THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603140143
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Tight Lines
SOURCE: Damon Tatem
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Bluefin tuna fishing well south of Hatteras was good March 5 and 6, but the recent stormy weather has kept offshore angling to a minimum.
A few boats went offshore hunting bluefin tuna March 9, but found only a few small yellowfin tuna south of ``the rockpile.'' Commercial netters report that some bluefish have begun to appear around wrecks off Ocracoke. Good numbers of bluefin tuna have fed on the bluefish around these wrecks during the past several winters. Hopefully, the bluefin tuna have moved inshore around the wrecks.
Quite a few medium-sized bluefins were seen by commercial gill netters March 8 in Hatteras Inlet, inshore of the sea buoy. The fish apparently were feeding on menhaden, some of which were donated by the commercial crew.
With water temperatures along the Nags Head beach running about 40 degrees, it's little wonder that surf fishing is slow. No activity has been reported from the Hatteras surf, either, where readings are a few degrees higher.
Striped bass fishing was excellent in the Croatan Sound March 5. Anglers caught and released plenty of 5- to 10-pound stripers by both trolling and casting along the west end of the Manns Harbor bridge. Good numbers of fish also were landed by anglers casting lures from the northwest shore adjacent to the bridge.
Action was good again the following day in Croatan Sound and also in the Alligator River area. Stripers also were plentiful throughout the day around the Daniels Bridge on the Nags Head-Manteo causeway. Green hairy worm-type bucktails continued to be the top producers. Fish around the Daniels Bridge were very reluctant to hit Rat-L-Traps, which are usually the more effective artificial lures.
Action in the sound slowed dramatically March 7, because of rough weather and falling temperatures.
Hopefully, the weather will straighten out soon, water temperatures will begin to rise and fish will begin their annual migration north along the Dare Coast. MEMO: Damon Tatem covers Outer Banks fishing for The Carolina Coast. Send
comments and questions to him at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head, N.C. 27959 or
e-mail to realkidd(AT)aol.com by CNB