DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9710310325

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 19   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: HOW TO HOOK 'EM 

SOURCE: Damon Tatem 

                                            LENGTH:   79 lines

SURF FISHING SHOULD BE GOOD ON INTO NOVEMBER

SURF-CASTERS ALONG the northern beaches should catch a variety of fish from deeper sloughs this week. Some spot and croaker should be landed, but most have moved south.

Fresh cut bait should work for tailor bluefish when the water is dirty, and artificial lures such as Hopkins or Gators when the surf is clear. An occasional big bluefish could show up at any time.

Sloughs north of Kitty Hawk Pier should yield speckled trout early in the morning when the wind is light and the surf is clear. Most of these fish, some weighing as much as 6 pounds, will be taken on soft plastic lures or Mirrolures.

A few will be landed on cut bait, especially if the water is stirred up. Trout fishing also should be good in other deeper sloughs scattered along the beach from Kitty Hawk to Oregon Inlet.

Some gray trout probably will be hauled from sloughs by anglers fishing for speckled trout.

The gray trout stock has improved dramatically over the past couple of years. Fishermen in Delaware and New Jersey have reported improved gray trout fishing this past summer, with some weighing as much as 6 pounds.

If the surf is rough, good numbers of puppy drum should be beached. Puppy drum (red drum, channel bass) must be 18 inches or longer. Otherwise, they must be released alive. Anglers can keep five fish per person per day between 18 and 27 inches long. An angler can keep only one drum per day over 27 inches long.

Striped bass should be landed by surf-casters along the northern beaches, and the action should improve as water temperatures drop.

Stripers will be caught on a variety of artificial lures from bucktails to surface plugs. Many will be taken on cut bait. No person may possess striped bass from the Atlantic Ocean that are less than 28 inches. Anglers may not retain more than two stripers taken by hook and line in any one day.

Fishing around Oregon Inlet in the surf and from the revetment and the bridge catwalk should be good. Anglers should land bluefish, puppy drum and flounder.

Gray trout fishing should be good from the Bonner Bridge catwalk, particularly at night.

Stripers should be taken regularly from the surf, the catwalk and the revetment, and by boaters fishing around the bridge pilings and on the bar east of the inlet.

South of Oregon Inlet, scattered speckled trout should be landed from deeper sloughs such as those north of Rodanthe Pier. Stripers should be taken regularly along with keeper puppy drum by surf-casters from Rodanthe to Buxton.

Good numbers of sea mullet should be beached in the same area by fishermen using bloodworms and shrimp for bait. Tailor blues, flounder, and an occasional big drum also should be taken.

At Cape Point, sea mullet, black drum, puppy drum, stripers and bluefish should be landed.

Some big drum should be landed at night and a few during the day. Drum generally are landed on fresh cut bait, either mullet or menhaden. The best action is during southwest winds.

Flounder fishing should be fairly good along the beach south of Cape Point. Sea mullet and trout also should be taken in the area.

Sea mullet, bluefish, black drum and puppy drum should be hauled from the surf from Frisco to Hatteras Inlet. Blues, trout and mixed-sized drum should be landed in the Hatteras Inlet area, with some of the best fishing at night.

Pier fishing along the northern beaches should be good, depending on the weather.

A few small bottom fish should be taken, but the best of the spot action is over for the year. Gray and speckled trout should be landed along with fair numbers of one- to two-pound bluefish.

Sea mullet weighing about one pound should be fairly abundant when the water is dirty and the tide is rising. Increasing numbers of keeper stripers should be taken on bait and lures.

Piers on Hatteras Island between Oregon Inlet and Cape Point should produce some big drum. Action usually is good at night in early November.

King mackerel action is a possibility, particularly on Frisco Pier. Six king mackerel weighing between 15 and 34 pounds were landed from Frisco Pier last year during the first week of November.

Blue-water action off Oregon Inlet should be fair to good, but everything depends on the weather.

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