For information on fishing and camping in the park, call (828) 433-4772.

It's a short drive north out of Hickory on Route 321 or Morganton on Route 181 up the mountain to the Blue Ridge Parkway and into prime trout territory. The Wilson Creek drainage, one of North Carolina's top trout streams, lies between Route 181 and Route 321 in the Pisgah National Forest near the village of Mortimer. Beyond, above the parkway, lie dozens of streams in Avery and Watauga counties, the top trout destinations in northwest North Carolina, with good representations of hatchery-supported, wild-trout and delayed-harvest streams.

OUTER BANKS
Like most beach areas, North Carolina's Outer Banks is already a family vacation mecca, and that's not even considering the folks who like to wet a fishing line while they're away from home.

But the fragile barrier islands that line North Carolina's coast don't simply shut down when school is in session. Fishermen fill a lot of motels and cottage rentals, put a lot of gas in pickup truck tanks and eat a lot of restaurant meals from Manteo south to Ocracoke.

Don't miss the great summertime fishing opportunities while you're digging your toes into the sand, because they are wide and varied. Some of the fishing is very advanced, but there are lots of things to do with kids to make lasting memories.

First, a handful of guides have discovered a tremendous summertime striped bass fishery in the Croatan Sound between the mainland and Roanoke Island. Thousands and thousands of the striped bass that make their spring spawning run up the Roanoke River live the rest of the year in the sound, and they tend to feed around the two bridges that carry "old" and "new" Route 64 from East Lake to Roanoke Island.

It's a fairly simple bite; you anchor and pitch live bait, such as pigfish, croaker and spot toward the concrete bridge pilings, which the stripers use as current blocks. On lower tide phases, you fish toward the middle of the bridge in deeper water. On higher tide phases, you can spread out toward the bank.

Half-day guided trips regularly produce 40 to 50 stripers in the 3- to 6-pound range, so there's plenty of action for young fishermen who have to have constant action to stay interested.

Guide David Dudley of Manteo and his father, James, operate Nags Head Guide Service out of Manteo (252-475-1555), and they spend much of the summer fishing the two bridges.

Another great summertime fish for the family is the pompano, a slab-sided, great-eating fish that migrates north during the summer and hangs out, literally, in the surf -- just behind the "berm" where waves break onto the beach.

What makes the pompano a great fish for fathers, mothers and children is that gathering the bait is almost as fun as catching the fish. Pompano are suckers for the tiny crustaceans known as "sand fleas" that can be dug out of the wet sand as waves recede. Cover the bottom of a plastic bucket with an inch or two of sand, add water, then dig into the wet sand and pull out the tiny fleas, depositing them in the water.

You'll need quite a few, because they're rather fragile and don't last very long on the hook, but they're candy for pompano. A simple, two-hook bottom rig baited with two sand fleas and cast just a few yards out into the surf is all you'll need for some good action. Lots of surf-fishermen miss out because they cast too far -- pompano live within a few yards of the beach most of the time. They can grow to a pound or better.

Frank Folb at Frank & Fran's tackle shop in Avon (252-995-4171) is a great source for Outer Banks surf-fishing information.