THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511181621
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
COLUMN: Fishing on the Outer Banks
SOURCE: Damon Tatem
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Surf fishing for speckled trout was excellent along the Outer Banks on Friday.
Fish were landed from almost every slough along the beach. But the best action in the northern beach area was reported off the Village at Nags Head and north of the Outer Banks Pier.
Most of the trout weighed between 3 and 5 pounds. And plenty of fish topping the minimum citation weight of 4 pounds were taken. Gerry Martin of Springfield, Va., landed the largest speckled trout reported from the northern beach area. Martin's trout weighed 7.5 pounds and was caught from the north side of Oregon Inlet.
Mirrolures produced the best catches, with soft, plastic, artificial lures running a close second.
Surfcasters on the northern Outer Banks also caught scattered striped bass, including a 14-pounder beached north of Outer Banks Pier by Joseph Crosswhite of Nags Head.
Some good catches of nice-sized trout were reported north of Rodanthe Pier early in the day. Puppy drum, black drum and speckled trout were caught by surf fishermen from Rodanthe to Buxton.
Trout fishing was good late Thursday evening along the beach near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Stripers were landed from Cape Point during the night and early in the morning. Speckled trout were taken Friday near the lighthouse. And puppy drum, black drum and scattered speckled trout were landed at Cape Point.
Surfcasters caught 1- to 3-pound black drum, a few sea mullet, bluefish and puppy drum from Frisco to False Point on Friday.
Pier fishing was spotty along the northern beaches.
A handful of speckled trout were taken on Kitty Hawk Pier. Avalon Pier anglers caught a few trout and bluefish. Nags Head Pier reported slow fishing.
Two- to 3-pound speckled trout were landed from Jennette's Pier on bucktails most of the day.
Good trout catches were reported during the morning on Outer Banks Pier. Most of the fish hit green plastic artificial lures with red heads. Action slowed during the afternoon.
South of Oregon Inlet, anglers on Rodanthe Pier caught a few puppy drum and speckled trout. Sea mullet were landed from Avon Pier. A few black drum, puppy drum and speckled trout were decked on Frisco Pier.
Yellowfin tuna fishing was good southeast of Oregon Inlet around the 40615 Loran line. Although most of the fish were small, a few 60-pounders were reported. Some good catches of small king mackerel also were landed on Friday.
Hatteras charter boats caught plenty of citation king mackerel in 90 feet of water off Avon. Action was some of the best of the year. A blue marlin weighing an estimated 150 pounds was freed by The Release.
The water temperature at the Army Corps of Engineers Pier in Duck was 55 degrees Friday. by CNB