THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511020195
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Tight Lines
SOURCE: Damon Tatem
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
PIER FISHERMEN along the Outer Banks have landed a variety of fish recently. Pompano have remained in the northern beach area longer than usual because of higher-than-normal water temperatures.
Tailor bluefish, puppy drum, sea mullet, spot and some nice pompano have been taken on Kitty Hawk Pier. Two 45-pound drum, also known as channel bass, were decked Oct. 28. A good run of trout, weighing between 2 and 3 pounds, developed midway out on the pier Oct. 31 and continued throughout the morning.
Anglers on Avalon Pier have caught scattered blues, pigfish, puppy drum, speckled trout, flounder and a few spot. A 5 3/4-pound speckled trout was landed from the pier Oct. 27 by Negas Niko of Bethany Beach, Del. The fish latched onto a green soft plastic lure.
A few keeper drum, small flounder, tailor blues and an occasional speckled trout weighing as much as 4 pounds, 4 ounces, have been taken from Nags Head Pier. Good numbers of nice-sized spot were landed from the pier Oct. 30.
Jennette's Pier also reported good spot fishing Oct. 30. Additionally, anglers have landed sea mullet, flounder, black drum, big croaker a few speckled trout. The biggest trout reported recently weighed 4 1/4 pounds and was taken Oct. 31 by John Thorp of Nags Head.
Fishermen on Outer Banks Pier have taken lots of small black drum, some speckled trout, nice-sized sea mullet and a few keeper puppy drum.
South of Oregon Inlet, anglers on Rodanthe Pier have landed puppy drum, tailor bluefish and bottom fish. Puppy drum fishing was excellent throughout the day Oct. 29. Four big drum, weighing between 30 and 42 pounds, were released during the night Oct. 28.
A few sea mullet, flounder and croaker have been taken from Avon Pier. A 40-pound drum was released from the pier after dark Oct. 28.
Puppy drum and sea mullet fishing on Frisco Pier was good Oct. 29 and 30.
Surf fishing along the northern beaches has been fair overall. Anglers have caught tailor blues, sea mullet and puppy drum from deeper sloughs. Scattered speckled trout were landed along the beach north of Avalon Pier during the morning Oct. 29 and again Oct. 30. A pretty good run developed early in the day Oct. 31 north of Kitty Hawk Pier. Fish weighing as much as 6 pounds were taken on artificial baits.
Fair numbers of puppy drum have been landed along the beach north of Oregon Inlet's Ramp 4. Some trout, small bottom fish and tailor bluefish have been taken from the inlet's south side. Night fishing for gray trout off the Bonner Bridge catwalk has been spotty, although a few good catches of large fish have been reported. The best action recently was Oct. 25 during the evening, when anglers using lights near the water caught plenty of 2- to 4-pound trout and scattered bluefish using fresh shrimp and mullet for bait.
Good catches of puppy drum were reported along the Pea Island beach Oct. 27, but grass and a strong running tide kept action to a minimum for the next few days.
Black drum, puppy drum and some nice sea mullet have been taken along the beach from Rodanthe to Buxton.
Puppy drum fishing has been fairly consistent at Cape Point, with the best catches made at night. Some bigger fish also have appeared in catches. Action was particularly good during the nights of Oct. 25 and 26. Some nice flounder, sea mullet and bluefish also have been taken at Cape Point.
Speckled trout fishing was good on the beach south of Cape Point Oct. 26 and 26. Most of the fish beached weighed between 2 and 4 pounds.
Puppy drum fishing also has been good in the surf from Frisco to False Point. Gray trout and bluefish have been taken with regularity at night around Hatteras inlet. Puppy drum fishing was particularly good during the night of Oct. 28th and during the day of Oct. 29.
Striped bass fishing in the Manns Harbor area has been super recently. Releases of good numbers of school fish and some larger fish weighing as much as 15 pounds have been credited to a wide variety of artificial lures, from bucktails to Rebels. Possession of striped bass is illegal at this time, but the season should be opening during the month.
King mackerel fishing has been good around the 70-degree tower northeast of Oregon Inlet. Most of the fish taken have been small.
Gulf Stream charters out of Oregon Inlet have caught dolphin and tuna and have released some billfish. Good white marlin action was reported Oct. 27. The fish were widely distributed from ``the point,'' southeast of Oregon Inlet, to areas well northeast of the inlet. Tuna fishing was good Oct. 31. Most of the action was in 30 to 40 fathoms north of ``the point.''
The headboat Miss Hatteras, operating south of Hatteras in 12 fathoms of water, has produced good catches recently of bee liners, sea bass and triggerfish weighing as much as 8 pounds. Headboat catches also have been good on the Avon Rocks, where some blackfin tuna and big king mackerel have been landed.
Hatteras bluewater charters have taken tuna, dolphin and wahoo. King mackerel fishing has been good inside ``the hook.'' A small blue marlin was released and six wahoo were landed by the Release on Oct. 31. by CNB