May 31 Part 2 - Cobias & Sharks

As expected, after three days where I rode nearly 250 miles. Burned nearly 500 dollars worth of gas.  Hurt the feelings of 12 fishermen by not getting them a "legal" sized Cobia....... At 4pm I left the Dock with Jennifer onboard. She really didn't want to go fishing. She really didnt want to go in the Ocean. But I dragged her out there anyway. Once out in the Bouy Chain, I climbed the Tower. Less than 5 minutes later, the first bucktail was in the air. Immediate hook-up. Up pops a headshaking Cobia. She held the rod while I climbed down. Minute later our 40" Cobia was flopping around in the bottom of the boat. Within 30 minutes, I had released a 30" Cobia and 3 Blacktip Sharks. On Land by 6pm. Good Grief. Total Catch for the Afternoon: 2 Cobia up to 24 lbs and 3 Blacktip Sharks up to 15 lbs

May 31 Part 1 - Beautiful Day Slow Fishing

I am in the WORST SLUMP of my FISHING CAREER...... It was another day of beautiful weather and beautiful water. Too sum up my miserable run on fishing since the 75lb Cobia broke off 15 miles up the North Beach on Wednesday..... Today, a 10-12 lb Dolphin followed a live shad to the boat as I was clearing our lines for the ride home. This Dolphin would have been a saviour and a signature fish... A great catch on an Inshore half Day Trip. Especially odd 5 miles offshore during the month of May! This Dolphin was lit up as brightly and wildly as ANY DOLPHIN as I've ever seen. This Dolphin tried to eat our bait for 45 seconds. At the end, he actually had the live menhaden pinned up against the side of the boat and he COULD NOT EAT the damn bait. OH MY GOD. The dude who broke off the 75lb Cobia. I cussed. I apologized. Please lift the curse you put on me. Earlier on this day, we had 30 Amberjacks that couldn't catch a tired, worn out Jumping Mullet on the surface. I made perfect casts to Tarpon on two separate occasions on the Shoals. (Okay, Tarpon don't favor bucktails, but thats all I had).... Anyway, my apologies to all clients for subpar fishing. We missed Cobia by making wrong turns where 100 feet would've meant paydirt. We've had Sailfish and Dolphin do everything they could do to eat bait and they failed. Thus we failed. Thus Thus I failed. Pretty Weather has meant higher expectations and it hasn't panned out. I did not want to catch 10-14 lb Amberjacks all day, but in hind sight, I should have. Thankfully Pete and Pete each pulled on a Jack and Little Pete landed his. This has got to end soon or I'm moving to the Mountains.... Total Catch for the Day: 1 Amberjack at 10 lbs

May 30 Fishing on my Birthday

Beautiful weather today, Beautiful water everywhere we went. I made a couple of moves that DID NOT work out for us . Just one of those days! We did find really nice Amberjack fishing. On top water poppers and live bait. After that, we made a 25 mile run up to Cape Lookout and unfortunately, we arrived an hour too late. Dammit! We did find a Big Black Pelagic Stingray that had 3 Cobias trailing behind him but we didn't hook up. Dammit! Then we found  a 50 lb Cobia crossing the Shoals. This bastard must've seen a million bucktails from Key West to the Central NC Coast. Wouldn't bite anything. I finally resorted to casting a weighted treble hook at the bastard. FAILURE. Finally, the boys caught 15 Bluefish and bloodied up the boat. The Cobia? The Cobia Gods are frowning on me for cussing yesterday. I am sorry. Total Catch for the Day: 7 Amberjack up to 16 lbs and 15 Bluefish up to 3 lbs

May 29 The HIGHS and LOWS of Cobia Fishing

Almost an Epic Day. We released 7 Cobia and a huge Sharksucker. All on bucktails. We pulled off a 40 lb Cobia first thing. Much later, and 50 miles later, we broke off a 75 lb Cobia. In the unbelievable department, we also found a 6 foot Sailfish a mile off the Beach. Armed with nothing but a Bucktail, I cast it in his direction. So then in plain sight, the Sail flashed from black to purple, raised his Sail and rushed my Bucktail. After putting his right eye right beside my bait, he violently swung his bill against the Bucktail. Still in plain sight, my leader wrapped around the fishes bill. Then he gaped his mouth open and charged the Bucktail... Unfortunately, my leader being wrapped around the bill, so the fishes mad rush gained no ground on the Bucktail because it was already hung on his bill! So, I tightened up my line and briefly came tight! Once again, in plain sight, the Sailfish flicked his bill again and the Bucktail unwrapped from its precarious hold. Again the Sailfish turned on the Bucktail. For a second, he actually bit the Bucktail. Feeling nothing but lead, he quickly dropped it and turned on a dime and started back towards the baitball. I made another cast, hoping for a mad rush and a hard bite, but this time he ignored it.... If only I'd had a swimbait tied on, I honestly think it would've been one for the ages... A Sailfish caught sight casting, a mile off the Beach, in May for crying out load. But, like the rest of the day, it was very close to being a GREAT day.... In the end, it was a beautiful day where we saw lots of Leatherback Turtles, lots of Cobias, lots of Sharks, and a Humpback Whale. I may be judging myself too harshly. My last memory was that of an "empty cooler"..... Total Catch for the Day: 7 Cobia from 27" to 31" and a Sharksucker at 34"

The Next Week That I'm Home

The next time I get home (May 28-June 3) I am slammed with fishing trips nearly every day.... I am taking off Saturday June 1st to spend with my girlfriend and my family but other than that, I am supposed (weather allowing) to fish every day..... Hopefully for my sanity and to insure an action packed day of fishing that is worth every red cent of the price of admission, THE COBIA will be around and chewing. Also, I'd like to throw in some Grouper, some Amberjacks, some Spanish Mackerels, and some Blacktip Sharks..... Who knows, we could even see the season's first King Mackerel, Barracuda, and Dolphin....

Now I'd like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Lovely Mother, Nancy. I know times have been tough, but I LOVE YOU AND I APPRECIATE EVERYTHING YOU EVER DID FOR ME! I WISH I COULD REPAY YOU SOMEHOW (would you settle for a half day Sand Dollar Trip?)


Big Fishy Hello's to: St. Ellen'sworth, Karen, BJ, Edith, Jennifer.... not sure which other cousins and aunts and Girlfriend (not plural) actually read this GREAT LITERARY WORK

In the meantime, Life has tossed my a knuckleball and I cannot sleep so I'm headed up to the Causeway to fish for Speckled Trout. I got until 7am to get my limit, then I got to drive back down to Hatteras to work. Wish me luck everybody. I'll need it

Man vs Fish

Such a cute little CoCo Cobia. I thought it'd make a nice picture. But, this little fellow had other plans and taking a  "cute" picture wasn't one of them.... What happened next was very memorable.....

NC Citation Milestone Ahead

Capt Marty will reach a personal angling milestone very soon. 

My next NC Saltwater Fishing Citation will be the 800th of my Fishing Career.

What started on June 24, 1988 with a 66 lb Amberjack has became a hobby, a quest, and a way of life..... I'm hoping #800 will be a 18 lb Bluefish on a top water plug, but odds are that it will be a Cobia... Looking at it that way, I really don't have much to complain about, do I?

May 22 Cobias and Turtles

Funny how nothing changed overnight with the weather or the conditions of the Ocean..... But, as far as the fishing, everything changed overnight. A fraction of the bait. A few scattered Cobia. As bad as we felt about the day, I think we did well. We caught 5 Cobia up to 41 lbs. We only had one little bitty one. That one roughed me up pretty good. We really lucked out and had 5 different Leatherback Turtles pop up right beside our boat. We caught a Cobia off of each one. Capt Tuggy had the helm most of the day and he was lucky with Turtle Hunting.....NC Citations for Tuggy's 41 pounder and 2 releases.... Total Catch for the Day: 5 Cobia up to 41 lbs, 1 Spanish Mackerel at 2 lbs, 1 Bluefish at 2 lbs, and 1 Sharpnose Shark at 7 lbs

May 21 Cobia are Here

Bob and I ran west. First bucktail in the air snared a 30 lb Cobia.... Ten minutes later, we were surrounded by 40 Cobia that looked to be 25-40 lbs each. We only got one though. All sorts of little problems. Mainly super aggressive 3 lb Bluefish.... They devoured every twister tail in my cache.... Anyway after that it was run, run, run..... Some baitballs had Cobia, some did not. We ended up 20 miles east (Cape Lookout) of where we were west (Emerald Isle) and we found bigger Cobia and less crowded conditions..... We got an easy limit and released quite a few. Two NC Citations at 57 lbs and 45 lbs....... We saw lots of Cobia today. Probably around 75 total fish.... The biggest I saw ate a bucktail after I had snagged a shad. I passed the rod down to Bob and Bob bobbed and the hook pulled. I got mad and Bob threatened to kill me.... I stayed in the Tower for the next 2 hours and we didn't talk. Then we caught a 57 lb Cobia on the light rod, 10# mono spin and all was right with our world again.... Total Catch for the Day: 10 Cobia up to 57 lbs, 16 Bluefish from 2-3 lbs, 1 Blacktip Shark at 12 lbs, and 1 Sharpnose Shark at 8 lbs

May 19 Sight Casting for Cobia

Well the good fishing lasted one day........ Actually, today was a disaster from the get go. Apparently today's client Joey, was destroyed by yesterday's Grouper, Amberjack, and Red Drum...... Mike Tyson vs Glass Joe! So he canceled and Kim had him on an IV drip and he was resting peacefully. Okay, sometimes TOP WATER CHARTERS is not take a kid fishing.... Its Fishing Combat..... So, Joey backed out and at noon I launched on a solo mission! But then I had to take the beautiful, smart, sexy, and incredibly lovely Jennifer for a boat ride..... Well, that blew an hour of prime sunlight.....Then I finally arroved on the fishing grounds, within 5 minutes I T-Boned 3 Cobias about 40 lbs each. At least things were looking good! Then the phone rang and Chris wanted to go..... So in I went, all the way to Beaufort, grabbed him and ran back out there.... Basically what I'm saying is this........ A FISHING TRIP that should've started at 6AM finally started at 2PM!!!!!! After that and (I'm tired of typing) we caught one out of six Cobias. We saw one that was at least a 70+ pounder, and on that one the glare was so bad that I lead (his tail) perfectly..... Oh Lord. I finally caught an 18 lb Cobia. One of Three on a Leatherback Turtle. Had another strike but it didnt work out for me. Chris managed an Albacore because I challenged him. That's it. Tommorrow Jennifer and I have big plans, then I'm back to Hatteras for 7 days. Goodbye Cobia. Total Catch for the Day: 1 Cobia at 18 lbs, 5 Bluefish up to 2 lbs, 3 snagged Menhaden, and 1 Albacore at 7 lbs 

May 18 Citation Red Drum and Great Grouper Fishing

Joey showed up, finally. Chris rode with us too..... The weather was good finally..... And I had a great day of fishing for the first time since Hurricane Sandy. And really, we were Cobia Fishing so, in reality, it wasn't that good.... But when you catch Citation Red Drum and well over a limit of Groupers and enough Amberjacks to hurt you... Then you got to call it a great day! We got one more day to catch a Cobia. So, today was great with lots of big fish, lots of screaming drags, and lots of hope for tomorrow! Oh yeah, we also pulled on a 200lb Thresher Shark for 5 minutes before it came off..... Total Catch for the Day: 2 Red Drum up to 46 lbs, 6 Gag Grouper up to 14 lbs, 8 Amberjack up to 28 lbs, 1 Albacore at 8 lbs, and 3 Black Sea Bass up to 3 lbs

May 17 Turtles and Cobias

Todays client was "under the weather" and couldn't make it..... Too bad because the weather was improved, but still far from perfect.... Luckily for me, Chris was back in town and wanted to go fishing and I needed to go catch Menhaden for bait. So off we went..... After a NO BAIT search, we made it to Cape Lookout and pondered the many Turtles up there digging in the black mud.... Big ones. Leatherbacks. Suddenly one dove beside the boat and really quick a pointly little dark colored tail fin broke the water and disappeared behind the 12 foot long Turtle. I fired my bucktail in the direction the turtle was headed...... And a mystery fish slammed it. FINALLY. Minutes later I released a 31" Cobia. Five minutes later, Chris caught one too. This one was a 30" Cobia. Not great, but the targeted species..... After chasing a few other Turtles, we moved on and found poor fishing everywhere. As the day wore on, the weather got better and better. We got some bait and tommorrow things are looking better.. Oh yeah, Chris also fought a giant Sand Tiger on a light spinning rod and a stingsilver and lost after a 10 minute epic battle..... Total Catch for the Day: 2 Cobia, 6 Gray Trout up to 18", 1 small Spanish Mackerel, 25 Bluefish up to 2lbs, and 3 Black Sea Bass up to 2 lbs

May 16 The Worst Case Scenario of Cobia Fishing

Joey Bell is scheduled for 3 important days of fishing starting tomorrow. So today I figured I'd grab a friend and go "scouting"..... So I called USMC Special Lt Bob Becker in charge of Marine Fisheries Eradication.  This one guy once gave up his birthday fish to a young lady who promptly caught an 84lb Cobia.... My mind wonders........ Anyway today, the weatherman said high of 89, sunny, and SW winds falling out all day.... So, at 6am, it was cloudy, temp around 66, and blowing 30 SW.... At 4pm (ON THE WATER) it was 72 degrees, overcast, and SW wind at 28kts. Thanks alot. Yesterdays few Cobias were......caught. Yesterday's numerous Menhaden schools were......disappeared. So Bob and I rode 60 miles, we saw nothing, we cast to nothing, and we caught...... 1 Black Sea Bass. By Bob, Happy Birthday a week late this year Bob. Horrendous day on the water. I'm just about ready to move to the Mountains.... Total Catch for the Day: 1 small Black Sea Bass

May 11 Fishing for Red Drum and Speckled Trout

Running on No Sleep..... With bad weather on the horizon..... I headed north again this morning in pursuit of our two MOST IMPORTANT INSHORE FISHES, the Speckled Trout and the Red Drum. The weather was good, the tide was good, and fishing had been good recently and very consistent. Unfortunately, I was running late for the Dawn's Early Light Bite. Limits for all and I was an hour late. I couldn't help that as I worked last night and got there as fast as I could.... So anyway, I waded extensively around The Mann's Harbor Bridge and in front of The Lone Cedar Restaurant for Red Drum and had No Luck. Crapola. Then I went back to the Little Causeway Bridge and I caught 2 Speckled Trout in 90 minutes of casting. Ouch. Those are "Rouser Numbers".... The most exciting thing that happened was a dude caught a 9-10 lb Black Drum. Pretty exciting (for him)..... Pretty boring (for me).... I'd been better off sleeping! Total Catch for the Day: 2 Speckled Trout up to 17"

May 10 Speckled Trout Limit

A Bag Limit of Speckled Trout sounds good. As good as the law allows. In reality, I fished with/against 25 other anglers on the Little Causeway Bridge in Nags Head and the fishing had been pretty damn good the past three weeks. The problem today was that the bite occurred from 430am to 530am and I didn't arrove until 830am. Bite over. So it was a challenge. I actually left for lunch empty handed! After lunch I returned. I made a couple of new friends and started fishing. An hour later, out of 25 fishermen, I had seen 9 Speckled Trout. I had 4 of them which is my NC bag limit. My buddy to my left had 3. The other 23 dudes had 2 Speckled Trout collectively. Hey, the sun don't shine on the same Dog's ass everyday. This afternoon was "my turn" to shine.... I sparkle, I shine.... Back at Hatteras, my pal Frank's son Ian hooked us up with some "fresh Speckled Trout" Sushi roll. 48" of it to be exact. That's a freaking meal..... Total Catch for the Day: 4 Speckled Trout from 14" to 18"

Top Water Angler in the News

May 1st Ryan Guthrie fished with me and in the photo he is holding a Sea Mullet and a Gray Trout.... Yesterday in a Charity Golf Tournament at MHC CC, Ryan got a HOLE-IN-ONE and won a brand new Chevy Equinox. Good job Ole Boy. And let's hope it is a sign of many good things headed our way! Lord knows we could use a change of luck!

May 6 Beaufort Mung Hole Grand Slam

In between rain squalls I got my fishing fix in by heading over to the "original" Beaufort Mung Hole with about 50 crickets to see if any of my fish were hungry...... As one would guess, they were starving. Quickly went through the cricket tube with multiple Bass and Bluegill bites.... The Pumpkinseed proved elusive. Finally I found one on the bed and I lightlined a cricket in to him. BAM! I had him and finished off another Beaufort Grand Slam. I caught a couple more Bass and another Bluegill and then the rain came back and it was over..... Total Catch for the Day: 12 Largemouth Bass, 10 Bluegill, and 2 Pumpkinseed 

May 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th More North Wind = Less Cobia

Okay, I'm calling this now..... With the current conditions, I will not be Cobia Fishing this week off, or whats left of my "off week". Next time I get off, May 15th, I will try this again.... Hopefully the temperature will be in the 80's and the water temp over 70. The water will be clear and schools of Menhaden will dot the waterscape... The Brown Bombers will make Beaufort Inlet look like the sky over London in summer and autumn of 1940.... (I guess for those not familiar with WWII, Brown Bombers (Cobias) will be everywhere. To continue along this line, bucktails will fill the sky like Anti-Aircraft Artillery cannon shots. The Brown Bombers will be defeated with the TOP WATER BOAT being one of the TOP ACES of the COBIA WAR.

In reality, Gray Trout and Hogfish continue to delight foul-weather anglers in the Morehead City area...... Honestly, 2013 has the Year of the SMALL, TASTY MORSEL.

The BIG FISH on LIGHT TACKLE slogan is taking a beating!!!

May 2 More Rain More Wind More Gray Trout

One more day in a 20-25kt NE wind and nearly constant light rain and drizzle. Today we didn't even consider any of the things we like to do. We expect to do in early May..... We just went and got what is availiable without making fools out of ourselves and burning 30 gallons of fuel. We motored right over to the Turning Basin and we whacked the bottom fish again. Lots of nice Pan Trout. Two at a time were pretty common.... Plenty of Tasty Morsels caught today, Fish Fry tonight.... Its always nice when everyone brings home a nice dinner....  Total Catch for the Day: 50 Gray Trout up to 16", 40 small-med Hogfish, 2 Bluefish, 1 baby Smooth Dogshark, 1 Pinfish, and 8 small Black Sea Bass

May 1 Gray Trout Frenzy

As of right now, I'd say the 2013 Cobia Season is in serious jeopardy. At the very least, it will have a late start. In recent years, The Cobia showed up earlier and earlier. In 2011, Chris and I saw 25+ Cobia in an hour on April 25. This year, here it is May 1st and today I fished in 61 degree water and there is NO MENHADEN and I can't imagine a Cobia within 20 miles of the Beach. Tomorrow, more North winds will roll the water over and push cold water even farther out. The Cobia, in the meantime, will march to the north, but they will do in in 90 feet of water instead of the 20 foot that we like them! Dammit. So today, we search for Cobia (too cold), Bonito (too cold), and Chopper Bluefish (not really, but too cold)....... Looking like a Baaaaad Day. We found a few Gray Trout that we worked hard for... We found some Cownose Rays that stretched our line.... We went to the Dockhouse and grabbed a Burger.... Finally we headed over to the MHC Port and we tried bottomfishing. And it was the BOMB. Doubleheaders. Gray Trout and Bluefish. Sea Mullet and Hogfish. We killed them. Nice 14" to 17" Gray Trout. Lots of them. Lot of other things as well. Another day of fishing that was a struggle, but everyone left the boat happy. Horrific NE wind at 18-22kts. Scattered Rain. Cloudy. But, we still managed a cooler full of tasty fish! Total Catch for the Day: 60 Bluefish up to 1lb, 60 Gray Trout up to 17", 3 Southern Sea Mullet up to 17", 1 small Summer Flounder, 40 med-large Hogfish, 2 Pinfish, 2 Striped Sea Robin, 5 small Black Sea Bass, and 2 Cownose Rays 5 and 35 lbs