Catfish Lake South Wilderness

North Carolina's Croatan National Forest is a unique coastal ecosystem set between the Atlantic Ocean and the Neuse River and interlaced with the sea's nurseries, called estuaries, where oysters, shrimp, and crab reproduce and grow to maturity. Croatan's Catfish Lake South Wilderness is primarily raised bogland, where biting insects try to steal the spotlight from the American alligator and the cottonmouth, canebrake rattler, eastern diamondback rattler, pygmy rattler, copperhead, and other poisonous snakes. You may see deer, bears, squirrels, rabbits, and raccoons, all of which may be hunted according to state law. Sleek muskrats, minks, and otters are common. On the Atlantic Flyway, Catfish Lake attracts ducks and geese, and bird lovers have also spotted egrets, flycatchers, woodpeckers, hawks, woodcocks, owls, and ospreys. Five genera of insectivorous plants live here, a combination rarely seen elsewhere: the erect pitcher plant; the hairy, sticky round-leafed sundew; the waxy, "buttery" butterwort; the hinged-leafed Venus flytrap; and the aquatic, floating bladderwort. The Wilderness, which is bordered by roads and on the northeast by Catfish Lake, offers nothing in the way of trails — just lots of chances to find yourself the victim of some hungry pest. The lake draws a few anglers who hope to hook bass, redbreast, bluegill, chain pickerel, warmouth, yellow perch, and, of course, catfish, though the lake's high acidity is likely to disappoint.