What's your pleasure? Speckled trout, flounder, stripers, Spanish mackerel, drum, even false albacore can be brought to hand by the informed angler who tries his luck on North Carolina's lustrous Outer Banks. There is a catch to landing your dream catch, though: you'd better be packing the right flies!

The Outer Banks, rich in history and teeming with game fish, are a chain of barrier islands that stretch from Corolla in the north to Cape Lookout in the south along the Carolina coast. Visitors from around the country have made the Outer Banks a top vacation and fishing spot.

Lefty Kreh often says, "All fishing is local fishing." Without a doubt, local guides and fly shop owners are your best resource when determining how to approach their home waters. Take advantage of their expertise. With that in mind, I decided to pick the brains of some Outer Banks guides in preparation for this article, to see what the local experts were using. My research was not exhaustive, by any means; the guides I spoke with are not the only ones on the Outer Banks. If you know a local guide I haven't mentioned here, save yourself a great deal of frustration by asking for his advice in picking out your flies before you head down to the coast.

Line Sides
Stripers--or line sides, as they are sometimes called--love bridges and similar structures. Capt. Brian Horsley believes that many stripers spend their winters here in North Carolina. Although large stripers do migrate up and down the coast, he believes there are exceptions to the rule. A number of bridges link the Outer Banks together; these bridges are a haven for juvenile stripers, and these structures are magnets for smaller species of baitfish.

Certainly Clouser minnows are nothing new to most anglers. However, the color combinations appropriate for the Outer Banks might surprise you. Orange over black is very popular here, as is red over black. I fished this color myself this summer, and I can attest to its effectiveness. Horsley also informed me that copper flash is a promising fly component when anglers are seeking to attract the attention of these often finicky fish.

Bluefish
Bluefish love poppers, and surface flies draw strikes that every angler enjoys seeing. These flies may also be good for beginning anglers because they can help the novice to develop accuracy in casting. Because the fly is above water, the angler can see where the fly is at all times and how quickly or slowly he or she is retrieving the fly. Unfortunately, poppers have their downside, too: they are easily destroyed. The key to using poppers with toothy critters like bluefish is finding a popper that lasts. Poppers that stand up well to these brutes include Mr. Bob's Poppers. The largest (3/0) of these soft-bodied, closed cell foam flies may not be easy to throw, but it is very durable. This fly also pushes a great deal of water, making it easier for the fish to spot. Chartreuse and white are the most popular colors, followed by yellow and black. Although these patterns are not commercial made anymore you can still get some at Fly Fish the World in Richmond Virginia 804-282-5527.

Another great surface fly is Bob's Banger (no relation to the Mr. Bob of popper fame). This popper is the brainchild of fly tying luminary Bob Popavics of New Jersey. The fly is lightweight and comes in a variety of colors. Bob's Banger is fished all over the country successfully. Despite it's Yankee roots, southern fish just can't seem to resist this fly. Fish this popper early in the morning as the sun is coming up; try it again late in the afternoon and early evening.

Red Drum and Flounder
Capt. Gary Dubiel is a Federation of Fly Fishers Master Tyer and full-time guide in Oriental, North Carolina. The Pamlico Sound is in his backyard, and he knows it like the back of his hand. "The Pamlico Sound is like a giant nursery for all manner of fish," Dubiel recently told me. "I see everything here from flounder to tarpon to puppy drum to speckled trout, and in the brackish water an occasional largemouth. Often it takes a different approach to catch these fish." Dubiel has developed a series of flies to deal with the special challenges these fish present.

One of his clients recently brought to boat a 40-inch red drum on Dubiel's Finesse Fly. Drum like to hang around the small sandbars and pick off the minnows that swim in between and around the sea grass. This pattern is a stone killer when thrown in the holes and undercut banks that are dug by fluctuating currents. The Finesse Fly's colors combined with its action have proven to be very effective.

Another fly Dubiel uses with success is his Little Hadden Fly. The pattern, which can be used for stripers but also has applications for Spanish mackerel and kings, is essentially a baitfish imitation but has a much wider profile. Because bunker fish and mullet abound in these waters and are favorite foods of the local game fish, these voracious eaters often find the Little Hadden's larger sides and eyes irresistible.

I have always looked on the flounder, with a flat body and with two eyes on one side of its head, as something of a mutant fish. The fact that it's a bottom feeder has not boosted its image much in my estimation. However, there is a common misconception among anglers concerning the humble flounder. "Most people think flounder are slow, passive fish," says Dubiel. "Make no mistake about it--the flounder is a serious predator. Flounder on the whole are very fast, great at concealing themselves, and accurate when they strike. Most baitfish find this out the hard way." Dubiel's Glass Minnow is a simple but effective pattern for flounder and smaller game fish that seeks to capitalize on the flounder's desire to "sneak up" on a quick meal.

False Albacore
Albies, Fat Alberts, Wannabe Tunas-the false albacore, by any other nickname, would fish as sweet. These popular game fish show up around Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina, in the fall by the thousands. Two qualities make false albacore prime catches for fly anglers: first, they taste terrible, so there is much less chance of their being overfished. Second, and perhaps more importantly, they fight like crazy. I had the pleasure of fishing for false albacore last fall and found them intoxicating. Casting to a speeding albacore is like standing on the highway and casting to passing cars. You might not land as many fish as you do when casting to breaking blues, but when you've got a false albacore on the line, hold on!

False albacore fishing can be maddening at times. They can be breaking the surface all around you by the hundreds, and you can still manage not to hook up. One of the interesting things about false albacore is their ability to tear off 100 yards of line and then seemingly spit out the hook. These fish are speedsters, so it's easy to get broken off by oversetting the hook. It's much easier to let the fish hook themselves.

Again, the Locals Know Best
I've been fishing the Outer Banks with my family ever since I was a kid. My mom and dad would pack us off in the family car, and my brother Jason and I would spend hours on end at the local piers. Some of my best childhood memories are of the times spent on those piers. Now that I'm older and prefer fly angling, I don't spend much time on those piers anymore. I still enjoy traveling to the Outer Banks, but my preferences have changed somewhat. Now I wade by a lighthouse or scramble across jetties, fly rod in hand, searching for hard-fighting fish. Oh, I still strike out now and again. I tell myself that the unpredictability of my success is what keeps it interesting, that I'm not out for a sure thing when I go fishing. But let's not kid ourselves; I don't really believe that, do you? I much prefer to consult the local experts before embarking on my piscatorial pursuits. That way I'm more likely to have in my fly box the tools that will ensure a great angling experience.

Beau Beasley is a columnist for the Chesapeake Angler and the Conservation Outreach Officer for the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival www.vaflyfishingfestival.org

For more information about many of the patterns mentioned here or fishing the Pamlico Sound contact Capt. Gary DuBiel of Spec Fever Guide Service at 252-249-1520 or go to www.specfever.com