NEW BERN
If North Wilkesboro is the gateway to Northwest North Carolina, New Bern is the gateway to the Crystal Coast, the stretch of North Carolina beaches from the Neuse River and Cape Lookout to Bogue Inlet and the White Oak River.

New Bern is about a 30- to 45-minute drive from the Morehead City area and its multitude of saltwater opportunities. It sits at the junction of the Neuse and Trent rivers, where the fishing opportunities are endless -- in fresh water and salt water.

The Trent River flows eastward to New Bern, a normally placid watercourse whose banks are blanketed with aquatic grasses. It is primarily fresh water, with largemouth bass, striped bass and sunfish packing its acres.

The Neuse River is much larger and filled with all kinds of fish -- fresh water and salt water. When pro bass fishermen hit the river in the late 1990s for a national tournament, they remarked about the uncertainty that came with fishing the river downstream from New Bern -- not knowing when they pitched a plastic worm in under a boat dock or up against a piling whether the tap-tap on the other end of the line was from a bass, a puppy drum, a flounder or speckled trout.

There are literally thousands of pieces of wooden cover to target in the river and in major tributary creeks for 10 miles upstream or downstream from New Bern. Fishing is best on low tides, but tidal movement of water is more influenced by wind direction than the moon in the New Bern area. Low water concentrates fish on the ends of laydowns and docks. The "salt line" will often determine exactly what tugs on the end of your line. A relatively dry spring and summer will have salty or brackish water close to New Bern; a wet spring and summer will push freshwater and saltwater species down the river.

Some of the Neuse's finest fishing is in late August and September, when big red drum move into the area around the mouth of the river, preparing to spawn. They tend to feed in shallow water on shoals or sandbars after dark, and guides like George Beckwith of Oriental (252/249-3101) and Chris Elliott of Gloucester (252/808-7067) target them by anchoring up, putting out a chum slick of ground fish and menhaden oil, then fishing big chunks of cut bait on heavy spinning tackle around the shoals, waiting for fish to move up to hit the chum line and feed.

Thirty or so miles to the east of New Bern is Morehead City and the Cape Lookout area, one of North Carolina's finest coastal fisheries. During the summer, fishermen can target about a dozen species, depending on their preference and pocketbooks -- from blue water brawlers like yellowfin tuna, wahoo and dolphin to the highly desirable inshore puppy drum, speckled trout, gray trout and flounder, and panfish like spots, croakers and sea mullet.