My husband and I love fishing on the North Carolina Outer Banks. We are not alone. The proximity of the Gulf Stream provides great fishing practically year round at the North Carolina coast. A once per year vacation is simply not enough to satisfy our fishing cravings, so we take long weekends as often as possible, and over the years we have learned to economize our visits.

From our home in Wake Forest, the drive is just a bit over three hours. We travel highway 64 East, always stopping for a double cheeseburger special at the Little Man in Plymouth. I grew up in Plymouth, and Little Man specials are a nostalgic favorite for me. They also have great fried chicken.

We try to take at least Friday afternoon off from work so we can arrive in time to fish by dark. Sometimes we stay in Mann's Harbor at White's Convenience Store located just before the new sound bridge. Behind the store, White's has a small motel and a permanent campground. White's is not The Ritz, but very reasonably priced for a fishing weekend. From there it's a quick drive to the Old Mann's Harbor bridge.

Besides being a good fishing spot, the old bridge provides a nesting structure for a large flock of purple martins. On our last visit, we arrived just before dusk to see about a dozen cars in our usual parking area. My heart sank for a second, mistaking these visitors for fishermen competing for our spot. They were actually bird watchers, and sure enough, the purple martins were coming in for the evening. In July and August 100,000 birds spend the night under the bridge, arriving at dusk, departing at dawn.

My family has fished near the old bridge since I was a child. My grandparents spent eight months of the year at their permanent campsite in the old Sand Piper's Trace campground, just down the shore from the bridge. After the campground and my grandparents were gone, my sisters and I still stopped at the bridge and often caught plenty of croakers and spot, and the occasional puppy drum or striper.

My husband and I have had our best luck at the bridge just before dark but seldom catch much during the day. On our last visit, after the bird watchers departed, Ken said, "Watch my pole," while he went to move our vehicle to a closer parking spot. As soon as he was out of shouting distance, something hit his pole! I reeled in with excitement and drug a nice fish across the sand. "Please be a croaker," I mumbled.

"Did you catch that on my pole?"

Ha, ha! I was beyond excited. Until Ken pointed out the obvious. "That's a puppy drum. You can't keep it." He was right. The sand had camouflaged the tell-tale spot. I put my foot next to the fish and thought it might be close. I scrambled quickly through the tackle box for my measuring tape, but alas, he was only 17". An inch too short. Shoulders slumped, adrenaline fading, I hurried to get my catch back into the water so he could swim away safely. Maybe he'll be big enough next year.

The night wasn't a complete loss by any means. I did catch a nice croaker a bit later that was plenty big enough to keep. In fact, I had him for dinner the following Monday. Ken only caught (and released) one smaller puppy drum. But the night was beautiful and relaxing. We headed back to White's and turned in early, anxious to get to Avalon Pier early in the morning.

When we don't stay at White's, we try to get a room at The Cavalier Motel in Kill Devil Hills. The Cavalier is another reasonable if not fancy place to stay, and it's very close to Avalon, our favorite pier. We've had many successful fishing trips to Avalon, including the one in October 2003 when I caught a citation spot.

We try to get to the pier early, but there are always the regulars who beat us to the best spots. Last weekend we arrived before 8 and settled in close to the shore. Another group was fishing very close, right at the surf. They were quickly catching one nice mullet after another. Just a short distance away, we caught only a few baby flounder. That's how it works sometimes.

Across the street from Avalon Pier our favorite restaurant, Awful Arthurs serves a great fish sandwich for lunch. We also love dinner there - the best Crab Balls and to-die-for Crab & Lobster Bisque.

When the fishing is less than spectacular, we sometimes indulge in the Outer Banks night life. My favorite spot is the Jolly Roger where you can find karaoke every night of the week.

We frequently venture south to fish as well. Rodanthe's Hatteras Island Fishing Pier is 850 feet, and we've enjoyed several successful fishing trips there. The catwalk at the Oregon Inlet bridge is sometimes another hotspot, especially when the spot are in. Before beach access became so limited, we liked to take the four wheel drive on the beach at Oregon Inlet and The Point for surf fishing.

We don't do a lot of official sight seeing anymore, preferring to spend our time fishing. But sometimes when the fishing is slack, we drive to Hatteras just to enjoy the view. The NC Outer Banks are simply beautiful.

During a fishing report on the radio during our last visit, a local business owner said, "There's a difference between catching and fishing," as he was explaining that his kids didn't really like fishing too much yet. I think my husband prefers catching like the kids, but I love the fishing. Sitting in the ocean breeze with the sun beating down on the NC coast is my favorite past-time in the world.

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