May 25 The End to a Horrible Fishing Week---Guess What

This has been one horrible week of Fishing. Monday it blew 50 and rained 2 inches. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday it blew East and that sucks. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday it blew Southeast which made the water clear so we could actually see there were NO FISH. Today was my last day off and I go back to work tommorrow at Hatteras. Wouldn't you figure that we can see the light at the end of the "fishless tunnel" now? Inshore Fishing has been so slow this week I actually talked my client for the day to re-schedule June. So today I carried my wife up to Cape Lookout. I personally am not one to sit on the Beach, so of course I went riding to look for a Cobia. Earlier this week, I had rode 178 miles and not seen nary a Cobia. So today, with a half-hearted effort, wouldn't you know that I saw 19 Cobias in 2 hours. Sheesh. Granted, an estimated 15 of these were "Bouy Fish" in a mixed school of app 30 baby Amberjacks. Unfortunately, all these fish were undersized or borderline. Regardless, for me to find a school of 30" to 33" Cobias and 8-10 pound Amberjacks on an "inshore Bouy" after a week of horrible fishing was a treat for me! I couldn't get the Amberjacks to hit a top water plug, but they sure did gather underneath it and eyeball it! It almost seemed like another boat had already hammered this school. The little Cobias were less wary. I caught a 31" Cobia on a bucktail and then caught a 33" Cobia and a 30" Cobia on whole squids that were cast to the Bouy. The other 4 Cobia I saw today were single fish, all in the 25-35 pound class. I made casts to 2 fish that wouldn't eat a bucktail and the other 2 Cobias were ran over by other Boats before I could get off a cast. That, my friends, is Holiday Fishing Inshore off Beaufort Inlet and a horrible conclusion to a terrible week of Fishing. Total Catch for the Day: 3 Cobias (all released, 1 borderline legal, but I couldn't kill the poor critter)

Sand Tiger Shark Info

Yesterday for the 4th time in the past couple of years I used Sand Tiger Sharks to salvage an otherwise poor day of Fishing. These Sharks have ranged from 75 to 150+ pounds. I have caught them every time that I have tried this one particular spot. On good fishing days I wouldn't do this kind of thing, but I'm not sure why. In aquariums across the country Sand Tigers are always the number 1 attraction. Huge Bodies with sharp teeth sticking out everywhere. On the hook they are pretty tame for their size. You can catch a 100+ pounder in short order on relatively light tackle. My personal career best Shark is a 242 pound Sand Tiger caught in March of 1993. An amazing fact for such a docile creature is that this Shark actually eats all of it's brothers and sisters while still in the womb! Sand Tigers also rise to the surface and gulp air. This air is stored in a primitive swim bladder and allows them to hover motionless off the bottom. Small fish are lured into a false sense of security by the motionless Shark and actually try to use them for cover. This adaptation and behavior helps the lumbering Sand Tiger effectively feed on small fish and makes them unique in the Shark world. Anybody wanna go catch one? I know the perfect place. I'm 4 out of 4 so far.

May 23 Big Brown Fish?

Jim and CJ set sail today and priority #1 was to catch a Cobia. So we rode 68 miles and went west and east. Then we went east some more. To the secret spot. Finally CJ caught 2 Big Brown Fish. Both were over 100 pounds. Unfortunately, we had given up the dream and CJ caught and released 2 Sand Tiger Sharks. We also caught a Black Sea Bass. We chased 3 Chopper Bluefish, a Barracuda, Spadefish, and a Sandbar Shark unsuccessfully. You know the story, unrelenting SE wind and 4 foot Ground Swell continue to kill the Inshore Fishing. Total Catch for the Day: 2 Sand Tiger Sharks (100 and 115 pounds) and 1 Black Sea Bass

May 22 Bluefish and More Bad Fishing

My first problem was my cast of characters for today's fishing adventure backed out! Then, of course, the Wind kept blowing from the East. Everybody is sick of hearing about the East Wind. So, today's excuse will be called "Ground Swell". What a beautiful day. SE Winds that were lighter than yesterday brought in some cleaner water. We also had a beautiful 4-6 foot Ground Swell that was 8 seconds apart. Hawaii 5-0 stuff. Unfortunately, big Ground Swell never seems to help Inshore Fishing. Today was No Different. Throw that beautiful swell on top of 4 straight days of East Wind and....Why did I even bother to go again. After riding 60 miles yesterday and 50 miles today and I ain't seen a Cobia yet. Combine the 2 days and I could've fished to Hatteras and back. That probably would've been the wise thing to do. Oh well, today was better than yesterday. At least today I caught 3 Bluefish from 5-7 pounds, 3 Black Sea Bass from 10" to 14", and a Pinfish. All the fish were caught on stingsilvers in 50 feet of water. I also played with a nice swarm of big Spadefish, but didn't land any. They were itching to get caught, but Monday's blowout also blew away all the Jellyballs. The big Spades weren't quite hungry enough to eat Squid, but they gave it some long, hard looks. Total Catch for the Day: 3 Bluefish, 3 Black Sea Bass, and 1 Pinfish.

May 21 Nothing But The Wind and a Boat Ride

I went on a little "scouting trip" today. Cobias were eating up the entire Coast from Beaufort Inlet to Diamond Shoals until the big Monday Blowout. Then came Tuesday and Wednesday's East Wind Extravagandas. Today was supposed to be the day we turned the corner on the weather. Lighter East Winds and Mostly Sunny. So I went for a ride to see what I could find. Here is what I found: 15+ knot East Winds, Filthy water along the Beach and out a mile from the Cape Lookout Shoals, a Beautiful, but fishless, Tide Line off Beaufort Inlet, Chocolate Milk in Lookout Bight, and one lone Houndfish out in the Blue Water off AR-315. That's a 60 mile Boat Ride and I never saw anything to cast a bucktail to! The Bait fishermen were catching Sharks and Rays at the Cape and Rough Point, maybe I saw 1 Cobia caught, but I'm not sure about that. Total Catch for the Day: NOTHING

May 19 Weather Forecast Blues

Can you believe this weather? What am I saying? Of course you can believe it! I've been snake-bit by the weather ever since I took a week off work in October of 2006! Since you guys probably don't recall, when I take a week off work, I get 3 straight weeks off (week-on, week-off schedule) In Oct '06 I took a shift off for 3 straight weeks of Hardcore Fishing and 19 of the 21 days were Small Craft Warnings or Gale Warnings. I never recovered and I'm still waiting for "my stretch" of good weather. And it ain't gonna be this week! Regardless, I'll still be Cobia Fishing in less than ideal conditions and maybe we can manage a fish or two plus recover from this Front by the weekend! I do have some great places to fish in peace and quiet on NE and SE winds but the catch rate sometimes suffers. Just telling it like it is!

May 11 Chopper Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel

With 4 anglers on my Boat today and after yesterday's sight casting success; I figured that by Cobia Fishing with bait, it would be hard to make everybody happy. So we went and casted to Chopper Bluefish with Top Water Plugs on 10# spinning tackle in 3-5 ft of water instead. That made everyone happy. Just like yesterday we found huge numbers of 6-10 pound Bluefish tailing in the shallows. After everybody on the Boat had caught a couple for the box and released several more, we went looking for a Cobia and we didn't find one. Too bad, that would've made for a perfect day! However, conditions were less than perfect, with rain and 20 kt NW wind. We did find a good number of Spanish Mackerel up to 2 lbs west of the Shoals at Cape Lookout. Mike and crew whacked the Spanish pretty good too, catching 14 casting metal in 20 minutes. Total Catch for the Day: 30 Bluefish (6-10 lb) and 14 Spanish Mackerel

May 10 Cobias on Bucktails and Choppers on Top Water Plugs

I'd have to say today was my best day ever for Bluefish, and I started fishing for Bluefish back around 1970. That was not yesterday! We caught 7-13 pound Bluefish from 10am until 2pm on nearly every single cast. All of these Bluefish came from 1-6 feet of water and all came on Top Water Plugs. On 4 different occasions we caught 2 on 1 plug at the same time. For 2 hours, after every Bluefish foray, I would say, " We need to go look for Cobias!" We were piling up crazy numbers and couldn't quit. Finally after catching and releasing Bluefish for 4 hours, we went looking for Cobia. It didn't matter if we went earlier or not! In the first 5 minutes we saw 8 Cobias! Cobias number 2 and 3 were 90 and 100 pounders that were swimming with a seemingly small 70 pounder. Unfortunately these were 3 of the "smart ones" that weren't interested in our offerings. We cast to them, on them, over them, etc etc for 10 minutes. They wouldn't eat and they wouldn't spook. Chris was getting ready to "free gaff" the 100 pounder when a 35 lb Cobia showed up and swam up to the Boat. This one ate the bucktail and it was game on. An hour later we had caught 4 Cobia that went from 31 to 38 pounds. We kept 2 Cobias and released 2 to fight another day. Both released fish measured 38" and weighed 31 pounds on a bouncy Boga Grip. In the 60 minutes that we looked around, we saw at least 12 Cobias swimming on the surface. I'd call that a great day of fishing. Finally. Total Catch for the Day: 45 Bluefish (7-13 lb each) and 4 Cobia (31, 31, 35, 38 lb) That's about 600 pounds of Fish caught today!

May 9 Back Home--The WIND is Blowing and the Cobia Fishing is ON

Imagine that the wind would be blowing! I can't believe it. Every year I try to schedule my Florida trip so that I don't miss any good Cobia Fishing. Basically, I sacrifice the Bonito to save the Cobia. This year I think I messed up. It sounds like there has been an excellent "early" run of Cobias at Cape Lookout and Hatteras. Up to 8 fish per boat at Hatteras and lots of 60 pounders at both Beaufort Inlet and Hatteras. In the meantime, I've been chasing fish 900 miles away. Now I'm home and the wind is blowing 30+. Hopefully Tommorrow and Monday will be different. I'm ready to get back in the Game! The Fish in these pictures are some of the "fishy things" I Caught with my Camera while in Florida. Top Photo is a Gray Anglefish that was working the Northside of the Government Cut Jetty. Middle Photo is a male Queen Parrotfish that lives right by Monty's Raw Bar at Miami Beach Marina. Bottom Photo is one of the thousands of 1-2 pound Blue Tilapia that are actively building and/or guarding their nests at Sea World in Orlando

May 7 Miami Fishing

Whenever I go fishing in my Home Waters, I always try to have at least 3 different plans of attack. Hopefully, at least one plan will work and make for a successful day. Sometimes all three are successful and those are the great days. What has this got to do with fishing in Miami? Well, I have been going on yearly fishing trips to South Florida and The Florida Keys for nearly 10 years now. I finally have enough experience to be able to put together a 3 pronged plan of attack and have a reasonable odds of being successful on all three. (So I thought!) This years game plan was for Sight Casting to Schooling Permit on Nearshore Wrecks, Deep-dropping for Daytime Swordfish, and Livebaiting Sailfish in the morning. By the end of the day, one plan had worked to perfection and two had busted! I was highly successful in the morning catching 2 Sailfish on 2 Sailfish bites on live Sardines a mile off the Fowey Rocks Light Tower. These Sailfish weighed app 30 to 35 pounds each. I also caught 2 Little Tunny (Fla's Bonita, Our False Albacore or just Albacore), including a 15 pounder, and was bit off by a King Mackerel on live Spanish Sardines. Unfortunately, Swordfishing was a bust. I made 3 drops in 1500 to 1700 feet of water and had ZERO action. I used a fresh Albacore filet for bait. Let me tell ya, Catching a Big Swordfish couldn't have been much harder than simply checking your bait. That fishing is a work out, Bite or NO Bite. No bites for me! That hurt because this was my top priority. Oh well. Permit fishing was also a bust. There might have been some Permit around, I'm not sure because the water was a little too dirty. There was definitely no sight casting opportunites. I tried blind casting over a couple of wrecks but ultra aggressive Gray Triggerfish devoured every crab as soon as it hit the water. The Permit never had a chance! Other than the 2 Sailfish and 2 Albacore, I had a blast catching bait and other crap with a sabiki rig. Meredith and I also spent a day at Sea World and a day at Disney World. The waters in and around Sea World were full of spawning Blue Tilapia. If I ever make it back, I will smuggle in a hook and a string. One of my Fishing Books says that Tilapia are difficult to catch, but these 2 pounders sure seemed to like French Fries. Total Catch for the Day: 2 Sailfish, 2 Albacore, 20 Spanish Sardines, 10 Round Scads, 2 Ballyhoos, 2 Thread Herring, 3 Sailor's Choices, 3 Tomtates, 3 Blue Runners, and 3 Crevalle Jacks

FLORIDA BOUND

Good luck to the Bonito Fishermen, the Drum Fishermen, and the guys who will be looking for an early Cobia. I will not get in your way until May 10th. I'll be down south looking for a Broadbill Swordfish about 10 miles off South Beach! That ain't Cedar Island Beach. Whooosh! See you then and Good Luck! Hopefully I will be posting a picture similar to this one.

May 2 Queen of Wal-Mart on the Fly Rod

Now might be a good time to book a fishing trip with Top Water Charters. I seem to have started a nice little winning streak! Here is what happened today. First, I came home early from Hatteras because I am headed to Florida tommorrow morning. This morning I went to MHC to pick up a new cell phone. While in the area, and still confident with my Fly Rod from Monday's Red Drum adventure, I decided to check out Wal-Mart with the little 3wt combo for Largemouth Bass and Bream. Once I got there I found a nice bed that was occupied by a couple of small Bass and the surrounding area was alive with small Bream. After a few casts with a rubber-legged spider I noticed a much bigger Largemouth Bass that was lazily eyeballing my fly but would not eat it. I made about 10 casts right on her head and all around her, but she wouldn't eat and she wouldn't spook either. I finally made one more cast and a small Bluegill rushed out of an algae bank and hit the fly. As I was about to land the little Bream, the big Bass came to life and took a rush at my Bluegill just as I lifted it out of the water. That was pretty cool! Right at my feet the previously clear water was all muddied up. I hestitated to unhook the little Bluegill as I stared into the water. As the water cleared, I saw the Bass was still right there and her gills were feriously pumping and her pectoral fins were fanning like crazy. That Bass was pumped! What the hell, I dropped the Bluegill back in the water and the Water Exploded. Within seconds line was racing off my reel into the middle of the Pond. No way she's hooked I figured and on the first jump she'll throw the Bream and it will be over. Either way, it had already been awesome. Then my line started rising and the Big Bass raised her head clear of the surface. One mighty flip of her tail and she turned a backwards somesalt. The swallowed Bluegill was disgorged and flew 5 feet across the surface. Once she splashed down, my reel spun again as the Largemouth Bass swam away. Amazingly, I was still hooked up! A minute later I landed her and found my Popping Bug in the corner of her mouth. She was a 25" Beauty that weighed 7 pounds on the Boga Grip. I'm starting to really like this freaking Fly Fishing. Sorry for the poor quality picture! Total Catch for the Day: 3 Largemouth Bass and 3 Bluegill