THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190379
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
COLUMN: FISHING ON THE OUTER BANKS
SOURCE: Damon Tatem
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Fishing along the Dare Coast was good at the beginning of the past weekend, but went downhill when the weather deteriorated.
Speckled trout were taken from deeper sloughs along the Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head beaches Saturday morning. Speckled trout also were landed north of Ramp 4 at Oregon Inlet. Quite a few striped bass were taken at a number of different locations along the northern beaches before the surf became rough.
Striped bass fishing was good on Nags Head Pier Saturday afternoon. Fish weighing between 18 and 22 pounds were caught on a variety of artificial baits.
Anglers trolling around Oregon Inlet landed a few stripers. But action was considerably better a short distance offshore along the Kitty Hawk beach where stripers, 15- to20 pounds, were plentiful.
The largest reported, weighing 32 pounds, was landed by Eddie Valdivieso of Kill Devil Hills aboard the Wetlands.
South of Oregon Inlet, plenty of speckled trout were beached by surfcasters using Mirrolures north of Rodanthe Pier, along the Avon beach, between Ramp 38 and Buxton and behind the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. The best action was Saturday morning. Scattered stripers also were beached in the Hatteras area.
Fishing was slow along the northern beaches Sunday because of gusty northeast winds and rough seas.
A few trout were landed along the Avon beach and from the beach south of Cape Point. Some action also was reported from the Hatteras Inlet area.
A few charters fished offshore Saturday landing only a handful of scattered tuna near ``the point,'' southeast of Oregon Inlet. Increasing winds during the morning cut the fishing day short. No trips were run Sunday because of the weather.
Striped bass fishing in the Manns Harbor area was good throughout the weekend. Fish were plentiful near the Manns Harbor bridge and north toward Mashoes.
Striped bass action should resume in the surf as soon as sea conditions improve.
The water temperature at the Army Corps of Engineers Pier in Duck was 46 degrees Monday. by CNB