Dec 30 Speckled Trout Limit

The title might be a little deceiving. The fishing was very strange. Fishing in a spot that was dead yesterday.... Fishing in a spot that, by all accounts has been dead for 2 weeks. Fishing in a spot that has traditionally been an early season spot for Speckled Trout.... So today I left the dock at 1130 because I was bored. Right at the top of the tide. I dropped anchor in a spot near the boat ramp, just to waste a few minutes...... First cast. Wham. A 2 lb 8 oz Speckled Trout. Second cast. Third Cast. Fourth Cast. Wham wham wham. There's my limit. Incredible. 100 casts later.... stuck on 4 Speckled Trout from 2-3 lbs each. Amazing. Could these be the last fish of 2011? Total Catch for the Day: 4 Speckled Trout up to 3 lbs

Dec 29 Beautiful Weather and Lots of Dogsharks

Stephen and I fished together on July 4th. It was rough as a cob and I tried to talk him out of it. But he had come all the way from Syracuse, NY and he came to fish. So we went and Stephen caught a pile of Bluefish and a 125 lb Blacktip Shark. So today was going to be much different. In good ways and bad! Fishing early was a struggle. Fishing late was a struggle. Watching wildlife was spectacular. Blue Planet material. Gannets, Loons, Scoters, Gulls, and Terns by the hundred. Bottlenosed Dolphin, of all sizes, everywhere we went. Hundreds of them. And one, maybe two Humpback Whales. The one whale stayed in our area for over an hour. Acres of Menhaden were definitely feeding the Blue Planet today... What about the fishing? The Cape Lookout Rock Jetty sucked. The Cape Lookout Shoals sucked. AR 315 sucked. Rouse's Slough sucked. In the middle of all that, we jigged up 15 Spiny Dogfish on speck rigs in 55 ft of water off Cape Lookout as our friendly Whale circled. My apologys to Stephen for the poor fishing. Last time I was apologizing about the weather. Next time we are due for a perfect day. Total Catch for the Day: 15 Spiny Dogfish up to 10 lbs and 1 Black Sea Bass

Last Night's Journey

To begin with, Squid fishing was good. The Squid were small. I guess we're having "popcorn calamari"... The jig was bigger than the Squid. The aggressive little demons would still attack it though. I ended up with 39 Squid. Not bad.... On to the main event! So I caught a bucket full of baby crabs. At 1245am I took my position and waited for Mr Tautog to show up. Holy Cow what a wait. I felt like a Blue Heron. I stood and I stood and I stood. A few times I got dizzy/sleepy and nearly fell to my death. Finally at 435 he showed up. Casting a baby crab in the dark in 12 kt wind was a trick, but I hit the right spot a few times. For 5 minutes he would charge the crab and flash under it. Then (in the dark) it looked like he had a hard time eating it. I suppose Tautog are better known as daytime feeders and maybe eating at night is a challenge? Finally about 450 I got a bite and missed. Then another, and another. I was furious now. I dropped another crab and a crewmember walked up and distracted me..... My line came tight! I got him finally, but the hook pulled. Then another Tog showed up, the big one from the night before. Now it was 455 and time to load. I dropped one final crab and wham, he nailed it. When the Tautog broke the surface, it was obviously not the big one, but thankfully it was a Tautog! Mission accomplished. My whole life is better! Total Catch for the Night: 39 Squid and 1 Tautog

Dec 21 NO FISHING REPORTS

Once again, I am very sorry about the lack of fishing reports! In all honesty, there has been a lot of other things going on. Christmas and lack of interest in fishing charters have made combined to keep me off the water for another week.. Now I'm back up at Cape Hatteras and I am working another night shift. Pretty much, its just like last week. On the Hatteras side, I caught 17 Squid and they were very small ones. Just right for bait. Late last night, I caught a Toad and a Sea Bass and I gave up. After firing up the Ferry at 430am, I took one last look over the rail at 455 and there swam the fish of my dreams (right now). A 6-8 lb Tautog was chasing and pinning Crabs against a piling. I watched in a stupor for a few seconds... With traffic coming aboard, I snapped out of my trance and ran to my truck and grabbed my rod and a Squid. With a minute before time to leave, I got back to the spot and Mr Tog was gone.. Dammit. Why do I feel that fish was symbolic of my entire life? Tonight I will try to get him, but the weather is worse and my odds are poor. Wish me luck! Total Catch for the Night: 17 Squid, 1 Black Sea Bass, and 1 Oyster Toadfish 

Dec 10 Squid Jigging

They are back...............

Dec 8 Not So Good

Here lately I've been haunted by the Full Moon. Fishing tonight was no exception. Not sure if the Moon is completely full or not, but one thing is definitely certain..... I am not having one of my better fall fishing seasons!   Hopefully, the winter fishing will make up for it.....On to the latest Fishing Report......... The Hatteras Squid run has fallen off. Needing Squid for Tautog bait, I did manage to catch one nice one at 15". Other than that I purposely snagged 5 more baby Squid in the 3"-4" range. Snagging anything at that size was a challenge. On the other side, I could only manage 1 Oyster Toadfish on the hook. I did see the largest Tautog that I've seen since cousin Tony reeled in a 6 pounder back in 1989 at AR-315. The one I saw tonight was a 5lb Tautog but I couldn't entice him to bite. He was patrolling the shadow line by a large concrete stanchion. The Togs are slurping small crabs off the surface and the 5 Tautog that I have captured all had stomachs full of crabs.... I only have a small handful of fishing gear so I'm pretty restricted in my attack. I need a dip net to catch some crabs, but with 4 in my garage at home, I just cant justify buying another one so I can try for the elusive 5 lb Tautog.... Speaking of Togs, the ones that I have eaten rank up there with the finest tasting fish I have ever eaten.... Total Catch for the Night: 6 Squid and 1 Oyster Toadfish

Dec 7 Ferry Dock Fishing

First of all, I apologize for the lack of reports. Last week at Beaufort, the weather was nice but I had boat trailer and truck problems. I also had no charters, so I let it rest. No boating and I surely missed some great Speckled Trout fishing. I did walk out to Radio Island a couple of times and caught some undersized Speckled Trout............ Moving ahead to this week, I am back to work at Hatteras. On tuesday night, I fished for squid on the north side dock and tautog on the south side dock. I actually had an interesting catch. I caught one Tautog and a variety of other fish, including a 16" Black Sea Bass. The Squid fishing wasn't so good. Reports from up the shore, at Oden's Dock, was a great run of Squid........ Last night, wednesday, the weather was horrible and I did not fish... Total Catch for the Report: 25 Speckled Trout, 1 Tautog, 5 Black Sea Bass, 10 Bluefish, 3 Oyster Toadfish, and 2 Squid

Nov 30 Robin's Birthday, IGFA International Angler Magazine and Time for Fishing

Today is Robin's Birthday. It's going to be hard to sneak in a fish or two.......

I have a photo and a trip description in the Nov/Dec edition of International Angler Magazine. I am a IGFA Certified Captain so if you fish with me, please remind me to give you a free IGFA Membership

I'm back from Hatteras and ready to go fishing. Speckled Trout should be on-fire. Red Drum, Gray Trout, Sea Mullet, and Albacore should be avaliable. Call me if interested at 252-241-8350.

Nov 28 World Record Tautog on Fly Near Miss

I've caught a bunch of Squid this week. All my friends have eaten plenty of calamari. So, to mix things up, I broke out the 3wt fly rod. On the North Side, I found the Squid eager to attack a fly or anything else that moves. On a fly, the problem was hooking one. Squid are impossible to hook unless they "grab" a point. That's why a "squid jig" has 8-16 points. Anyway, drawing strikes, losing them and landing a few of them is a blast! Squid after Squid. Night after Night.another. It has been Great fun.....   Meanwhile, over at the South Side, there hasn't been a lot of action. But I've been playing with the fly rod anyway..... Lots of empty drops with the Squid jig and empty casts with gulps, grubs, and mirrorlures... I didn't try the fly rod over there until Sunday Night. After a few empty casts and after dropping my fly by a set of pilings suddenly a mystery fish darted out of the shadows and examined my fly. A look but not a take! "What on Earth was that" I wondered. On my next cast, the fish rolled out of the shadowsbagain and turned on it's side. No mistaking that profile. Tautog, and a nice one too. Not a traditional fly fishing target, to say the least! Not my field of expertise, but I would think it is nearly impossible to target and not very receptive to a fly.... But, hey, I had found an opponent and I was in a ballgame! The next cast was looking bleak, then with one mad rush, the 3-4 lbTautog enhaled the fly right before my eyes and I was hooked up! The tiny 3wt rod was bent double, triple, flexing to the reel seat as my hefty Tautog dug for the bottom. Twenty seconds later, the hook pulled... It was over dammit. In retrospect, the 2011 IGFA Record Book showed the 6 lb Tippet Tautog Records to be at 1lb 10oz and the one I hooked up was easily a 3-4 pounder. Anyway, he escaped so what the heck........ The great thing was, now I could focus on Squid on the North side and Tautogs on the South side. Fearing that my ultralight fly rod was overmatched around all the rocks and pilings, I went to conventional tackle and 40# mono for Tautog.........   After losing the first Tautog on fly Sunday night, I managed to land 3 later that night from 2-3 pounds each on cut squid. Monday night I caught another 2lb Tautog, but I had a shot at a 5-6 pound career best Tautog, but I couldn't coax this one to eat. He charged the bait, flashed underneath, rolled, and did a headstand on top of it. It was 20 minutes of drama and tension, but the big one never ate the bait! Bait fishing bycatch consisted of baby Bluefish, Bass, and Oyster Toads...  Meanwhile, on the Hatteras side, The Squid continued to bite.....  Total Catch for Sunday and Monday Nights: 38 Squid up to 18", 4 Tautog up to 3 lbs, 6 Bluefish, 1 Black Sea Bass, and 1 Oyster Toadfish     Pictures Later

Nov 26 Squid on the Fly Rod

This was a fishing session spawned out of pure boredom and insomnia. Unable to sleep, I basically did what I been doing since 1970 when my Dad had to drag me off the Morehead Ocean Pier every Sunday Afternoon........ I went fishing!  And since Squid are different, challenging, plentiful, and tasty right now, we can say I went Squid fishing. For a new twist, I broke out the 3wt Fly Rod. It didn't take long! Unfortunately, with 1 point, as opposed to 10-14 points on a squid jig, I pulled off 75% of my strikes. Regardless of the difficulty in landing them, I did proudly catch my first Squid on a fly rod. Whether they were landed or not, each strike resulted in a nice battle because the Squid were reluctant to let go of the fly. I actually had several violent surface strikes with healthy splashes of water and lots of black ink spraying. I also managed another big pile of Squid. For variety, little Bluefish were also crashing the fly with reckless abandon. I also played around with a squid jig and managed another first, 2 Squid at the same time on one jig! It was 2 hours of fun on a very dark, beautiful night, with lots of falling stars.  Total Catch for the Late Night/Early Morning Session: 14 Squid up to 17" and 6 Bluefish

Nov 25 Squid are Biting Good and My Girlfriend is Happy

As my girlfriend sits 8 miles up the road in Buxton, what on earth is Capt Marty up to late at night?  Squid Fishing of course......I'm catching them too.... Last week, for the first time in our 5 month old whirlwind romance, Robin said, "You fish too much, give me a break!!!" I thought to my self, "Oh Jeez, here we go again, I hate to lose this woman, how can I balance this." This week, so far I don't have an answer, but thankfully Robin is at her parents house and everything is great and she really isn't keeping close tabs on my fishing habit this week. Whew!!!!  Anyway, my buddy Frank Folb. Jr is catching Squid at a good rate as well....... Our buddy Al Farkas is castnetting them...... The Great Hatteras Squid Run of 2011 is alive and well. Frank had a 12 Squid on a jig in 10 minute rally... I had a 8 Squid on a jig in 5 minute rally... Aside from the rallys, it's slow and steady....Then Al bombards the flock with his net and chases them to the Gulf Stream... Minutes later, another flock show up and the bite resumes.. Frank's night is half over... Mine is done. I caught enough for another big platter of calamari. 2011 is winding down and it's time to go fishing!!!! Total Catch for the Night: 18 Squid up to 16"

Hatteras Thanksgiving

Capt Marty has a new cell phone! Feel free to call me up and harrass me! Next week, if anyone wants to go fishing Nov 30, Dec 2, Dec 3 or Dec 4 please contact me at 252-241-8350. I would expect the Speckled Trout fishing to be extraordinary....... Also, Happy Thanksgiving to friends, family, and even to my opponents and enemys.... Today the Ferry Dock served up Chicken for lunch. I assume the general thought process was that everyone would go home to a big turkey dinner.... Not Capt Marty. Breaking from tradition, I pulled out a premium can of 2 layered Norwegian Sardines. Adding to the fineness of this culinary delight, I poured off the oil and added vinegar. I'm drooling like Pavlos Dog as I type. Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving dinner as much as I will enjoy mine.

Nov 22 Late Night at Hatteras with Squid and Speckled Trout

With bad weather right around the corner.... I pushed the limits of my endurance and did a double header tonight of Squid jigging and mirrorlure slinging. Both ideas worked out for a change! The Squid were off to flying start, I caught 9 nice Squid pretty quickly, but I turned that fishery over to a friend that wanted some calamari worse than I did. After cleaning up the mess I made cooking up some Speckled Trout fillets in the galley earlier, I got bored and drove out to the Frisco Pier. It was a beautiful night, but the tide was falling and was really low water already. I said, what else do I have to do, so I tossed the first cast of the night.... Three reel handle turns later, the rod bowed and a 18" Speckled Trout surfaced and shook his head all the way to the beach. An hour later, I had 4 Speckled Trout on the Beach. That bag limit was made up by 2 at 18" and 2 at 17". I also released 4 smaller ones from 15" to 13". Another very satisfying Speckled Trout expedition. I love them on a mirrorlure, at night, from the surf. Nice adventure. Total Catch for the Night: 8 Speckled Trout up to 2 lbs and 9 Squid up to 19"

Nov 21 More Speckled Trout Action

Weird 5am until 10am half day today.  Small Speckled Trout biting all morning. Periods of every cast catching a fish for Barry and Joey. Lots of fish tossed back. We were hurt by the falling tide today. When it was over we had 5 keeper Speckled Trout between 16" and 19". Still fun, but it was just a letdown after yesterday's afternoon bonanza. Most interesting catch was Barry's 10 lb Southern Stingray on a grub and 6# mono in a hard running current. Touch and go battle. We were praying for a Black Drum. Darn it. Total Catch for the Day: 70 Speckled Trout up to 19", 1 Bluefish, and 1 Southern Stingray at 10 lbs

Nov 20 Most Satisfying Trout Day of the Year

Fishing was tough early today. We started at the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty. We caught enough small Trout to get quickly bored. Then we tossed metal at a few fleeting Albacore glimpses... Then we rode the Shoals and up the Eastern Beach. Then we jigged speck rigs off Shackleford Banks. Looked at a fleet of boats catching nothing in Beaufort Inlet. Then we caught a few small Trout at Radio Island. Then my guys were over it and ready to go home...... And I checked one last place, and there were 2 boats back there...... And I got a quick look at Buddy Hardesty netting a Trout. So we tried it...... Two hours later, we had 5 Speckled Trout between 3 lb 8 oz and 4 lb 8 oz. We had 11 more between 17" and 20". We also released more small Trout.. Very satisfying. Total Catch for the Day: 60 Speckled Trout up to 4 lb 8 oz, 2 Bluefish and 2 Croaker

Nov 19 Crazy Trout Numbers

Marcus R and I debated going for larger Trout (Boat, Cost, Aggravation) or going for numbers. We decided to go for the high numbers. So we walked out to Radio Island and pretty much bailed Trout for 4 hours. We fished 3 hours and combined we caught 160 Speckled Trout. We had several keepers, including a 19" Speckled Trout that I caught. After lunch at the Royal James, we went back and caught 80 more Speckled Trout. In the late session, we had zero legal keepers. Wow. Total Catch for the day: 240 Speckled Trout up to 19" and 3 Bluefish

Nov 18 Nearly Every Cast Speckled Trout

Seeing that I could care less. Let the secret out..... Anybody. Anybody that wants to catch all the Speckled Trout in the world, walk out to Radio Island on a falling tide and start catching them, ok! This afternoon, I fished for 90 minutes and released 75 Speckled Trout. I had a 15 straight cast streak. Missed a cast. Then I had a 12 staright cast streak. That's 27 Speckled Trout in 28 casts. I never went more than 4 casts without a bite. The vast majority of these fish were 12" to 13". But there were a few 14" Speckled Trout in the mix today. I caught all my fish on a simple green rub and green jighead today. Toss in 1 Bluefish for variety. I also saw No. Puffers, Black Drum, and Hogfish by the bait fishermen. Total Catch for the Day: 75 Speckled Trout and 1 Bluefish

Nov 16 Good Speckled Trout Fishing

I made the hike out to Radio Island this afternoon on the falling tide and the fishing was good. It was a little difficult because the Trout were tight to the rocks. Cast a little too far, and you'd end up in the rocks.... The Trout were mostly too small. I did have my 4 fish limit of Trout in 20 minutes however. I caught 3 Speckled Trout that were 16" and I also kept a 14" Trout. All together, in less than 2 hours, I caught 30 Speckled Trout and it took me 30 minutes to find them. All caught on green grubs. Total Catch for the Day: 30 Speckled Trout up to 16"

Nov 13-14 Late Night Squid Blitzes

After a slow night of jigging for Squid, around midnight the bite turned on and I had a 30 minute frenzy all to myeslf. I probably hooked, caught, or lost Squid on 20 straight drops, and at worst, I was hooking a Squid on every 3rd drop. The amazing thing was, these Squid which were up to 25" long and probably larger, were in 4 feet of clear water, under the lights and I couldn't see them in the water. I could see the bottom however. It was amazing to make drop after drop and hook Squid after Squid. After 10 minutes, the water was black with ink. Finally when the initial run tapered off, I had 24 Squid and probably lost at least that many. After the first frenzy ended, I had to work a little harder. I guess the school had moved a little bit and I never really found them again. Or, I caught them all........ Anyway, moving up and down the Sea Wall, I found a bite here and a bite there. In the next 30 minutes, I probably caught 10 more Squid and I finally gave it up and went to bed for the first time in 48 hours. Sheeesh. On the 14th, I really didn't have it in me, but squidding was pretty good late at night. I did manage to whack 14 Squid before giving my rod up to a couple of guys who had never caught one. I also managed another trophy Squid at 24". Nice Calamari. Total Catch for the 2 Nights: 48 Squid up to 25" and 1 Bluefish

Nov 9-10 Squid Jigging

Life was so good when I put my boat up, packed my bags, said my goodbyes to my Parents and my lovely Girlfriend, jumped in my old fishing truck and drove to Hatteras. Two days later, I'm sad and lonely and ready to go home. But, this is a Fishing Blog, so here's my fishing report.... Casting mirrorlures in the surf has been a waste of time so far. Huge swell from a distant low pressure system is really screwing up the Hatteras Island surf. So I'm now focusing on the docks and under the lights. The first night has been really slow but I just caught a beautiful Squid on a squid jig. Adding weirdness to this bizarre report, I also caught an Oyster Toadfish and a Bluefish, both on the squid jig............ The second night is really interesting. The Squid are biting. So far, I've managed to land 8 Squid on the squid jig. The interesting thing is, I have lost 6 more than were much larger. I've never had a problem landing Squid. Tonight's different. I pulled off 4 that I couldn't pull off the bottom.The other 2 were huge Squid that actually popped the 10# mono. One I had on the surface, hooked by his whips, and I actually trried to lift him and his body stretched out (whips included) 4 feet long. The Squid jetted one last time, soaked me 7 feet away with black ink, and popped the line! Unreal. This damn Squid was at least 8 lbs... I have since switched to 20# test mono, but the wind has shifted and picked up to 25 kts, with cold rain. I fear that it's over.... Oh well, calamari tommorrow...Total Catch for the 2 Nights: 9 Loligo Squid up to 14", 1 Oyster Toadfish, and 1 Bluefish  

Nov 7 Fair Speckled Trout Fishing

The past couple of years by mid-November, we could count on catching all the undersized Speckled Trout you would ever want to catch. Today, that was not the case. We had to work. We even had to work for the 10-12 inch Trout. That made for a tough day of fishing. With the same amount of time invested, yesterday's catch was far better. But, it was still okay. When the day had ended we had 16 keeper Speckled Trout, including a 5 that were 20" long and weighed 3 pounds, and I had a 22" that weighed over 4 pounds...... A 20 kt NNE wind and dirty water made the Trout fishing tough today. We searched briefly for Albacore and Red Drum but we came up empty. Total Catch for the Day: 50 Speckled Trout up to 4+ lbs and 1 Bluefish   

Fishing Tommorrow then I'm headed to Hatteras

My vacation is nearly over! I am looking to smoke the Speckled Trout again tommorrow, but after that it's back to Hatteras for a week. Back to my other life as a Ferry Engineer. Sheeeesh...... I hate that. Looking ahead, when I get home the following week, I have lots of open dates from November 15 through November 21.  I would expect the Speckled Trout fishing to be really good. With colder water, I will be making the switch over to live shrimp for bait and I expect a big week for large Trout! Night fishing should be great. Also, walk out fishing at Radio Island should be producing easy 100 fish days. In other words, it's TROUT TIME. Anyone that needs a little help getting on the water, give me a call 252-241-8350. Albacore and Red Drum are other possibilities inshore and King Mackerel should be on-fire 20 miles east of Beaufort Inlet!

Nov 6 Great Speckled Trout Fishing

Today we went looking for Albacore. The wind was blowing out of the north at 20+ kts. Korey said "Do I need rain bibs?"  I said "I dont have any on, and I don't plan to wet myself, so no, you don't need them" With that comment, Albacore fishing went out the window! A quarter mile off the Beach and blowing spray would soak you. And freeze you. And there were NO Albacore along the Beach.... Facing a shutout, we went to the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty with low expectations. Cold wind and dirty water. But, the tide was rising and it was fishable. What we found was a fisherman's wonderland. Every cast to every three casts, we would catch a Speckled Trout. For an hour, they were all too small. In the next hour, they turned into 17" to 21" Speckled Trout. Grubs and Mirrorlures, it made no difference. The largest Trout of the day was my 3 lb 8 oz Speckled Trout. Korey caught one Bluefish. We only fished a couple of hours. We saw no Albacore anywhere. We saw the best Speckled Trout fishing of the year. Total Catch for the Day: 120 Speckled Trout up to 3 lb 8oz and 1 Bluefish

Nov 4 Great Albacore Fishing..... Terrible Conditions

Holy Cow this morning. Cold Rain that became cold rain driven by 30 kt NNE winds. The Albacore didn't seem to mind. Silversides are getting set out the Inlet and down the Beach and the Fat Albert Gang is all bunched up in a feeding orgy.... I caught 12 Albacore on probably 30-40 total casts in 120 minutes of hell in a mid-morning fishing expedition. I fished 12# and 6# spin today. Caught a pair of 12 lb Albacore on the light tackle. Little too rough, and wet, and cold to enjoy the light stuff! Also of note.... This morning, last night, and yesterday Dock Fishing in Taylor's Creek has produced an additional 8 Southern Flounders, including 4 Flounders at 3 lb each. All the others are 15" to 18". Good fishing on live Pinfish and Gulp. I also tossed the cast net a couple of times and have caught 50-60 lbs of Jumping Mullet that were pretty damn good both grilled (wed) and fried (thurs)... Can not get Robin back to the Dock. She says she's not going back until I top her 5+ pound Flounder. Beginners Luck..... Total Catch for this Report: 12 Albacore up to 14 lbs and 8 Southern Flounder up to 3 lbs