THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605040368
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
COLUMN: Fishing on the Outer Banks
SOURCE: Damon Tatem
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Fishing was fairly good on northern beach piers Friday morning.
Anglers on Kitty Hawk Pier caught plenty of sea mullet, along with a few gray trout during the morning. Action was slower after the tide began to fall.
Sea mullet, croaker and gray trout were taken off and on during the day from Avalon Pier.
Nags Head Pier reported good spot and mullet fishing during the morning from the end of the pier, but action slowed during the afternoon.
Croaker, spot, sea mullet, small bluefish and a few trout were taken early in the day on Outer Banks Pier. Some bottom fish were landed in the afternoon.
On Hatteras Island, Rodanthe Pier reported slow fishing. A few bluefish were taken during the morning, and scattered pigfish and mullet were caught throughout the remainder of the day.
Anglers on Avon Pier caught a few flounder and sea mullet.
Some spot, tailor blues, flounder and big mullet were landed on the rising tide from Frisco Pier, but action stopped when the tide began to fall.
Small bottom fish, gray trout and an occasional tailor bluefish were beached in the surf from Corolla to Oregon Inlet. The best action was on the incoming tide, a couple of hours before high water.
Scattered bottom fish, a few gray trout and some speckled trout were landed around Oregon Inlet on Friday.
Sea mullet and small croaker were landed by surfcasters along the beach from Rodanthe to Buxton. Some gray trout also were taken from deeper sloughs on shrimp and bloodworms. Tailor bluefish were landed north of Avon during the morning.
A few yearling and puppy drum were beached at Cape Point Thursday night. A few flounder and bluefish were landed Friday.
Twelve- to 18-inch bluefish were caught in good numbers on cut bait by surf fishermen at Hatteras Inlet Thursday night. A few puppy drum, gray trout and mullet weighing as much as 1 1/4 pounds were landed along the beach from Ramp 55 to False Point on Friday.
Blue water fishing southeast of Oregon Inlet was productive Friday. Charters caught some limits of yellowfin tuna weighing between 20 and 35 pounds. Several larger yellowfin were reported. King mackerel catches also were good. A few dolphin and wahoo were taken. A blue marlin was released by the Tuna Fever.
Off Hatteras, yellowfin action was good, with boats averaging 12 tuna. Some wahoo and dolphin also were taken. Blue marlin were released by the Wahoo and the Gambler, sailfish by the Chaser and the Tom Cat, and spearfish by the Good Times, the Fin Fantasy and the Big Eye.
The water temperature was 54 degrees Friday at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pier in Duck, and 70 degrees at Frisco Pier on Hatteras Island. by CNB