Carolina White Water

(Originally published Sep/Oct 2015)

By Jason Hawkins

Throughout the world of sport fishing, catching a blue marlin remains one of the great pursuits. Blues peel line. They demonstrate tangents atop the water. And a single blue encounter revs the soul and creates mayhem, just with a dorsal in the spread. Even Ernest Hemingway wrote of the allure of tugging against a mighty blue marlin.

Yet, off of the coast of North Carolina, where blue marlin tournaments such as the Big Rock and Pirates Cove bring elite offshore anglers each summer in search of a winning blue marlin, the recent charge of epic white marlin schools has diversified billfish targets while creating excellent light tackle opportunities.

White marlin, (Kajikia slbidus) are blue-water prowlers that prefer prowling in packs. They are believed to migrate to northern latitudes, traveling north along the North Carolina coast, by use of the flowing, warm, and prey rich Gulf Stream. The fish show in the spring in sparing numbers, with populations surging in the late months of summer and peaking during September.

Anglers from Morehead City to the grand stage entrance of Oregon Inlet pursue white marlin with vengeance as word and chatter of large schools occur.

Three years ago, the charter fleet of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center experienced mre than 1,500 white marlin releases; this number only accounted for charter boats, and does not include private and recreational anglers.

The state record