266 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



often run up estuaries for short distances. They are not commercially taken 

 although their flesh is edible. 



Due to confusion of species, the only weight record is for a rod and 

 reel catch of great barracuda — 103>4 pounds, caught off the Bahama 

 Islands. S. guachancho seldom runs over two feet; borealis seldom over 

 one foot. The U. S. Fish & Wildlife Laboratory at Beaufort reports many 

 barracuda from six to eight inches long, at which size they are mature, off 

 the Beaufort-Morehead City section, and large schools are reported off 

 Frying Pan Shoals from June through September, with an average weight 

 of 5 to 10 pounds. The bulk of the North Carolina run seems to be in this 

 locality. 



Barracuda are fearless, hard fighters. Although their angling rating is 

 high, their swift, direct approach to swimmers and boats, combined with a 

 formidable array of long sharp teeth, makes them less popular than other 

 game fishes. Anglers seldom go out deliberately for barracuda. 



CHANNEL BASS OR RED DRUM 



Sciaenops ocellatus (Linnaeus) 



The channel bass runs from Texas to New Jersey, occasionally straggling 

 farther north. Centers of abundance are Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and North Carolina. The fish moves in large schools; is present 

 all year round off North Carolina, but more plentifully and more accessibly 

 in spring and fall, and is the object of large commercial fisheries. It averages 

 15 to 30 pounds and seldom weighs above 50. Anglers fish for both adult 

 and young (puppy drum), which are abundant on the beaches. The rod 

 and reel record, caught off Cape Charles, Virginia, on August 5, 1949, weighed 

 83 pounds. 



Hildebrand and Schroeder (1928) say this fish probably spawns in Chesa- 

 peake Bay somewhat earlier than off Texas (October). It probably does 

 not spawn north of Chesapeake Bay. 



Channel bass is one of North Carolina's outstanding game fishes. The 

 regular angling cycle for it in the northern part of the State is trolling and 

 some surf casting March 15 to June 15; it is then present in quantities and 

 runs 17 to 55 pounds. At Ocracoke the drum begin to come in the middle of 

 April and are fished at night April through June. By mid-April, they are 

 off the bank; by May, at the inlet and in the sound; by September, they 

 are good on the beach but not in the sound. In October, they are on the 

 bank again. Hatteras reports them all year, and large loads were coming 

 in there commercially in January (1947). Reports from commercial fisher- 

 men at Ocracoke say that none of the channel bass brought in there contain 

 roe. Carteret County reports the fish on Core Banks and in Drum Inlet 

 through November, averaging 25 pounds and present in other months but 



