‘Hard to Top This One.' Fishermen Are Catching Bluefin Tuna Yards from the Beach in the Outer Banks

Yahoo

09-04-2025

'Hard to Top This One.' Fishermen Are Catching Bluefin Tuna Yards from the Beach in the Outer Banks
Bluefin tuna fishing outer banks shore
Updated April 9, 2025: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has shut down bluefin tuna fishing at Jennette's Pier in Nags Head, North Carolina. A pier spokesperson confirmed to Outdoor Life that a NOAA officer visited Jennette's Tuesday morning. This was after several local anglers had hooked or caught bluefins there, both from the pier and from their personal kayaks, over the weekend. The officer advised pier management that customers could not legally fish for bluefin tuna under federal law.
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'We were advised to remove all references to the bluefin bite from our social media platforms because it is considered promoting an illegal activity,' Jennette's Pier announced in a Facebook post.
Current Atlantic bluefin tuna regulations apply to fishing activities conducted from vessels. There is no specific federal regulation that specifically limits the landing of bluefin tuna from shore, because the species is typically caught well offshore. However, all anglers must comply with federal regulations that govern landing and retention limits for bluefin, and they are required to have the proper licenses, whether the fish are hooked miles or mere yards from the beach.
According to NOAA's Code of Federal Regulations: 'It is unlawful for any person or vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to fish for, catch, possess, retain, land, or sell Atlantic highly migratory species without the appropriate valid vessel permit with the appropriate endorsements.'
April 7, 2025 8:03PM EDT: Fishing is usually hot on Jennette's Pier this time of year, with anglers hooking plenty of croaker, bluefish, and sizable red drum. But landing deep-sea fish like bluefin tuna there is unheard of. Bluefin don't typically show up 1,000 feet from the sand. But someone apparently forgot to tell the fish that.
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For more than a week now, anglers fishing from Jennette's Pier in Nags Head, North Carolina, have been hooking sizable bluefin tuna right off the end of the pier — an unprecedented streak that has stunned locals and lit up the Outer Banks fishing community.
Seeing them almost within casting distance of the beach is incredibly unusual. But a confluence of conditions — the spring migration, ideal water temperatures, and massive schools of menhaden (also known as bunker) packed tightly to the coast — appears to have drawn the tuna to within spitting distance of the shoreline. Jennette's Pier staff and local anglers have recently confirmed that big menhaden schools in the area.
Greg Allen hooked multiple bluefin tuna before he finally landed one from the pier. Photo by Jennette's Pier / Facebook
The action kicked off the morning of March 31, when anglers hooked multiple bluefin. Videos from the scene show spinning reels screaming and rods doubled over as anglers tried to keep up with the freight-train strength of a bluefin. Greg Allen was lucky enough to hook up twice. The first one spooled him, and the second broke his line. In the end, nothing more exciting than some shad and small croaker hit the planks that day, according to Jennette's.
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Fighting tuna is addictive, though, and Allen wasn't about to throw in his bait towel. He was lucky enough to hook yet another bluefin while fishing from the pier on Sunday. After a 2-hour 30-minute fight, he managed to wrangle the tuna next to the pier, which is considered a catch. Jennette's Pier staff estimated the fish weighed between 150 and 175 pounds.
'Allen said he 'popped it off' and it swam away,' Jennette's Pier said in its Monday fishing report.
On April 4, Stefan Turko of Kitty Hawk landed an impressive 140-pound bluefin from his kayak while fishing off the end of Jennette's.
'I think it's gonna be hard for me to top this one for a long time,' Turko said in a Facebook post. 'Said a prayer on the way out for a safe day, and god blessed me more than I could imagine.'
Stefan Turko hooked his 140-pound bluefin from a kayak while fishing off the end of Jennette's. Photo by Oceans East Bait and Tackle / Facebook
A man stands next to a fishing pier holding a buefin tuna that is longer than he is tall.
Another kayak angler, Aki Min, hooked a 154-pound bluefin just yards off the pier on April 5. After going for a 3-mile ride courtesy of the massive fish, Min landed on the beach with the tuna, which was longer than he is tall, next to Jennette's Pier.
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'It will be hard to top this one,' Min said in a post. 'Let's all hope the fish stick around for a while, and some more people can get one. And maybe they'll be back in future years, too.'
James Carroll from Oceanview, Virginia landed a bluefin tuna from the OBX's Jennette's Pier Monday. Photo by Jennette's Pier / Facebook
Jennette's Pier confirmed Monday that another bluefin was hooked and released from the pier. Staff shared footage of James Carroll of Oceanview, Virginia, fighting the fish, as the large bluefin had his reel screaming.
Jennette's is a 1,000-foot-long concrete pier located in Nags Head. While water depth at the offshore testing area, which is just over 300 yards from the seaward end of the pier, is approximately 36 feet deep, water depths off the northern and southern sides of the pier only average 10 to 20 feet. The pier is just 10 miles north of Oregon Inlet, where a fleet of charter and recreational fishing boats head each morning to the Gulf Stream some 35 miles offshore to catch tuna.
Regulations around bluefin tuna remain strict. Monday's fish was properly released according to federal regulations. Jennette's Pier staff emphasized that anglers cannot legally keep bluefin caught from a pier or the shore.
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'These fish are usually 30 to 50 miles offshore,' one seasoned OBX angler told Outdoor Life. 'To see them caught right off the beach is insane.'
Greg Allen released the bluefin he hooked off Jennette's Pier. Photo by Jennette's Pier / Facebook
Atlantic bluefin tuna are the largest of the tuna species. They can grow up to 13 feet and weigh over 2,000 pounds. These deepwater giants live in the western Atlantic and range from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico, where they typically spawn in mid-April.
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If anglers keep hooking these deep-sea bluefins right off the pier, Jennette's could become a tuna hotspot, drawing anglers from up and down the East Coast.