I could have easily entitled this "What I Did on my Summer Vacation", but it was a little late for that since we actually didn't go to Hatteras Island, part of North Carolina's Outer Banks, otherwise known as 'OBX' until early October.  The OBX are of a chain of barrier islands extending from just south of Chesapeake Bay to about the South Carolina border.  The area is well known for its sports as well as commercial fishing, as the islands have been occupied by English decendants for over 300 years, and before that native Indian tribes.  The area is also known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" due to the over 500 documented shipwrecks that dot the coast (and which also help the fishing).  In fact, on Ocracoke Island some of the spanish pony decendants, who survived these wrecks, still roam the island. 

Its a place where you can plan your stay to accommodate your level to tourist fervor.  Generally speaking, the closer you get to the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area, the 'touristier' it becomes.  Since we just wanted to fish and enjoy the beach we stayed about as far south as you could get in this part of the island chain.  There are several little villages in the area: Frisco, Buxton, Waves, Salvo, and Rodanthe.  Most of these places are surrounded by national seashore and, except for public access and a few campgrounds, have no development on them.  The fall is a great time to come since the crowds are mostly gone, the fishing is better, and the water is still pretty warm.  Several times we awoke or saw the sun set while dolphins leaped and played offshore.

Since the Gulf Stream gets closest to the east coast in the OBX you don't have to use a boat to fish there.  Hatteras, Oregon Inlet, Wanchese, and other villages have plenty of sport fishing or party boats to charter, but its not really necessary unless you really want to go after the big billfish or the deeper water varieties.  Later in the fall, when the bluefish or drum (OBX name for redfish) run, its not uncommon to catch 20-40 lb fish right out of the surf.  There are a number of piers along the coast where the fishing can be very good as well.  We chose to use 7-10' surf rods and standard spin casting reels with 20-30 lb test line.  In fact, one of our reels was an old Mitchell 302 that even after 40 years performed flawlessly.  We dressed-out our tackle with what they call over there a double-drop bottom rig, including No. 4 hooks.  Due to the strong currents you really need to use a 2 oz pyramid weight with them in order to keep bait where you want it.  That weight also allows you to zing the cast up to 30-40 yards too, which at times can be helpful.  The type of bait was pretty simplistic - cut mullet, shrimp, and bloodworms.  Some folks had success with squid as well.  For us the bloodworms (which are aptly named) did best by far - if the fish were there we had strikes within minutes.  But, as I'm sure many of you surf fisherman know, feeling a strike can be a challenge, especially in the rougher currents.  And, knowing where to fish takes a little time too because the complex set of sand bars near the shoreline means all fishing spots are not created equal.  We tried to locate a gap in the sand bar where there was a weak rip tide, or 'outsuck'.  When you find one the fish are usually there, though you have to be careful to find out how deep they are.  If that doesn't work you can always watch the seagulls or try to find the small baitfish in the surf.  Thankfully for us we found a little 'outsuck' the first day, fished at the same spot the whole time we were there, and did really well.

The fish we caught were varied: flounder, bluefish, mullet (which are good eating on the east coast but you can't always eat ones caught in the gulf), and a panfish they call a 'spot'.  Hadn't seen anything equivalent to those here in Texas.  They get up to 2 lbs and are excellent eating.  We even caught a puffer.     

I'd highly recommend a trip to the OBX to anyone, fishing or otherwise.  It has a lot of interesting things to see and do, many of which revolve around its history.  The Hatteras area in particular is not as commercialized as the rest of the east coast or even the rest of the OBX, though it does have about anything you'd need. 

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