Volume 14 Number 5 - May 2007

FEATURES:

	At the Rock Hop Danny and the Juniors never had as many teens dancin’ to their music as anglers have striped bass cavorting at the Roanoke River this month. If you’re fishing for striped bass at the Roanoke River, April 30 is the last day you can keep any fish for the frying pan or freezer. Somehow, that doesn’t faze guides George Beckwith and Rod Thomas. ... Dan Kibler

	Cobia Train Anglers line up to punch their tickets to get aboard the lemonfish migration from Morehead to Oregon Inlet each May and June. Memorial Day weekend is the peak period for cobias in North Carolina. ... Bob Goldstein

	Drum Line Anglers mostly chase central and northern coast red drum during fall, but big schools are ready to be caught now. Fall drum are predictable, readily located, widespread, and scattered, but that’s when most fishermen pursue them at the Outer Banks during the peak of the fishing season. ... Bob Goldstein

	Go Long for Groupers Nobody catches big bottomfish at the N.C. coast like Anthony Ng, a 14-year veteran angler who uses self-invented electric reels. It was a nearly windless morning and the sun was just turning a black night into the grayness of predawn at Atlantic Beach. Twin 250 Yamaha four-stroke engines mumbled quietly as they warmed up, and the turbulence of the engines’ ... Mike Marsh

	Gobbler Dreams Patience certainly can be a virtue when pursuing late spring-season wild turkeys. Using decoys also can fire up reluctant longbeards. One of the tenets of successful trophy deer hunting also holds true for chasing spring wild turkeys — go where the gobblers are. ... Craig Holt

	Red Drum Walking Lower Brunswick creeks and marshes offer great places to stalk and cast to puppy drum during the spring Capt. Mark Dickson reared back to set the hook and his rod bowed deeply. The whirring sound of a spinning reel grudgingly giving up braided line broke the silence just before he spoke. ... Jerry Dilsaver

	Setting lines right kind of a drag Several years ago a column about drag settings received positive comments. However, the use of braided lines has grown exponentially, and anglers are discovering the original rules of drag don’t fit as well as they once did. ... Jerry Dilsaver

	Snot Grass Black mat algae is a growing problem for anglers at Tuckertown Lake. I tossed a medium-running crankbait across one of my favorite points at Tuckertown Lake while my fishing buddy, Emery Hollar of Lexington, followed suit. My bait bounced along the gravel bottom, slowly loaded up, and ceased to wobble. ... Tony Garitta

	Stream Dreams North Carolina has plenty of great smallmouth streams between the New River at the state’s northwest corner and the high country’s fabled Tuck. Although I cut my fishing teeth casting for trout at small Appalachian high-country creeks, there’s something about bronzebacks that lurk in moving water which always has been enchanting. ... Jim Casada

	The Breadth of Bait Kerr Lake’s largemouths no longer hang out only at shallow-water areas but have moved offshore to follow different baitfish, two bass pros say. Understanding forage behavior will help anglers catch more bass at Kerr Lake this summer. ... Marc N. McGlade