THE 



CATCH 



Fishing Fever 



By Debbi Sykes Braswell 



This spring, try your hand at catching a littly tunny, also known as false alhacore. 



1 nn ' vp pored over fishing 

 magazines this winter until you memorized 

 which side of the page your favorite rods 

 and lures are on. You and your friends 

 have trotted off to all the tackle shows in a 

 five-county radius. Maybe you even 

 bought a boat you're itching to try. 



You've got the symptoms, and there's 

 no doubt about the diagnosis. It's a double 

 whammy case of spring fever crossed with 

 fishing fever. 



But don't worry — you won't mind 

 the prescription at all. Now that spring has 

 finally pushed past winter, it's time to 

 indulge in some casting and trolling. 



You'll find lots of good action, no 

 matter where you go on the coast or what 

 kind of fishing you like, says Jim Bahen, a 

 Sea Grant fisheries agent. But a couple of 

 species are an especially good catch this 

 time of year. 



Little Tunny 



Also known as false albacore or 

 spotted bonito, these fish are hardy enough 

 to brave the cold waters off the North 

 Carolina coast in the springtime. That 

 endurance is important because, even 

 though it's getting warmer on land, the 

 water temperature is only in the mid- to 

 upper-50s. 



"When the water starts warming up, 

 they disappear — they move up the coast," 

 Bahen says. "If you don't catch them in the 

 months of May or June, they're gone." 



Although you might catch little tunny 

 from the surf or a pier on rare occasions, 

 your best bet is to go after them in a boat. 

 Use light to medium tackle and a flyrod or 

 a spinning rod. Try artificial lures such as 

 feathers, jigs or weighted flies. 



Once you're in the water, look for the 

 unmistakable commotion that schools of 

 little tunny generate as they feed. "There's 

 water splashing everywhere, gulls diving, 

 and the tuna are rolling on the surface, 

 diving on schools of bait," Bahen says. 



Besides being a good fighter in the 

 water, little tunny make for good tuna salad 



on shore, Bahen says. The key is to bleed 

 and chill them, like you would any other 

 tuna. 



There are no regulations on catching 

 little tunny, but Bahen encourages fishers 

 to catch what they want and release the 

 rest. "We need to preserve and protect and 

 try to conserve," he says. 



Blue Marlin 



The huge marlin and the little tunny 

 have at least one thing in common — they 

 are pelagic fish that roam the ocean. But 

 the blue marlin doesn't have the cold 

 tolerance of the little tunny. 



To hook one of these giants — which 

 are the largest of the billfish — you'll have 

 to travel 30 to 50 miles from shore to reach 

 the Gulf Stream, where the water tempera- 

 ture is typically 75 to 82 degrees. 



Blue marlin migrate past the North 

 Carolina coast this time of year, when 



many marlin tournaments take place. 



In times past, crowds would gather on 

 the docks to ooh and ahh at the gigantic 

 specimens that fishers brought back during 

 the tournaments. But these days, Bahen 

 says, the trend is to measure the fish on 

 board, take photos or videotape them and 

 then release the marlins. 



"It's a terrific fighting fish," Bahen 

 says. "It's been that way since Zane Grey 

 and Ernest Hemingway wrote about 

 them." 



At one time, North Carolina held the 

 world record for the largest blue marlin 

 ever caught — a 1 , 142-pound whopper 

 hooked in Oregon Inlet in 1974. But as 

 boats have gotten bigger and anglers have 

 explored the oceans worldwide, Bahen 

 says, the Tar Heel coast is no longer 

 known as the blue marlin capital of the 

 world. 



Not that there aren't some impressive 

 marlins swimming our waters. To go after 



32 EARLY SUMMER 1998 



