By  Ken DeBarth

As the air and water tem­peratures rise and the days get longer, large red drum begin their annual spring migra­tion. In April, the fish move along the beaches and through the inlets and into the sound where they will spend the summer. After a long winter off shore, the red drum are hungry and easy to locate. They will be followed by the annual mi­gration of big bluefish, and then cobia. The water temperatures are already higher than normal for this time of year, so the fish should be active at the time you read this.

Surf fishermen will have suc­cess with large chucks of cut mul­let fished on a bottom rig. There are a number of rigs available for bottom fishing, but I prefer the “Chip Stevens Rig,” (as it is called locally for the owner of Black­beard’s Lodge) which consists of two circle hooks rigged one above the other and decorated with a brightly colored buck-tail and a snap clip on the bottom for your sinker. Ask for a “Chip Stevens” rig at Tradewinds Tackle. They al­ways have a number in stock.

How do you select the spot to cast? The sheer amount of beach available can be intimidating. The two best areas to present your baits are in the still water troughs between the breaking waves and areas where there is irregular white water.

Find troughs by watching the wave pattern. There will be places where the waves crest and break over the shallower bar. The water will then become relatively smooth before forming into another crest and breaker. This smooth water is a section of deeper water parallel­ing the beach. Drop a bait into this area where predator fish lurk to pick off food as it settles between the breakers.

Another prime area to drop your baits is where the water is “jum­bled” with white breaking wave tops running in different direc­tions. Look for section for surf in which there is no smooth water. If small waves are crashing into each other, there will be turbulence and a stirring of the bottom and debris. Red drum often frequent these shallow rough areas hunting for food caught in the moving water.

If you find the combination of clear water and bright sun, try cast­ing a bright lure. An Ocracoke fa­vorite is a gold or silver Hopkins at 1½ or 2 ounces. If you can stand knee deep in the water and see a gold Hopkins on the bottom at your feet, the water is clear enough for lure fishing.

Inshore boat anglers can find schools of feeding drum around the inlets. At times one can find schools of drum feeding on the surface. It is always a thrill to look down on the red backs of the drum as they surge past just under the surface. When you find a school of surface feeding drum, cast a two-ounce jig tipped with a six-inch twister tail into the school. Try to let it drop through the school since the smaller fish will be near the sur­face and will strike first. On a good day you can follow the school and repeat this process over and over. Watch for surface disturbances and birds to help find a school of ac­tive fish.

Remember to support local tack­le shops, clean up the beach after yourself, and return unwanted fish to the water unharmed.

Ken DeBarth lives and fish­es (although not enough) on Ocracoke.

October 2013

by Ken DeBarth

There is an old saying that tells us the best day to go fishing is today. This is especially true if today happens to fall in October!

Fall fishing on the Oc­racoke beaches can be spec­tacular. Many of the sum­mer species are still in the area and the fall migrations of bait and predator fish is at its peak. The water is still warm, but the seasonal shortening of daylight com­bined with falling water temperatures will stimulate the fish to feed and move to their winter habitat.

Red drum that spend the summer in the sound move through the inlets as they migrate to deeper ocean waters for the winter. Blue­fish that spend the summer in cooler northern waters are migrating south follow­ing the cooling water tem­peratures to their winter grounds. Black drum are usually found close to the beach through October and November.

Large schools of finger mullet move through the surf zone in the fall. These finger mullet are a vital food source for Red Drum and Bluefish and keep the game fish close to the beach.

The summer species of flounder, sea mullet, speck­led and gray trout are still in the surf zone as well.

The most popular bait for fall drum and blue­fish is mullet. You can use cut chunks of large mullet, sometimes called “corn­cobs” because of their size and shape, or finger mul­let. Both are available, fresh or frozen, at tackle shops. Fresh usually works better if you have a choice. You can catch your own finger mul­let for bait if you know how to use a cast net.

Chunk mullet and fin­ger mullet are fished on the bottom. There are many types of rigs. A “slider” has a small plastic device that holds your sinker and moves up and down the line before snubbing against a swivel attaching your hook. This allows the fish to pick up your bait and swim away without feeling the drag of the sinker. There are a number of options in vertical bottom rigs. Usu­ally these have two sepa­rate hooks and baits with a sinker at the bottom of the rig. Some rigs have colored bucktails; some have small floats to lift your bait off the bottom, providing more movement of the bait while keeping it out of reach of crabs. Any place that sells tackle will have a variety of rigs to consider, but it is al­ways a good idea to seek lo­cal knowledge at the tackle shop where you are going to fish.

There is a special fin­ger mullet rig available on the market. It consists of a swivel to attach to your line, a length of heavy line ending in a clip for your sinker. Midway down this rig there will be a piece of wire through a small float (available in differ­ent colors) and extending 3 or 4 inches before end­ing in loop that fastens to the hook apparatus. This looks like a pair of hooks folded in the middle. The hooks are slipped out of the loop, which allows the wire to be pushed through the finger mullet’s mouth and out the vent. The hooks are then slipped back through the loop and you are ready to go. [This is hard to describe in words. Ask someone at the tackle shop to show you how this works.]

One rule about using mullet as bait is to keep it fresh. The blood and oil that seeps from the bait will at­tract your target species, but in a short time the ef­fectiveness of this scent will be leached away. Some se­rious drum anglers recom­mend changing baits every 20 minutes.

Big drum are caught along the entire length of Ocracoke’s beach. Many anglers prefer the points— North End or South Point, but these fish are mobile and can be found in the middle of the island, too. Some prefer to fish after dark, but many big drum are caught during the day. Drum are caught in the churning white water of breaking waves and the smooth water of deeper holes. The key is to get out there, somewhere, and get your bait in the water!

Other species—floun­der, sea mullet, trout, black drum, and croakers—can be caught along the entire island as well. Preferred baits are shrimp, squid, clams, and crabs. Try a sec­ond rod with smaller hooks baited for these guys while working your long casting rod for drum and blues.

A few last thoughts:

Keep your baits fresh.

Get your fishing gear, bait and advice locally.

Use the smallest weight sinker that will hold bot­tom.

Use big baits and big hooks for big fish.

Return “trash fish” to the water—come to think of it, there are no trash fish. Don’t kill anything you aren’t going to eat.

If you aren’t going to eat it, practice CPR—Catch, Photo, Release.

Pick up your trash. And someone else’s, too. Leave a place better than you found it.

Make good memories even if you don’t catch fish.

Come back and try again!

Ken DeBarth lives and