DATE: Sunday, November 9, 1997              TAG: 9711070226

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 22   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: HOW TO HOOK 'EM 

SOURCE: Damon Tatem 

                                            LENGTH:   83 lines

STRIPED BASS SEASON ABOUT TO BEGIN

COOLER WATER along the Dare coast should improve striped bass action this week in the ocean and sound.

Numbers will increase along the northern beaches as fall migrants start to move in from the Chesapeake Bay and the Northeast. Things should get even better as the month progresses.

The minimum size keeper from the Atlantic off North Carolina is 28 inches. You can keep two per person per day.

A wide range of lures, from Fin-S to large surface plugs, will work. Some stripers will go for fresh-cut bait too.

Daytime will probably bring the most action, but quite often stripers can be taken from piers at night. A good overnight run of big bass developed last year at Kitty Hawk Pier in mid-November.

Small bluefish also should show up in pier catches if the water is clear. Good runs are likely in the early mornings, with fish between 2 and 4 pounds taken on soft plastic lures.

If the water is dirty, sea mullet will bite. You might hook a few spot, but most small bottom fish have migrated south.

Expect puppy drum and big drum once in a while from northern piers. Fresh-cut bait, menhaden or mullet, should work best.

South of Oregon Inlet, look for plenty of small bluefish and an occasional big blue from the piers.

Puppy drum and black drum catches should be fairly good. When the seas are rough and the winds are right, anglers could land some big drum from the ends of Rodanthe and Avon Piers. The best action should be at night.

Stripers should be landed from piers on Hatteras Island, particularly from Rodanthe Pier.

Sea mullet, toadfish, skates and gray and speckled trout also should appear in pier catches fairly regularly along with a few keeper flounder.

Surf fishermen should land some bluefish and puppy drum from deeper sloughs along the northern beaches. Keeper stripers should be taken fairly regularly from the same areas, with undersized fish also plentiful.

Speckled trout fishing should be good in many locations along the northern beaches when winds are light and the water is clear. Gray trout also should be taken in the same areas.

Previous hot spots have been north of Kitty Hawk Pier, behind Mulligans and in sloughs north of Nags Head and Jennette's piers.

Stripers, small bluefish and a few puppy drum should be landed by surfcasters around Oregon Inlet. Speckled trout should be taken in fair numbers in the Green Island Slough area.

South of Oregon Inlet, speckled trout should be hauled from the surf north of Rodanthe Pier and from around the jetties by the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse just about every day when the water is clear.

Scattered stripers, small bluefish, sea mullet and a few gray trout should be taken by surfcasters along the beach from Rodanthe to Buxton.

Bluefish should be plentiful at Cape Point. Some of the bluefish could weigh 12 to 16 pounds. About this same time last year a substantial but short-lived run of jumbo bluefish developed.

Keeper stripers also should be taken along with sea mullet and puppy drum. Some big drums should be beached during the day and at night.

Flounder action should be good along the beach south of Cape Point.

Scattered sea mullet, puppy drum and trout should be landed by surfcasters from Ramp 55 to Hatteras Inlet. Gray trout and some nice drum should be caught in the Hatteras Inlet surf.

Anglers trolling around Oregon Inlet should catch small bluefish and some keeper stripers.

Striper action should be good in the Manns Harbor area. Striped bass season opens in the sound at 6 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. Striped bass may be taken by hook and line on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

No person may possess striped bass less than 21 inches total length or more than two taken in one day by hook and line. Anglers should remember that it is illegal to sell or purchase striped bass taken by hook and line.

Blue-water action off Oregon Inlet should be fair with king mackerel and 50-pound yellowfin tuna taken.

Big bluefish also should occasionally appear in catches.

Hatteras charters should catch plenty of king mackerel, scattered tuna and albacore. An occasional billfish could be released and a few bluefin tuna could possibly show up. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MICHAEL HALMINSKI

Former President George Bush, with fishing guide Sam Sellers, raises

his fly rod after catching a false albacore near Cape Lookout on

Oct. 31.

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