Evening star., 1961-07-04
MOVING ALONG COAST
Return of Big BIuefish Good News
By CHARLES COVELL
outdoor Editor


centers all the way northward
from Florida Keys quickly
leads to one conclusion:
One needn't go as far as
Florida to find excellent fish
ing. There is plenty to catch
inShore and offshore all the
way along the coast from Jack
sonville north.
That includes tropical varie-
ties. One Of the most popular
fishes with party boat anglers
out of Morehead City, N. c., is
the red snapper and large
numbers of amberjack, king
mackerel and barracuda also
are caught.
Cape Lookout seems to be
the cutoff point, though, prob
ably because of the eddieS
caused by the Labrador current
meeting the Gulf Stream, and
the great sport fish in this area
are blue marlin, tuna, bluefish
and channel bass.
Blues Steal Attention
Right now big bluefish are
stealing lot of attention from
the blue marlin, which some
what salves Hatteras' diSap-
pointment over the outcome Of
its second marlin tournament.
The tourney was a near
washout. Southeast winds
turned the Gulf Stream into
mountainous seas and a fore +
cast of continued bad weather
caused officials to cancel the
last two days of the five-day
event.
Only four blue marlin had
been taken compared with 18
caught during the first tourna-
ment last year. Winner was the
Miami Beach Rod and Reel
Club while runnerup was the
Club Nautico de San Juan from
Puerto Rico.
Range Up to 10 Pounds
Although wet weather con-
tinued long after the tourna-
ment, seas quieted enough for
boats to get out and anglers
ran into big bluefiSh, ranging
from S to 10 pounds apiece,
first on Wimble Shoals, then
10 to IL miles due east of
Oregon Inlet.
That these big blues are
working slowly northward is
indicated by reports of catches
of fish up to pounds off the
Virginia Capes.
The blues are in addition to
tuna, of which there has been
an outstanding run, blue and
white marlin, dolphin, bonite
and false albacore.
Inshore, scattered schools OF
small blues continue to bite
along with some founders,
trout and whiting.
Coastal Trip Interesting
Route II follows the seacoast
from Florida north and stop
ping here and there one can
get a pretty good idea Of what
fishing there is to offer.
Jekyll Island and the Sea
Island area in Georgia are
popular. Fishermen out Of Sa-
vannah go after sea trout,
channel bass, eobia, sheepShead
and pompano throughout the
summer.
LadyfiSh, those slim battlers
so popular in Florida, are
found at least as far north as
South Carolina where they
frequent the Broad River and
NASSAU and st. GATHERINGS
Sounds. =
Tarpon range along the coast
and although they are caught
infrequently as far north as
Morehead City, they have been
taken in fair numbers around
WrightSville Beach, near
Wilmington.
OffShore, charter boats go
after kings, dolphin, and sail
fish all along the coast.
MOrehead City Popular
Popular with Washingtonians
because it is actually closer
than Cape Hatteras is More
head City. It claims to have
the biggest sport fishing fleet
between Brielle, N. j., and
Florida and this well may be
true because the harbor is lined
with charter and party boats.
These range from the big
head boats that charge Sc per
person to charter craft at $85
up per trip.
The head boats go out about
1880 am. and return at 4::30
after fishing the reefs in the
Gulf Stream for red snapper,
grouper and a dozen other
bottom varieties.
Also Get Blue Marlin
Charter catches range up to
blue marlin, but trips for these
cost more because the boats
fish much the same grounds
as those out of HatteraS and
the Morehead shippers must
start in the wee hours to make
the long trip.
There also are irShore boats
that fish the inletS and sounds
on either a halliday or full
day basis. In addition there
are nine fishing piers along
the Bogue Banks and in the
sounds and a popular place for
casters are the jetties at old
Fort Macon.
Surf casters have more than
80 miles of beach in Carteret
County, about Is miles of
which may be reached by auto
along the Bogue Banks, Ports