FAQ 1. What's biting? Depends on the season, which way the wind blows and how clear the water is. Let's start with spring In the spring, the southwest breeze brings in the warm water from the Gulf Stream. Migrating pelagic fish (bluefish) just off their spawn begin moving in to the coast. Also with spring, flounder and red drum will start moving into the sounds. Does anything bite in the summer? Yes. Cobia move in in June, and Pompano and Spanish Mackeral will be favorites starting in July. The Cobia run isn't long, but the Spanish and Pompano will hang out until the first major cold fronts of September. What about these fabled "Drum Runs" I've heard about in the fall? They happen all right. Starting somewhere around the middle to end of October and lasting almost to Thanksgiving, you have a chance to catch large red drum (up 50+ pounds) from the surf. Then pods of large blue fish start heading down the coast and will attack anything in their way. What about wintertime? Winter is anything can happen time. Strippers have been on the increase over the past two years. And if a warm breeze lasts long enough, who knows? Maybe some trout or a stray drum will slide in. FAQ 2. What do I need for gear? All depends on the season, where you're gonna' fish and what you're fishing for. Basics are an 8' - 10' rod, a reel spooled with 250 yds. of 15# - 20# monofilament line, a hook, sinker and a piece of bait. Of course it's not quite as easy as that: Let's start with rod selection: Depending on the time of year and what you're fishing for, you can select from a wide range: from a crappie stick (61/2' - 7' light spinning for flounder, trout and/or pompano) up to a "heaver" (10'-11' capable of launching 8 - 10oz of lead with like amount of bait over 100 yds for Red Drum and/or big sharks). Generally speaking you'll want to have 4-5 rods in your arsenal: a light spinning rod for small fish on really light winds and current; an 8'-9' light graphite for casting lures, an 8'-10' light/medium graphite or fiberglass for drowning bait and a heaver for when currents get really strong. How about reel selection? Similar to rod selection, you'll want 4-5 reels spooled with different lines for your different rigs: A light or ultralight spinning spooled with 3-6# test, a light spooled with 10-12#, a medium spooled with 15# and a medium/heavy spooled with 15-20lb for the heaver. Increasingly, knowledgable surf-fishers are using conventional (revolving-spool) reels with heavers to get their baits out farther. And for terminal tackle? This will vary directly as a function of the fish you're chasing. The basic bottom rig consists of a two hook "up&down" steel rig with anywhere from a #2 to 4/0 hooks and 3-5 ozs. of lead. (Remember, you'll catch more big fish with small hooks than you'll catch small fish with big hooks.) For drum, people usually use a "fishfinder rig with a single snelled hook at the end. With a fishfinder, the weight moves up and down the running line so that you don't get as many "false" hits from the current or wind. For pompano, there are a wide variety of options. But most of them include using small (#6 - #4) gold-plated hooks. For sight-casting into pods of marauding bluefish, use either Hopkins or Conners lures or sting-silvers of the appropriate size to match the bait. For Spanish mackeral, most people either use pink, or green sting-silvers. FAQ 3. What's the best bait? The glib answer is whatever is freshest - which usually holds true. For drum and bluefish - mullet, spot and/or menhaden (bunker). For pompano - sand fleas, shrimp and/or peeler crab. For flounder - squid, shrimp and/or live minnows. FAQ 4. Where do I go and what do I look for? You can cast your line in almost anywhere - anytime on Hatteras Island and probably catch a fish during the day. But there are places that are better than others for certain kinds of fish - and certain conditions that are better than others. But there are some generalities. A sandbar runs along most of the coastline of the outer banks. This sandbar protects most of the beach from direct onslaught of large waves or tides. Between the beach and the sandbar is the area known as the slough. This area is generall not deep (2' - 6'). But there are holes in the sandabar in certain areas where the water gets deeper. For all kinds of fish - look for breaks in the sandbar. These are places where the waves don't break as they cross the sandbar. These will be places where fish can come in and out of the slough. Look for points where they can come in and a second point where they can go out. These will generally be your most productive areas. Different kinds of fish feed at different levels of the water column. Drum, for example, are generally bootm feeders. You can tell by the turn-down mouth. They will feed against the sandbar. Bluefish and Spanish Mackeral, on the other hand, are generally top-feeders and will chase bait on top of the water. FAQ 5. What's the best time to catch fish? Again this depends on what you're fishing for and the time of year. During the summer, the best times are sunrise and sunset. During the spring and fall, you'll generall want to follow the old rule of 1-2 hrs before to 1-2 hrs after high tide. FAQ 6. Are there wind conditions that are better than others? Yes. Remember that at Hatteras the wind is almost always blowing. When the wind is from the southwest, it dirties up the water and brings in bottom-feeders. When the wind is from the northwest to northeast, the water cleans up and brings in the top-feeders.