DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310655

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

COLUMN: Fishing on the Outer Banks 

SOURCE: Damon Tatem 

                                            LENGTH:   55 lines

SMALL BLUEFISH LEAD THE CATCH ON A SLOW DAY

Pier fishing along the northern beaches was fairly slow Thursday, with small bluefish making up the bulk of the catch.

Kitty Hawk Pier reported plenty of small blues, scattered small flounder and a keeper puppy drum landed.

Lots of four- to eight-inch bluefish were taken throughout the day on Avalon Pier. A flounder and a puppy drum were landed.

Good numbers of small blues were caught on Nags Head Pier, and quite a few small puppy drum were released during the day.

Fishermen on Jennette's Pier landed small bluefish and five keeper speckled trout, and released a few small puppy drum.

Small bluefish and an albacore were decked during the morning on Outer Banks Pier. Throwback puppy drum were hooked and released on soft plastic artificial lures in the late afternoon.

South of Oregon Inlet, anglers on Rodanthe Pier caught a few trout early in the morning. Scattered keeper puppy drum were taken later in the day.

Lots of small gray trout were hooked and released off and on during the morning on Avon Pier.Sea mullet fishing was good in the afternoon.

Frisco Pier reported slow fishing with a handful of flounder, bluefish and sheepshead taken.

A few speckled trout were hauled from the surf north of Kitty Hawk Pier, near Kitty Hawk Village Road, and from a number of other sloughs along the northern beaches.

Several keeper stripers were taken along the northern beaches, including an 11-pounder by Bob Burgess of Kitty Hawk and a 13-pounder by Roy Jones of Nags Head.

Puppy drum and a few striped bass were beached around Oregon Inlet.

Small blues and skates were landed by surf casters from Rodanthe to Buxton. Quite a few small stripers were released in the area.

Good numbers of speckled trout were caught in the surf near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Lots of small bluefish were taken at Cape Point, and boaters off Cape Point did well on big drum.

Gray and speckled trout were taken on cut bait in the Hatteras Inlet surf Wednesday night. Mullet and flounder fishing was good in the surf from Ramp 55 to Hatteras Inlet Thursday.

Plenty of eight- to 15-pound king mackerel were landed by charters off Oregon Inlet near the 102-degree tower. A 32-pound king mackerel was landed by the Smoker. Tuna were scarce.

Lots of speckled trout were landed by boaters in the sound behind Hatteras Inlet.

Hatteras charters caught good numbers of king mackerel near the stink wreck. Half of the kings were taken on live bait.

King mackerel action should be good for boaters off the Dare coast this weekend if winds aren't strong.

The water temperature was 62 degrees Thursday at the Army Corps of Engineers Pier in Duck, and 72 degrees at Frisco Pier on Hatteras Island.

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