DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710080428

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY ESTES THOMPSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: NAGS HEAD                         LENGTH:   81 lines

DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT SURF-FISHING? TRY OUT A SCHOOL CLASSES FOR CASTERS

Blood worms, mullet or just a Hopkins lure? A stiff 9-foot rod or flexible 11-footer? Bottom or flounder rigs? And what strength line to use? Do you have to keep the fish?

Now that surf-fishing season is ready to kick into high gear, these are a few of the questions facing a novice surf caster. But just walking into a crowded tackle shop and asking dumb questions can be intimidating.

A school might be the answer to enjoying the pursuit of bluefish, puppy drum, mackerel and flounder. Surf-fishing is a year-round sport, but some of the most exciting fishing occurs in late fall when the big bluefish began running along the coast.

Each of the two North Carolina schools includes a full day of classroom instruction where questions about rods, reels, line, bait, hooks and lures are answered.

``There's some intimidation factors involved in surf fishing. People get frightened about it,'' said Jeff McBane, host of a three-day school sponsored by the state aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. ``This helps them get past that. There's a lot of misnomers about surf fishing, like you need a 15-foot fishing rod.''

The aquarium school was held Oct. 3-5, and included a trip to Cape Lookout for a day of fishing. The cost this year was $95.

``A lot of folks who take the class are real precise learners. They take a lot of information and process it well,'' McBane said. ``But we have to remind them that you can have all the right equipment and the bait, and if the fish aren't there, they just aren't there.''

Another school is based in Nags Head and is hosted by Joe Malat and Mac Currin at Nags Head. The 4-year-old school covers basic skills. The school's 1997 schedule included an April class, a class for women in May and general sessions in September and Oct. 16-19. The Nags Head school costs $150.

``The past few years with people having a time crunch in their lives, they just want to have it presented in a capsule form,'' said Malat, who works as exhibit curator at the state aquarium on Roanoke Island. ``And we do.''

Currin also operates the annual 45-year-old sport-fishing school sponsored by North Carolina State University. That school, based in Hatteras and held in June, includes two trips to the Gulf Stream for marlin and other large fish, classroom lessons and surf-fishing instruction.

Currin said the surf schools can help a fisherman make the most of a family vacation. Usually, the fishing is done where the family sits on the beach. But knowledge about surf conditions can push the fishing spot a few hundreds yards along the beach and result in more fish being caught.

A fishing magazine sponsors fishing seminars during the winter, McBane said, but the one-day sessions don't include beach trips for hands-on experience.

``Other than seminars that people do at sports shows, there's not much like this out there,'' said Malat, who also wrote a simple paperback guide to surf-fishing.

The schools also aren't like hiring a fishing guide, whose goal is to take you to a spot where the fish are, but who may or may not be interested in teaching his skills, Malat said.

``I used to guide, and I really tried to teach them while I was taking them fishing,'' he said. ``Sometimes it cost me repeat business because they learned so much they didn't book me again.

Malat said the popularity of surf fishing has increased. An exhibit on saltwater recreational fishing at the Manteo aquarium has averaged 300,000 visitors this year.

For some beginners, the idea of keeping a fish limits their interest in surf casting.

``We have one whole panel in the exhibit on catch-and-release, and a lot of people sit there and read that, and they just didn't know you could let a fish go,'' Malat said. MEMO: Eds: For more information, contact Joe Malat at 919-441-4767 or

Jeff McBane at 919-247-4003, Ext. 151. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Top, fishing school instructor Mac Currin, left, helps first-time

fisherman Peter Strolis, right, of Flat Rock, with a skate Strolis

caught. At right, instructor Joe Malat shows students how to attach

a hook to a length of line. The Nags Head-based school hosted by

Currin and Malat has been teaching basic skills. It costs $150.

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