Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Look What Jennifer Caught




Looks like Capt Marty is engaged..........................

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Jan 29 Red Drum and Bluefish Super Bowl







Tuggy and I hadn't fished since October? Damn time is flying by! So today was a beautiful day and I needed to get away from the problems on LAND and I needed to get out in the water and lose myself in the Beauty of  the Ocean and the Challenge of Fishing..... Tuggy was more than ready to join me! So we headed out Beaufort Inlet, turned our bow towards the East, and pushed up the throttle! GLORIOUS........ Then we dipped into a wave and a wall of 49 degree water blasted us in the face! WTF are we doing! So much to do at home and here we are wasting money and time and suddenly wet and cold. MISERABLE.... Then we talked it over and continued (slower and carefully) to the East.... The first challenge we encountered was multiple schools of a mystery Mackerel species... Very similar to last years highly annoying and challenging Bullet Mackerel invasion at Cape Lookout.... So, to get a quick glimpse and cast metal approximately 10 times with lots of running and chasing (high level of annoyance) these fish were either At Mackerel, baby Albacore, or increasingly common Bullet Mackerel? Tuggy actually hooked one and fought it long enough to get cocky...... But his rod tip went "ping" after an intense 2 minute battle. Pulled hooks. I do know that Bullet Mackerel and At Mackerel both have weak jaw bones and are a tough combination of hard fighters and soft mouths. Hard to Hook and Easy to Lose. Not to mention their absolutely uncanny ability to change directions whenever your lure is "in the air"... These damn things are the absolute Definition of Fishing ANNOYANCE... Hell I am getting MAD just thinking about them...... After we gave up on that, we quickly found plenty of Red Drum and Bluefish and a scattering of other assorted fish. Two hours later we were headed home with a great catch and a great time... Red Drum score was 7 to 7. Tuggy will quickly tell you that his stingsilver was producing bigger Drum than my speck rig. Therefore before we left I tied on a stingsilver and quickly caught Mary Lee. Not the Great White Shark, but the largest Red Drum in the school. Hey Tuggy, you were right!  Total Catch for the Day: 14 Red Drum from 17" to 28", 40 Bluefish up to 2 lbs, 5 Black Sea Bass up to 14", 1 Gag Grouper at 18", 1 Hogfish, and 3 small Sheepshead

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Jan 22 Largemouth Bass before the Cold



I made a quick trip to Lake Bernaur. I knew the Alberta Clipper was hours away and if the bitter cold persists in Beaufort, that will pretty much end all mung hole fishing until late March/early April.... So I spent 30 minutes tossing a beetlespin in the "big pond". I had 5 strikes. I released 4 small Largemouth Bass.... And regretfully, I was playing around in the shallows while talking on the phone..... And...... I got crushed by a much larger Largemouth Bass. Fishing one handed with 8 feet of string out, a 4-5 lb Bass erupted from some vegetation at my feet. While holding my phone in one hand, I fumbled with my drag, and...... POP went my 8lb test mono. My fault. The "fish of the day" and potential early "fish of the year candidate" swam off with my beetlespin pinned to her lip. Well dammit. Total Catch for the Day: 4 Largemouth Bass

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Jan 17 Tautog Tales



First of all, last night I went home with a career best 4 lb Tautog. I filleted it and we are having it for lunch tomorrow.... I saved the carcass and tossed it on the grill. I also rubbed the head down with salt, butter, and black pepper, sealed it in tin foil, and placed it on the grill instead.... Here's the results: The carcass contained "the meat between the bones" after filleting. This was a very tasty appetizer. As for the head, it was delicious. The cheeks contained 2 large nuggets of rich, white flesh. Also the throat area was loaded with meat as was the top of the head. This was the first time I've ever tried this and I'd say that the Tautog's head was a "gold mine" of meat.... So, this morning was foggy and we stayed tied up for several hours. I briefly tried fishing. No luck. I had to run to the Post Office around 10am. I decided to leave my rig overboard so I loosened my drag and propped up my rod. Evidently a short while later my Oiler and good buddy Billy Harris noticed my rod "bouncing down the rail". Billy ran over and quickly grabbed my bucking rod! He then expertly wrestled a 4 lb Tautog over the rail of the MV Kinnnekeet. That's two 4 pounders in two days! An hour later, I followed up with another Tautog over on the Ocracoke side. This one was a merely a 2lb 8oz, a little letdown after the 4 pounders... Not bad, I'm really enjoying this Very Challenging Fish. It feels like Trophy Fishing because the bites are few, its a challenge busting these very strong fish out of heavy structure, and the fish itself is a very high quality for eating purposes... A little later, David Carter caught a 5 lb Conger Eel on my rod. This Eel had to wrestled out of heavy structure. Tough Customer.... I guess any bite is a good bite on a cold January day!  Total Catch for the Day: 2 Tautog up to 4 lbs and a 5 lb Conger Eel

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Jan 16 Career Best Tautog



Whew, this one was a LONG TIME COMING..... Tautog used to be a NC Citation Species. It was dropped from that program about 6 years ago. To get that Citation you had to catch a 7lb Tautog. When I first hatched my plan to "catch them all", I knew Tautog would be the toughest roadblock. Nearly impossible... After the Tautog was dropped from the NC Citation Program, I was still very interested in catching them. As a matter of fact, as I get older I am drawn to more obscure species and more radical approaches to fishing..... Somewhere along the line, all the Red Drum and Trout become too vanilla and too much like the "last one" or "last years fish".... Meanwhile things like Sheepsheads and Crevalle Jacks and Spadefish and Ladyfish became more exciting and challenging to me.... (TO ME) I realize that is a very important qualifier..... Anyway, Tautog still represent a major challenge and one of my winter-time interests. But, I might add, I do not pursue them beyond my home waters. North Carolina is the southern end of their range and only the Oregon Inlet area has any consistent Tautog fishery at all... As a matter of fact, Oregon Inlet is probably a 100 times better than Hatteras. And make that a 1000 times better than Beaufort Inlet. And I've never even fished for Tautog at Oregon Inlet.... Even farther north, Virginia has a GREAT Tautog fishery, including several fish that were close to the All Tackle World Record Fish..... I have never fished beyond Hatteras Inlet for them..... That's what I meant by "not pursuing them"...... Having never fished in "decent" Tautog waters, obviously my chances for a large one is not good. Also, what I would consider a "good one" would be considered a very average one in Virginia... Anyway, in my entire life I have probably caught 20 Tautog. I caught maybe 10 last year and it was best year ever. My largest Tautog was probably around 2 lbs. A far cry from the 25lb World Record from New Jersey. All that changed today when I dropped a piece of Squid into a 12 feet deep hole in the Rocks that are covered by 7 feet of water by the Ferry Docks on the north end of Ocracoke Island. I got a slammer of a bite and immediately got hung up. After a few seconds my rod tip bounced free and I quickly cranked upwards as my fish battled through Rocks and Concrete and Steel Ramp Stanchions. Suddenly she broke the surface! A Large Tautog! With time running out (time for the Ferry to load) and with NO Landing Net, I rolled the dice and lifted my prize...... Could've gone either way but..... Seconds later I had a 18" long 4 lb Tautog laying at my feet. Career Tautog. Early leader for "2013 Fish of the Year".... Now I want a bigger one! Total Catch for the Day: 4 lb Tautog

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The Ides of January



Damn if it aint the 15th of January already.... Crazy how time flies. I'm back at Hatteras and this time I've got the 430am run..... Hopefully I will be able to go fishing up this way before I come back home. Hopefully back up at Va Beach. The Striped Bass and Bluefin Tuna are biting. Hatteras has King Mackerel and Blackfin Tuna..... Other than that, I saw a sight today that I've never seen before.... In Hatteras Inlet, I saw an acre of water explode with Atlantic Mackerel. Nice ones. I'd guess 1-3 pounders. Beautiful. I'd love to have casted a tiny stingsilver into that fray..... Also, this morning I caught around 100 Squid. First of this winter. I didn't have my rod and squid jig so I simply tossed a cast net and caught them all! Now I gotta go out and clean them...... What the hell was I thinking? *** UPDATE*** Okay, I guessed 100 Squid..... Wrong! Because I just cleaned 60 Squid and bagged 120 Squid! Amend that catch to 180 Loligo Squid. That is some high quality C A L A M A R I baby!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Jan 10 Black Sea Bass and more




Took Arik today and it was supposed to be Beautiful. Well it wasn't..... It blew North and Northeast and it blew 15kts and it blew 20kts. There were whitecaps 2 miles out. It sucked and there was a Small Craft Advisory up. We missed that! Anyway, we fished 2 spots to the west of Beaufort Inlet and we were s\happy with the number of Sea Bass and disappointed with the number of Dogsharks.... Obviously, it must be winter! Arik hadn't fished in 10 years.... I fish 100+ days a year for the past 35 years..... Guess who outfished who? Yep, I lost 5 rigs while Arik never lost a rig. He caught the biggest and the most. It was a fun day and glad I took Arik and I hope he has a great fish dinner! Total Catch for the Day: 30 Black Sea Bass up to 13", 2 Spiny Dogfish up to 10lbs, 1 Sheepshead, 1 Scup, 1 Spottail Pinfish and 1 Pinfish

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Jan 5 Cold & Lonely Sheepshead


Last night was pretty and cold. I stayed up all night and looked for some adventure. I put on my waders and grabbed my light and gig. I set out about 1am and walked around Hatteras Inlet and the east end of Ocracoke Island until 3am. The water up here is pretty much dead. I saw less than 10 fish of all species combined.... I saw 3-4 tiny shrimp..... No crabs, no shellfish of any kind.... I saw several big, nasty Lion's Mane Jellyfish.... What I did see was hundreds of pink, nasty little worm-like things.... Not sure what these things are called. I found them all floating nearly vertical in the water column. There bodys were hanging loosely towards the bottom. When I probed them with my gig, they would become rigid and immediately sink to the bottom where they were barely visible   on the sandy bottom in the dirty water. These worms were 4-8 inches long and were pretty insignificant. I would imagine that they would be a major food item for lots of the fish that we love to catch...... Finally, around 330am, I dropped a bottom rig into the rocks below the Ferry Ramp and caught another Sheepshead. After releasing him, I had 3-4 more bites and I missed them... Where are my Tautogs dammit. Total Catch for the Night: 1 Sheephead

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Jan 3 Where's My Tautog?



I know that I am not the man or the fisherman I was a few years ago. Or maybe I'm willing to suffer for Squid, but not the fish that live among the cold, dark rocks and pilings of South Dock. Regardless of why, the air temp in the upper 30s and wind blowing 20 out of the North sent me scurrying back into the Engine Room pretty quickly on both Jan 3 and Jan 4. The biggest difference between the 2 nights was, on Jan 3rd I actually had a pleasant suprize...... With No Squid present on either side, when I started fishing, I'd have to say that I was "Tautog Fishing". Last winter I caught quite a few of those uncommon, but tasty visitors from up North... So that's what I had in mind... Unfortunately, I didn't catch any Tautog either. But I did have a little action. In about an hour of trying, I had 6 bites and caught 3 fish, including a powerful little Sheepshead that had me thinking I had hooked a fat Tog. It was disappointing just for a minute because a Sheepshead is a fish that I'm always happy to see. Especially on a cold January night! Total Catch for the Night: 1 Sheepshead, 1 Black Sea Bass, and 1 Oyster Toadfish