Along the coast of North Carolina, the arrival of May means the start of billfish tournament season. Billfish are predatory fish that are large in size and have long bill or sword-like beaks. Billfish can weigh over 1000 pounds and often grow to be longer than 13 feet. Marlin, Sailfish, Swordfish, and Spearfish are all billfish and they are popular offshore game fish. Similar to birds, billfish are migratory animals and are constantly following warm waters. By the beginning of May, ocean waters off the North Carolina coast are starting to creep closer to Gulf Stream temperatures, and migrating billfish will have anglers out in droves from the Norfolk Canyon just north of North Carolina to the Charleston Bump. just south of North Carolina. Is it any wonder that anglers travel to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to fish for some of the most beautiful blue and white marlin, sailfish, spearfish and swordfish on the planet? Beaufort Inlet is the destination most identified with blue marlin fishing. Anglers dream of hooking this beautiful fish, which is cobalt-blue and silver in color, has a prominent dorsal fin, and a dangerous spear-shaped beak. The fishery is at its peak in May and June, but it is steady from April through mid-to-late September, when some of the largest fish have been caught on or around the full moon. It is not uncommon to have multiple shots at blues in one day, especially in the peak summer months. Though most fish come from the 100-fathom curve or deeper, charter boats often see blue marlin while targeting dolphin and other meat fish in shallower depths.
But, just going out into the ocean and running around isn’t the way to catch billfish. For starters, most bill fishing is done with big (35- to 70-feet long) charter boats. The best locations for bill fishing are submarine features where the Gulf Stream crosses massive structures and mixes waters with nutrients from the bottom. Due east of Virginia Beach, the Norfolk Canyon is a cleft of an ancient river that drained the middle Atlantic seaboard millions of years ago. The steep old river banks plummet thousands of feet and proliferate with sponges, corals, and other life that attract predatory fish. The next-best spot is The Point east of Oregon Inlet, where the Continental Shelf makes a bend parallel to the shorelines of North Carolina and Virginia, and the southward rushing Labrador Current crashes into the warm water Gulf Stream. Like the Norfolk Canyon, currents sweep nutrients upward to nourish plankton blooms and bring predators. Farther south, the major feature east of Morehead City is the Big Rock, a flat-topped plateau that is part of the Bahamas Banks. Even farther south is the Charleston Bump, a bigger plateau at the edge of the shelf, so large it extends almost the entire length of the South Carolina coast and is almost 17 miles wide in the middle.
Blue marlin range everywhere but usually swim at 100 fathoms or deeper. Blues are most common in May through August as they migrate north and south chasing warmer waters. They follow prey like other fish and are capable of eating dolphins and small tunas. Sailfish like hotter water and come closer to shore than other billfish. Their peak is summer in North Carolina when there’s no temperature difference between the Gulf Stream and coastal waters. Sails will chase bait in 20 feet of water, which means they’re occasionally hooked from fishing piers. The port of Morehead City produces lots of white marlin, mostly during late August or early September when all the whites in the middle Atlantic Bight come together prior to their non-stop dash to South Florida and beyond. White marlin prefer deeper water than sails, with 50 fathoms a good starting point to look for them.Generally the average Atlantic Coast sailfish weighs 35 pounds, the average white marlin 75 pounds, and the average blue marlin 300 pounds, although blues get larger than 1,000 pounds.
Clearly, summertime is the best time for sport fishing off the North Carolina coast, as the billfish stick around for most of the summer months. Indeed, in a little over a month, some lucky boat will reel in the blue marlin of a lifetime at the Big Rock, the flat-topped plateau off the coast of Morehead City. Started in 1957, the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament has evolved into one of the biggest fishing tournaments in the world and offering a purse exceeding $1 million in each of the past 16 years, attracts anglers from all around the globe. This year, the 64th Annual event will take place June 10th-19th at the Big Rock Landing in Morehead City. Large crowds will gather around the weigh station at the tournament’s waterfront headquarters daily, producing one of the most epic scenes in the sport-fishing industry. The experience of watching a boat back into the slip with a big blue will send chills down anyone’s spine. In the last five years, the average size of the winning fish has been 610 pounds; in 2015 alone, four fish over 500 pounds were brought to the docks, with the biggest being 680 pounds.
That’s not the first action Big Rock Landing in downtown Morehead City will see this summer. Anglers can head to the Gulf Stream this summer for a series of offshore billfish tournaments that are part of the NC Billfishing Series. Half of these billfish tournaments will take place off the coast of Morehead City, beginning with the Swansboro Rotary Memorial Day Bluewater Tournament on May 26-29 which is the second competition in a slate of eight that make up the N.C. Billfish Series.
The entire series is as follows: Hatteras Village Offshore Open on May 10-14, Swansboro Rotary Tournament on May 26-29, Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament on June 1-4, Big Rock on June 13-19, Hatteras Grand Slam on July 6-9, Big Rock Kids Tournament on July 13-16, Ducks Unlimited Billfish Tournament on July 20-23 and Pirates Cove Billfish Tournament on Aug. 13-19. Both Big Rock tournaments, the Swansboro Rotary tournament and the Ducks Unlimited tournament will take place at Big Rock Landing. The series awards release points for blue marlin, white marlin and sailfish. There were 183 billfish caught in last year’s series, with only six weighed. The remaining 72 blue marlin, 76 white marlin and 31 sailfish were all released for a 97 percent release rate.
The Big Rock is still a few weeks away, but the North Carolina billfish tournament season is in full swing this week. Who knows what monster blues await the downtown Morehead City weigh station this summer? Fishing isn’t just a sport – it’s a way of life on the Crystal Coast. From massive billfish tournaments and spectacular catches that break world records to lazy fall days when the red drum catch is hot, there’s a lot to discover and adore when it comes to fishing on the Crystal Coast. To learn more about sport fishing along the Crystal Coast along the coast of North Carolina, go to my website, www.EmeraldIsleHomesforSaleNC.com and sign up for my blog. Ready to buy or sell? Call me at 919-308-2292. Explore the video tab for my weekly uploads to my YouTube channel. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and receive free donuts at my Flip Flops Donut shop. Text your email address to 919-308-2292 and subscribe to my newsletter. My book, "Live Where You Vacation" is available on Amazon.com.
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