THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604040466
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
COLUMN: Fishing on the Outer Banks
SOURCE: Damon Tatem
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Offshore fishing in the Hatteras area was excellent Wednesday. Medium-sized king mackerel were plentiful around ``The Rockpile.''
Yellowfin tuna fishing also was outstanding, as was bluefin tuna fishing. Good catches of 50-to-70 pound yellowfins were landed from deep water behind ``The Rockpile.''
Probably the most exciting news of the season so far was the release of a blue marlin by The Release and another by The Eagle. Several other blues were seen. A sailfish also was released and one was lost by the Tuna Duck.
Charter craft off Oregon Inlet also reported fairly good catches of yellowfin tuna in the 20- to 60-pound range.
Rough weather Tuesday kept inshore fishing to a minimum along the Outer Banks. About the only action reported was along the beach in the Frisco area, where a few small puppy drum, flounder and a little bluefish were taken.
Improved conditions Wednesday resulted in some pier catches. A skate was landed on Kitty Hawk Pier. Avalon Pier anglers caught some 11-to 12-inch croaker from the end of the pier.
Nags Head Pier reported quite a few one-pound croaker taken on squid from the middle of the pier. A few skates were landed by anglers on Outer Banks Pier.
A few skates were taken from Rodanthe Pier on Hatteras Island. A school of 2-to 4-pound bluefish heading north was seen about a half mile off the beach by pier anglers.
Frisco Pier fishermen caught one puppydrum, a black drum and a few toadfish during the day.
Surf fishing along the northern beaches was slow Wednesday.
A little action was reported in the Cape Point area, where some toadfish were beached. Several puppy drum were taken by surfcasters in the Frisco area. Netters south of Cape Point landed some good hauls of gray trout.
The water temperature at the Army Corps of Engineers Pier in Duck was 46.5 degrees Wednesday. by CNB