Look for fish to be holding on secondary points or around the corners of main-lake pockets or pockets just inside the mouth of major creeks.

As the month progresses, pre-spawn fish will move back into creeks and congregate in spawning pockets.

A good source of information on Lake Wylie is Robby Byrum at Byrum's General Store in Charlotte, (704) 588-0434.

APRIL
Buggs Island Lake
Largemouth bass
If there is a heaven on this earth for bass fishermen who like to fish shallow, it's Buggs Island in April and May, when fish pull into flooded shoreline cover.

The Nutbush Creek area of the lake, with headwaters near Henderson, has always been a great place to start in April because banks are a little flatter and more good shoreline cover is flooded.

Try to target windy points, and pay special attention to the base of flooded gum trees. Spinnerbaits are tremendously effective, in part because bass are so aggressive and because the wind will ripple the water up enough to keep bass from getting a good look at the lure's rippling skirt and jangling blades.

Later in the day, bass will often move back into pockets and set up shop around the base of flooded willow or buck bushes. That's when flipping a jig or a Texas-rigged soft-plastic bait of some kind becomes very effective.

Action in early April is generally around the mouth of Nutbush. As the month progresses, more fish move back in the creek and up in the river toward other creeks.

Bass pro Joel Richardson guides actively on Buggs Island. He can be reached at (336) 643-7214.

MAY
Outer Banks
Yellowfin Tuna
Offshore boats from Oregon Inlet and Hatteras will normally make a B-line in May to an area east of Diamond Shoals called "The Point" -- a ledge that drops off into extremely deep water and attracts loads of baitfish and predators like yellowfin tuna.

Big tuna can show up as early as late April and hang around through June, but May is the peak of the season, especially in terms of numbers of fish. Boats from either port are able to reach the fishing grounds with a run of just over two hours.

Daily limits of three fish per angler are very common, with most fish running between 25 and 40 pounds.

Most boats troll ballyhoo dressed with trolling feathers or Sea Witches; pink is a very popular color for tuna. Dolphin and some billfish will also show up in the same area.

Boats can be chartered out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, (252) 441-6301, south of Nags Head, and in Hatteras, Oden's Dock, (252) 986-2555, Hatteras Harbor Marina, (252-986) 2166 or Teach's Lair Marina, (252) 986-2460.

JUNE
Cape Hatteras
Cobia
Cobia arrive along North Carolina's Outer Banks in mid-May, working their way north. By the middle of the month, Hatteras will be the center of the cobia universe, with fish pushing through the inlet into deep sloughs back in the Pamlico Sound, and working east up the beach toward Diamond Shoals.

The key range of water temperature is 72 to 78 degrees. When the mercury hits the 80-degree mark, most cobia will be gone.

"The longer the temperature stays in that range, the longer they'll stay around," said guide Ken Dempsey of Hatteras (252-986-2102). "Our cobia will show up the second or third week of May, and be here as late as the second week in July, but June is definitely the best month."

Dempsey and other inshore guides concentrate on sloughs in the sound behind Hatteras Inlet and in the inlet proper. As June progresses, he'll make the 45-minute run from the inlet up to Diamond Shoals, setting up on the step-down ledges that come off the side of the shoals.