BIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 259 



This section has bank, sound, inlet and wreck, and offshore fishing. Spring 

 is a trolling and fall a surf casting season. 



ROANOKE ISLAND. There are here about 20 local commercial boats, chiefly 

 suitable for inlet fishing. Their average length is 35 feet. Some Virginia 

 boats come down on charter or with their anglers. There is little offshore 

 fishing. 



HATTERAs. The local commercials are suitable for angling use. They are 

 about 40 feet long and single-engined. One regular charter boat is available. 

 There are insufficient boats for the double use of commercial and sports 

 fishing, especially as Ocracoke has to call on Hatteras boats for offshore 

 anglers. There is no skiff fishing. 



OCRACOKE. Skiffs and smaller boats for inside and inlet fishing and fishing 

 less than five miles offshore are available in adequate number and two twin- 

 screw boats are available. Although all the Ocracoke boats can be used 

 commercially, from two to four are kept for anglers during the height of 

 the commercial season. There are fourteen small boats for hunting and 

 angling, each taking not more than four anglers. Plenty of guides are avail- 

 able. The average price per boat at Ocracoke is $20 to $30 per day, and at 

 Hatteras $20 to $25. "Deep" fishing comes higher: $45 to $50. 



There was some alarm when I was in the Roanoke Island-Hatteras- 

 Ocracoke region at the large number of channel bass of all sizes being 

 netted for a cannery at Wanchese. Channel bass is the chief attraction for 

 anglers in that region. This fish sometimes runs as early as mid-March, 

 through the spring, and again in the fall. Sea trout are caught here from 

 mid-August into October; the rather rare cabio is taken in- and offshore, and 

 the amberjack and dolphin are outside around wrecks. 



The local commercial boats are most in use in the spring. Winter trawl- 

 ing in this region is largely by out-of-state boats although recently some 

 local boats have been engaging in it. A large commercial fishery for croaker 

 operates from spring into July, when there follows a dead period lasting 

 from one to two months, during which some of the commercial boats are 

 freed for angling use. There are not enough boats for anglers in this whole 

 region, particularly for offshore fishing. The seasons are a fairly long one 

 in spring and, because of weather and the hunting season limits, a shorter one 

 in fall. 



Additional attractions of the section are the unspoiled beaches and banks, 

 duck shooting, and the Lake Mattamuskeat Federal Waterfowl Refuge. 



MOREHEAD CITY-SWAN SBORO 



Here there is bank, inlet, and wreck fishing. Popular grounds are Core 

 and Shackleford banks. Drum Inlet, and Lookout Bight which is deep and 

 is well protected from northeasters. There is also some surf casting. 



