Feb 26-28. Late Night Scrapping

This Fishing Report is a work in progress. Here goes, so far....  At this point, two things are certain: #1 Slow Fishing......  #2 Cold Fishing...... I guess those two things are to be considered normal for any IDIOT fishing in that 12am until 4am window of opportunity in late February at this Latitude! (I'm sure the report would be more exciting if I was fishing in Key West or Miami)   Regardless, on Feb 26th, I caught 2 Oyster Toadfish including a egg-laden 2 pounder.... On Feb 27th, I got hammered by a 6 lb Conger Eel that I wrestled out of a tight spot. Pretty much ripped him through a 7 foot chute of rock and steel. Wow that sounds dramatic! If only I was bragging about an 8 lb Tautog! Anyhow, about 2 hours later, Charlie Roughton and I each caught a juvie Oyster Toad.... Hard to get excited about this fishing right now!!!! Update: At 321 am on the 28th, I just reeled in another Conger Eel and a Black Sea Bass. Seeing that Black Ass Sea Bass was like running into an "old friend".....Total Catch for the Period: 4 Oyster Toadfish up to 2 lbs, 1 Black Sea Bass and 2 Conger Eels up to 6 lbs

Feb 25 Awesome Largemouth Bass Fishing

After an attempted Hickory Shad trip and a wasted drive to Aurora, Chris and I cremated the Largemouth Bass in Pollocksville...... This trip  started at 6am and I didn't hook the first Largemouth Bass until after 2pm...... Once we got in the right place, the Fishing was fast and furious.... Without a doubt the BEST LARGEMOUTH BASS FISHING I have experienced in 25 years. The Bass were so aggressive, I saw them doing some things that I've never seen before.... Since we were originally Shad fishing, we only had ultralight spinning tackle, 6# and 8# test mono. After we moved to the Ponds in Pollocksville and due to the extremely light tackle, we were actually fishing for Bream with worms on bobbers. As I hooked and fought my first Bass, other Bass actually attacked my red bobber 3 times during the fight. This was repeated time and time again in the first 10 minutes of fishing. It was really hard to figure out what the hell was going on at first!  It was incredible to watch 3-6 lb Bass slash at the bobber while fighting another 3-6 lb Bass on the leader 3 feet behind the action. I'd never even heard of that happening period. And it happened to us at least 5 different times. Wow......When the action died out,  I had caught 21 Largemouth Bass with a dozen between 3-6 pounds. Chris caught 15 Bass up to 6lbs. We also caught some monster Golden Shiners. Weird. Total Catch for the Day: 36 Largemouth Bass up to 6lbs and 6 Golden Shiners

Feb 21 First Hickory Shad of the Year

Today I'm in New Bern for a dermatology appointment. So I turned this into a fishing excursion as well.... As everyone knows, that's how I roll. So I headed down to Cowpen Landing to see what was happening. The report was poor. The "golf cart crew" said they had seen ONE SHAD caught all year. Yikes. Anyway, with an hour to burn, I tied on a grub and a spoon... Then on my 7th cast I felt that familiar tap. My line started racing right to left. After a short give and take, I slid a fat Hickory Shad up the boat ramp. It was a good feeling, but was it a fluke? Two casts later... Boom, another one. For 10 minutes it was a flurry. They were biting the white grub and I caught 7 Hickory Shad before they quit.... Not a lot of time to waste, so I left for my appointment. Maybe I'll go back when I get out... Okay, so I went fishing after my appointment as well..... First I went to Spring Garden and then I went back to Cowpen Landing. I caught more 2 Hickory Shad in each spot. I also fished cut Shad on the bottom with NO RESULTS.... I'm pretty happy with the fishing today. I got 5 fat Roe Shad and released 6 athletic Bucks. The male fish were airing it out and doing backflips. Cool to see that kind of energy in any creature in February......  Total Catch for the Day: 11 Hickory Shad up to 12"

Feb 20 Poor Trout Fishing

Went on a trip to South River today with Will Grant. There have been a pretty good Speckled Trout bite down there throughout Duck Hunting Season. Will is a Duck hunter and he had seen where everybody had been fishing when the fishing was good.... So here we go.... Now that its over, here are my thoughts: Either we couldn't figure out how to catch them, or the Speckled Trout have moved to different places.... We fishing in probably 10 places. They all looked good, but that could be everywhere down there! It is a really pretty place. Lots of creeks, cuts, bays. Lots of tall marsh grass. Lots of wildlife, especially Ducks. Everything needed for a great day, except Trout. I fished really hard. Will fished pretty hard. I missed maybe one bite. Will missed maybe one bite. I say maybe bites because there was lots of little snags on the bottom.... I caught 1 Red Drum.... Total Catch for the Day: 1 Red Drum app 14"

Streak Ain't Looking Good

If I had a crystal ball, I'd say "the streak ends today".... The Top Water Truck has a flat tire, I have no bait, I have no good place to fish, and my time tonight is limited.... South Dock at the other end of the Island is 13 miles away and the Highway is covered with tire popping Clam and Scallop Shells. This really sucks

Feb 11 Raining and Fishing and Streaks

When its raining and you are looking for ONE FISH...... No matter how small that fish might be..... That's one pretty damn fish! So be it today. In a pouring rain, as I rush around getting ready to go back to the Outer Banks and my "real job" for the first time in 23 days.... I didn't have a lot of time so I grabbed my rain coat and Little Sid's crickets and beelined to the Munghole.... And the bobber quickly went down and seconds later I had a Bluegill in my hand.... That's Number Six. Tomorrow night I will get off work around 7pm and I will try to keep my streak alive. Silver Lake at night, in February, will be quite a challenge. And its gonna be for 7 nights. Why even bother I wondered today. But I did and I will try... Total Catch for the Day: 1 Bluegill  

Feb 9 and 10 Keep the Streak Alive (Barely)

Jeezzz, its only Day 4 and I was out in the wild, struggling to keep my streak alive. It really isn't even a streak at this point.....  But it was a nice sunny day and catching a fish should've been easy.... Jennifer was along for fun and that turned into pressure. She had other things that she needed to do.... But I had said, "Come on baby, this will only take a minute"....... WRONG...... ONE HUNDRED and TWENTY MINUTES later, I had a Bluegill in hand.... Thinking ahead. Sunday and Monday should be okay..... Tuesday and the next 7 days my only chance will come at Ocracoke. At night. Nearly impossible..... Fishing in Silver Lake at night in February. I will not need a MIRACLE, no, I will need SEVEN MIRACLES......  Then comes Sunday February 10.... Honestly it was the weirdest 24 hours of my life. Somewhere in there I did catch a fat little Pumpkinseed. They have been "Missing in Action" in all my early season Grand Slam Quests.... But when I needed a fish today to keep "The Streak" alive, a Pumpkinseed saved the day! Five in a Row!!   Total Catch for the 2 Days: 1 Bluegill and 1 Pumpkinseed

TOP WATER PHILOSOPHY

ONE OF THE GREAT THRILLS OF FISHING IS THAT WE ARE BOTH SURPRIZED BY THE STRIKE AND WE EXPECTED IT ALL ALONG............

Come Catch the Excitement with Me in 2013

Feb 7 and 8 Beaufort City Limit Bluegills and Green Chubs

A little while ago I watched my pet fish, a Bluegill named Little Sid, inhale 6 Crickets. It's one of the greatest sounds in fishing. Maybe even Nature as a whole.... A large insect struggles on the surface. A fish silently rises beneath it. With one quick motion (in the case of a Bluegill) the fish accelerates quickly over the final distance, then pretty quickly slams on the breaks. This sends a surge of water that very briefly lifts the hapless insect. In a fraction of a second, the hungry fish opens its mouth, flairs its gills, and creates a vacuum that draws the insect into its mouth and this results in a loud pop on the surface of the water.... Mountain Trout do it with a slurp. Big Bream do it with a pop. Striped Bass sound like cinder blocks raining. Tarpon I'd say are raining cinder blocks as well.... Everybody, fisherman or not, needs to go to Robbies in Islamorada Florida to feed the Tarpon.... Or just watch... Dreaming of the Florida Keys.... Anyway, watching Little Sid eat crickets made me yearn for fishing... Then I fried up a few White Perch fillets from yesterday. Delicious. So, I said "What the Heck, Go Fishing".. So I went to the Mung Hole and in a steady rain, I caught 8 Bluegills. The sizes ranged from tiny to small... It got me thinking of taking on a personal challenge.... How many days in a row can I catch a fish? I have 6 or 7 ponds less than a mile from my house that are loaded with stunted and starving Bluegills.... So it's simply a matter of doing it. Okay, so lets do it! 8 Bluegills on Thursday makes it 2 in a row....   Okay, so its Friday and after last nights torrential downpour I thought pond fishing might be difficult. I also thought after last nights torrential downpour that pond fishing might be really good. In other words, I didn't have a clue. I knew the Top Water Boat and the Ocean and/or Sound was off limits.... So I knew to keep up with my callenge that I'd have to catch a freshwater fish. So when my absolute "No Fail" method of chumming hard and bait fishing absolutely failed, I thought I was "in trouble"... Before moving to a different location I fired out a large green beetlespin... Wham! I got plump little Bass. Then another. Then another. Mission Accomplished..... 3 Largemouth Bass on Friday makes it 3 in a row...... Total Catch for the 2 Days: 8 Bluegills and 3 Largemouth Bass

Feb 6 White Perch Massacre

Brandon and I crushed the White Perch in a local Pond today. These fish, if you haven't heard, are THE BEST EATING FRESHWATER FISH in the SE United States.... In the bigger picture, maybe Walleye from the North & Midwest might be better...... Therefore, we kept around 40 of our Perch. Released around 70. Of the keepers, 11 were at or over the 12" mark making them large enough for a NC Freshwater Citation. I also caught and released a 38" Longnose Gar.  We also fished a nearby creek that tied into the Neuse River. This place was alive with Puppy Drum. Between the two of us, we caught and released 7 Red Drum.......  Back to the White Perch, we caught equal numbers of them on cut shrimp and artificial lures. Roostertails and Beetlespins. I also broke out the 3wt fly rod and caught 15 White Perch on the fly.... They were a little hard to find for the first hour, but when we found them, we found an endless supply of them. When I was catching them on the fly rod, I never took a single step in any direction. All those big White Perch were sitting 20 feet in front of me in 3 feet of water. Outstanding Fishing! Total Catch for the Day: 110 White Perch up to 13", 7 Red Drum from 14" to 17", and a 38" Longnose Gar

Little Sid the Bluegill

A year ago next month I hurt my back. Herniated and Blown Discs. I was in pain. I was out of work. Fishing was a No No. I opted for Steroid Injections over Surgery. My Life was Horrible. I was Depressed....

On a whim I bought a 38 gallon Aquarium. I got 4 White Perch from the South River area. They were pretty but they weren't cool in the Aquarium. They are migratory. They need to roam. Plus they were too big from the get go... Before I released them, I would go around and dip up enough Misquitofish from the Mung Hole to feed them. On April 8, 2013, on one of my bait catching expeditions, I brought along my 3 wt fly rod and a popping bug. I caught a very small Bluegill. I dropped him in the bucket with my Misquitofish....  Back at my house, I poured the minnows and the Bluegill into my aquarium with the 4 White Perch. The 4 Perch ate the minnows while the Bluegill sat there and held his ground... A short time later, the Bluegill was named Little Sid after a character from the Outer Banks....  After a few weeks, the White Perch were released and since then Little Sid has lived with 2 Oscars, 2 Pumpkinseed, 2 Algae Eaters, and a couple of other Bluegills.... One Algae Eater and the 2 Pumpkinseeds have been released... Everything else has been beat down and/or eaten... The last Pumpkinseed that I released was necessary because Little Sid woke up one morning and decided Mr Seed "had to die". That morning they splashed 4 gallons of water out of the tank and Mr Seed was stripped of fins and scales. Whenever Little Sid turns colors and digs nest and watch out.... I have a tiny Bluegill now called George Clooney that was orinally no bigger than the minnows meant to feed Little Sid. On day one, the tiny Bluegill evaded Little Sid, survived the first night, and found a cave to hide in! That's where he's lived for the past 2 months. Now, unfortunately, he has nearly "outgrown his hiding spot". When that day comes and he can no longer fit in the crevasse, Little Sid will dismantle him.... Little Sid has grown into a NC Citation Bluegill. He is incredible. In the cold of winter I cannot catch enough minnows to meet his appetite. So I make the trek to Pet's Mart quite often and buy him 20 Rosy Reds at a time.... All is good until the lights go out. Then Little Sid rises up into the water column. The chase is slow at first. Then it builds momentum... In minutes, Little Sid cuts their numbers in half. Pretty Impressive. As he fills his gut his pace slows. By morning, there will be 4-5 Rosy Reds left. They get to enjoy the next 12-14 hours. Then, when the lights go out, its over for them.... Hopefully this Spring I can find Little Sid a new home. The NC Aquarium or the Aquarium at the Neuse Sport Shop would be great. Unfortunately, Im sure they have disease worries with "new" fish. If I can't find him a "glass home" I will release Little Sid back into the Mung Hole. Little Sid was my companion and friend at the lowest time of my life. I love Little Sid. Or I could get my Bluegill Citation and make a fish sandwich out of him..... I'm joking!

***By the way, the top pic is from May 6, 2012. All the others from Feb 2, 2013***

Feb 2 Nobody Wanted To Go Fishing

Here it is a Beautiful Day and my lovely Jennifer is away in Winston Salem..... So, what a great day to go "guilt free fishing".... Unfortunately, it was unseasonably cold this morning. On a positive note, there was very light winds and calm, clear seas.... More importantly, I KNOW WHERE THE FISH ARE..... But this morning I made a few phone calls and couldn't find anybody to go fishing with me..... A few years ago, I would've said "To hell with it" and gone by myself! Nowadays, I get a sore back just thinking about it.... Wrestling this boat and tower all by myself is getting increasingly difficult.... Plus, I'm paranoid about my old 250 Suzuki dying on me! Getting stranded is bad enough with friends or clients onboard... Getting stranded alone will test my mental stability! (Sea Tow is a call away but.....) Anyway. You get the point. If I could've found a fishing companion this morning, I'd be cleaning a 7 lb Red Drum and a pile of Bluefish right now. Plus, who knows what else..... Instead, my boat stayed on the trailer this morning, but I was determined to go fishing, so I headed out with my ultralight and did the Beaufort Mung Hole tour instead..... A little late I might be eating a McDonald's Filet-o-Fish instead of a freshly fried Bluefish, but I probably saved myself $75-100.....  As for my actual fishing: After a quick Largemouth Bass on my trusty bettlespin, it quickly became apparent that last nights cold temperature had really slowed down my little fishys metabolism and activity level... Temps in the mid-20s, coupled with the shallow water of these Ponds more than likely puts these fish nearly in frosty form of suspended animation! Anyhow, I stayed with it. Downsizing, Downsizing and Downsizing my lures. Making my presentation slower and slower. I finally it upon a combination that worked. Slightly. A couple more Bass and a little flurry of Bluegills. After a couple of Bluegills, I was intent on catching a Pumpkinseed to complete another fabled "Beaufort Mung Hole Grand Slam" but so far, No Luck on the Slam. Well today aint over yet and I might just try "one more time".... I got a new spot to try and all I have to do is slip past a NO TRESPASSING SIGN. Surely a Fishing Garden of Eden lies just beyond the sign....  I also know a spot over by Wal-Mart in MHC that has quite a few Green Sunfish. I used to love catching Greenys back in the mid 80s when I was at ECU..... What I really wish was that I had a place where I could consistently catch Chain Pickerel. God I love those fish.... Anyone out there know where I can go in Carteret County to catch Pickerel? I swear I'd take you to The Cape Lookout Shoals in a heartbeat for some inside info on Chain Pickerel! Total Catch for the Day: 9 Bluegill and 3 Largemouth Bass

Hiking the Neusiok Trail

Today was windy and fishing was not an option.... Not even the Mung Holes as even Lake Bernaur had 2 foot seas and dirty water.... So needing some type of "outdoors fix" I headed out to hike a portion of the Neusiok Trail. I believe the Neusiok Trail is a 21 mile hiking trail that meanders between the Newport River in Carteret County and the Neuse River in Craven County. Today I hiked the southern most 1.7 mile part. Being a "one way trail" and not a loop...... After hiking a beautiful segment overlooking Mill Creek on a high ridge and through a Pine Savannah, I basically had to hike it again in the other direction to get back to my truck.... Soooo, my 1.7 mile hike turned into a 3.4 mile journey. Oh well, it was fun and a work out. I needed both. I also made up my mind that I intend on hiking this entire 21 mile trail. I will keep everyone posted and {#1} I will be looking for new places to fish! {#2} This trek will not cut into my regular fishing operations......  My next segment is a long one. A 10 mile hike from basically Mill Creek Rd to Hwy 101.... Its going to be tough!