Captain Jay Kavanagh
Bite Me Sportfishing Charters
www.fishbiteme.com
252-996-0295

Outer Banks Offshore Fishing Report for May 2011

by Captain Jay Kavanagh

Spring fishin is in full swing offshore of the Outer Banks. Over the next few weeks we usually have some of our best meat fishing. Spring is off to a great start
Morehead City / Beaufort / Atlantic Beach offshore action has included some fantastic wahoo action as well as a few dolphins, blackfin tunas and yellowfin tunas. Some of the wahoos have been over the 40 pound citation size. That's one big toothy critter.

The Bluefin fishing has slowed, but mostly because boats are perusing other species as the feds lowered the limit and we can't keep the great big ones. A lot of boats have been catching and releasing. The bluefin tuna regulations are complex and change frequently. I suggest looking at the website before going fishing, so you know exactly what the limit is right then. Here is the link: https://hmspermits.noaa.gov/News.asp#news286
Offshore from Hatteras we have had a good mixed bag for the beginning of spring fishin.

There have been a few mako sharks around, and while most boats are pulling a mostly mono leader spread, occasionally one eats the right thing, a wire leader. We got lucky the other day and landed this 90 pounder. It was successfully angled by Jim Doran from Mt. Lebanon, PA.

We have also been catching a few kings, an occasional dolphin, and pretty good messes of blackfin and yellowfin tunas.

Recently we had a crew of regulars from WV and NJ that come down to fish a couple of days every spring. We got blown out the first day, but made up for is the second day catching a big mess of yellowfin and blackfin tuna. The Oregon Inlet boats have been mostly fishing down our way off Hatteras, catching mixed bags as well.

Spring weather can be breezy, and we have lost a lot of days to weather, but when we can get out it has been great fishing and should get better over the next few weeks.
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Check out ww w.fishbiteme.com for the entire scoop on fishin on the Bite Me. Stay tuned to see what's bitin. Give me a shout and let's go fishing!

Captain Jay Kavanagh
Bite Me Sportfishing Charters
www.fishbiteme.com - 252-996-0295
Outer Banks Offshore Report - April 2011

By Capt. Jay Kavanagh
I have got to tell you that it has really been an exciting spring in Hatteras. We have had some great bluefin tuna action, and probably some of the best ever in North Carolina.

Down in the Morehead City / Beaufort / Atlantic Beach area there continues to be a variety of fish caught including wahoo, blackfin tuna and even gaffer dolphin. A couple of Morehead boats are up in Hatteras fishing for the bluefins, including the Sensation with Captain Dale Britt. They are doing scientific research on the bluefin, catching them and surgically implanting archival tags that tell us a lot about the bluefins when they are returned.

The bluefin action out of Hatteras and Oregon Inlet has been fantastic.
The big news is that the North Carolina state record bluefin tuna was recently caught on the Sea Breeze, Captain Ned Ashby and crew caught an 805 pound bluefin tuna. We happen to be just offshore of the Sea Breeze that day and got to see them battle with this Volkswagen of a tuna.

Right now we are allowed to keep one bluefin per day under 73" and one per year over 73". While I was on a ski vacation in WV, Jeremy ran the boat for me and was able to get our trophy fish for the year, an 85" 335 pound monster caught by angler Gary Gammon. Crew included Thomas Cloninger, Mark Emory and mate Barry Peele Jr.

We have had several groups of vertical jiggers and surface popper anglers chasing the bluefin aboard the Bite Me. These folks are really good anglers and it has been a lot of fun taking them fishing. They have had a lot of success and this year I can say that most of our bluefins caught on the Bite Me have been caught on jigs or poppers.They are still biting on the troll and the chunk as well.
The bluefin action has slowly been working up the line closer to Oregon Inlet. Some Hatteras boats are occasionally making the run up the beach.

Closer to home we have been seeing a mixed bag of good spring fishing right out front in Hatteras. Yellowfins, blackfins, smaller school bluefins 30-100 pounds, a few wahoos and kings have all made rides back to Hatteras in the fish box.

Spring yellowfin tuna fishing should be heating up over the next couple of months and the big mahi should be right behind them.
Check out www.fishbiteme.com for all the scoop on fishin on the Bite Me. We fish year round and there is always something biting. Give me a shout and let's go fishing!

Captain Jay Kavanagh - Bite Me Sportfishing Charters
www.fishbiteme.com - 252-996-0295

Outer Banks Offshore Report for February 2011

By Capt. Jay Kavanagh
Wow, or BRRR, I should say winter got here quick, cold early here on the outer banks. Not much fishing going on offshore, but there has been some exciting fishing this month.

Down in the Morehead City / Beaufort / Atlantic Beach area the biggest news is what has not shown up, the bluefins. There have been a couple caught, but nothing like it has been in the past. Most of the fleet is looking for bluefins on a daily basis and they are coming up short.

Up here in Hatteras, we have still not seen a good showing of the king mackerel. Tuna fishing continues to be good for yellowfin, blackfin and even a few bluefin tunas. There have been about a dozen of the giant bluefin tunas caught out of Hatteras the last couple of fishable days.

Fellas out of Oregon Inlet are also on the tunas, including the big bluefins. Some days they find them and sometimes they seem to disappear. The rockfish have been biting pretty good up off Oregon Inlet as well

The Weather has not really been very cooperative and there really have only been a couple of fishable days a week on average.

A little off the topic of fishin, but a lot of us Outer Banks fishermen concentrate on the duck hunting this time of year. The Duck Hunting has been pretty good. It is a special time of year for us as we get to see old friends and family with whom we duck hunt with every year. Next month we will haul the Bite Me out to do our annual maintenance.

Also, we are starting to hear from our regulars who are booking their trips for next year. If you are thinking about booking a trip with us, you might want to do it sooner than later, as prime fishin dates and weekends book up first.

Keep tuning in to www.fishbiteme.com for the latest info on fall fishing action. We fish year round and there is always something biting. Give me a shout and let's go fishing! Captain Jay Kavanagh, Bite Me Sportfishing Charters 252-996-0295.

Outer Banks Offshore Report October 2010

October is one of my two favorite months of the year, the other one is November. Fall is in the air and the temperature is cooling off but the fishing offshore on the Outer Banks is heating up!

The weather for October has been pretty nearly perfect. Except for a couple of windy days we have had very comfortable fishing.

Down south, fishing for wahoo out of Morehead City has been pretty good. They usually have a solid wahoo bite in October and that seems to be the case this year. They also have been putting some blackfin tuna, mahi and kings in the box. It won't be long before the boys down there will be starting to look for giant bluefin tuna. They usually seem to show up in November.

Hatteras offshore fishing is right on track for October. We have had some excellent wahoo fishing as well as phenomenal blackfin tuna fishing, with a few yellowfin tuna and mahi thrown in. We have been mostly fishing East of Diamond Shoals for the tuna, while some king mackerel have been caught closer to home, right out front. Both the king mackerel fishing and tuna fishing will likely get better later on this fall.



A big group of fellas from the Raleigh, NC area comes to fish on several boats out of Hatteras Harbor every October, on the 7th; we had them aboard the Bite Me for some excellent wahoo fishing. They landed 10 nice fat ones. A couple days later on the 11th, we had the crew from Eastern Bikes, a bike manufacturer in Cary, NC. Jon Beyer and Mike Corely, the companies owners are regular anglers aboard the Bite Me. They had some excellent tuna action, mostly blackfins, a couple of yellowfins, mahi and one lone fat wahoo!

Blackfin tunas are pretty neat fish. They are smaller than yellowfins, but pound for pound pull harder. Blackfins are every bit as good as a yellowfin to eat and I'll bet you can't tell the difference. A couple of my good friends who are local chefs, actually prefer blackfin for cooking due to the fact that the steaks hold together a little better on the grill. The Kavanagh family had blackfin for dinner last night. My two year old son, Joe is kind of a picky eater, but he loves fish.

The boats out of Oregon Inlet have been concentrating on the blackfins as well. They are also catching a scattered yellowfin. The Hatteras and the Oregon Inlet boats have been fishing together for the tunas. Right now they are about half way between us. The tuna fishing should get better as fall progresses.

As always stay tuned in to www.fishbiteme.com for the latest info on fall fishing action. We have open dates and can accommodate your group for a gulfstream adventure. Give me a shout and let's go fishing!

Captain Jay Kavanagh
Bite Me Sportfishing Charters
www.fishbiteme.com - 252-996-0295

North Carolina Offshore Report

September 2010
By Captain Jay Kavahagh

August has been a good month for offshore fishing on the Outer Banks. The weather has been reasonably calm and the fishing has been pretty good.
Down south in the lower banks, out of Morehead City/Atlantic Beach they have had some decent offshore action. Dolphin, also known as mahi-mahi, action has been good, with most of the fish consisting of school sized bailers. I like to call them fun-sized!

When you get lucky enough to find a school, you can load up pretty quickly. It appears that wahoo will be making their usual late summer and early fall barrage, as the bite on these toothy speedsters has started to turn on. Sailfish action has also been nice.

From left to right are Greg Herring, Philip Davenport, Milo Brady,
Jeb Amiss, Ryan Conway and Dustin George.

In August, I had the pleasure of being joined for offshore trip, by my old friend Milo Brady and a crew from the Northern Neck of Virginia. They caught a nice mess of dolphin with fast and furious action around a floating board.

Recently, Bite Me Charters got to travel down to Morehead City and fish the North Carolina Ducks Unlimited Band the Billfish Tournament. The crew had a good time fishing with their good friend Thomas Smith of Havlock, North Carolina and an all lady angler crew. Thomas also invited the wives of the Bite Me crew to be part of the angling team. They caught a couple of sails in the tournament, one of which was the first fish of the day and that fish won a shotgun for a prize! Congratulations to the Carolina Time, Megabyte, and the Impulse, who finished first second and third in that order.

Back home in Hatteras all offshore anglers have enjoyed a successful month of pretty weather and good fishing during August. We have had good mahi action, some days you catch more than others, but usually we can rustle up a mess of ‘em. Wahoo too, have started to make a better showing off Hatteras. Bite Me caught 7 Wahoo out of about twice that many bites one day last week. Sailfish have been around too, as have White and Blue Marlin.

The billfish bite, however is off from what it has been the last couple of years. We just have not had the right water for an extended billfish bite near Hatteras this season.

Out of Oregon Inlet the billfish bite has been slightly better. The water conditions up off the VA/NC state line have been producing nice White Marlin action with sails and blue marlin available. Boats out of Oregon Inlet have also had some yellowfin tuna action, but it has been scattered. Dolphin also are available up the line.

We are looking forward to our favorite time of the year, fall. Action out of Hatteras should be heating up over the next few weeks. From the looks of things out in the Gulfstream, wahoo action should hold and possibly even increase for the month of September, with the sails and dolphin hanging out too.

October, November and December should be good yellowfin tuna action as the fish begin their big feed to start the southern migration for the winter. In some years we have good tuna action all winter.

King mackerel should also make a good showing October through December. Live baiting these big smoker kings is some of the best fun you can have, and if you have never seen a 40 pound king sky rocket on a live menhaden at twenty feet behind the boat, you don’t know what you are missing! We have fall dates available and would love to show you some action on the Bite Me.
It’s been a good summer, and we are looking forward to fall action on the Bite Me.
Captain Jay Kavanagh
Bite Me Sportfishing Charters
www.fishbiteme.com
252-996-0295

Outer Banks of NORTH CAROLINA Fishing Report
AUGUST 2010
By Joe Malat

July offered typical summertime weather and fishing.  It was hit and miss in the surf with some definite highlights. The piers had steady action, including some big fish, and small boaters are seeing more variety in selected soundside spots.
Surf temperatures are now consistently hanging around the low seventies and as this report is being compiled in mid-July, the ocean temperature is 79 degrees from the US Army Corps of Engineers pier at Duck.

Some big news for beach anglers came with the July 7 announcement from the National Park Service that pedestrian access would be allowed along the east side of Cape Point. Pedestrians are now able to walk along a corridor that begins about 300 feet south of Ramp 44. Pets are not allowed in the access corridor. Most likely, by the time this issue of the Chesapeake Angler goes to press, the corridor will be open to vehicles, provided no new resource closures occur in the area.

The beach had not been re-opened long before anglers made the trek to the Point and began catching fish puppy drum, bluefish and Spanish mackerel on artificial lures. 

Surfcasters continued to catch a lot of bluefish, from one end of the Outer Banks to the other.  Best bets for the bluefish were Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. The choppers were small, mostly in the one pound range, but they were caught on mullet-baited fireball rigs and artificial lures.

Other catches included a typical summer mixed bag of spot, croakers, sea mullet and flounder. A 43-pound cobia was beached near Ramp 43. Sheepshead were caught among the rocks at the Buxton jetties. Some gray trout were caught near Ramp 38. For some strange reason, stripers are still being caught along the northern beaches, but I did not hear any complaints from the anglers who found them.   
 
Ocracoke Island surf anglers had bluefish and Spanish mackerel on lures, plus a fair number of sea mullet, pompano, small flounder and a few puppy drum.
Small boaters at Ocracoke also reported black drum, a few puppy drum, flounder, lots of Spanish mackerel, bluefish and triggerfish.

There seems to be a higher than usual number of tarpon being caught on the Outer Banks this season, at a few different places.  Outer Banks Pier reported a 93 pound ‘poon on a live bait rig, and a four footer was caught from the Nags Head Pier on July 5th.  On July 9th the Miss Kathleen, with Capt. Ronnie O’Neal released a 65-inch tarpon caught while trolling for Spanish mackerel at the mouth of Ocracoke Inlet.

Offshore fishing was red hot, with an outstanding early bite of sailfish at Hatteras.  The Hatteras bluewater boats also reported very good catches of dolphin and yellowfin tuna, and sporadic bites of blackfin tuna. 
The Oregon Inlet charters had very good yellowfin tuna, excellent dolphin fishing and a good showing of white marlin.  On July 10, seven whites were released from the Pelican, with Capt. Arch Bracher.    

            Pier fishing was just about a cookie cutter of the surf action, with consistent bites of spot, sea mullet, bluefish, croakers, and a lot of Spanish mackerel when the water was clear and warm. Outer Banks pier had a few king mackerel and cobia in the 20-30 pound range, on live baits.

Bluefish cooperated inside Oregon Inlet, but speckled trout continued to be a disappointment.  It seems the puppy drum fishing on the soundside is improving almost daily. Spanish mackerel have been keeping trollers busy and the bite was very good almost every day, with a nice class of macks being reported.  A few schools of big red drum continued to mill around just a few miles from the beach near Oregon Inlet and when boaters got on them, the catch and release action was red hot.

Flounder did not bite daily, but when they were chewing, small boaters working along the edges and drop-offs inside the inlet caught plenty and it seems the ratio of keepers to throwbacks is improving.  The minimum size for flatfish is 15-inches.

Little Bridge on the Nags Head-Manteo Causeway had spot, croakers, black drum, speckled trout and a few flounder.

Outer Banks of NORTH CAROLINA Fishing Report
JULY 2010
By Joe Malat

June brought some wind (imagine that!) changeable weather that was blistering hot one day and cool the next, and the fishing was about as mixed up as the weather. Overall fishing was good, but there were some tough days mixed with the good ones.

Surfcasters enjoyed a good variety of fish, and two of our favorite summer visitors, pompano and Spanish mackerel have arrived. Boaters are catching the vast majority of Spanish, but surfcasters found them at a few locations along the southern end of Hatteras Island. Some big pompano, up to 2 ½ pounds, were reported at Ramps 43 and 49. Bluefish continued to be scattered at several locations from north to south, and they were caught on both bait and artificials.

For some reason the Outer Banks is having a pretty good showing of black drum. We don’t usually see a lot of them in the spring, but I haven’t heard any complaints. The beach near Oregon Inlet has been good, but the drum were scattered at several other locations also. Fresh shrimp and pieces of peeler crabs are top baits for the black drum. According to some boaters who were fishing along the beach at the south end of Hatteras, the Spanish mackerel are stacked up about a half mile off the beach and a few king mackerel are mixed in with them. They could show in the surf at any time if the wind pushes them to the beach.

Ocracoke had a mix of bluefish of all sizes from one to ten pounds, puppy drum, black drum, sea mullet and some Spanish mackerel.
Pier jockeys had consistent action with small bluefish and sea mullet, but anglers on the northern piers were plagued with cold water that dipped to a frigid 61 degrees for a couple days and that slowed the bite considerably. Sporadic catches of Spanish mackerel were also reported from the piers.

Inshore fishing has been good, but spurts of cold water along the beach made it tough on some days for the Oregon Inlet boats.  Cobia are still being caught, but it seems the main body of fish has moved further north into the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Anglers hoping to catch a big cobia sight casting will still be able to find some fish, but those fish are being hit on pretty hard and it might be tough to make them bite. Those who drift and chum for them will probably see some of the best bites as we move further into the summer.

Spanish mackerel and bluefish were caught in good numbers around all of the inlets, and some of the nearshore boats pulled amberjacks, black sea bass and tilefish from a few of the wrecks. Some keeper flounder are coming from the channels near Hatteras Inlet.

A good class of two to four pound bluefish continued to appear near Oregon Inlet, but the bite was very sporadic, good one day and no fish the next. No doubt the erratic behavior of the blues has been connected to the changeable weather and cool water temperatures, and boaters had to deal with a lot of grass on some days. The Little Bridge on the Nags Head-Manteo causeway had a variety that included spot, croakers, flounder, speckled trout and black drum.

According to the folks at Fishing Unlimited, located next to the Little Bridge, a few days ago an angler fishing from a canoe near the bridge hooked and caught a massive black drum that tipped the scales at 60 pounds. I’m sure it was a case of who’s catching who for a while. They also reported that crabs beginning to show in the sound and crabbers on the Little Bridge did well. Lots of croakers are also in the sounds.

Offshore fishing has been good for both the Oregon Inlet and Hatteras Inlet fleets. Mostly tuna, but blue and white marlin are beginning to show in decent numbers. On some days the boats who found the yellowfin tuna caught their limits. The yellowfins are running up to about 60 pounds. Bigeye tuna, to 200 pounds, were also caught by the Oregon Inlet fleet. Dolphin action was very good, with a mix of bailers and gaffers.

Outer Banks of NORTH CAROLINA Fishing Report
MAY 2010
By Joe Malat

A few days of honest-to-goodness, spring-like weather did wonders for the disposition of folks who were locked into a winter depression and the break in the weather provided some much needed light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope.

Beautiful weather for the Easter weekend made a lot of folks happy. It didn’t hurt the fishing either, as several different species of fish came to town and brought their appetites.

As this report is being written, the water temperature at the US Army Corps of Engineers Research Pier in Duck is only 48 degrees, but the water temp reached 54 degrees at the Avalon Pier. It’s much warmer about fifty miles south and that’s where most of the action was during early April, especially at the southern end of Hatteras Island and along much of Ocracoke Island.

The big news was a strong appearance of big red drum; both surfcasters and boaters enjoyed some great drum action. Ocracoke surfcasters had drum in mixed sizes, from small pups to fish that brushed the 50-inch mark. Despite a few days of intense rain and gusty southerly winds that that made fishing uncomfortable, beach fishers at Ocracoke caught a lot of bluefish up to four pounds on bait and lures. A few blues in the 5-pound range were also in the mix. Evening and night tides were the best bet for big drum. Best action for the blues came from sloughs between the airport ramp and the south end of the island. A few black drum and some sea mullet were also caught.

Boaters at Ocracoke also found a lot of drum, schooled up around the shoals at the mouth of Ocracoke Inlet, and they caught the big drum while sightcasting to them with large bucktails.

Drum fishing also turned on in the surf at Cape Point near Buxton, with several reds up to 50-inches being caught and released. Cape Point also produced sea mullet, some puppy drum, dogfish, bluefish and blow toads. Bluefish and puppy drum were reported from The Point down to Hatteras Inlet and a few big drum were caught near Frisco.
As this report was being prepared on April tenth, some hot news came in from Buxton about a strong bite of drum in all sizes, from puppies to big reds and a good run of sea mullet along the South Beach.

Little action was reported from the surf north of Oregon Inlet, but croakers, dogfish, skates, sea mullet and a few puppy drum were beached between Rodanthe and Buxton. Warmer water is moving up the beach and it won’t be long before fishing improves by leaps and bounds. It looks like we are off to a good start with puppy drum for this year. If this year is anything even close to last fall’s run of pups, it will be a banner year.

Surfcasters planning a trip to the Outer Banks should visit the website for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore for the latest Off-Road Vehicle Information. Go to www.nps.gov/caha and click the ORV information tab. The park has just published a document with Frequently Asked Questions that addresses almost everything you need to know. The document is available under “ HYPERLINK Frequently Asked Questions: Beach Access”
Pier fishing is off to a slow start, with mostly croakers, blowtoads, dogfish and skates being reported. The variety will increase as water temperatures continue to warm.

Soundside boaters near Hatteras Inlet also caught some speckled trout, puppy drum and bluefish. A good bite of pups was reported from the inside waters between Hatteras and Ocracoke.

Offshore fishing was good, when the boats could fish. Oregon Inlet charters had great action with yellowfin tuna, dolphin and some very large bigeye tuna, up to 180 pounds. The bluefin bite has been nothing less than outstanding, with some near 400 pounds being reported. The nearshore charters found schools of big bluefish, running between eight and fifteen pounds. Wouldn’t it be nice if some of those big choppers would come close enough to the beach for surfcasters to catch a few?

As the weather stabilizes, fishing will improve on all fronts with every passing day. Soundside action will build to a springtime peak in May as speckled trout, puppy drum and bluefish move inside the inlets.

Rocker Rod Stewart said in his song, Mandolin Wind, “…through the coldest winter in almost fourteen years, I couldn’t believe you kept a smile.” After the past two months, I don’t believe many folks on the Outer Banks were happy about the weather, but there were a few smiles during the second week of March as temperatures climbed and the sun was bright.

Despite the beautiful weather, Ocracoke was the only place I heard about any fish in the surf, with a handful of puppy drum taken on lures and bait. During the same week boaters scored with stripers. Boaters fishing out of Oregon Inlet found them and most caught their limits of stripers, and then enjoyed some steady catch and release action. Tuna fishing was also good, with lots of bluefin and blackfin.

At this writing the ocean water temperature in Duck has inched up a bit from last month’s report but remains a very frosty 45 degrees. The water was five degrees warmer at Ocracoke. As the water temps continue to climb, we should see some more consistent fishing in April.

News has been released by the National Park Service (NPS) concerning the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Off-Road Vehicle Management Plan.

According to a release from the NPS, “...the DEIS evaluates the impacts of several alternatives for regulations and procedures that would carefully manage off-road vehicle (ORV) use/access in the National Seashore to protect and preserve natural and cultural resources and natural processes, to provide a variety of visitor use experiences while minimizing conflicts among various users, and to promote the safety of all visitors.”

Once printed copies of the document are available, NPS will request that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publish its Notice of Availability (NOA) for the DEIS, which officially initiates the 60-day public comment period. Meanwhile, electronic copies of the DEIS are available for public review on the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) web site for the project at:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/caha

The Coalition for Beach Access is a group of organizations committed to the preservation of pedestrian and ORV access to the beaches within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area. These organizations participated in the NPS Negotiated Rule Making Process which was unable to arrive at a consensus recommendation from all parties.
Member organizations in this coalition are American Sportfishing Association, Avon Property Owners Association, Cape Hatteras Anglers Club, North Carolina Beach Buggy Association, Outer Banks Preservation Association, Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Civic Association, United Mobile Sportsfishermen and Watersports Industry Association, Inc.

In response to the recent NPS release, the Coalition developed an “ORV Access Environmental Impact Position Statement” to summarize its positions on many of the issues that are important to its goal of open access to the Recreational Area.
The Coalition believes the positions stated within the position statement represent a common sense, reasonable approach to ORV Management that will protect public access and natural resources without impairment to either.

All who are interested in the preservation of pedestrian and ORV access to the beaches within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area are urged to compare and contrast this document with the NPS DEIS and ORV Plans to assist them in the preparation of comments during the official comment periods. An electronic Copy of Statement can be downloaded at "http://www.obpa-nc.org/position/statement.pdf"

Other websites to monitor for the latest information about the Cape Hatteras beach access issues are http://www.savehatteras.com and the Island Free Press at www.islandfreepress.org.

On March 8, the NPS established the 2010 pre-nesting areas for breeding shorebirds in Cape Hatteras National Seashore, in accordance with the terms of the consent decree. Temporary closures were scheduled to be installed on sections of the Bodie Island Spit, Cape Point, South Beach, Hatteras Inlet Spit, North Ocracoke Spit and South Point Ocracoke by March 15, 2010.

The pre-nesting areas will be marked with “symbolic fencing” consisting of wooden posts, bird usage signs, string and flagging tape. Dates and locations for the installation of specific pre-nesting areas will be determined by prevailing weather and tide conditions. For more information visit the website for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore at www.nps.gov/caha.