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NAGS HEAD, N.C. — It's not every day, every month or every year that an orca is spotted off the coast of North Carolina, but that's just what happened last week miles offshore of Kitty Hawk.

“We shouted so loud, we blew out the audio panel in the plane," said Meghan Bradley, the lead for the North Carolina Right Whale Aerial Survey Team.

That was Meghan Bradley and her team’s reaction once they got close enough to confirm it.

“We thought it was a right whale calf at first. Thought it was a shark at first, and then we realized what we were looking at," said Bradley.

“There have been sightings of killer whales in North Carolina waters before, but boy, are they rare," said Dr. Ann Pabst, professor emerita at University of North Carolina Wilmington and a Marine Mammal Biologist.

Dozens of different species of mammals have been documented in the Outer Banks and North Carolina’s coast.

“We have a lot of whale diversity, lots of different species, and that's probably the oh wow of my career. I just didn't see that coming. I think we've documented 35 different species of just cetaceans, which is a taxonomic term that refers to whales, dolphins and porpoises,” said Keith Rittmaster, the director for Bonehenge Whale Center.

"It's off the North Carolina coast where the "cold finger" or the Labrador Current meets the Gulf Stream. So we have a high diversity of species, both southern species and northern species, and we also have very nutrient-rich waters. North Carolina is the place because it offers resources for our whales, our whales are here for either feeding or moving or probably giving birth," said Pabst.

In the Outer Banks specifically, some of the ones we might see are North Atlantic Right Whales and Humpback Whales. An unusual mortality event has been declared for both, Humpback Whales since 2016 and Right Whales since 2017. A dead juvenile humpback washed up in Kitty Hawk in late December of last year.

“Two days ago we surveyed and right at the shelf break, about 30 miles offshore of Rodanthe, there was just a pile of 40-50 humpbacks in that area, so definitely a hot spot for them this time of year," said Bradley.

Since late fall of last year, dozens of right whales have been documented on North Carolina’s coast.

“We've narrowed it down to 41 individual Right Whales, and just to put that into perspective, they are critically endangered, and that's around 11% to 12% of the species sighted on the North Carolina coast since November," said Bradley.

Though it's special for any person to be able to see whales in their natural habitat, researchers are also thinking about conservation efforts. That includes fishing line entanglements, ship strikes and even marine debris like balloons.

“We don't really understand yet how climate change will be affecting all of these species. As waters warm, as prey move, and the threats that these animals face as they make these movements, from ship strikes and entanglements is a real concern for all of us," said Vicky Thayer, the North Carolina Marine Mammal Stranding coordinator.

"There has been a big push now to look for ropeless gear, which is a really cool new technology that you don't have vertical line anymore. We know that these whales are entangled in vertical line pretty extensively," said William McLellan, an adjunct professor at UNCW and the co-founder of the Marine Mammal Stranding Program at the school.

NAGS HEAD, N.C. — “It's finally starting to pay off."

That's how Shaka's Beach Bar & Grill general manager Kenny Summers is feeling after the first few weeks of the Nags Head restaurant being open.

"We spent about a month in here, probably 13 hour days, mornings, nights, kind of redoing everything. From custom built booths, all the light fixtures, repainting the walls, brand new tables, some new floors," said Summers.

The hard work is already paying off: We spoke to four locals enjoying lunch at the restaurant on Monday who, like many, are buzzing about the restaurant.

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“The menu is great, the service is great. I’m a burger person and this burger is kick-butt," said June Livesay, who has lived in the Outer Banks for 30 years.

"When I saw they had haddock on the menu, that was my first try and very good," said Karen Gaca, who has lived in the Outer Banks for 13 years.

We checked in to see if the restaurant has had any challenges getting started. Rising food costs and staffing weren't on that list, but they have been working to lock down locally-sourced items.

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"The biggest challenge was finding some locally-sourced things and whatnot. So we've kind of played around with a couple different people, as far as oysters, shrimp, clams, all that good stuff. So we're kind of still up in the air on a few of them, but we found a lot of good people," said Summers.

That’s all part of the process though and what the restaurant is seeing every day is a community that is happy to have them here.

“Our main focus is the locals. I really appreciate all the locals giving a welcome with open arms," said Summers.

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Summers shared they have a lot in store for the summer season as they continue to get their feet under them.

"It's really all about the locals for us. We're working on building our happy hour specials, everything like that, but we want to give them a spot year-round to kind of come hang out. Once we get our outside area opened up, we'll be doing live music and whatnot," said Summers.

For more information about the restaurant, head to its website here.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

“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.”

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.

“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.”

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.

Alice Jones Webb is a staff writer for Outdoor Life, covering everything from breaking news to in-depth gear reviews. She lives in rural North Carolina with her non-hunting husband, a codependent dog, and a well-stocked chest freezer.

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