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

Aug 16 Butt Kicked at the Dock

"Big Fish on Light Tackle". That's my slogan. Sounds good, better than "Heavy Tackle around Heavy Structure" or else. This afternoon at high tide I went down to the Dock, which has been a little disappointing so far this summer. I had a couple of fish to clean and conditions were perfect so I grabbed a light spinning rod and a bag of Gulps. Bad idea. I landed 1 small Flounder and got crushed by Red Drum that were "as big as I want to call them". Too many pilings around for the 8# spinning rod that I selected. I lost 3 and gave it up. Nice long battle with the first one. I was still in the game after 90 seconds, then he wrapped me up on the neighboring Dock down current and it was over. The other 2 made short work, right under my feet. I'll call them over slot, 10 pounders. Oh well, tommorrow's a new day, a new challenge! Total Catch for the Day: 1 Summer Flounder and 1 Inshore Lizardfish

Aug 15 Bluefish, Red Drum, and More

I really thought I had it figured out today. It was gonna be a "Big Spanish" slaughter! Yeah right. It never happened. The few Bait Balls I found today were all right in the surf and there were no Big Spanish Mackerel around. I had to come up with a new plan so I rode to the East and found lots of interesting things. First I found 1000s of 2-4 pound Bluefish. I caught some on metal and some on live Menhaden. Then I worked on a school of Red Drum that I found on the Shoals. They weren't easy because they lived in a rough neighborhood. I probably rode 10 miles around a spot as big as a Tennis Court, trying to find an opening, checking every angle, a way in that wouldn't wreck the boat. Finally, I got in there and caught 7 Red Drum. I kept a 24" Red Drum and released 6 that were a little larger. Then, and I wish I could show you, I found a 15-20 lb Permit cruising in 3 feet of crystal clear water. All I had up top was a 5" Jerk Shad. It didn't matter that I was in the Tower, because there was nothing any better that I could have casted down below. On my first cast, I got the Permit's attention and he actually followed my bait for app 30 feet. Then the fish stalled and turned on a new heading. For the next 30 minutes I shadowed that fish and made cast after cast. The first cast was the closest I came to catching that Permit. That is the first Permit I have ever seen in the water in NC. I have seen a few that came from the Pound Nets near Ocracoke Inlet. Oh well! I also saw many huge Sand Tigers on the Shoals today. Large ones at 200+ pounds. Lots of Blacktip Sharks as well. I left them alone. Finally, on the way home I stumbled into a Crevalle Jack frenzy right in the surf off Shackleford Banks. This was neat as fish of all sizes were busting on top for about 10 minutes in a stretch of surf probably 100 yards long. I just happened to be looking for schools of Drum in the surf and this melee suddenly surrounded me! In 4 casts, I hooked 4 fish. I broke off a nice one (10+ pounds) while trying to climb down from the Tower with the Jack hooked up and running under the Boat! After that disaster, I then released a 5 pounder, released a 4 pounder, and kept a 3 pounder for Shark Bait. Then it was over. Interesting day! Total Catch for the Day: 7 Red Drum (up to 30"), 15 Bluefish, and 3 Crevalle Jack

Aug 13 Citation Spanish Mackerel Frenzy

Parker picked a good day to put Top Water Charters back in business. And, I tried to talk him out of it! After driving through Havelock yesterday while 9" of rain fell, I figured Inshore Fishing was shot. I wanted to cancel our trip, but later I learned Beaufort only had 2" and Parker was ready, so we went. What we found was outstanding! It was an EPIC SPANISH MACKEREL EVENT taking place off Cape Lookout. Total numbers of fish that we killed doesn't reflect what was happening, but the size was outstanding. Plus, Parker wanted some variety and I was eager to explore other things, so we didn't stick around for a limit. Unfortunately, the other things didn't pan out to well, but we still had a great day of Fishing. In two hours of Mackerel fishing, the Spanish Mackerel tally was 10 at 5+ pounds, of which 3 were 7+ pounds. 2 more were over 6 pounds. The largest weighed 7 lb 4 oz. This was a pitch a bait 20 feet and wait 10 seconds for a bite situation! In plain view, in mostly clear water! We also found plenty of Bluefish from 2-4 pounds each. We did not locate our Red Drum or Shark that we looked around the Ocean for. We also spent an hour riding out a pretty bad rain, wind, and lightning storm. Total Catch for the Day: 10 Spanish Mackerel (app 60 total pounds), 25 Bluefish, 5 Menhaden, and 1 Inshore Lizardfish

Aug 12 Ready to Go

I just made the round trip to Chapel Hill one more time. I can make that drive in my sleep now. Finally, I'm ready to go fishing. Thursday the 6th through Monday the 10th! Wanna take a guess at the weather! I'd say we just had 3-4 inches of rain and more to come. That always helps the Inshore Fishery. I need a break! Should be Mackerel, Flounder, Drum, Jacks, Cuda, and Sharks. Come help me find them!

Aug 6, 8, 9 Hatteras Fishing and Observations

The observations were better than the fishing! Lots of Billfish are being caught off Hatteras. Inshore and Wreck fishing seemed to be good. I saw a 40+ pound African Pompano and a 7+ pound Speckled Trout. All this was great except for somebody that had to go to work at 4:30 am and spend 2-5 hours a day in a 110 degree parking lot getting cussed out by 200-2000 people per day. In other words, this wasn't my favorite shift. Saturated with sweat from head to toe from 5am until 3 pm (shoes, socks and long pants-yuck), while everyone else was catching spectacular fish. Ouch. I did manage to make a few night missions and missed lots of sleep. Total exhaustion and Insomnia were definitely biting and so were the Sheepsheads later in the week. Sunday night they were biting as fast as the Urchin would reach the bottom. The problem was we only had 10 minutes of fishing time and to get to those 10 minutes, I had to commit 2 hours. You know me, the "fishing addict" I doubled up and fished 20 minutes, so I paid the price of giving up 4 hours of sleep. Three nights in a row! Was it worth it? Not from a fishing standpoint. The fishing was tough and the fish were hard to catch into the wind. I rolled the dice looking for a Career Best Sheephead and didn't find one. In the end, I caught 7 Sheepsheads. One was a NC Citation winner at 8 lb 2 oz, the others were 7 lb 12 oz, 7 lb 8 oz, 7 lb 8 oz, 7 lb 4 oz, 6 lb 4 oz, and 4 lb 8 oz. I lost an estimated 13 pounder after a 3 minute tug of war from around a 40 piling cluster. I backed him up to open water, but right before I netted him, the hook popped free of his lip. Ouch, again. Tina also had a smoking Sheephead hooked up that ripped 100 feet of line against a nearly "locked down" drag and broke her off on the same 40 piling cluster. Just like last year, and the year before, the big ones always seem to pop the hook or pop the line on Structure. A fish that I just can't quite master. Maybe that's the attraction. Total Catch for the Week: 7 Sheepsheads up to 8 lb 2 oz

Aug 3 BIG FISH at Cape Hatteras

Another week has passed and I'm shipping out on the 5 pm Cedar Island Ferry. Back to the Land of Sheepsheads. I probably will not see too many of them though, unless I can con one into biting at 4am. The magic of the bleeding Red Urchin will be tested this week! Nothing eats at 4am? Maybe a Flounder or two? We'll see. I watched the wind blow all this week. Next week will be a different story. It will be a dangerous week to be a FISH! I am open and ready on August 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Kings, Jacks, Drum, Flounder, and Sharks

And the Wind Keeps Blowing.....

Same old story. I last fished on my Boat on July 5th. A lot has happened and I have not been home much. 12 days in Chapel Hill and 7 days at Cape Hatteras. Then a day trip to Chapel Hill and Back on Wednesday. By Thursday I was ready to fish and wouldn't you know it: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we have 18-22kt SW Wind. I really could've fished, but I just didn't feel like I could do the things that I like to do. Tommorrow morning I'm going to look at it again. Monday I'll be headed back up to Hatteras. I'm not looking forward to my shift this time. My alarm will be set for 3:50am. That's too early for anybody to have to get up. My summer "Without Fishing" continues..........