DATE: Friday, October 17, 1997              TAG: 9710170664

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

COLUMN: FISHING ON THE OUTER BANKS 

SOURCE: Damon Tatem

                                            LENGTH:   49 lines

PIERS PROVED THE RIGHT PLACES TO BE FOR BEST ANGLING

Pier fishing was good all along the Dare coast Thursday.

Plenty of spot, some weighing as much as 14 ounces, were caught from Kitty Hawk Pier. A few small puppy drum were hooked and released.

Fair numbers of spot, small flounder and a few small bluefish were landed on Avalon Pier.

Nags Head Pier reported a mixture of spot, small bluefish and small speckled trout taken.

Lots of spot, small puppy drum, small bluefish and a few keeper speckled trout were caught by anglers on Jennette's Pier.

Fishermen on Outer Banks Pier landed black drum weighing as much as 7 pounds, some nice 16- to 17-inch bluefish, flounder and spot. Quite a few small puppy drum were released, along with a few small stripers.

On Hatteras Island, five king mackerel weighing 15 to 18 pounds were decked Thursday morning on Rodanthe Pier. Lots of sea mullet and spot were landed later in the day.

Fishing was good on Avon Pier, with sea mullet, spot, croaker, gray trout, flounder and a 4-pound black drum taken.

Plenty of sea mullet were caught from Frisco Pier throughout the afternoon. A few keeper flounder, spot, pompano, gray trout and scattered puppy drum also were taken.

Scattered bottom fish and bluefish were landed by surfcastersalong the northern beaches and around Oregon Inlet. Gray trout fishing has been quite good on the Bonner Bridge catwalk at night.

Sea mullet fishing was good in the surf from Rodanthe to Buxton Thursday. Scattered spot, gray trout and bluefish also were taken.

A keeper striper was beached near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on Thursday morning. Flounder and gray trout were landed along the beach south of Cape Point during the day.

Good catches of bluefish were reported from the Hatteras Inlet area, along with some puppy drum Wednesday evening. A few flounder and gray trout were landed by surf fishermen from Ramp 55 to Hatteras Inlet on Thursday.

Blue water action off Oregon Inlet was fair Thursday, with a few yellowfin tuna landed by two charters from Pirate's Cove Marina.

Hatteras Harbor Marina reported fair catches of king mackerel and wahoo in the Gulf Stream off Hatteras. Seas were rough.

Spot fishing should be good this weekend along the Dare coast, provided the wind remains from the northeast and seas don't become too rough.

The water temperature was 71 degrees Thursday at the Army Corps of Engineers Pier in Duck, and 73 degrees at Frisco Pier on Hatteras Island.

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