I guess I had read Bassmaster magazine for at least a year before I learned about largemouths--super abundant--in Currituck Sound, North Carolina. The Outer Banks were my family's special vacation place; we had been coming since 1969. I fished from Kittyhawk Pier (now gone after a storm), eight years old, catching 22 white perch on the rare occasion of masses of them schooling in the ocean. They are anadromadous as are related striped bass. I fished the surf, caught a skate and lost a large pompano that took a sand flea. By the time I learned about the bass in freshwater Currituck, I was much improved at fishing, skilled at catching bass in New Jersey and amazed they existed in Currituck. I had expected to do nothing but serious saltwater angling the summer of 1976.
Instead, I hiked from our rental house near the beach outback towards the sound. I discovered bass in the canals behind properties on the sound side. They swirled for baitfish trapped at the end of one of the canals. Big boils erupted, impressing my memory forever. Two or three years later I caught a 39 inch gar--think it was a shortnose--on a #9 floating Rapala. One of my bass weighed about three and a half pounds. I also waded in the very shallow sound, catching a few bass on spinnerbaits. I don't remember how I found out, but Collington Bay behind Kill Devil Hills harbored loads of largemouths, and we caught them as large as three and a half pounds mostly on Ringworms, a 70's idea of trapping air to produce bubbles by plastic ring chambers around the worm's plastic body. We also caught crabs on those Ringworms; this far south of Currituck the water is brackish.
In 1978--I was 17--me and two friends (both of them approached 16) drove to the Outer Banks in my Ford Fairlane station wagon, which I had bought saving money from writing fishing articles for magazines and the Trenton Times, also mowing lawns. I was a member of B.A.S.S. chapter Mercer County Bass, and borrowed a 7.5 horsepower outboard from another member to use on my 12 foot cartop aluminum. At the time I owned an electric outboard. We fished Collington. My friend Jason Roberts lost a bass of at least four pounds. Later someone we met at the campground and I traveled north of Kitty Hawk way up highway 158 to launch into Currituck. We rode all the way across and viewed Corolla Lighthouse up close. We could have landed and wandered around a place that then was completely isolated except for an unimproved, one lane sand spit. We caught bass on spinnerbaits around duck blinds. Everywhere milfoil supported the ecology.
I guess it was 1984 when I learned somehow the milfoil had died and the bass vanished with it. A girlfriend and I spent 10 days camping down the Banks from north of Kitty Hawk to Ocracoke. We took a motel room in Ocracoke. I felt a vast loss when we camped at Collington, the water muddy and no bass anywhere. I don't know how many millions of bass existed in this ecosystem, but 50 bass a day catches were common and the acreage out there is enormous. Currituck reminds me of Lake Musconetong, another great fishery all but destroyed. Both of these waters are very shallow and once hosted enormous amounts of aquatic vegetation; anywhere you went was bass water, habitat everywhere.
Back on the Banks this past summer I wondered if any bass still exist at all, or if perhaps milfoil has returned. I haven't searched the web. (If anyone knows, please share.) In 1996 I did try Collington Bay. The water was heavily stained, no milfoil and no bass. It looked sick. And it seemed unnecessary for it to be sick, although I haven't learned of the cause of this great ecology's demise.
I thought the destruction of the bass fishery had to do with the albermarle canal?? Saltwater influx from the Chesapeake. Apparently there are still a few bass around. Depends on the salinity levels.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised at all. You seem to know better specifically than I. I thought there might be a few, particularly where any freshwater influx. It really was such an exciting place to bass fish. My family first went to the Outer Banks in '69, and nearly each summer thereafter. I had no idea until 1976, learned from Bassmaster magazine. Not to bore you with a rehash, but the fishery made such a great impression on me.
DeleteBruce,
ReplyDeleteI live on the North River in Grandy, NC (Currituck County). The bass are steadily making a comeback. I fished Saturday for three hours and caught 12 bass (1-1.5lbs.)and missed that many or more.
Milfoil and aquatic grasses have steadily increased over the last 20 years. The habitat was destroyed in the mid 80s when an extended drought allowed salinity levels to spike thus killing the plants that create the bass habitat.
It is still a hidden treasure and I have made it my home since 2001.
That's great news about the milfoil and other aquatic vegetation coming back. Thus the bass!
DeleteIt's great to hear a voice from Grandy. Every time we come down, I notice Grandy as we pass through.
I was there in 1984, and if I remember correctly, when I fished Kitty Hawk Bay, I found the water very much off-color and the milfoil gone. I didn't know what to make of it.
Started bass fishing in colington when I was 9 that was in 67. Fishing the march islands with a cork and line using peeler crab as bait. Caught bass up to 9 pounds from then to 78. Then the bass slowly started to taper off through the 90s. I caught a 7 pounder in 94 but most were small. I fished all over colington the last three years and caught 5 bass total. The best thing is that I catch lots of red drum in the fall and some rockfish as well. Red Drump up to 12 pounds in sep oct. if you want to catch some nice fish go there that time of year and fish the north end of kitty hawk bay all around the ocean side of the deep water canal where the gravel pit is if you have a small boat. you can catch some nice red drum that will fight better than any bass you ever caught. I miss the bass it is my fondest memory of my dad taking me fishing.
ReplyDeletesorry about the typo's in that one it is marsh islands and the rest i think you can figure out tom
DeleteGreat story. It makes remember launching my boat from Collington when I was 17, and also wading when I was younger and older. Nine pounds is a huge bass. I did catch a 23 1/4-incher, pretty fat, that must have weighed 7 1/2 here in NJ. My biggest at Colllington was 18 inches, but I never had as much time as I would have liked. That said, the memory feels big. I remember how sad I felt the last I visited Collington and the water was off color and I caught no bass. I can't remember if that was 1984 or 1996. Let me check my log...1996. We camped near Collington in 1984. These recent years, we always stay on Ocracoke and don't really spend time to the north. Besides Avon Pier. Want to come down for the fall or winter red drum surf bite sometime. Thanks plenty for posting your story. It's guys like you who make this post so much more worthwhile. One other thing, if I didn't mention it in the post, it was the Bassmaster Classic that clued me into Currituck bass. Had vacationed at Southern Shores since 1969 and first fished the bass in 1976, 1977, or 1978. (Not going to dig through the log for that date.) How I found out about the bass at Collington I just don't remember, but I did have a penchant for researching. Again, thanks so much for commenting.
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