Bill Hitchcock devoted his May 14 Saltwater Report to a fishery picking up speed despite an iffy weekend, with offshore crews already weighing tournament-grade blue marlin and a wave of bluefish dominating the surf and rocks on the Outer Banks.
Real Priority out of Morehead City headed the Hatteras Village Offshore Open standings on Thursday with the current leading marlin, a 487.4-pound blue brought to the scale by the boat's crew. Hitchcock read out the boat's own write-up of the catch on air, calling the fish "a huge shout out" to the crew. Out of the same fleet, Outrigger from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center turned in a small pile of dolphin and a black-fin tuna, while Dundee Sport Fishing put mahi, wahoo and a handful of amberjack on the box.
Inshore and from the beach, the bluefish blitz has continued. Hitchcock highlighted footage from Poacher, "Big blues again today. Smoking the big blues this morning," and a Hatteras light-tackle take from Spectacular: "There's probably one thing more fun than catching big sheep's head, and that's catching four-pound bluefish on top water lures on a slick calm day in Hatteras." Citation Bait and Tackle on Hatteras Island reported puppy drum, sea mullet and bluefish "up and down the beach," with an Avon angler scoring a 31-inch red drum and another a 28-and-a-half-inch citation drum on shrimp.
Hitchcock spent the news block on management. The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission was meeting in New Bern for its second day, weighing the back-to-back speckled-trout cold-stun winters of 2025 and 2026. According to the Division of Marine Fisheries report Hitchcock obtained on air, the January 2025 cold stun killed fish "from the Virginia line south to Wilmington," and a statewide temperature map confirmed cold-stun triggers had been met across the coast. Biologists said the trout population had largely rebounded by fall 2025 with no major loss of larger fish, but after a second severe freeze this past winter, the department will now study the combined impact before deciding whether additional management measures are needed.
On the federal side, Hitchcock detailed the US House's 391-to-18 vote in favour of HR 2071, the Save Our Shrimpers Act. The bill would require US representatives at international funding institutions to oppose financing for foreign shrimp farming, processing or export projects. "Supporters say the measure is aimed at stopping US-backed international loans from helping expand overseas shrimp production while American shrimpers face low prices and economic pressure," Hitchcock said. North Carolina Congressmen Donald Davis, Gregory Murphy and David Rouzer co-sponsored. The bill now moves to the Senate.
Also in the legislative file, Senate Bill 1008 in Raleigh, sponsored by Senators Michael Lazzara and Bobby Hanig, would create a pilot program permitting hardened shoreline structures in high-erosion areas, a partial reversal of North Carolina's 1985 ban on seawalls and similar projects. Hitchcock laid out both sides without taking one. Supporters argue for protecting threatened coastal property; critics warn that shoreline hardening can simply push the erosion problem next door.
On the water for the weekend, Hitchcock's wind read favoured calm Saturday and Sunday mornings, with the Outer Banks sitting around 8 to 13 knots out of the south-west by Saturday and dropping further Sunday. The cold-water eddy parked between Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo continues to push the temperature gradient hard, with sea-surface temperatures there sitting near 61 degrees Fahrenheit and climbing 10 to 11 degrees in the Gulf Stream just east. South Beach Hatteras, Ocracoke and Portsmouth Island have settled at 69 to 71, the inland sounds at 68 to 71, and Big Rock pushed 76 to 77. As Hitchcock put it: "Two things love 80-degree water temperatures, that is marlin and hurricanes."