Friday, January 30, 2009

Jan 30 Boat Trials

Yesterday all the fuel lines were replaced on my boat. Sounds easy but it wasn't. I launched her this morning and ran up to Cape Lookout and back to Beaufort Inlet and had NO PROBLEMS. Hopefully my fuel problem is behind me and I can get back to some fishing. Even though I didn't fish today, I saw some good things. The water temp is in the mid 50's on the beach and the Rock Jetty at Cape Lookout is covered with bait. I can't wait to go back out there and look for some Red Drum and Albacore. I guess this week is about shot with a Small Craft Advisory up and the Super Bowl. The next time I get home from Ocracoke I'll be ready and finally ready to go fishing.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Jan 18 Striped Bass in Virginia

I made the trip up to Va Beach today and pretty much killed one of the most consistent bites on the East Coast. That's right, 45 straight days of every boat in the Ocean and the Bay catching their limit came to an end today! We did manage to land 2 Striped Bass out of 4 hook-ups on light spinning tackle, but they were found out past the 3 mile limit so we had to let them go! To make matters a little bit worse, it was raining and rough so I didn't even get a picture. Marcus R did manage to wrangle up a nice Spiny Dog on a Bucktail. My Striped Bass was a small one around 10 pounds. I lost another one that was smoking my reel. I'll just assume that was my 50 pounder and I would have had to release him anyway. My losing streak continues......Total catch for the Day: 2 Striped Bass and 1 Spiny Dogfish.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Jan 14 Mailbox Full of Citations




The agony of NOT FISHING and a trip to see a Dermatologist was partially lessened today when I went to the mailbox. It was stuffed full of NC Fishing Citations.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Jan 13 Lack of Reports


During the past month I have had very few fishing reports. Reason's are: 1. I'm working on the Ocracoke-Swan Quarter Ferry Run and Fishing is nearly impossible while I'm at work. 2. The Weather generally has sucked when I've been home. 3. I've had some kind of lingering Crud for 3 weeks. 4. My Boat has a problem that I need to spend a day on and I haven't done it yet! Hopefully I will have a good report to post on Jan 18th because The Rouser and I are making the trip up to Va Beach to go Striped Bass fishing. I might also wrangle a "creek trip for Red Drum" out of Capt Kyle Brown this week if he would get "duck hunting off his mind." Finally, congrats to THE PLUG (BJ Swain). He and Mary annouced that BJ is pregnant. Oops, I mean Mary is pregnant. Ocracoke will never, ever be the same. The picture is of BJ with one of 7 Red Drum we caught from the surf at Ocracoke a good night a few years back.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Jan 3 Black Sea Bass, Spottails, and Dog Sharks




Stan and Alex joined me today for a half day of inshore bottom fishing and jigging. We headed to the western Artificial Reefs and even though the water was a little cold, we managed to scrap up a few decent fish. We had our best luck in 50 feet of water on cut squid. We fished out to 70 feet and even though the temp was much better, we didn't have as many bites. Stan got the first fish of 2009 when he caught an Oyster Toadfish on the first drop of the morning! I also caught a small Scamp Grouper which is the first Scamp I've ever caught this far inshore. Unusual! Total Catch for the Day: 40 Black Sea Bass up to 14", 25 Spottail Pinfish, 2 Spiny Dogfish up to 10 lbs,, 1 Gag Grouper, 1 Scamp Grouper, 1 Sheepshead, 1 Scup, 1 Pinfish, and 1 Oyster Toadfish.