DATE: Sunday, September 28, 1997            TAG: 9709260426

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 27   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: HOW TO HOOK 'EM  

SOURCE: Damon Tatem 

                                            LENGTH:   87 lines

SPOT, CROAKER CATCHES SHOULD BE GOOD

SURF FISHING ALONG the Dare coast should get into full swing this week as cooler weather arrives and inshore water temperatures fall.

Spot and croaker fishing should be good along the beach at most locations. Some of the spot landed will weigh more than a half-pound. And a few croaker weighing more than 2 pounds should be taken.

Most of the spot will be caught on bloodworms. Croaker hit just about any type of fresh or frozen bait.

Some nice sea mullet should be taken by surf fishermen using sand fleas or fresh shrimp. These tasty fish also are taken quite often on bloodworms. Most anglers use a number 3 or 4 hook for sea mullet. Bear Paw spinner hooks are quite popular and also prove effective.

Pompano should be taken in fair numbers in the surf along south Hatteras beaches. Few if any will be landed from Corolla to Oregon Inlet.

Flounder action should be pretty good in the surf, particularly around Oregon Inlet, Cape Point and along beaches south of the Cape. Live minnows are very effective. But strips of squid, flounder belly and mullet used on spinner hooks also are hard to beat. Flounder prefer active bait, therefore the strips should be moved across the bottom.

Bluefish should be taken by surfcasters all along the Outer Banks. Lures will be productive if the water is clear. Cut bait on either bottom rigs or fireballs should do the trick if the water is dirty.

The best action generally is early in the morning and late in the afternoon, although blues can suddenly appear and feed voraciously any time of the day.

Spanish mackerel should be beached by surf fishermen. But most of this action will occur on the lower end of Hatteras Island from Cape Point to Hatteras Inlet.

Puppy drum fishing should be good, with small fish plentiful and fair numbers of keepers landed from Corolla to Hatteras Inlet.

Yearlings and big drum should be taken nightly at Cape Point and Hatteras Inlet. A few also could be landed in the Oregon Inlet surf.

Most of the drum will be caught on fresh cut mullet or menhaden. Peeler crabs also produce results. And smaller drum will hit sand fleas and shrimp regularly.

Pier fishing also should be good this week along the Outer Banks if the weather cooperates.

Pier anglers should enjoy good spot fishing if winds are northeast. Most of the spot should be good size, in some cases weighing almost a pound.

Quite a few of the large spot will be ``yellow bellies,'' so-called because of the golden yellow coloration of their lower bodies. Most of these fish have spent their summer in the Chesapeake Bay and are migrating south for the winter.

Pier fishermen also should catch a variety of other bottom fish including croaker, sea mullet and a few pigfish.

Some keeper flounder should be taken by anglers using live minnows or strip bait. Most of the nice flounder will be caught well inshore next to and under piers.

Bluefish should be fairly abundant on ocean piers. They will be landed on jiggers and bucktail rigs if the water is fairly clear. They will be taken on cut bait if the water is muddy.

Some Spanish Mackerel will be taken too. But most of this action will be on Frisco Pier on the south end of Hatteras Island.

Puppy drum, most under the legal size limit, will be released by pier fishermen at most locations.

Some larger drum should be landed from the ends of Rodanthe and Avon piers. Fair numbers of yearlings already have been landed from Avon Pier this month.

Quite a few gray trout should be taken from piers along both the northern and southern beaches. Speckled trout action should improve with northern beach pier anglers landing some 2- to 3-pound fish on mornings when water conditions are good.

Trolling a few miles off Oregon Inlet should be pretty good for school king mackerel when sea conditions are moderate. Most of the fish landed will weigh between 8 and 15 pounds, and probably will be taken on planers and Drone spoons.

Yellowfin tuna fishing should be good in the Gulf Stream off Oregon Inlet, with fish weighing as much as 50 pounds common. Dolphin fishing should be fair. Billfishing should be slow overall as the season is just about over.

Inshore trolling off Hatteras should be good with king mackerel, bluefish and a few Spanish mackerel appearing in catches. Drift fishermen in the Hatteras Inlet area should land some good catches of flounder and trout.

Blue-water charters off Hatteras should land good numbers of wahoo, dolphin and scattered tuna. A few billfish should be hooked and released. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW WILSON

Earl Bryant, 51, of Warrenton, N.C., right, tries to set the hook as

he fishes near the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge at Oregon Inlet on

Monday.

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