Nov 11 Gale Warnings

Looks like a Bad Time is headed for the NC Coast and I'm stategically located to recieve the FULL IMPACT at Hatteras, which pretty much sits 20 miles out in the Ocean. I expect all these Jumping Mullets and Squid that are swimming around the Ferry Docks to get blown away. It is always interesting to see what comes and takes their place after the wind lets up. Next week when I get home, I expect the Speckled Trout, King Mackerel, and Albacore Fishing to be Fabulous. Hopefully the weather will allow me to fish when and where I want to. That last sentence is about the most unlikely thing I ever typed. There's always hope. I am availiable for Charter from Nov. 18-23.

Nov 8 Blueline Tilefish and Sandbar Sharks

I ventured into new territory armed with Butterfish for chunking Tuna and plenty of Metal Jigs as Chris and I headed SE out of Oregon Inlet and headed to The Point. Our Tuna plans died pretty quickly. The Trolling bite was pretty much a steady pick for the Hatteras Fleet and we never found what we were looking for to effectively start chunking. We tried it any way and it was a waste of time. The Oregon Inlet Fleet was somewhere to the North and that's we where we probably should have been. Oh well, there was still plenty of action to be had on the Metal Jigs. Some good, some bad, but it was all very interesting and made for some sore muscles today. One problem we had jigging was Sharks. I'm talking numbers and size. Our boat was pretty much surrounded by 5-15 Sandbar Sharks at every stop. These Sharks were 100-200 pounders and they liked Tilefish, Sea Bass, Metal Jigs and Pork Chop Biscuits! Chris and I each caught several and lost several more. One thing is for sure, reeling in a 150 pound Shark on a Jigging Combo from the bottom in 320 feet of water is a tough proposition. We each got a few Tilefish to the boat. I also picked up a 17 lb King Mackerel on a jig and a 10 lb Albacore on a Top Water Plug. I pulled the hooks on a decent Blackfin Tuna right beside the Boat. Total Catch for the Day: 8 Blueline Tilefish, 2 Black Sea Bass, 1 Albacore, 1 King Mackerel and 6 Sandbar Sharks up to 150 pounds

An Original Top Water Charters Graphic Design from 2003

Nov 5 Albacore, Flounder and Red Drum

A beautiful day, but not quite as fishy as I had hoped. Maybe I just gave up too quickly. The weather was getting prettier all the time and conditions were getting right for exploring farther to the East (where I love to fish!) when I came home at 2pm. Here's how the day went. Albacore fishing was good, not great. The fish were not staying up very long at all. It took a little luck and a lot of moving around this morning to stay on the fish. My first cast of the day connected on a 10 lb Albacore. I also caught a 8 lb Albacore on my 3 wt Fly Rod. The best fish of the day came on my Trout Rod with 6# test. I was searching the Shackleford Beach for Red Drum when I saw 5 Albacore cruising right up in the surf. I made a good cast and the race was ON! The fastest Albacore got there first and got released 10 minutes later. In between those 3 fish came a lot of casting and 3 other Albacore. I think the better Albacore Fishing was to the West, but like the variety that I normally find to the East! The most interesting thing of the day was the incredible numbers of Summer Flounder that are in the Shackleford Surf. In about an hour of effort I released 20 Summer Flounders and found 3 keepers at 15" each. I was casting a 5" White Jerk Bait right up on the sand to get strikes from these fish. Hook one and sometimes 2 or 3 others would follow it to the Boat! Finally, I got a tip on a school of Red Drum and I went and found them. One small group of maybe 15 Red Drum in the surf at Rough Point. My first and only cast connected on a fiesty 24" Red Drum. That's it! Total Catch for the Day: 6 Albacore, 23 Summer Flounder and 1 Red Drum **2235 Total Fish in 2009**

Albacore Markings---No Two Fish Are Alike

No two markings are alike. Like Finger Prints and Snow Flakes

Nov 4 Great Albacore Fishing

Today was a good one for me. I went by myself and Albacore Fishing was great. My Fisherman today (ME) had no problem fishing for what was the obvious #1 target. Here's how it went. My first cast after leaving the boat ramp got slammed by an Albacore east of Bft Inlet in Back Sound. Then I ran to the west and caught 6 Albacore between the Sheraton and Salter Path. All these fish came off small, fast moving pods that were smashing schools of bait in 20 feet of water. I also caught an oddball 15" Sea Mullet on a gulp right up against a Stop Net. Then I ran back up to Cape Lookout and found the best fishing of the morning. The Albacore inside the Bight were tearing it up and staying in one place for 30+ seconds. This makes for great fishing. In about 75 minutes, I caught 10 Albacore on 10# spin and 8# spin. I also caught 3 Albacore on a 9wt flyrod including a 34" NC Citation Albacore that bottomed out my 15# Bogagrip. My next cast hooked a bigger Albacore, but my fly line got tangled in my motor and I was unable to clear my line. I held on to the fly line for 45 seconds as the Giant Albacore bulldozed in circles under my stern. Finally, he popped the leader. Damn! After that I moved out front and caught 3 more Albacore on my trout rod with 6# test. Very testy battles and great fun. These Albacores weighed from 8 pounds to an estimated 18 pounds. Total Catch for the Day: 23 Albacore and 1 Gulf Sea Mullet

Hatteras Halloween Cast Netting

I never put a hook in the water, so this aint much of a Fishing Report. I was only up there for 4 days, but I did miss a golden opportunity on Thursday Night. When I drove by the Avon Pier around 11pm, I had no idea that Capt Pat Bracher (http://www.fishovertime.com/) and Capt Arch Bracher (http://www.fishthepelican.com/) were on the end of the pier releasing over 40 Giant Red Drum. I don't give high praise out for fishermen very often, but without a doubt in my mind, these 2 brothers are among the Best in the World at what they do. Anybody who disputes this comment is an IDIOT. As for me, all I did was make 2 throws with a 10 ft Cast Net. I throw caught a single 3 lb Jumping Mullet. My other throw caught 13 Jumping Mullets, including 3 Grown Ones that weighed 5 lb.s each By the way, the picture is of a Permit that found it's way into Frank's Cast Net.

Oct 29 Albacore and Bluefish

I'd have say it was great Albacore Fishing. Tom, Mike and Matthew each released an Albacore in about 5 minutes of casting. We didn't stick around to mess up that average. Off the Shoals at Cape Lookout we went and we found a full fledged Bluefish Blitz. The guys caught them on every cast and they kept all they wanted to clean. After that it was a struggle. We fished for Gray Trout and Speckled Trout and all we got out of that was a 13" Speckled Trout that was not up to current NC standards. I did toss the cast net a couple of times and load the boys up with quite a few large Jumping Mullets. Back to Beaufort Inlet and we played with Bluefish for another hour before we called it quits. I liked these guys, they were out for Blood. The top picture clearly shows that somebody had a worse day than we did. Hopefully nobody got injured. Total Catch for the Day: 3 Albacore, 1 Speckled Trout and 80 Bluefish

Oct 28 Speckled Trout, Gray Trout and Bluefish

My crew couldn't make it today. I hope Steve gets to feeling better and I really hope the fishing is a little easier next time. That was 2 tough days. The weather was rotten again today with a Small Craft Advisory in place. But with a live well full of Shrimp, I got a chance to go explore some places to fish when "you can't fish anywhere else". It was pretty interesting and I caught a few nice Speckled Trout up to 2 lb 8 oz. Later in the afternoon I ran back to Beaufort Inlet and caught lots of Bluefish, Gray Trout, and Hogfish on speck rigs. Total Catch for the Day: 6 Speckled Trout, 10 Gray Trout, 12 Bluefish and 3 Hogfish

Oct 27 The Navy Ships, Hard Fishing and Bluefish Everywhere

A tough WNW Wind this morning shut down my plan for the Rock Jetty and Cape Lookout Shoals and sent me scrambling for a back-up plan inside Barden's Inlet. Once inside, fishing was poor. I blamed it on a hard falling tide, whatever the reason, fishing was very frustrating this morning. Everywhere we went, Bluefish were on the scene to chomp our live baits. By 10am the wind had fell out and it was off to the Rocks. waiting for us was, of course, more Bluefish. Nearly every cast on nearly every kind of bait. We did manage a Speckled Trout and a Northern Puffer. By noon, we were tired of feeding tackle and Finger Mullets to the Bluefish. Then we ran farther east to look for last weeks Red Drum. All we found was dirty water, Bluefish, and a Southern Stingray. Now was time to push the PANIC Button. All the way back to Radio Island for Bluefish and more Bluefish and a few other small fish. Of course, after my half day charter was over, I returned to Beaufort Inlet and caught plenty more Bluefish and 7 Gray Trout on Speck Rigs. Total Catch for the Day: 60 Bluefish, 7 Gray Trout, 1 Speckled Trout, 2 Hogfish, 8 Pinfish, 1 Gag Grouper and 1 Southern Stingray **2066 Total Fish in 2009**

Oct 26 Bluefish in Windy and Wet Conditions

We got the Bluefish pretty good in Beaufort Inlet this morning. Then we ran to the East to look around. This excursion happened around 10am-11am when the Wind was steady at 25kts and gusting to 35kts. Needless to say, that was nothing but a wet boat ride. We came back to Beaufort Inlet and fished about 4 different places and found dirty water and very few fish. Finally, we ended up right back where we started and Howard, Tom, and I socked it to the Bluefish. It was nearly every cast with anything you tied on. The Bluefish were bigger than the ones we found in the morning. Howard kept about 12-15 Bluefish that were 1+ pounders. Howard also caught a Speckled Trout. When it all said and done, it was a good day to catch Bluefish on a day hardly fit for fishing! Total Catch for the Day: 50 Bluefish, 1 Speckled Trout, 2 Inshore Lizardfish, 3 Pinfish and 1 Black Sea Bass **1986 Total Fish in 2009**

Oct 24-25 Taylor's Creek Cast Netting

I cancelled trips Saturday and Sunday because of the weather. Unfortunately, both days the weather was very, very fishable. Saturday, I think the Ocean would've been unbearable, but the fishing could've been interesting inside the Inlet. By 11am Saturday, I had to go fishing, so off to the Dock I went loaded for Flounder and Red Drum. Conditions were perfect. Clean, high water. Bait was running. The fishing was a bust, though. In 2 hours all I got was a couple of small Flounders and a few of Nature's less desirable creatures. Right before I left I did hit 30 Corncob Mullets throw with my Cast Net. On the 25th, I concentrated on the Cast Netting and it was pretty good. I had a 40 Fish throw and then hit the mother-lode. A 200 Mullet throw, with size from Finger Mullets up to 2 pound Roe Mullets. The Rod and Reel 2-Day Total Catch for the Day: 2 Southern Flounders, 2 Inshore Lizardfish, 5 Pinfish and 1 Northern Sea Robin

Top Water Red Drum Action

Hard to beat this action. It was hard to stop fishing long enough to try to take some action pictures. Here is what I got! The second from the top picture is a school of Cownose Rays. The others are of Red Drum crashing on Top Water Plugs. I mean to say, a thousand Red Drum hitting a Top Water Plug until one finally gets hooked up. The pictures don't show the sheer numbers of Drum. Catching them was easy with a hook, it was a little harder with the camera. Hey, I'm a fisherman, not a photographer. That's GREAT FISHING!!

Oct 22 Red Drum Fishing Can't Get Much Better

I wish that I had a Charter today, or yesterday. Fishing simply CANNOT get much better. Great weather, clear water, and huge schools of Red Drum. So once again, with nothing else to do, Chris and I went fishing. Today we left the Dock at 12pm. We caught Flounders out of the sloughs and gullies off Shackleford Banks for an hour. Then we ran to the East to catch Bluefish. We found plenty and were having a blast catching 2-4 pound Bluefish on every cast with metal and top water plugs. Then, we suddenly found our boat surrounded by the biggest school of Red Drum that I have seen this year. Thousands of fish. We saw fish up to 30+ pounds. Miss the school and catch a Blue. Hit the school and catch a Drum. That's the way it went for 4 hours. Chris released a 18 pound Red Drum. My biggest was a 15 pounder. We caught fish on every cast all afternoon. We caught them on metal, plugs, Gulps, whatever. We left them biting and headed for home. As for the Bluefish, the ones near the Red Drum schools were large ones as well. Chris got a 6 pound Bluefish. I got a 5 pound Bluefish. Off Shackleford Banks we briefly stopped and cast to Albacore. The Alberts were tough because they were ram-gorging tiny minnows. They didn't want to chase a bait. I finally hooked up and released a 12 pound Albacore. We didn't want to quit because the weather is getting ready to change. Too Bad, the great fishing can't last forever. Total Catch for the Day: 40 Red Drum up to 18 lbs, 40 Bluefish up to 6 lbs, 12 Summer Flounder up to 17" and 1 Albacore

News and Observer and the Cape Lookout Lighthouse

Two items of note. First, Capt Marty is the subject of an article in today's News and Observer. That's pretty cool since it is my hometown News Paper. It is about fishing, of course and can be found in today's Outdoors Section. Second, this month the Cape Lookout Lighthouse is celebrating it's 150th birthday and the NPS is lighing up the Lighthouse with spotlights. It is a very pretty thing to see up close. Last night, my wife and her parents made the trip up to the Cape to see the Lighthouse. It was a beautiful night. It was hard for me not to be thinking about all those Speckled Trout out at the Jetty, but I fought off that urge and just walked around and explored the Lighthouse. It was a pretty cool experience and a great way to spend time with family.

Oct 21 Awesome Red Drum Fishing and More

Today was nothing but flat out catching fish. We got a late start because of an Oil Change, but 20 minutes after the launch, Chris and I were sitting on a 1000 fish school of Red Drum. Three hours later we had released our 30th Red Drum and boxed a pair in the slot. The only thing that interupted our Red Drum mission was the 2 Albacore that I released. By the end of our Drum session we must've looked like the Pied Piper because we had 5-6 other boats that were following our every move down the Beach. It was pretty comical since I was really the only person that could see the fish. Not only was I instructing Chris where to cast, I was akso trying to coordinate the placement of all these other boats and direct 10-12 guys that were casting. Needless to say, the Drum were getting spanked pretty hard. After we couldn't take it anymore, Chris and I ran to the east and found all the Bluefish in the world, including a bunch of "legit" 4 pounders. All in all, it was a great day of fishing and hardly NO casts were wasted. Total Catch for the Day: 32 Red Drum, 30 Bluefish and 2 Albacore **1826 Total Fish in 2009**

Oct 17-19 More Poor Fishing and Bad Weather

Slow, slow fishing with the rod and reel, but there was pretty good cast-netting up a Hatteras. Conditions went from horrible to pretty damn nice by last night, but the fishing never recovered though. Fishing in a 40kt NW wind and rain was pretty messed up. I still caught a couple of fish in the bad weather and I hit 1 cast with the cast net for 65 pounds of Roe Mullet. The middle night was horrible, but the first Squid of the year showed up and wiped out a school with the cast net. Big Squid, up to 17" total length. Enough to feed 4 people. The angling highlight came when a small Red Drum attacked my finger mullet. Odd because for all the fishing I do at this spot, this only the second Red Drum I ever caught there. The last night, I managed to catch a 19" Southern Flounder and 9 really nice Squid on a squid jig. Some were bigger than I like to fry at 20" total length. Squid are a blast to catch on light tackle. I also caught the last Ladyfish of the year, a small one. In between all this, a few Black Sea Bass were biting. Total Catch for the Period: 1 Southern Flounder, 1 Red Drum, 1 Ladyfish, 7 Squid and 10 Black Sea Bass

Oct 14-16 Windy Night Fishing

Weather conditions have not been good for night fishing around structure with live bait. The ever present Black Sea Bass have thinned out. Their numbers are way down. Gray Trout have filled a little of that void. However, it's all about the Flounders where I'm fishing! Past Septembers have been great. 30 fish nights and fish up to 10 pounds. I missed all that this year. Now, it's mid-October and I'm fishing for ghosts. The wind and rain, dirty water and lack of bait are making it hard. There are a few Flounder around though. I'm averaging one Flounder bite per hour and trying to make the best of it. So far I've managed to catch 7 Flounders with a big fish at 21" and just under 4 pounds. All others were from 20" to 16". The Gray Trout are striking live baits and are 15" to 17" each and are a nice bonus. The Black Sea Bass have been 8" to 14" and there were enough keepers to fry up a batch! Cast Netting has been pretty good. I had a single cast that netted 30 pounds of Roe Mullet. So far this week, we've eaten Flounder Sushi Rolls, Fried Sea Bass and Gray Trout and Grilled Mullets. Total Catch for this Report: 4 Southern Flounders, 2 Summer Flounders, 10 Gray Trout, 1 Bluefish and 30 Black Sea Bass

Oct 12 Excellent Albacore and Bluefish Casting Action

Javier joined me today for a half day of fishing. We were looking for some action. After warming up on some Bluefish inside Beaufort Inlet, we went out in the Ocean looking for some bigger fish! It didn't take long! His first cast connected with an Albacore. Great start. Lots of Albacore and lots of opportunities to put lures in the "strike zone" today. The Albacore were much bigger than the one's we found a couple of weeks ago. Two of the fish we caught were in the 12 pound class. Plus, excellent Bluefish action inside and outside Beaufort Inlet. The wind made life difficult to the east and farther off the Beach, so we stuck with what was good. Today that meant Albacore and Bluefish. We searched briefly for some Red Drum and we casted briefly for Gray Trout. Fishing was pretty good today because we stuck with the easy things and that made my job pretty easy! Javier also caught the first Willet ever caught on Top Water Charters. I need to get a Bird List together some time in the future. Total Catch for the Day: 6 Albacore and 30 Bluefish

Oct 11 Great Fishing in Taylor's Creek

I stayed on shore today and it was a good thing. I caught a "Double Carolina Inshore Grand Slam",I caught a new career largest Croaker and I got a cooler full of fish. All this without the aggravation of boating! The double slam was made up of 2 small Southern Flounders, 5 fat Speckled Trout, and 6 slot and up-sized Red Drum. My big Croaker weighed 2 lb 10oz. That Croaker is only slightly larger than the other dozen that I caught. All these Croakers were over 2 pounds. The Red Drum ranged in size from 25" to 29". I also broke 2 off in structure and pulled the hooks on an app. 12 pounder that I hooked over an Oyster Rock in 2 feet of water! The suprizing Speckled Trout ranged from 18" to 22" each. I even got an odd-ball 2 pound Sheepshead. All these fish were caught on 5" white Gulp Jerk Shad. Now for the bad news. I caught 2 monster Lizardfish and in the chaos that followed a vicious Lizardfish strike that ran under the dock and I thought it was a nice Red Drum, I knocked my "Un-Replacable Landing Net" overboard. This happened in 10 feet of water and the tide was boiling. Dispite an hour of recovery efforts, I didn't get my net back. This was a 30" diameter aluminum hoop on a 15 foot telescopic handle. This net was responsible for all my Hatteras Sheepsheads and Flounders and all my Taylor's Creek Red Drum and Flounders. Total Catch for the Day: 6 Red Drum, 5 Speckled Trout, 2 Southern Flounder, 13 Croaker, 1 Bluefish, 1 Sheepshead and 2 Inshore Lizardfish

Oct 9 Amberjacks and More

Pretty weather today, finally. We spent our day trying different things and some worked and some didn't. First thing in the morning we stuffed the livewell with Finger Mullet and topped it off with quite a few nice Bluefish in the Inlet. The Blues were sitting in 2-3 feet of water and the casting action was great with metal and top water plugs. Then it was off to the Reefs for some Flounder fishing. That was a complete bust. After that we swam a few Mullets around and tried to catch some larger Spanish Mackerel. Dick had a 4 pounder to the boat and the hook popped out. Ouch! Then we had 2 bite-offs. Double Ouch! We gave it up on the Spanish Mackerel and moved out a little farther to see what we could find. Thankfully, we found Amberjacks and the fishing was spectacular! Watching packs of fired up Jacks chase down and devour 1-3 pound Bluefish. Every Bluefish in the live well was crushed. We won most of the fights, but we lost a few too. Garland released 4 and I released 2. Dick gave up Amberjack fishing a while back. He sat back and laughed! These Amberjacks were from 25 to 32 pounds each. We battled a 50 pound Jack on light tackle and lost him to structure. It was downhill after that. We casted to Albacore unsucessfully. We searched for Red Drum without success. Finally, we moved inside the Inlet and caught more Bluefish, a couple of Gray Trout, Lizardfish, Black Sea Bass, and small Gag Groupers. Fishing the past 2 days had it's ups and downs. Hopefully, some great days are ahead! Total catch for the Day: 6 Amberjack, 12 Bluefish, 2 Gray Trout, 2 Gag Grouper, 1 Black Sea Bass, and 5 Inshore Lizardfish *1629 Total Fish in 2009*

Oct 8 Casting to Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish

When the wind is already blowing at 7am; I never really know what the day will be like. It might be a tough one. Thankfully, my clients wanted to catch fish and they were very realistic. When we found some Bluefish west of Beaufort Inlet first thing this morning, they said "Let's Whack Em". Music to my ears. After catching all the Bluefish they needed and stuffing the livewell, we headed east to look for something different. A quick look at the Cape Lookout Shoals and all that nasty brown water and choppy whitecaps and I decided that it wasn't worth it. We looked around where the Spanish and Albacore were 2 weeks ago and that produced nothing. So we headed back to Barden's Inlet. Before we got there we saw about 6-8 of the smallest Spanish Mackerel you'll ever see jump. Worried about what we might be doing for the next 7 hours, I told the guys to start casting. I figured it was going to be a 2 minute stop and if we were lucky we might catch a 8" Spanish Mackerel. Little did I know that 90 minutes and 35 Spanish Mackerel later that we had "made our day". These Mackerel ranged from 11" throw backs to 2 pounders. Most were over 1 pound. Nice fish on the spinning rods. After that, the day was a struggle. We fished for King Mackerel with less than ideal baits and never got a bite. It was disappointing because there was a decent bite taking place! We searched in the very dirty surf for schools of Red Drum that we never found. We briefly chased schools of Albacore that were a little too erratic for our liking. We casted to 2 different Rock Jettys and came up empty. Total Catch for the Day: 50 Bluefish and 35 Spanish Mackerel.

ITS OFFICIAL: Top Water Charters has a State Record

The DMF has approved Chris Chadwick's 11 lb 3 oz Spadefish caught with Capt Marty and Top Water Charters back in June. Incredibly, the one Chris had officially weighed was probably one of 7 or 8 Spadefish that was caught aboard my boat during a couple of weeks of fishing on a shallow water Wreck up at Hatteras. BJ Swain, Tony Willis, and I all caught fish that crushed the previous State Record. We goofed up a cleaned several 10-11+ pounders before I realized the Record was pretty low. Chris and I set out to break it on June 14 and we accomplished our mission. Way to go Columbo. A no-fishing duck hunter just a couple of years ago, now he is in the Record Books!

Oct 6 Blackfin Tuna and Wahoo

Unfortunately, the title of this report could've been "Elusive Yellofin Tuna Completely Avoid Us" or "As Close as I ever got to a Bigeye Tuna". Oh well, here it is. Today, Steve Bittman and I went Tuna Fishing approximately 35 miles ESE of Oregon Inlet. Fishing had been pretty good so I decided to fish up that way before I headed back home. After the day was done, it was pretty disappointing, but very exciting. The Blackfin Tuna fishing was pretty good for us, but we never got a single bite from a Yellowfin Tuna. There were quite a few 40-60 pound Yellowfin Tuna caught. Our catch consisted of 2 sizes of Blackfins. Unfortunately, the majority of ours were in the 1/2 to 1 pound class and nearly all of these "Termite" Tuna were released. We did manage to catch 6 that were in the 7-10 pound range. We also caught 1 out of 2 Wahoo bites. The one we got was a 26 pounder and another bit off right at the boat. We had a White Marlin or a Sailfish attack a transom bait 3 times but didn't get hooked. The best (and worst) part of the day was when the Smoker hooked up 5 Bigeye Tuna right beside us. They caught caught 1 earlier and were working an area of bait over a ledge. They got covered up just as we arrived in the area and that was the end of that bite. Over an hour later, they put 3 fish in the boat (189, 180, and 150 pounders) We marked the school of Bigeyes three times, sitting a depth of 10 fathoms, but we couldn't get a bite. Neither did the other 25 Charterboats that were converging on this spot. Anyway... That was as close as I've been to a Bigeye Tuna and it sure did raise the awareness and the adrenaline level on the Boat. There were some tense minutes of absolute "readiness". We were stoked. Then we got a strike! And it was another 1 pound Blackfin Tuna. Back to reality. Total Catch for the Day: 25 Blackfin Tuna and 1 Wahoo

Sept 28 Tough Fishing in Rough Conditions

I knew there was a Front coming. I thought we could beat the weather and catch a couple of nice Kings. I've never been wronger. Is that a word? The day started out okay; even though when we first left Taylor's Creek and turned to the south at Lennoxville Point, I knew we were in trouble. By the time we got to Beaufort Inlet, we faced a stiff SW wind, whitecaps everywhere, and dirty brown water. First place we went was the Shackleford side of the Inlet, where right in the rip, we caught about 8 Bluefish on metal. I figured it was little too rough (Ha Ha) so we moved on. We ran towards Cape Lookout, with the wind at our backs and bait was everywhere. I stopped and made 1 throw with the cast net and Brent and I hauled 25 dozen menhaden into the Boat. Great. ....We should've quit right then. Four hours later, we had 2 strikes. Jay caught and released a 4 lb Bluefish and we lost a 50 lb Blacktip Shark after the third jump. It was a great flurry of action losing that Shark. Then we looked around and 7 foot swells were tossing us like a toy and the SW wind was howling 25+ kts. We ran back towards Beaufort Inlet and took 1000 waves that sent walls of water across the boat. Jay hid behind me. Brent and I got soaked. It was a disaster. Back in the Inlet to save the day on Bluefish. But, no Bluefish on their Shoal and 4 foot breakers there anyway. Finally, we headed back to Taylor's Creek where we caught and released a hand full of bottom fish. Amazingly, Jay had a blast , but Brent and I had......we expected a little more! Can't quite qualify for the worst day of the year! Total Catch for the Day: 9 Bluefish up to 4 pounds, 8 Spot, 3 Black Sea Bass, 3 Pinfish and 2 Hogfish

Sept 26 Good Mackerel Fishing

The weather forecast was horrible. The actual weather wasn't that bad. My party cancelled. So I went fishing. The past 3 years, that scenario has usually meant a good day for me, today was no exception. Here's how it all played out.....Since I was already in the boat this morning when my anglers bailed out, I rode out to Beaufort Inlet to look around. Things looked bleak and I almost headed back home. Over off Ft Macon a flash of silver caught my eye. A Spanish Mackerel jumping. I headed that way and found the best "Spanish Mackerel" casting of the year. Some of these Spanish Mackerel were well over 2 pounds. There were a few Bluefish mixed in. I caught a few Bluefish and dropped them in the live well, just in case. The Mackerel were busting in tiny fry west of the Inlet, but the best fishing was west of the Ft Macon rocks. Here the bigger class of Mackerel were terrorizing schools of finger mullet right off the surf. The casting action was excellent. After I boxed a dozen and turned about 10 loose, I was ready to go home. The wind was howling and I was all bloody and wet. But something told me to run east. Take my 7 live Bluefish and let them swim while the wind blows me back to Beaufort Inlet. So I ran nearly all the way to Cape Lookout, knocked the boat out of gear, and tossed 3 Bluefish out on King Rigs. The first strike didn't take long. A foul hooked 18 lb King Mackerel that put up a long battle. Ten minutes later a nice King Mackerel skied on another Bluefish. This one swam up right beside the boat. I couldn't understand how I was about to land this fish so quick if I saw that larger King jump. Then my fish ran off at a right angle away from me, changed directions, crossed the stern with my line ripping the water apart, and then he smoked 200 yards directly offshore. That's more like it. A short while later I gaff a 28 lb King Mackerel. All the Spanish Mackerel I wanted and 2 nice Kings and it aint even 10am yet. Hope my boys read this. I ended up running inshore and catching a few dozen Menhaden and kept fishing. Looking for a 40 pound King to fill out my limit. I had 5 more stikes and released 3 King Mackerel in the lower to mid twentys. I missed 2 strikes and never got my big one. That's alright, I gave away 24 Spanish Mackerel fillets and hopefully I'll cut a deal for some smoked King Mackerel. Plus, I got to go fishing on a crappy day when the fish were chewing! Total Catch for the Day: 5 King Mackerel up to 28 pounds, 22 Spanish Mackerel and 7 Bluefish ***1465 Total Fish in 2009***

Sept 24 Croakers and Spots

Looking for a Fish Fry? The Menu in Taylor's Creek is full of two pretty good choices for the main dinner guest. Standing on the Dock, in an hour, I caught 20 Croakers and 8 Spots. That's nearly 1 fish every 2 minutes. I'm fishing with Fishbites, so if any of you guys ever used them.....I spent half my time cutting cheese cloth off my hooks. The rest of my time was spent dueling Croakers on ultralight. In this fishery, a 1 pounder is a good one, so I broke out the 4# spinning rod. First drop produced a double header on the Croaker. Quite a tussle. Total catch for the Day: 20 Croakers and 8 Spots

Sept 23 Night Mission

Clifford and I tried to pull a late night Red Drum heist. In and out in 2 minutes....Things went bad. I broke off a slot Drum in the pilings while Clifford cast his mullet onto a dock and broke off his rig. We regrouped and returned to the scene. This time things went according to plan. We each got a 24" Red Drum, but we got caught. The BPD was on the scene. Hopefully we talked our way out of trouble, it was pretty legit and honest. We were wrong and we confessed. Fishing addicts are just like Dopeheads! We were powerless once we saw what was under that light. Our fate was sealed. What can I say? Night time fishing on the Beaufort Waterfront has changed in the last 2 years. ALL the FISH are in 1 place. Tonight we flirted with disaster to deliver our baits into 30-40 Red Drum that were swimming in a tight circle under 1 particular light. We got our 2 and escaped. Clifford also caught 2 big Croakers on live finger mullet. Total Catch for the Night: 2 Red Drum and 2 Croaker

Sept 23 Two Coolers Full of Fish, Plus Releases

Monty, Sean, and Tom fished hard today. We covered a lot of water and we caught lots of fish. Casting to Albacore and Spanish Mackerel in the morning was pretty good. Then we went East and found dirty water and confused seas. Back the other direction and we caught more Spanish Mackerel, plus a mixed bag on the bottom. Tom got a 16" Summer Flounder on a speck rig. Sean got a big Pinfish chomped in two and I hooked him up with a treble hook on a wire. Thirty minutes later he a released a 31 lb Barracuda on 8# spinning tackle. This was a Great Barracuda and it lived up to his name with 4 great jumps and about 10 changes of direction, and then slugged it out in the deep for 15 minutes. Not bad for an 10 year old, even one on his way to the NFL. Then we ran to Beaufort Inlet and caught all the Bluefish the guys wanted on metal and top water plugs. Then we made our only mistake. Back to the East 8 miles for nothing. We did see an amazing Bottlenose Dolphin gathering and aerial show. Finally, back in Taylor's Creek and we bailed the Croakers, Spots, Sea Bass, and more Pinfish. Monty freaked us out when he caught an oddball 22" Red Drum out of a school of Croakers. Total Catch for the Day: 1 Barracuda at 31 lbs, 7 Spanish Mackerel, 16 Bluefish, 6 Albacore, 1 Red Drum, 1 Summer Flounder, 5 Black Sea Bass, 1 Rock Sea Bass, 2 Hogfish, 30 Croaker, 3 Spot, 2 Scup, 3 Menhaden and 20 Pinfish

Sept 22 Croakers Chewing

How long has been since a day worthy of that title. How about 23 years. Last year I remember catching 4 Croakers one day and that was memorable. Honestly, I don't really bottom fish inshore much anymore, so maybe I'd catch more if I tried! This morning I had a few Jumping Mullets to fillet for the grill tonight. The tide was right so, you know me; I can't go near the water without tossing a hook. When I tossed it today the rod immediately doubled over. Felt like a small Red Drum but it turned out to be a large Croaker. Fifteen minutes later, I had 12 Croakers , a Black Sea Bass, and a 20" Flounder. My biggest Croaker was a 1+ pounder and the smallest was "plenty big enough to keep". Taylor's Creek is alive. Looks like a fishy forecast this week with some sketchy weather. I also caught a nice net full of finger mullet. Later in the afternoon, at dead low tide, I made a few more casts and caught another 20" Flounder and lost a nice mystery fish. Sure felt like a Flounder and ran like a 5+ pounder. Total Catch for the Day: 12 Croaker, 2 Southern Flounder and 1 Black Sea Bass

Sept 15-21 Not Much Action at Hatteras

I had a bad work schedule this week that didn't allow me to do what I wanted to do. This was a Flounder week! For the last 7 years, I always had a great week of fishing at night, in September, at Hatteras. Last shift things weren't quite right. This week, all the elements were there except me.....I could "feel" the Flounder under my feet during the day, but I couldn't make it back at night. So I settled for a little Sheephead fishing and Cast Net throwing instead. I caught a 7 pound Sheepshead and around 5 dozen Jumping Mullets. Some of these Mullets were grown ones, pushing 4 pounds. I also caught 4 Lookdowns. I could've had a blast fishing all night, but it wasn't my turn. Too Bad! I don't count netted fish here, therfore: My Total Catch for the Week: 1 Sheepshead

Sept 14 Red Drum, Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish, Albacore, and Jacks

Steve and Sandra had a great half day of Sight casting and casting metal into very fishy areas! First thing in the morning we went to where Chris and I had left about 500 Red Drum yesterday afternoon. Our three big schools were missing, but left behind was a scattering of fish on the Beach and we got our 3 fish bag limit of 22" to 24" Red Drum pretty quickly. We also released a couple more and Steve got a keeper Flounder. Then it was off to the East to see what we could find. We found alot. Casting metal in feeding frenzys would produce strike after strike from Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish, Albacores, and Crevalle Jacks. Spanish Mackerel were the preferred target, but the Bluefish were more numerous and larger. We caught all the Blues and Albacore that Sandra could stand along with a few Crevalle Jacks. Steve wanted more Spanish Mackerel but in the end we settled for the 6 that we had and headed back to the Beach for more Drum. Before leaving the Shoals, we saw a 500 pound Hammerhead Shark and many Blacktip Sharks. I also had a shot at a Barracuda. My lasting impression was the Bluefish. Acres of fish. 10's of 1000's of 2 pound Bluefish. Back on the Beach we found them again and this time it was the motherlode. Sandra released 2 Red Drum over 10 pounds and Steve released 3 that were in the slot. I even released one. This Beach ride resulted in 6 more Red Drum releases. Total Catch for the Day: 11 Red Drum up to 10 lb 8 oz, 20 Bluefish, 8 Albacore, 6 Spanish Mackerel, 1 Summer Flounder, and 2 Crevalle Jacks

Sept 13 Sight Casting to Red Drum and Crevalle Jacks

Since I'm fishing with clients tommorrow morning, I needed to go on a scouting mission today. I pretty much knew what I was looking for and I had a good idea where to look! So Chris and I went out to see what we could find. We found the motherlode! Unfortunately, with all the nets in the water, what we found this afternoon could be gone by the morning. Nothing we can do about that, but it sure was fun for us. Fishing on 3 different schools of Red Drum produced 13 Red Drum for Chris and I. These Drum ranged from 25" to 33". We caught them on plastic, metal, and top water plugs. We also caught and released 6 Crevalle Jacks that were rampaging up and down the beach in packs of 10-100 fish. Seeing them from the tower was awesome. I've seen more Crevalle Jacks this year than any year going back to around 1988. They are always a welcome catch on my boat. Hopefully, we will get a whack at some of the 25-30 pounders somewhere in the next month! We saw very few Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish. I did catch a 2 lb Bluefish that was under a bait ball. We also saw none of the Albacore that everybody has been raving about. However, we didn't leave the dock until 2pm and we were back at 5pm. All we did was "catch fish". Total Catch for the Day: 13 Red Drum, 6 Crevalle Jack, and 1 Bluefish

Sept 10 Cubera Snapper Fishing off Key Largo

Always looking for a new challenge, I decided to try something new on Sept 10. This plan carried me 900 miles from home. I went Cubera Snapper Fishing. Unfortunately, I didn't get my hands on a Cubera Snapper. However, I did get a hook in one and what an amazing show of brute strength! Too bad my luck gave out and my fish made it into structure and broke me off. I usually don't dwell on a lost fish, but I need to spend a minute on this one! This fish ate a live Lobster, 220 feet deep, on 100# braid, with 25 lbs of drag, a long ways from the wreck, and he flat out smoked a 50 wide and made it back to structure. I was praying for a 50 pounder and it sure seemed like I found an 80+ pounder instead. The guys fishing Cubera Snappers off Key Largo burned up the 20-50 pounders 2 weeks ago, but since then everybody has had slow fishing. But the few bites have resulted mostly in big tales of Giant Snappers that broke off! Add me to that list. After that we had 1 mystery bite ate a live Blue Runner and pulled the hooks. Cubera? Who knows. We also got a Barracuda and my first ever Horse-Eye Jack on the Cubera spot. So, in 5 hours of drifting live Lobsters and Blue Runners on the best Cubera Snapper location on the US East Coast during prime season, I got one sure bite and one mystery bite and lost them both! Before dark, we fished for Yellowtail Snapper with some success. It was a struggle because there was absolutely no current. There were a few other things around that made fishing interesting. Catching bait was a blast. We caught lots of Blue Runners off an old wreck inside Biscayne Bay and we also nabbed 15 Spiny Lobsters off the patch reefs in 20 feet of water. Total Catch for the Day: 20 Yellowtail Snapper, 1 Cero Mackerel, 1 Red Hind, 1 Horse-Eye Jack, 1 Barracuda, 15 Blue Runner, and 15 Spiny Lobsters ***Those 11 Lobster Tails in the picture were meant to be Snapper Bait but they sure will be good***

Lavender Sky at Hatteras

This was the sunset on Friday, Sept 4.

Sept 1-5 10lb Sheepsheads

Another shift at Hatteras and conditions were horrific. However, the Sheepheads that have made my summer were still there. Casting straight into a 15-25 kt NE wind made things tough. Feeling a bite with your bait being blown right back in your face was hard too. Regardless, I managed to catch 1 to 3 Sheepsheads per night. I also had a co-worker that caught his first 2 Sheepsheads including a 10 lb 4 oz trophy. Way to go Doug! Two other of my "trainees" caught at least 4 nice Sheepsheads, but I'm not sure of their size. My biggest Sheephead of the week actually escaped after a botched netting attempt when my fish got his dorsal spines hung in the net and never was "in the net". My little buddy, Stevie B, who is only 5 feet tall, couldn't see over the rail, but he felt the weight and started lifting my big Sheepshead. Screaming at him to lower the fish did no good. As the monster neared the rail, he exploded and fell out of the net and he was free. Once again, the biggest one escaped. For the week, I caught 7 Sheepheads, including a 10 pounder and a 9 pounder. The one that got away was probably a 12 pounder. Oh well. My 9 pound Sheepshead was an adventure. I had already put my net up and decided to make one final drop. I quickly hooked up and knew I was in trouble. With no other options, I handed the rod to a cool Asian Couple and told the guy "Good Luck, it's a nice one and I'll be back in a minute with the net!" By the time I got back to the scene there was a crowd of 30 people watching the action! It was a good show, apparantly this dude didn't know about the Reel. He and his wife were both lifting the rod over and over, but were not taking in any line! They were also screaming and very excited. The problem was the fish was still 80-100 feet out on the darkness. Once I showed him the reel and what to turn, everything went smooth and we decked the fish. I wish I had a camera with me to post a picture of them with that fish! They will never forget that battle and I gave them the fish to take home. Sheephead fishing has got to be over for me now. Bring on the Flounder. Total Catch for the Week: 9 Sheepheads up to 10 lb 4 oz

Aug 28-31 Flounder, Red Drum, and Largemouth Bass

Four days of Fishing packed into one report, you guys can probably guess, this ain't going to be a very good report. Monday afternoon's incoming tide adventure was possibly the best session because the slot sized Red Drum showed back up after a short absense. I caught and released 3 Red Drum over 20". The Flounders were still not happening. I ended up with 2 Southern Flounders. These were just as lucky as the Drum because I'm finished cleaning fish for the week. Therefore, 2 keeper Flounders got a new lease on life. I also caught a Black Sea Bass and a Lizardfish. Sunday mid-afternoon Dock fishing produced 3 Southern Flounder between 15" and 17". Nearly identical to Saturday's catch. I guess that's the way it's gonna be until we can get that Finger Muller Run cranked up! Saturday morning I went and checked out my one of my old Freshwater spots in Beaufort. I hadn't been Pond fishing since July 8th and I figured it would be a nice change. What about the Bass? They were still there, they were still hungry, and they still rose to a popping bug. In less than an hour, I caught 4 Largemouth Bass, I got a dozen more looks, and I missed about 10 Bream bites. The larger Popping Bugs that I bought at a Fly Shop in Chapel Hill (Can't remember the Name!) were awesome for raising Bass, but they were a little too big for the Bream to suck in. Tossing the Fly for the first time nearly 2 months was cool....Later in the afternoon I did what I do every afternoon, I tossed a Finger Mullet around the Dock for about an hour and caught 3 Southern Flounders that were all keepers. These Flounder ranged from 15" to 18". Also, Friday I caught 2 Southern Flounders around the Dock. One was a 17" keeper and one was borderline and I tossed him back. Is the Flounder Fishing in Taylor's Creek picking up? It's hard to say, I'd expect to catch 7-8 keeper fish per tide right now. In the past, I would be catching 20" Flounder on a daily basis and I should've had a couple of Citation Flounder by now. After all, it is late August! I know other fishermen have had a decent Flounder year and I haven't targetted them one single time from my Boat! Back from 2002 until 2006, I Flounder Fished on the Art Reefs nearly every day! As far as Taylor's Creek goes, it just ain't happening, it does seem to be improving slowly though. Of course, It's nearly time for me to go back to Hatteras. Total Catch for this Report: 10 Southern Flounder, 3 Red Drum, 1 Black Sea Bass, 2 Inshore Lizardfish, and 4 Largemouth Bass

IGFA Line Class World Record Ladyfish stuffed in Pinfish Trap

Okay so I did it again. Two different days back in June, Tony Willis, BJ Swain, and I cleaned several Spadefish that were bigger than the existing NC State Record. My fault. At least Chris Chadwick and I went back and made good on our chance at an easy State Record. Well, 2 nights ago I caught a 4 lb 8 oz Ladyfish on 10# Ande Monofilament. I weighed it on BogaGrip scale that is certified by the IGFA. In other words, it's all in order. Then I cut it up and stuffed it in a Pinfish Trap. Honestly, I didn't mean to kill it, but it got roughed up in the boat and was not in good shape from the Net and De-hooking. Then today I checked the IGFA 2009 Record Book just for the heck of it .....and wouldn't you know that the 12# line class record for Ladyfish stands at 4 lb 0 oz. Another lost chance to get "in the book".

Aug 27 Red Drum in the Creek

I went down to the Dock this afternoon to find something creative to do with a dead Ladyfish. First I baited a Pinfish Trap. Then I fed the Pinfish. Then I baited up with a Ladyfish strip and caught 3 Red Drum that were 20" each. I guess I recognized them from last night. Carolina Panther Red Drum. Then I caught a Gulf Flounder that had a big appetite. The strip of meat was way too big for him. Man vs. Food contestant. Then I tossed a big chunk of cut Lady out into the open water and hooked a "fill in the ___" lb Southern Stingray. Call it what you want because he spooled my Flounder Rod. Luckily for me, when I said enough is enough and clamped the spool, the line broke at the PowerPro to shock leader connection and I got my PowerPro back. Total Catch for the Day: 3 Red Drum and 1 Gulf Flounder **Top Picture is a Pinfish Frenzy**

Aug 26 Ladyfish and Red Drum

Clifford and Korey bought into my plan to smoke the Ladyfish tonight. Unfortunately, the Shrimp run had tapered off and the Ladyfish weren't nearly as wreckless as the night before. However, our catch percentage was much higher. This was mainly because we managed to catch a few live shrimp in a dip net that were "money in the bank" on these Ladyfish. Three out of five Ladyfish that ate live shrimp got caught because there was no plug to leverage into a pulled hooks. Tonight's number were (I'm guessing): 25 strikes, 12 hook-ups, 5 caught and 3 released. Not too bad, but nowhere near last night's activity. Three guys casting for 25 strikes hardly compared with one guy casting for 200 strikes! I was lucky enough to catch my new career best Ladyfish at 30" TL and 4 lb 8 oz. There was another diversion though. We also caught 2 Red Drum out of a nice school that was busting on top under a lighted dock. That was pretty cool. Korey got his Red Drum on a top water plug that a dozen Drum tried to eat in plain sight. We also busted off 3 Red Drum that made into the heavy structure that was way too close! Clifford also caught 2 Southern Flounders and a Ribbonfish. Lots of activity under our lights tonight, but we never did lure the fish in real close like I was hoping. Earlier in the day I had caught a 17" Southern Flounder too. Total Catch for the Night: 5 Ladyfish up to 4 lb 8 oz, 2 Red Drum up to 21", 3 Southern Flounder up to 17", and 1 Ribbonfish

Aug 25 Unreal Ladyfish Blitz

I was so excited driving home about how to describe this night. Then I realized nobody is going to believe me. I caught my first Ladyfish around 1978. I caught dozens of Ladyfish in Texas in 2001. I caught quite a few Ladyfish back in the old commercial Ribbonfishing years of 1998 to 2002. I've caught 3 big ones, 4 pounders, in the surf at Ocracoke. I caught a spunky 3 pounder last night that was an eye-opener. So tonight I went Ladyfishing for the first time in my life......Here goes the numbers: My first cast I had 2 awesome, water busting strikes on a top water plug. After 10 minutes, I realized I better try to keep count in my head. For the next 2 hours, I had over 200 strikes. I had as many as 15 strikes on one cast! I had 55 hook-ups that pulled off line. I had 44 jumps. I netted one Ladyfish that went 3 pounds and I killed it before I could untangle it from the net. I had 6 more that I didn't net that I managed to shake free at my feet, including a couple of 4+ pounders. I lost every top water plug that I carried with me. On several occasions I looked straight down at a floating (dead in the water) top water plug and watched streaks of phosphorous missiles launching repeatedly at my plug until one finally got hooked up. I have no idea why my catch to hook-up or hook-up to strike ratios were so low. These babies were flying in and smashing a plug with 2 trebles. No strike was dull. Every strike was a water busting smack down. I know I lost many, many on the jumps because I had to use a heavier plug to reach them, most of the time. Not always. When they jumped, they would shake their heads so violently I could hear their gills rattle like a 140 lb Tarpon that is 10 times closer. All that head shaking gives them great leverage to throw those heavier plugs. Regardless, Cast after cast after cast produced strike after strike after strike. What difference did it make if they jumped off, they were all going to be released anyway! If a cast raised a fish, that fish would strike at least 2-4 times. If it was during a period when there were numbers of Ladyfish in the vicinity, casts with 6-8 strikes were normal. The fish were moving back and forth in an area about the size of 2 Football Fields. I never went more than 5 minutes without a strike. I think I found a new and challenging fishery! All of this while standing on a Dock! Total Catch for the Night: 7 Ladyfish up to 4+ lbs

Aug 24 Ladyfish and Stingrays

Just got home from Hatteras and the tide was right, the calender is right, and I wasn't sleepy, so it was "Dock Time". It was interestingly miserable. I think the giggers are having a little impact on the Taylor's Creek Red Drum and Flounder populations this summer. Fishing for them sucked. However, something else was going on out there in the darkness! Too Bad Clifford and I figured it out a little too slow. It was a school of Ladyfish that was working the Creek over. I did manage to land one and lose two. Clifford probably lost two. The Ladyfish I caught was a nice one at 3 pounds. We weren't rigged properly (Carolina Rigs) and at midnight after being up since 4am, I ain't much on re-rigging. The biggest problem were the Stingrays and Butterfly Rays that were hammering us! They got a sick habit of running figure 8's under the docks and wrapping you up on multiple pilings. I ruined $30 worth of PowerPro in about 5 minutes. I also caught one Flounder. Tonight I am going down there rigged for Ladyfish. That only means one thing, the Drum and the Flounders will be hungry tonight. A fisherman's dilemma! Total Catch for the Night: 1 Ladyfish, 1 Southern Flounder, 1 Spiny Butterfly Ray, and 2 Southern Stingrays

Aug 21, 22, 23 More Hatteras Sheepsheads

The Hatteras Sheepshead Frenzy is winding down. Finally. Also getting up at 4 am was zapping my energy and my fishing effort wasn't as great. I guess it would've been different if I'd been rewarded with a few more bites though. I fished pretty hard for 5 bites and caught 4 fish. Luckily for me, one Sheepshead was my largest of the year at 11 lb 1 oz. I also had another pink slip at 8 lb 5 oz. The other fish weighed 6 lb and 4 lb. The 11 pounder was a ragged old Sheepshead that had seen his better days. He had the length and the head of a 14 pounder, but his stomach was caved in, his tail was half missing, and he had big sections of missing scales and red abrasions all over his flanks. He looked like a banished, defeated King of the Ferry Basin that was looking to die. He really didn't put up much of a fight and he was so big he barely fit in my net. As he came over the rail my heart was pounding because he looked like a career best. He didn't make it though, he was 24oz shy. He just wasn't a healthy fish and he didn't have the usual half pound of shell hash in his belly either. Oh well, I think it's about over and it's Flounder time for me at Hatteras. Maybe next year I can get that breakthrough Sheepshead! Total Catch for the Week: 4 Sheepshead up to 11 lb 1 oz

Aug 17 Red Drum and Bluefish

Perfect Coditions made the fishing a little difficult today. I don't think we ever saw a fish that didn't all ready know we were there! There were hordes of 2-4 lb Bluefish on the Shoals today, along with lots of other things. We hammered the Bluefish pretty good, but it definitely was not "every cast" fishing. They were tough. I also cast to Pompano, Ladyfish, and Crevalle Jacks unsuccessfully. Sand Tiger Sharks were all over the Shoals today. I hooked a 125 pounder on a gulp on 8# spinning and we reeled him as far as possible. Of course, the Shark never knew he was hooked and he was cruising in 4 feet of water. Release! Call it what you want. The leader touched the rod tip! Later in the day, we found 2 schools of Red Drum and the boys got a 28" release and a 21" keeper. We also hunted for Blacktip Sharks. We found some, but they were in the Drum area and we decided not to multi-task. Total Catch for the Day: 20 Bluefish, 2 Red Drum, and 1 Sand Tiger?

Time to go back to Hatteras again

Why couldn't I be bragging about a picture like this............Damn, lost opportunites will kill a Fishing Trip.......I will be fishing tommorrow, but I got a hectic schedule. I might not get a fishing report up. Sorry. I need to be on that 5pm Ferry to Ocracoke. I'm looking at 7 days of maybe Sheepsheads and maybe Flounders. Next time I get home (August 25-31) I'm hoping to go after the Giant Red Drum down at Cedar Island pretty hard. Fishing at night and not cooking in the Sun! Anybody interested give me a call. I promise you that we won't be "bragging about 2 or 3 bites". If I don't find double digit releases I will cut this off and go do something else. 252-241-8350