A few days ago I saw a friend at a local gas station. Every time I saw him during the past two months he had a few fishing rods on the front bumper rack of his truck. But not this time, and with good reason. There’s no reason to go. The ocean along the northern Outer Banks has been practically devoid of life for several weeks, especially for all of January. There’s nothing biting in the surf. The stripers are doing the same thing they have done for the past two years, pleasing all of the Virginia anglers. The few charter boat captains who decided to move their boats from Oregon Inlet up to Rudee Inlet and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay for the winter made the right call.

I have not heard of any stripers being caught south of Corolla, and all of them have been taken by boaters. The last week in December was the last time I heard of any of them caught from the beach, and that was at night from the surf near Corolla on live eels. Frankly, if you are willing to be out on the beach in the dead of night in 30-degree weather, you deserve to catch all of the fish you can handle.

Surfcasters along Hatteras Island have recently reported some dogfish, smaller sharks and skates. Cape Point near Buxton produced some scattered puppy drum, some black drum on shrimp and a very sporadic and occasional speckled trout was beached near the jetties at Buxton.

Only a few folks were willing to brave the weather to fish Ocracoke’s beaches. They were rewarded with some black drum, puppy drum and a few speckled trout. As we enter the second week of January, the South Beach of Hatteras Island or Ocracoke continues to be best bet, but the way the weather has been changing lately, you could be a hero or a zero, and your chance for success is literally blowing in the wind. We’ve had a few decent days, but the wind has been blowing excessively from any number of directions for most of the month, sometimes making fishing impossible.

Charter boats running out of Oregon Inlet were heading way north to find the stripers, but when they got on ‘em, they were some big fish! There were plenty caught in the 25 to 40-pound range. Twelve miles north of Oregon Inlet was the closest bite I heard about.

Soundside action is just about as slow. The season for stripers in the Albemarle Sound Management Area continues to be open until April 30, or until the quota is reached. Minimum size is 18-inches and the limit is 3 fish per person per day.

It’s time for cleaning out the tackle box, putting line on reels, getting rigged up for next season and watching fishing shows on television.