Dec 27 After the Blow

It's the day after a BIG Wind, Ice, Snow, and Rain event out here on the Outer Banks. I will be headed back to Beaufort tomorrow morning and the weather for next week is looking much better. We might even be fishing in air temps in the 60s by next weekend. Sounds incredible after yesterday's mess. Out here at Cape Hatteras it snowed alot but it was being tossed around by 40 knot winds. It was brutal cold on the Ferry last night. Things are looking up. Call me (252-241-8350) and lets go see what's out there. Striped Bass, Speckled Trout, Red Drum. Albacore, Bluefin Tuna, or Black Sea Bass.

Dec 25 Christmas Day Red Drum Blitz

 I don't have a lot of Christmas Day Fishing Memorys. I do now.... Getting up early enough to take advantage of the incomimg tide, I fished a tiny "hole" in the Hatteras Inlet Surf and smoked the Red Drum this morning. The hole was full of Red Drum and Jumping Mullet. There were also a few Black Drum as well, but I didn't catch a Black Drum. Cast after cast would either result in a Red Drum strike or a snagged Red Drum or Jumping Mullet. The majority of these Drum were too short, but I did manage a 20" Red Drum and a 21" Red Drum. I also caught a 4 lb Jumping Mullet. Total Catch for the Day: 33 Red Drum up to 21" and 3 Jumping Mullet up to 4 lb

Dec 23 Unfishy Fishing

Dear Santa,
What I want for Christmas is a 30 lb Striped Bass to eat my gulp on my Trout Rod. That would be a fair fight. A 50/50 proposition........Today in poor conditions I made over 300 casts. I had 4 bites. I hooked 1 fish. It got away. I know there was a few Red Drum caught in the Hatteras Inlet vicinity. I didn't contribute to the total catch. Tomorrow if I decide to go fishing, I'm going to try a different area. Probably at Buxton. I'd love to catch a Striped Bass on Christmas Eve! Total Catch for the Day: Absolutely Nothing

Dec 22 Slower Red Drum Fishing

Right when I think I got something figured out...... A pretty day for fishing and it looked very fishy. However, in the same slough that produced 5-6 bites in 40 minutes yesterday, I got 5-6 bites in 3 hours today. To make matters worse, when I finally caught my first Red Drum of the day, my camera battery went dead. I got one on my cell phone and I got one from yesterday on the camera. I will try to load those pictures soon. Bad weather is headed for Hatteras , so this could be the end...... Well, then I got bored and went back out there and..... I caught 3 Red Drum and a 5 lb Jumping Mullet in 30 minutes. I guess I gave up too early on my first session. Total Catch for the Day: 5 Red Drum and 1 Jumping Mullet    ****2895 Total Fish in 2010****

Dec 21 Red Drum in the Hatteras Surf

I'm back at Hatteras for a week, including Christmas Day. However, there is one good thing. There are Red Drum in the surf. The difference between Cape Hatteras and Home is there is a chance that a Striped Bass might be mixed in with the more typical Speckled Trout/Red Drum mix. That is enough excitement to make me brave the cold. So this afternoon I rode the Beach before work and found some action. Here's what I found. In a narrow slough down by Hatteras Inlet there was a nice little Red Drum bite going on and only a couple of guys taking advantage of it! I caught the tail end of it. In 45 minutes of throwing a Gulp, I caught a couple of Red Drum and pulled the hooks on another one right at my feet. I saw a Drum in the 25" range, but the one's I released were in the 17"-20". Total Catch for the Day: 3 Red Drum  

Dec 15 No Fish Fishing Report

I went to Radio Island today and froze my butt off... I made about 40 casts and covered the "every cast area" from last week! I never felt the first tap. The water is much colder than it was 8 days ago and much colder than the Hatteras Surf... The Speckled Trout have moved away from the Radio Island/Bulkhead Channel area. It remains to be seen if I will brave the cold, the wind, and the rain and make it up to Cape Lookout this week. There should be some Jumbo Trout up there, but it is Christmas and all, and I am as busy as everybody else running around like an Idiot. If they have any sense, they will head South and I mean way South... Bogue Inlet ain't far enough, look for some dead fish to pop up down that way... Up on our end of the Carteret County, probably 95% of the larger Speckled  Trout died last winter.. Total Catch for the Day: 0 Fish

Hatteras Speckled Trout, Rain, and No Trout

I fished on December 10 and 11. On the 10th, fishing was repectable. Not up to Radio Island standards but I released 13 Speckled Trout in 30-40 minutes of fishing. What was cool about it (to me) was catching them in a tiny slough in the surf, Much different than what I'm used to. Standing ankle deep and casting to a sandbar 75 feet offshore and catching Speckled Trout on the backside of the drop-off. And I mean where the water dropped off from 2 feet to 4 feet. Pretty cool. All these Speckled Trout were from maybe 14" to 10". It beats workin! On the 11th, it was dreary, rainy, but slick. I couldn't resist trying it again. It keeps my mind off a darkening cloud of depressing thoughts that are moving in on me for some reason....Anyway, I never had a single bite. But, it was a great feeling and I considered the fishing to be great, standing in the rain on a desserted beach, tossing a grub into the surf. The Hatteras Charter Fleet had a great day yesterday catching Blackfin, Yellowfin, and Bluefin Tuna. Business is slow so today lots of boats went out commercial fishing today. Rolling the Christmas Dice looking for Bluefins. Not sure how they did, but watching them come in the Inlet as I stood in the rain casting for Speckled Trout damn sure made me feel better. Total Catch for 2 Days: 13 Speckled Trout

Sea Mullet is THE BEST FRIED FISH Period. End of Discussion.

There are 3 species of Sea Mullet. Northern, Southern, and Gulf. They are members of the Drum family, as are Croaker, Spot, and Speckled Trout. They are probably one of the "least respected" members of that family. I'm not sure why. They wage a great battle for their size and that flat ass rock on the plate! I hardly ever catch them anymore. When I was a kid, fishing off the Morehead Ocean Pier,we caught them all the time. Today I was reminded again, they are the best fried fish. Period.

Dec 9 Sea Mullets and Cold

It has been a cold time at Hatteras so far this week. Brutal wind was blowing earlier in the week. The past 24 hours gave me a break from the wind and I've made a couple of little fishing excursions. Yesterday, in perfect conditions except dirty water, I casted for Speckled Trout at the Frisco Pier. The water was too dirty though and that trip didn't last too long...... This afternoon, I grabbed some shrimp and went up to Buxton and managed to catch a nice little bag of Sea Mullets. I walked the Beach for quite a ways, casting as I went. Imagine my suprize when I actually got a bite! 30 minutes later, it was over and I had enough Sea Mullets to make a nice meal for 4 of us! Looks like warmer weather and some rain is headed this way, but I will probably be back up the Beach again tomorrow looking for another Sea Mullet bite. Total Catch for the Past 2 Days: 7 Southern Sea Mullet

Dec 5 Cold Wind and Speckled Trout from Shore

Our plans for a great day of fishing got blown away..... And froze..... Everybody chickened out. However Stella was still able to slide out on the Beach just under her "I don't fish at 40 degrees or less" threshold and catch quite few Speckled Trout. Too bad the wind was blowing 20-25 from the NNW at Radio Island. It surely didn't bother the Trout, but it sure was cold on us. Hopefully next time we get a chance to go fishing it will be 65 degrees and clear skies and bright sunshine. The Drum and the Trout will be chewing! Total Catch for the Day: 15 Speckled Trout up to 13"

Dec 4 140 Speckled Trout up to 3 pounds

For John and his brother, I really wanted us to catch some nice Speckled Trout. But, I warned them about all the 13" Speckled Trout. Amazingly, the first Speckled Trout of the day was a 19" Speckled Trout for John. After I had dropped the guys off, my last two fish of the Day was a 20" Speckled Trout and a 17" Speckled Trout. In between, we fished Radio Island, Shackleford Banks, Cape Lookout, and the Cape Lookout Shoals. We caught and released many, many Speckled Trout. My old pal Noah Lynk caught a big fish on a live shrimp. I couldn't tell if it was a Red Drum or a Trout. Other than that, we had the best the Speckled Trout that I saw caught, all day long. Total Catch for the Day: 140 Speckled Trout up to 20" and 8 Bluefish

Dec 3 Yesterday all Over Again

Once again I saved gas, got some exercise, walked Radio Island, and waylaid the Speckled Trout. Once again it was every cast or every other cast. Speckled Trout after Speckled Trout. From 2pm until 430pm. Any color grub or any Gulp.  Total Catch for Today: 100 Speckled Trout up to 14"

Dec 2 Same Old Story--Every Cast Speckled Trout

I am ready for a real Fishing Trip!! Looks like I'll be back in the game on Saturday and Sunday and I'm itching to go Boating. However, this afternoon the weather was great and I was looking for my "daily fishing fix". As usual, the Speckled Trout were in the same spot, doing the same thing. Why mess with the Boat. Cast after cast after cast. Trout after Trout after Trout. One absolute 15" Speckled Trout, others were close but I let them go. I fished the last 90 minutes of the rising tide. White Grubs today for the hell of it.....  Total Catch for the Day: 85 Speckled Trout up to 15"  ***Total Fish for 2010--2603***

Dec 1 Speckled Trout Bite Again

Wind and Rain made this a perfect morning to take care of some business. By this afternoon, the rain was over, the sun was shining, and the west wind made things easy at Radio Island. So instead of tackling my real chores, I made the trek to the Rock Jetty at the end of the Beach. Fishing was the same as yesterday for the first hour. Every cast. Any color grub. Fish after fish. When the tide turned and started to fall, the fishing became harder. Actually, I think the fish just moved to a slightly different location. I caught a few more at the very end of a "long cast". Some other guys fishing back up the beach seemed to be doing real well however. I finished up short of my goal of 100 Speckled Trout. No doubt due to my late start. There was a few Bluefish around today as well. Total Catch for the Day: 80 Speckled Trout up to 14" and 1 Bluefish

Nov 30 Knee Deep in the Trout

I just got back from a week on the Outer Banks and I was itching to go fishing. With rain on the way and an east wind, I figured the Boat was a waste of time and a 25 foot aggravation. So I made the trek down to the Radio Island Rock Jetty on foot and it only took one cast to see the way it was gonna be. I felt sorry for all the guys standing on shore and north of the Jetty. They were pissing in the wind. Out where I was it was "game on". After 30 casts, I had caught 24 Speckled Trout. My only complaint was if you missed a bite you would have to reel in and re-cast. I hate when that happens. It got better. By the time the rain chased my home, they would bite over and over until you hooked one. I had a 30 straight cast streak with a Speckled Trout and a 26 straight cast with a Speckled Trout streak. Lots of Trout were over 14". I could've had a limit of keepers in the first hour, but I didn't keep a single fish. Luckily for the Trout, I forgot my stringer. With too many numbers bouncing around inside my head, I lost the actual fish count. For the best hour though, I was releasing them at a rate of 2 per minute. Crazy numbers. In 2+ hours of casting a green or red grub, I guess 150 Speckled Trout releases with a few of them being 16" and well over a pound. I also saw a few Black Drum caught on shrimp. Total Catch for the Day: 150 Speckled Trout up to 16" 

Nov 25 Jumping Mullets and Turkeys

This morning while ferrying Pilgrims across Hatteras Inlet on Thanksgiving Day, Frank and I destroyed the Jumping Mullets with our cast nets. Lots of 2-4 pounders that are full of roe. I also caught the largest Jumping Mullet that I've ever seen. It weighed 8 lbs. A monster. Also on Monday and Tuesday nights, I fished at the foot of the Frisco Pier with a mirrorlure. Perfect conditions on Monday night, light seas and winds, giant moon, incoming tide and plenty of bait in the slough. No bites though. Oh well, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Nov 21 Speckled Trout and Red Drum

One of my all-time favorites, Jim, was back today and I was thrilled to finally have "one of those days" again. I'm sure the guys will never forget it. The Speckled Trout fishing was not so great, but interesting for #1 the number of small Trout and #2 the number of jigheads we lost. Also, when your Fishing Guide tries to explain a concept, but can't demonstrate, you are usually in trouble. So as I tried to tell the guys how to catch "the big Trout" in the hard spot.... I lost jig after jig and never caught a thing! (Where was Stella, she could've showed them) Anyway, we caught 60 Speckled Trout and 3 were 14" or larger. Then we went to the East and made our day. Sight casting while chasing down 200 Red Drum that were running in and out of the breakers and up and down a Shoal, the guys caught 16 Red Drum from 18" to 30" and had a blast. Thanks for the patience and I'll never forget the casting frenzy when those fish "attacked" us. As usual, fishing is heating up and it's time for me to go back to Hatteras! Total Catch for the Day: 60 Speckled Trout up to 18", 16 Red Drum up to 10 lbs, 15 Bluefish, 1 Black Sea Bass and 1 Hogfish   ***2297 Total Fish in 2010***

Nov 20 Lots of Speckled Trout

Stella and I went fishing today and she kicked my butt. She caught a 4 lb 12 oz Speckled Trout and a 3 lb Speckled Trout. I caught a 2 lb 8 oz Speckled Trout and a 14" Speckled Trout. The larger Speckled Trout have been hard to come by lately and Stella's is the biggest of the year so far on my boat. She also released 67 Speckled Trout while I released 40. I got her back with my 2 Black Sea Bass. I lost 8 jigheads, while she lost 2. We teamed up to catch a few Bluefish and have a great time fishing. Damn, a woman that fishes! Amazing. Total Catch for the Day: 111 Speckled Trout up to 4 lb 12 oz, 7 Bluefish and 2 Black Sea Bass