The area around the Red Can has someCrazy currents for sure. A northeast wind pushing into the river current can make it seem even worse. That's why most of us run down speed units like Fish Hawk or Sub Troll.
You couldn't possibly eat enough fish in a lifetime to have ill effects. The health benefits FAR outweigh the "hazards" created by tests in California. Lol
The answer depends on what port you'll be fishing out of. Each port seems to have a "local flavor" of spoons and flashers that consistently produce well. And rarely are they the same for all ports.
You won't be far from hatteras and you should see it anyway. Rom Whitaker runs the Release 1 out of hatteras harbor marina. Great guy! Tell him I sent you.
Blood Run makes good fluoro. Use 50# for all my fly leaders.
For spoons I'm very partial to Gamma Edge--expensive but I've never had it fail and I've personally seen it pull off some
Amazing feats that no other line could have done.
A true "thumper rod" is a 1# ball trailing a dodger and squid or fly. The "thumping" comes from the action of the dodger and is used to judge speed. At least it was back before we had all the electronic crap we have now.
It's been a long time since I've caught one. We used to catch them all the time in Erie in the 80's and I know they are still ocassionally caught there as well as Lake O.
I'm sticking with my "guess"
Of Pink salmon.
When fishing water less than 15' deep spoons are run off riggers 2-6' down and 60' back. Short shallow
Bay Rat sticks are generally run 75-100' back on inlines or big boards. Run that way you'll be fine into about 8' of water.
Less than that and you'll need to shorten your set backs.