DATE: Sunday, April 13, 1997                TAG: 9704110251

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 23   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: HOW TO HOOK' EM 

SOURCE: Damon Tatem 

                                            LENGTH:   51 lines

FISH MIGRATIONS SHOULD IMPROVE CATCHES FOR PIER, BEACH ANGLERS

Pier fishing along the Outer Banks should continue to improve this week when more fish move into the area as they migrate up the coast.

Anglers on Frisco Pier should catch plenty of sea mullet, toadfish, small croaker and a few gray trout. Some puppy drum probably also will be taken. Most of the drum will be landed on fresh cut bait, while sea mullet prefer bloodworms and shrimp.

Avon and Rodanthe pier action should increase with a mixture of small bottom fish, some gray trout and a few bluefish landed.

Sea mullet and toadfish should appear regularly in catches from the five piers along the northern beaches. Small bluefish, spot, gray trout and a few nice speckled trout also should be taken by pier anglers in the area.

Surf fishing along the beach south of Cape Point should be good, with a wide variety of small bottom fish landed. Mixed sizes of drum should be beached by surfcasters at night in the False Point area.

Drum action also should be good at Cape Point. Night fishing when winds are from a southwesterly direction has proved to be the most productive time in past years.

Anglers fishing Cape Point during the day should be rewarded with small bottom fish, keeper flounder and some puppy drum. Big bluefish always are a possibility at Cape Point during April.

Increasing numbers of speckled trout should be taken north of Cape Point from deeper sloughs in Buxton and along the Avon beach.

Small bottom fish, tailor blues and a few puppy drum should provide surf fishing action from Avon to Oregon Inlet.

A few small bottom fish, little bluefish, gray trout and flounder will be landed by bridge anglers, boaters and surfcasters around Oregon Inlet. Bluefish action in the area should improve later in the month.

Surf fishermen from Oregon Inlet to Corolla should land toadfish, scattered sea mullet, small croaker, bluefish and a few trout.

Blue water charters off Oregon Inlet should find good concentrations of yellowfin tuna near the point. Most of the fish will average 20 to 30 pounds. But a few weighing more than 50 pounds should be taken.

Yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna, wahoo and dolphin should keep blue water fishermen off Hatteras busy. Bluefin tuna fishing should be slow because most of these big fish have moved north. King mackerel fishing should improve on the shoals and around the wrecks. ILLUSTRATION: File photo by DREW C. WILSON

Anglers wait for action last summer at Cape Point near Cape Hatteras

Lighthouse. Pier action and surf fishing should begin to improve as

the fish migration begins to increase.

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