THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9504200210
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 26 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Tight Lines
SOURCE: Damon Tatem
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Pier fishing from Kitty Hawk to Nags Head improved this past week as water temperatures inched up into the mid-50s. Anglers from both Kitty Hawk Pier and Avalon Pier caught nice-sized speckled trout sporadically, using bucktails and plastic artificial baits. Catches on Nags Head Pier and Jennette's Pier consisted of skates, blowtoads, a few small blues and a couple of trout. Fishermen on Outer Banks Pier caught skates, toadfish, some small trout and a few sea mullet.
Pier action has been good on Hatteras Island, where water temperatures have been averaging from 5 to 10 degrees warmer than Nags Head. Anglers fishing from Rodanthe Pier have caught scattered toadfish and sea mullet. Mullet fishing has been good almost every day on Avon Pier. Frisco Pier has reported excellent mullet and toadfish catches, with anglers carrying fish home by the cooler-full.
Surf fishing along the northern beaches has been slow. Fishermen have had little luck except around Oregon Inlet, where some mullet, toadfish and a few blues have been landed. Anglers fishing ``the pond'' on the north side of Oregon Inlet have reported fair catches of speckled trout and small puppy drum.
Trout have started showing up in their normal summertime haunts in area sounds. A few have been landed by anglers fishing from the Daniels Bridge on the Manteo causeway, and also from the off-island channel behind the Bodie Island lighthouse. A few gray and speckled trout catches have been reported from Croatan Sound.
Hatteras Island surf fishing has been good. Anglers have taken some toadfish, trout and sea mullet along the beach from Rodanthe to Avon. Some of the better mullet catches have been reported from the beach south of ramp 38. At Cape Point, more than 50 drum were beached during Friday night, April 14. Action slacked off on Saturday night but improved on Sunday night with around 18 big fish taken.
Sea-mullet fishing has been good in the surf from Cape Point south to Hatteras Inlet. Action in this area did slow down a little over the past weekend due to lots of seaweed close to the beach.
Southeast of Oregon Inlet, yellowfin tuna fishing has been great, with most charters limiting out after spending only a few hours fishing. A blue marlin was released by a private boat operating out of Pirate's Cove last Sunday, but marlin have been generally scarce. Dolphin fishing has been improving with some nice-sized fish taken, including a 44-pounder landed by Alfred Bottke of Fredericksburg, Va., while fishing aboard the charter boat ``Surfside.''
Blue water action off Hatteras has been fair to good. Anglers have caught dolphin, scattered wahoo and fair numbers of tuna. Last weekend a blue marlin was released by ``The Release,'' and a spearfish by ``The Gambler.'' Big bluefish continue to be available on wrecks south of Hatteras, along with some scattered jumbo bluefin tuna. The headboat ``Miss Hatteras'' has limited out regularly on big blues, and has caught a few bluefin tuna on just about every trip.
Fishing over the next week should be good. More sea mullet should begin to appear along the northern beaches as the water warms. Speckled trout action in the sound will continue to improve. The numbers of dolphin caught offshore from Oregon Inlet and Hatteras should increase dramatically by the end of the month. MEMO: Damon Tatem covers fishing for The Carolina Coast. Send correspondence
to him at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head, N.C. 27959.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Al Minter,48, of Vinton, Va., caught a 3-pound speckled trout
Tuesday off the Kitty Hawk Pier. The lure: Fin-S grub.
by CNB