Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone. Look forward to fishing with you or seeing you on the water in 2009. My Fishing Resolutions are: 1. More Fish 2. Bigger Fish 3. Better Fish

My 2008 season was tough. My Charter Business was down by 50%. Some of that was my fault by cutting advertising expenses, some of it was my misfortune of a couple of Great Clients moving away, some of it was Horrible fishing when expectations were high, and some of it was the Economy. The work on my boat was slower that I expected and I missed some Spring Fishing. The Cobia season at Beaufort Inlet was a Complete Bust. Finally, the weather this Fall/Winter has been very inconsistent. That seems to be the case every year now. Working a week on-week off schedule is great, except when I work those beautiful 4 to 5 day stretches in November. I know I will pay for it when my week off comes! Hopefully my "weather luck" will turn around in 2009 and if it does, better fishing will result!

My Citation Count in 2008 was okay considering I didn't jack the number up with huge Red Drum numbers. After hammering away for straight 10 years, I had sort of "burned out" on that fishery, but I must say that I kinda missed it. My Clients, Guests, and I landed 40 Citation-sized Fish in 2008. In the past 9 years, we have averaged 87 Citations and my best season was 2000 when we had 180 Citations. In 2009, catching more Adult Red Drum will be a priority, along with more King Mackerel and Grouper fishing. Hopefully the Atlantic Bonito and Cobia seasons will be good ones also. Bigger and more plentiful Flounders would be nice. Pretty weather for Speckled Trout in late fall/early winter would be great and Striped Bass on the Shoals at Cape Lookout would be a great to end 2009!

Personally, everybody knows that I've been on a personal crusade to collect all the NC Citations. This year I added 1 new Citation to my total. In August while fishing in the deep off Oregon Inlet I got a 12 lb 10 oz Tilefish. The NCDMF made a few changes in the Citation Program in 2008 when they added a couple of species, dropped Tautog, and adjusted the minimum weights for several species. Based one new weight requirements, I would have already had my Atlantic Bonito, False Albacore, Blackfin Tuna, and Bluefish Citations. Hopefully in 2009, I can knock off a couple of these and resume my chase to collect all the NC Citations. 29 Different NC Citation Species collected and 8 to go!

Dec 30 Speckled Trout and Gray Trout

Probably not the smartest thing for a SICK Person to do, but I spent 3 hours in the Radio Island Surf this afternoon casting for Trout. I wasn't very good at it either. My slump continues but the fishing was okay. The fish were mostly small and they had a preference for Mud Minnows. I was fishing strictly with Gulps. Lots of fish were caught by everyone and I probably caught less fish than anyone. But that's okay, at least I was fishing and with tommorrow's windy forecast, chances are that these will be my Final Fish of 2008. My Total Catch for the Day: 12 Speckled Trout up to 13" and 4 Gray Trout up to 16".

Cold and Flu Season

The picture is of the entrance to Silver Lake at Ocracoke on Dec 27, as a heavy fog was just lifting. Meanhile, I was just entering a personal fog that has not yet lifted! DO WHAT! I've been lucky, I haven't had the Flu since 1994. My luck might have gave out last week. I've been battling something. A Super-Cold or a minor Flu, I'm not sure. All week at Ocracoke I was confined to my Engine Room and my Bed. Couldn't sleep and I still can't talk. I'm getting over it, slowly but surely. Now I'm back in Beaufort and foolishly the pretty weather is killing me and I'm headed out to Radio Island to look for a Speckled Trout. Maybe tommorrow I'll throw out some more "old pictures" or hopefully a new one! After the New Years passes, hopefully I will feel better and go on a real fishing trip. Weather and Health allowing, I will be availiable for fishing on Jan. 2, 3, and 4.

Merry Christmas

I'm headed back up to Ocracoke this afternoon and I will not be home until December 30, so this is my last opportunity to wish everyone that checks out my Fishing Reports a Merry Christmas. Hopefully everybody will have a great Christmas and hopefully I can get some Good Fishing Reports going after the holidays. As far as this week's Fishing goes, it's going to be tough. I'll be stuck on the Ocracoke-Swan Quarter Ferry for the next 7 days from 5:30am until 6:45pm and fishing is difficult at Ocracoke during the hours of darkness. Especially when I will not even get a chance to "look around" during the day time. In other words, it ain't going to happen. Ocracoke is much different than Hatteras in this regard. My best bet this week would be to make the trip up to South Dock and possibly find some hungry Squid. I'm packing the Squid Jigs just in case!

Dec 20 Nothing but a Boat Ride

Chris and I launched my Boat today. First time she's been in the water in 14 days. I really needed to run some Marine Fuel Stabilizer through my fuel system to combat the effects of Ethanol. So we went for a ride and my Boat went places it had never been before! I'm sure we looked funny running through the North River Marshes in a 25 foot Tower Boat. We also took long hard looks at the Radio Island and Shackleford Rock Jetty Trout Fleets, but we made very few actual casts. We saw a few Speckled Trout and Black Drum and we heard of a 4 pound Speckled Trout from Radio Island. As for Chris and I, we never had a bite. Total Catch for the Day: Nothing

Dec 19 Red Drum, Speckled Trout, and Flounder

Kyle had an interesting day with a "Carolina Inshore Grand Slam" and a TKO. I also caught a "Carolina Slam" and a severe headache. Kyle and I each caught and released at least one Red Drum, Speckled Trout, and Flounder. Our goal was a big catch of Speckled Trout, but Dense Fog caused us to abort our plan to go to Cape Lookout this morning. Instead we fished inside from Beaufort Inlet to the head of Oyster Creek and when it was all said and done, the Total Catch for the Day was: 15 Red Drum, 3 Southern Flounder, and 2 Speckled Trout.

NO Fishing and Old Pictures part 3

My bi-weekly Hatteras Fishing Vacation (my job) has temporarily been upset. Last week, and for the next 6-8 shifts, I will be working on the Ocracoke to Swan Quarter Run. This is a great place to work also. Great guys and a lot of fun. But no fishing. I fish. They hunt. These boys talk deer all day and stare at ducks with their binoculars. What's up with that! As for fishing at home, fuel problems and bad weather have put a halt to my Fishing!

Now for the Old Pictures. Pic #1 is David Scott Esham with a Blackfin Tuna that I honestly don't remember! David Scott who now owns and operates The Pony Island Motel at Ocracoke. David Scott is well known and well liked by everybody. In June of 1992 we had paired up with another Ocracoke Legend and was working with Ronnie O'Neal on the Miss Kathleen while home for the summer from UNC. Anyway, I sailed with them and 2 Californians as part of a make-up party on a beautiful June morning. Actually the fishing was as slow as the weather was good. It was a day your mind could wonder off to never never land. Around noon, I was glazed over with a blank stare and while sitting in the chair, I watched a sickle shaped object appear around 7 feet behind a swimming Spanish Mackerel that David Scott had on a flat line that was tight to the port stern. The sickle lazily wagged back and forth and kept pace with the Mackerel. It didn' t even register in my mind. I watched as time crept by. Then a bill rose from the surface a crashed beside the Mackerel but missed. "What the Hell was that" I wondered. I peeled myself out of the chair and walked to the stern. I peered over the side and there under the surface is a huge purple shape, keeping pace with the boat's forward motion, a few feet below the Mackerel. I quickly turned around to see where everybody else was and this is what I saw: David Scott and Capt Ronnie were inside the cabin making sandwichs and the 2 Californians were engaged in an intimate conversation about who knows what. I was alone with a Blue Marlin! I quickly turned back to look at the fish and with a mighty thrust the fish rose and engulfed the Mackerel. No doubt about it. I flipped Ronnie's old 9/0 Penn Senator into free spool and killed the clicker. I picked up the rod and I felt the smooth tempo of line peeling off the reel. Without speaking I threw the Reel back into gear and I can't even say I set the hook. It was already set and the Rod developed a deep bend and the fish's forward speed went from what felt like 6 knots to 20 knots. Suddenly 150 feet behind the stern and moving from right to left a 400+ pound Blue Marlin shot out of the water and propelled itself 60-70 feet on its tail. Incredible, and I was the only person that knew. I had great news to tell Ronnie and David and I figured the best was to announce it was to engage the clicker! What a beautiful sound an old 9/0 makes when hooked to a Locomotive! David Scott appeared in seconds and saw the second jump which was now 200 yards away. He started clearing lines as quickly as possible and Ronnie saw from the location and direction of the fish that a quartering turn would be more effective than backing. I saw the real problem though, line was melting off the Reel too quickly and David Scott needed help. I put a Californian in the chair and handed him the Rod and hadn't even cleared a single line by the third jump. It was 600 yards out and seconds later the line broke with the sound of a rifle shot. The old 9/0 had about 20 wraps of 50# mono left on the spool. The entire event probably lasted less than 30 seconds from bite to break! Incredible dissapointment 16 years ago has faded. Today this fishing trip remains my favorite Blue Marlin experience even though it ended with a lost fish!

Pic#2 is of a mate up at Hatteras on a 1990 fishing trip on the charter boat Atlantic Blue. My memory of this guy is etched in my memory for a different reason. This guy actually sold us a case of Budweiser at "Gulf Stream Prices" and then proceeded to drink at least 20 of them. I thought it was pretty funny.

Pic#3 is of Capt. Pizza Kannon with a Queen Triggerfish that was caught in Feb. of 1991. Capt. Pizza is one of my favoites and best Captains period. Back in 1990, he was kind enough, and patient enough, and probably desperate enough, to take an inexperienced, fishing-crazed, punk from Raleigh (ME) on the Continental Shelf's winter-time commercial fishing crew. That winter was a dream come true to me. I experienced species of fish and numbers of fish that even hard-core recreational fishermen will never experience. We fished on a 5 year old, extremely modern and efficient 100 foot Headboat, this wasn't no Snapper Boat, with a 6 man crew and we stayed out until the boxes were full! I woke up in 400 fathoms. I woke up 60 miles off Wrightsville Beach. I woke up 30 miles off Hatteras. We fished until we dropped. We had fish gutting parties that lasted for hours. We made rally rigs with 10-15 hooks and caught Beeliners and Silvers on every hook. I could go outside to piss (or throw up) and catch a Wahoo or a Tuna on a light line. Catch 8 Snowy Groupers up to 35 pounds on 1 drop and fill up a trash can. 18 King Mackerel that weighed 900 pounds on bottom rigs in 400 feet of water! 4000 pounds of Grouper in one amazing bite. It was amazing. And Capt Pizza would actually pay me for my efforts. Amazing. I can't do that for a living, but Capt. Pizza gave me a lifetime of memories from December 1990 until March 1991. Thanks Capt. Pizza, you were right about the first night of my first trip when I went outside. I went out to throw up and I was embarrassed. I tossed out a cigar minnow because I knew the guys were watching and I could hear them laughing. You told me to ease up that I didn't have to prove anything, but you sensed I was sick. I might have had 4-5 horrible days ahead of me. If I got sick and stayed sick, I would've never gone back out on a commercial trip. But that 31 pound Wahoo ate that cigar minnow and I felt so much better. That feeling lasted all winter and I'll never forget those experiences! We missed a great Super Bowl, the first Gulf War, an entire Basketball Season, and the height of Vanilla Ice's popularity but it was time well spent in my life!

No Fishing and Old Pictures part 2

Since this is Speckled Trout Season here are a couple of old Speckled Trout pictures. The top picture is of me and Greg Fodrie. We caught these Speckled Trout and a bunch of others late in the afternoon on December 15, 1990. We were the last boat to leave Cape Lookout and we ran out of gas just inside Beaufort Inlet. It was a crazy experience but we managed to make it home in pitch darkness. The next morning Greg's boat The Thunder Chicken had sunk at the dock! The second picture is of me and a partially obscurred catch of 100 Speckled Trout from 2-3 pounds each. It was taken in November of 1988. This was the first time I ever experienced "a Trout on every cast, all day long". I had the Town Dog, Jesse, with me and on the way home we stopped directly on top of a Humpback Whale and her calf off Shackleford Banks. I had the Whale's tail on one side of my 17 foot Boston Whaler and the Whale's head and giant pectoral fins on the other side. I expected to be tossed into the air! However, we survived the day without incident and for me, Speckled Trout fishing would never be the same!!

Dec 7 My Slump Ends---Red Drum Frenzy

Capt Kyle Brown helped me out of a personal fishing slump by putting me in a Downeast creek that was about 40 feet wide and 3 feet deep that just happened to be full of hungry Red Drum. In other words, I couldn't mess this up! I would name the creek, but Kyle's brother Charlie would kill me! In 60 minutes of actual fishing time, Kyle and I caught over 30 Red Drum from 14" to 18". These Drum weren't big, but they were fiesty and on a day that the wind was 20-25 and air temps in the upper 40's, this was the perfect fishing trip. I caught all my Red Drum on gulps and grubs and 6# test mono. Nice little battles and drag pullers. Later we explored another dead-end creek that was full of more Red Drum and Jumping Mullets and there were Tundra Swans flying overhead. Kyle fishes these areas with a jet-drive on a skimmer. I don't think it's possible to get the Top Water in there; too bad!! Total Catch for the Day: 30+ Red Drum

Dec 6 Nothing

Rouse and I scoured the Cape Lookout Shoals and found nothing but Gannets, Gulls, Menhaden, and a Basking Shark. A few small Trout were biting at the Rock Jetty and off Shackleford Banks. I did manage to catch a Bluefish and a Menhaden while casting into a school of Menhaden. Rouse snagged 2 Menhaden. I found out after we got back to the dock that 10 miles to the Northeast was a huge school of 40-60 pound Red Drum that were shredding a school of Menhaden. That hurts.....Total Catch for the Day: 3 Menhaden and 1 Bluefish.

Dec 5 Radio Island Fishing

I made the walk today out to the end of Radio Island. I stayed probably 2 hours. I only made about 20 casts. I never had a bite. However, I was completely entertained. There was a 14 year old dude out there named Alec Burrow, who lives in Beaufort, and I predict that he will be a fishing force to be reckoned with in the coming years. This guy is obsessed with fishing. Today he was after Tautog and he was doing okay! Small Sheepsheads and decent Tautogs were biting on baby stone crabs and shrimp. My Total Catch for the Day: NOTHING.

No Fishing and Old Pictures

The number of Fishing Reports will be decreasing in the weeks to come, so I will be putting up some old pictures of me and my old pals from the late 80's and early 90's. These 2 pictures are from April of 1989. Around 12 people were on the Capt Stacy that day and Capt Maurice put us on the 881 Wreck first thing in the morning. Four hours later , all 3 fish boxes were full of mostly 2-4 pound Vermillion Snappers, or Beeliners as most people know them. There were no limits back then. Every drop was a doubleheader. I took home 51 fish over 140 pounds. I had a couple of 5 pounders! Straight Vermillion Snappers, 10 cranks off the bottom. Some other people caught alot of Tomtates and Sea Bass because they couldn't get the hang of the 10 crank rule. Also, hesitate on the bottom and you might hook a Sand Tiger. I also caught 3 Albacores on a light-line and we saw dozenss of Basking Sharks on the ride home. It was a great day!

Dec 2 Driving Home in the Sleet

Here we go again. I'm home for 7 days and while driving from Cedar Island to Beaufort there was frozen precip falling. I'm not really complaining this time, because Striped Bass are biting good at Oregon Inlet and they've been caught as far South as Ocracoke Inlet. That's just a few tail beats away from the Shoals at Cape Lookout. Hopefully they will take their winter vacation a little farther South this winter. Closer to home, the Speckled trout and Gray Trout should be biting while the Bluefin Tuna are battling extinction. I've got no fishing news to report from my stay on the Ocracoke to Swan Quarter Ferry Route. Lots of Buffleheads on Pamlico Sound and Rose Bay Oysters have rebounded in numbers and tastiness. I'm ready to go fishing. Open Dec 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. These pictures are of Silver Lake at Ocracoke Island. This should be everybody's favorite NC Island!

Happy Thanksgiving

I'll be away from the computer for 7 days while Ferrying Pilgrams from Swan Quarter to Ocracoke so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully the Trout and Striped Bass will be hungry when I get home on Dec. 2nd. By the way, when I went down to the dock this morning to clean yesterday's Trout, I found a huge school of Roe Mullet swimming around in 3 feet of water. I couldn't resist taking a shot at point blank range with a 10 foot cast net. Unfortunately, I threw an egg and still managed to catch 3 Mullets up to 4 pounds. Marcus R will be chewing on grilled Mullets along with his fried Trout and Tog.

Nov 23 Speckled Trout and Tautog

Fishing was very interesting today. This morning, in the dark, the Speckled Trout were biting and we didn't have to go far from home! A nice 20 fish limit of 2-3 pounders with only a few small ones mixed in. These fish were hammering white jerk shad in 18 feet of water. Thanks for the ride Tracy, it's always nice for me to jump on somebody else's Boat...... I was back to the ramp by 7am and then came the frustrations of round #2. After I picked Marcus R up and we loaded the boat with live shrimp, we were set for a "Sow Trout" killing! Our first stop was where we left them biting this morning, but the tide had changed, the current was ripping, and the fleet was there. After wasting 10 minutes, we decided to "head east". On the way to Cape Lookout, however, we decided to check the Beach to see if we could find a school of Red Drum. What we found was staggering and utterly disappointing. School after school of 4-8 pound Speckled Trout in crystal clear water that would not bite. Not even a live shrimp. Thousands of Trout. School after school. The netters were having a field day while our baits went un-touched..... Later in the day, we managed to catch quite a few much smaller Speckled Trout at Cape Lookout and Radio Island, but the shock of seeing all those huge Trout never left our thoughts. Marc and I also caught lots of small Tautog, including my first ever. In the end, the keeping a small Tautog cursed us and we ran out of luck after we had caught 11 Speckled Trout in the 17" to 18" range. Total Catch for the Day: 45 Speckled Trout up to 20", 6 Tautog, 1 Red Drum, and 1 Black Sea Bass.

Nov 22 Late Afternoon Speckled Trout

"Take a knee." Yeah Right......Late this afternoon I made the hike down to the Fishing Hole to get my daily fix. I didn't stay long, but I did catch 18 Speckled Trout on 25 casts. Pretty good. My biggest fish was 15". I also talked to one of my friends that was "in the area" and he had 15 Speckled Trout over 4 pounds and the bite was ON. Looks like my plan of attack for tommorrow morning has been set! My Total Catch for the Day: 15 Speckled Trout up to 15"

Nov 21 The Weather Sucks

Right when I figure out (thanks to Dontcatchmany) a new trend that could help me and my anglers catch a few 5-6 pound Speckled Trout......It's blowing 25kts and snowing again. Re-shuffle the Deck. I'm headed out the door to buy a new camera and possibly try a couple of places out of the wind.......I did manage to catch 1 Speckled Trout today and it was a nice one!

Nov 20 Elusive Big Speckled Trout

Another day of hard fishing. Todd joined me and his perferred target was a 5 lb. Speckled Trout. Keeping with tradition, I was greeted by a 20+ knot west wind this morning which eliminated my first 2 choices of where to go fishing. By the end of the day we had ran 45 miles and we were still looking for the 5 pounder. Unfortunately, our first stop and our last stop would've been the Perfect Place except the bigger class of Speckled Trout had jumped the Rocks and we were fishing "on the wrong side". Very disturbing. For the trip, Todd and I caught and released app. 25 Speckled Trout from 7" to 15". After dropping Todd off, I journeyed back out and was "hard-headed" enough to anchor up in the same place. I caught plenty of small Speckled Trout up to 15", Bluefish, and Sheepsheads while I watched others catch 5+pounders. I finally I joined the crowd and caught me a fat 24" Speckled Trout that weighed 5 lb. 4 oz. that will qualify for an NC Fishing Citation. I also caught a 18" Speckled Trout and a 18" Gray Trout. Congrats to the Boats that had them "cornered". Hooray for me and I'm sorry to Todd. Those Big Trout weren't supposed to be there...Final Total Catch for the Day: 40 Speckled Trout up to 24", 1 Gray Trout, 5 Bluefish, and 3 Sheepsheads.

Nov 19 Speckled Trout on Every Cast

I must apologize to Dave Phiefer, an avid fisherman and Smallmouth Guide that I met on the Beach today. If I would have only tried 1 cast with a slow retrieve, he could've caught all the Trout he wanted. But he was there for Albacore and so was I and after a long walk and fishing discussion we finally found something interesting. Flocks of dipping and screaming gulls right on the Beach. But, no Albacore. I made about 10 casts with metal while Dave watched. Then I walked back to the beach and we talked for a while longer. Then he headed off and I headed back in the water, this time looking for Trout with a green grub. My first cast was successful. I looked up the hill and Dave was gone. An hour later I was standing in the middle of a Speckled Trout blitz, screaming gulls and showering shrimp! Solid Speckled Trout, 30 feet away and they formed a horseshoe around me. Enough Trout in 4-5 feet of water to turn it dark. Every cast ain't good enough of a discription. If I lost one, another would grab it, lose it, another would grab it. I was pitching my bait 15 feet and they were biting it. Twice I caught 2 fish at a time on a mirrorlure. Every Speckled Trout that I caught had 2-6 Shrimp antennae hanging out of their mouth and their stomachs were bulging. I don't think my numbers were astronomical because I was calling everybody on my cell phone and bragging. I was throwing junk that I'd never tie on. Anybait. Every cast. Of course, these Trout ran small. I didn't keep any but I could've got a limit if 13" to 15". I came out of the water at 4 pm and I left them biting. My guess for the Total Catch for the Day: 75 Speckled Trout from 9" to 15".

Nov 18 Wow--Speckled Trout in the Snow

Unbelievable. This afternoon I went fishing where the Trout were biting 8 days ago and as I was putting my waders on....And it started Snowing. Then I hit the Beach and I was met by a perfect school of Albacore. At least 10 fish, that stayed in 1 place for 30+ seconds, 100 feet off the Beach, and in 4-5 feet of water. And I messed it up! No strikes, 1 good follow and swirl right off my rod tip. After that I chased them around until my socks were balled up in the toe of my waders. I probably got 20-25 casts into the melee and couldn't draw a strike. I needed metal! I gave up but it was still an adrenaline rush. Albacore on foot is always a challenge and that was my first good shot in several years. Then I found some Bluefish and Lizardfish, and I sacrificed a bag of gulps. Finally, around 2:45 the Speckled Trout bite started and in 30 minutes I released 14 Speckled Trout in the 10" to 12" range. I feel better about the weather now. Albacore are inside the Inlet and the Speckled Trout are still hungry. Total Catch for the Day: 12 Speckled Trout, 5 Bluefish, and 5 Lizardfish.

Nov 18 I'm Home and the Wind is Blowing

Same old story. Gale Warnings are up. The last part of my week at Hatteras was a bust. I hooked 2 fish. A 3 lb Flounder and a huge Ribbonfish. Both escaped. A co-worker caught 100 pounds of Roe Mullet on Sunday, but I forgot my net. Monday night I watched a big Octopus swim around for a few minutes and that's the whole story! Looks like a Rock Jetty Speckled Trout window might open by Thursday. Otherwise, it looks like I'll be hammering the surf. Maybe. Oh yeah, special thanks to a few guys at Hatteras that accepted the challenge of building me the ultimate Landing Net. A 25" aluminum hoop welded on a 15 foot telescopic handle. This thing is so sweet, landing those 15 pound Hatteras Sheepsheads and 12 pound Hatteras Flounders just got alot easier. Now if I can just hook them!

Nov 11-13 Hatteras Night Fishing

This week at Hatteras so far has been a little disappointing. The weather has been unsettled, but it hasn't been as bad as forecasted, which has actually kept a lot of Boats off the water when they could've been fishing! The nights around the Full Moon have been beautiful, but I've been working all night. This has limited my chances, but I've still had a few shots at nice fish. Tuesday night I had an 8+ pound Gray Trout twice follow a mirrorlure right to my feet, but it wouldn't eat it! Wednesday night I had "the biggest Squid I've ever seen in person" do the same thing. This Squid was at least 30" long not counting it's whips! On a positive note, I have caught a 19" Striped Bass that was quite a battle on my Trout rod. I've also caught 3 Summer Flounders up to 14" and 40 Black Sea Bass up to 13" on gulps. Wednesday night I walked 2 miles of Hatteras Inlet's south shoreline under perfect conditions and a bright moon. I threw a mirrorlure 500 times and never had a bite!

Nov 10 Trout Fishing Part 2

Fishing in slowly improving conditions sucks when you don't really have enough time to take advantage of the improving conditions. Understand? Brent and Mark fished in a tough NW wind this morning and in dirty Ocean water and it was a struggle. By afternoon, the wind had layed out and conditions were alot better, but our day was shot. We fished both east and west and covered 50+ miles. We had a couple of good shots at Albacore down off Atlantic Beach and failed to connect. Finally, I personally had a terrible day. I lost my camera after it fell out of my electronics box, then bounced off my head, and fell in the Ocean. Great. No Pictures of Fish! Then to make matters worse, as I was cleaning up my Boat, I discovered a Rod and Reel was missing. I don't have a clue, but I'm sure it's laying out there somewhere in the Ocean between Cape Lookout and Salter Path. When it was over Our Total Catch was: 5 Speckled Trout up to 3 lb.s, 5 Gray Trout up to 1 lb. 8 oz., 1 Red Drum, 1 Black Sea Bass, 5 Bluefish, 1 Oyster Toadfish, and 2 Menhaden. FYI, the picture is of a Mummichog, which is a minnow. This represents a "not so great" day of fishing. I would've loved to post a picture of Mark with 2 of his large Speckled Trout but I am camera-less.

Nov 10 4am Trout Trip

Chris and I went on a early morning run to the "secret spot" and were met by a little too much NW wind. It made fishing in the dark tough. When it was over I caught 3 Speckled Trout up to 3 lb.s and 2 Gray Trout up to 2 lb.s and Chris caught the Rocks about 4 times. Oh well, what a difference a day makes. Bad news gets worse. See part 2.

Nov 9 Tough Fishing--Albacore and Trout

Tough fishing today. Too much ground swell, too much SW wind, and dirty water plagued the fishing. I wasted half the day by running east. A 40 mile trip to "nowhere" and when we made it back to Beaufort Inlet the wind was blowing and the water was dirty. Sorry guys. Highlights for the day were: Walt had a nice battle with a 14 lb. Albacore. Leonard caught a 3 lb+ Speckled Trout, and Will was top-hook on Gray Trout. Total Catch for this Trip: 14 Gray Trout, 6 Speckled Trout, 6 Bluefish, 1 Albacore, 1 Red Drum, 1 Northern Puffer, and 1 Lizardfish.

Nov 9 The 4am Bite

I couldn't sleep.....So I launched at 3:30 am and went to a "secret spot" and caught 10 Speckled Trout and 8 Gray Trout in 90 minutes. These Speckled Trout weighed up to 3 lb.s. It was a blast in pitch darkness and there was not a breath of wind. Perfect conditions. All these fish were caught on Mirrorlures and white jerk shad. Total for this solo mission: 10 Speckled Trout up to 3 lbs and 8 Gray Trout up to 2 lb.s.

Nov 8 Gray Trout on Every Cast

This morning was a complete bust at Radio Island. In 2 hours of casting, I caught 2 Bluefish and a Lizardfish. To make matters worse, I lost 2 Mirrorlures and 2 Halos. Special Thanks to the One Boat that destroyed the Beach fishing for everybody this morning. This afternoon was a completely different story. After the sunset a slow bite turned on a dime. It was a Gray Trout on nearly every cast. These Gray Trout ranged from 14" to 18" each. There were a few Speckled Trout and Bluefish mixed in too. My Final Catch for Day was 20 Gray Trout up to 2 lb.s, 4 Speckled Trout, 4 Bluefish, and 2 Inshore Lizardfish.

Nov 7 Gray Trout and Speckled Trout

Fishing must be pretty good when I'm completely disappointed to be catching a 16" to 18" Trout on every cast. That's the way it was this morning at Cape Lookout. Two problems, they were all Gray Trout and I had my limit in 10 minutes, and I thought today was going to be "my Citation Speckled Trout Day". I was loaded with a full array of baits for grown Speckled Trout, and the Gray Trout devoured everything I had. In 2 hours of fishing, I caught 35 Gray Trout that were all between 1 lb. 8 oz. to 2 pounds. Session number 2 was a treat. I fished a small, very well known spot very close to Beaufort Inlet and caught 15 Speckled Trout very quickly. The best thing was that I had 2 that weighed 3 pounds and 4 others that weighed over 2 pounds. I lost 2 really nice Speckled Trout also. In this same spot I caught 5 Bluefish, including a suprizing 4 pounder. I'm dying to fish again before midnight, but I probably will not. As it stands now, My Total Catch for the Day: 35 Gray Trout up to 2 lb.s, 15 Speckled Trout up to 3 lb.s, and 5 Bluefish up to 4 pounds.

Nov 6 The Unofficial World Record Lizardfish and 60 Speckled Trout

The size of the Speckled Trout biting was much better for the first half of today. My first 2 casts this morning caught Speckled Trout that weighed 3 lb.s and 2 lb. 12 oz. Then the boats came with their noisy outboards and poorly placed anchors. Ouch. It killed the fishing. Twenty minutes later, I caught 2 more 2 pounders. That was it for the nice Trout and there was a slow pick on the smaller Trout after that. The morning total was 10 Speckled Trout and 4 Bluefish. This afternoon it was the same ole story. From 3:30 until 5:15 it was nearly every cast. The numbers were amazing. The thing that made today amazing was the number of people standing shoulder to shoulder, and everyone was catching Speckled Trout. The most noteworthy thing I saw today and nobody will care, was the Inshore Lizardfish that I released. The 2008 IGFA Yearbook shows the All-Tackle World Record stands at 2 lb. 8oz. I released one today that swallowed a 13" Speckled Trout. This Lizardfish was over 30" and weighed over 4 pounds. Other than the massive Lizardfish, this afternoon I caught 50 Speckled Trout and 2 Bluefish. My Total Catch for the Day: 60 Speckled Trout up to 3 pounds, 6 Bluefish, and the Unofficial World Record Inshore Lizardfish! That's 200 Speckled Trout that I've caught in the last 3 days.

Nov 5 Speckled Trout

Tried it again this morning on the rising tide and the fishing was much slower. I still caught 20 Speckled Trout from 10" to 14", but it was nothing like yesterday. The highlight of the morning was when I caught a Sheepshead on a mirrorlure. This afternoon things were much better. I figured the Trout were biting better because they were over the "shock of the election". The fishing went from a steady bite to every cast as the tide fell. Nearly all these Speckled Trout were in the 11" to 13" range. I did see one caught that was 18" long. When I quit fishing at 4:40pm, it was a wide open bite. For the afternoon, I guess I caught 50 Speckled Trout in 2 hours. I kept 10 Trout this afternoon to give away. My Total catch for the Day: 70* Speckled Trout, 15 Bluefish, and 1 Sheepshead.

Nov 4 Election Day Speckled Trout Chewing

What they lacked in size, they made up for with numbers. It was a Speckled Trout on nearly every cast from 3pm until 5:15pm. I had 1 stretch where I caught a Speckled Trout on 12 straight casts and another run of 15 straight casts. In 135 minutes of casting, I never went more than 3 casts without a bite! All these Speckled Trout were caught while wading in the rain and on the falling tide. Gulps, grubs, and mirrorlures. Every fish that I caught was released. Total for the Day: 70* Speckled Trout from 10" to 14" and 15 Bluefish.

More Bad Weather and Cancellations

Looks like we're going to get another Front blowing through here for the next 3 days. Hopefully the fishing will be just as good when it passes. The way it looks right now, I'll be looking to get back on the water by Thursday November 6th. I am open for business from November 6-9.

Nov 2 BEST DAY OF THE YEAR

I had no charter today, so I called Columbo and we went looking for Red Drum. After yesterday, I had a good idea of where to look! Before we got to the Drum spot, we stopped and caught 20 Bluefish in the 2-3 pound class. It was "every cast" and that would be a re-occurring theme later in the day. Once we got in the Red Drum area, I think we found our first school and we had our first double hook-up by 8:30. AND we stayed hooked up, DOUBLE, until 3 pm. The only break we got was when we stumbled on a school of Black Drum. After we had released 50 Red Drum, we decided to go for 100. By this point we were actually catching Red Drum on bare jig-heads! By 2 pm we were at 100 releases and then we found a school of of bigger Red Drum from 30" and up. We stuck it out for another hour with the bigger fish and finished up with 110 releases and a pair of 25" Red Drum on ice. We got 4 Black Drum that weighed 7, 5, 4, and 3 pounds. Chris caught 2 Speckled Trout. I caught a Cownose Ray. Every once in a while a Bluefish would dart ahead of a Drum and get hooked up and we probably released 20 additional Bluefish throughout the day. I know better than anybody that this sounds too good to be true, but the Total catch for today was : 112 Red Drum, 40 Bluefish, 4 Black Drum, 2 Speckled Trout, and 1 Cownose Ray.

Nov 1 Red Drum and Bluefish

I didn't think the Red Drum fishing could get any better. But it did. The never ending supply of small Drum off Shackleford Banks finally ran dry this morning. We went looking in a few other places and what we found was incredible. Two huge schools of upper-slot and bigger Red Drum and they acted like they hadn't eaten anything in a week. Double, triple, and quadruple hook-ups. All we had to do was "hit the water". Edward and his Dad caught all the Red Drum they wanted and Chris and I caught several too. My guess was around 25 Drum, with only "one small fish" around 18" and all the rest from 23" to 30". The 8-10 pound Drum were a great battle on the 8# tackle. The guys also caught 40+ Bluefish on metal and kept 30 in the 2-3 pound class. Total for the Day: 25 Red Drum, 1 Summer Flounder, and 40 Bluefish. I also threw a 10 foot cast net one time and caught about 150 Jumping Mullets.