onto the pier. And a few pinfish. And a white perch. All on lures, except the perch which was on a fishbites. Surf yielded nothing, but I spent most time in the sounds.
All in all a great trip. The wife is on board for doing this every fall now, so win for me. And discovered a great new dessert spot in Nags Head called Cookies and Cream. Plus great mini golf every night with no crowds.

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Things have slowed way down for me in the past 2 weeks. October 15th and 16th were two of the best trout fishing days of my life. I went on October 26th and the first drift produced a lean 22", two under 10", and two small keepers in the 15-16" range. The next 3-4 hours were brutal. In all I caught only those 5 trout and 3 (teeny) drum. With the early sunsets I'm unable to get out on the kayak after work. Based on the reports and my recent trips it feels like the big trout are moving to the west for their winter grounds. Guys on the west side of the sound are picking up some nice fish based on posts I'm seeing on Facebook. If I get out in the yak anymore this year if may be in the Belhaven/Swanquarter area. I need to get some cold weather yak gear though. I'm starting to be outmatched by the current weather.

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I'm doing one more serious quest for trout the next 2 or 3 days, but much closer to home. I'll be hitting some way south Chesapeake Bay inlets in the kayak. Pretty soon I'll switch over to bass fishing in the bass boat for winter.

I've always wondered exactly how far west those winter holes are. In southern NC, it's well known to be the tidal headwaters and creeks of the rivers. But I've never figured out exactly where it is for the OBX sounds, especially the ones north of Pamlico (Roanoke and Croatan, in particular). Maybe someday I'll figure it out.

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I'm doing one more serious quest for trout the next 2 or 3 days, but much closer to home. I'll be hitting some way south Chesapeake Bay inlets in the kayak. Pretty soon I'll switch over to bass fishing in the bass boat for winter.

I've always wondered exactly how far west those winter holes are. In southern NC, it's well known to be the tidal headwaters and creeks of the rivers. But I've never figured out exactly where it is for the OBX sounds, especially the ones north of Pamlico (Roanoke and Croatan, in particular). Maybe someday I'll figure it out.

I have never fished for them in the winter, but my understanding is that areas like Belhaven, Long Shoal, Rose Bay, etc. areas are good. This past February or so I was listening to the weekly fishing show with Captain Marty on it and he was mentioning Long Shoal as one of the trout hot spots. The guy who services the pool here does a lot of fishing and pointed me towards Belhaven area, but said that it gets crowded. If we have some warm(ish) days this late fall and winter I'll make the trek over to kill some time and explore. You have some good spots up in SE VA. I've never fished for trout there, but I follow the VA Speckled Trout Facebook group and some of those inland areas near Lynnhaven were hot this past winter and early spring. The Elizabeth river used to be a hot spot. I don't know if it still produces now that the "hot ditch" is no more, but I don't recall seeing the 8 lb trout pics on fishing reports anymore like I used to.

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You are right about Belhaven and the other areas, from what I've heard. What I'm curious about, is whether the trout from up around Manteo area go that far to spend winter, or if there is a similar winter hole for the trout in the more northern sounds. Or do they stay put? I always wonder this every year.

I ended up going to Rudee inlet for various reasons. Got 3 trout. Could not keep pinfish off my Zman plastics, and I think that legitimately prevented me from getting more trout, because I found a stretch that had them.

Water temp was 63...I think the trout bite has not really got into high gear yet, despite all the tackle shop reports.

Saturday was a bust. Tried a few spots further up the rivers since wind was dicey in VA Beach area. One bite, none landed. I had considered walking down the beach at Sandbridge to see if any drum or trout had pushed into surf zone. I now regret not doing that. Especially since that was what my gut was telling me.

I will attempt again sometime in about 2 weeks. Might make it down to OBX if time allows.

I've spent most of my life relentlessly chasing largemouth bass. I fish for them close to 200 days a year. And over the last 5 years, trout and drum have driven the obsession to a whole new level.

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What I'm curious about, is whether the trout from up around Manteo area go that far to spend winter, or if there is a similar winter hole for the trout in the more northern sounds. Or do they stay put? I always wonder this every year.

I don't know, but that's not all that far for a fish migration. The big drum are caught in the sound in the warmer months and then move out to the ocean. Stripers do big migrations, etc. Swimming 10-20 miles across the sound doesn't seem like a big move.

I've spent most of my life relentlessly chasing largemouth bass. I fish for them close to 200 days a year. And over the last 5 years, trout and drum have driven the obsession to a whole new level.

Ditto x10. I haven't seriously bass fished in a few years. I bass fished all through high school and college and in 2004 I bought a Triton and was 100% into bass fishing. I fished local clubs and tournaments a LOT. I started winding down ~2015 and by 2018 or so I pretty much hung it up although I still miss fishing certain lakes at certain times of the year. Shearon Harris lake in NC is an absolute beast. If I win the lotto I'm going to fish there every day in March and April and then transition to saltwater the remainder of the year. I wish I had discovered inshore saltwater fishing and kayaks decades ago.

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