June 30 Fly Fishing Beaufort

Korey called me up around 2pm and said "Let's go catch some Bream that are bedding behind my house"..... Y'all know me. I said, "Give me 30 minutes"..... After fishing an hour, in 3 different Ponds, we finally found a spot where the fish acted like they had never seen a popping bug... Actually, they acted like they were hungry. That's more like it. Insects were flying good and there was lots of surface action. Our rubber legged spiders were pretty popular at the "Columbo West Mung Hole".... The larger Bluegills came from "Lake Bernaur"..... I'm embarrassed to tell, but I tell everything, so here goes.... I had my 8# tippet busted twice by "larger" Largemouth Bass. Lost 2 of my best popping bugs.... That hurt, but it was crazy good action there for 30 minutes! Tomorrow, back to the Cast Net, the Stingrays, and the SW Beatings..... Today, relaxation and a 3wt Fly Rod!  Total Catch for the Day: 8 Largemouth Bass and 35 Bluegill

June 29 Beaufort Freshwater Grand Slam on Fly

Another Slam for Capt Marty..... I'm actually getting pretty good at this..... My confidence is always shaken after Catfishing..... So with no charters and glad actually.... The SOUTHWEST WIND continues to BLOW WAY TOO HARD.... I made the journey over to Mercerville and tossed a few popping bugs into the Original Mung Hole.... Got my Pumpkinseed first. That's your hardest fish to take, spin or fly, when competing for the coveted Grand Slam.... The Pumpkinseed is Beaufort's freshwater equivalent to a Permit in the Florida Keys.... That's enough to make me sick!

Speaking of GRAND SLAMS, Capt Pat Bracher down in the Florida Keys  is The Guide that Capt Marty thinks is the WORLD's GREATEST FISHERMAN and FISHING GUIDE. On June 27, he guided his Clients to his 800th Career Flats Grand Slam.... That's a Tarpon, a Bonefish, and a Permit in one day.... I've fished with Capt Pat on 5 occasions since 2000 and I've landed 2 Grand Slams and 2 Double Grand Slams... His website is: www.fishovertime.com. I need to go fishing with Capt Pat again soon.... Maybe next year!

Anyway, my Beaufort Freshwater Slam, in a 30 kt SW wind on Fly Tackle is much more difficult and prestigious.... Ha Ha.... Total Catch for the Day: 3 Largemouth Bass, 1 Pumpkinseed, and 1 Bluegill

June 28 World's Worst Catfishermen

Chris and I do it once a year. Go to the Neuse River and go Catfishing...... Everyone says its SO EASY..... Well, lets see, I caught my last one in 2006. Jeez. There is something missing in our PLAN OF ATTACK and our Vault of Positive Experiences that added together SHOULD BUILD OUR CONFIDENCE and ADD to OUR EXPERIENCE that will eventually MAKE US BETTER CATFISHERMEN...... We seem to have hit a Road Block.... As a matter of fact, we have NO POSITIVE INFO to process.... Ha Ha. Last night, in our defense, there was a large line of storms approaching so we left the Boat in Beaufort. Fishing from various spots along the Northern Shoreline of the Neuse River.... We got one bite at Maple Cypress and had a 50 lb Snapping Turtle bite through my 80# leader just as I slid him up on the Boat Ramp. Call of the Wildman. Ye Ye Ye Yap Yap. Damn...... Total Catch for the Night: NOTHING

June 27 Big Bad Blacktip Shark

If I thought it was rough yesterday....... I hadn't seen nothing yet! This morning, it was blowing 27 kts SW at 7am. By 2pm, it was blowing 30. The bait catching went okay. The trip to the Cape went okay. The fishing was not as good as yesterday, but still action packed..... However, the ride home up Back Sound was an experience that I'd like not to repeat.... Blast after blast of salt water across my port bow (and my left Jowl).... Pretty much blinded for a few miles and coughing and sneezing salt water... Hey, my readers don't care! Here's the story: We finally stayed attached to a big Blacktip today... Alan dueled it for nearly 30 minutes and we dropped anchor and chased him a mile! Finally me and Stevie Ray sank duel gaffs and laid this one to rest... The word is out, Blacktip Shark is rapidly gaining popularity as a "high end food fish".... Later, we got "bit off" by 3 other grown Blacktips and one took 400 yds of 80lb PowerPro because I didnt want to come off anchor because it was "Cobia Time" I got this one right because minutes later our Cobia popped up and we nailed a 38" keeper Cobia.... Other than that, more Sharks and Rays and Plenty of ACTION! Total Catch for the Day: 2 Blacktip Sharks up to 130 lbs, 1 Cobia at 16 lbs, 1 Blacknose Shark at 18 lbs, and 8 Southern Stingrays from 40-75 lbs

***Cobia #51***

June 26 Sharks, Rays, and.........

A 54 lb Cobia........ Hip Hip Hooray! 

Once again, plan altering, day ruining, SW Wind blowing 18 kts at 7am and 20-25 kt all afternoon made Fishing hard as hell and dictated our every move..... We ended up inside Cape Lookout where action is fierce and the sea life is huge.... The only problem is the majority of this sea life consisted of Southern Stingray after Southern Stingray.... Today's Rays were a little smaller, from 35-100 lbs..... We caught Spinner, Blacktip, and Blacknose Sharks, but we lost the bigger battles to bite offs and leaping Sharks that rolled up the leader.... We lost 35 hooks. We lost 10 lbs of egg sinkers.... But, right around lunch time, we got a bite and an old brown friend popped up behind the boat. He fought the good fight under the boat... The raging wind-driven tide and rocking and rolling action of passing boats added to the tension.... But after a little stress, we got a Cobia in the boat. Nice. Pulled the Boga Grip down to 54 lbs. Total Catch for the Day: 1 Cobia at 554lbs, 1 Spinner Shark at 20 lbs, 1 Blacknose Shark at 20 lbs, 4 Blacktip Sharks from 17-25 lbs, and 18 Southern Stingrays up to 100 lbs

Headed Home

Here I sit on the 730am Ocracoke-Cedar Island Ferry. One of these days I'm going to figure up how many hours I've spent on these things. Scary, as in "scare you to death".... Back in April of 1992, I took a job as a deckhand on this Ferry Run. I believe it was April 8, 1992. I was stationed that shift at Ocracoke. That night after I got off work was the first time I ever set foot on Ocracoke Island. Later that summer, I bought my first 4 WD Pick-up Truck so I could "fish effectively"... My thoughts at that time were "I'm going to work here ONE SUMMER".... Fish every day on my Off Week, fish every free minute on my On Week in exotic (for me) settings..... One Summer..... Here I sit, 21 years later.... Still fishing every spare minute. 21 years of fishing at least 125 days per year, sometimes fishing 250 days per year.... Trying to be resonanble, if I fish for an hour, I consider that I FISHED THAT DAY.... Certainly I haven't put in 250 12 hour fishing days.... Y'all get my drift. The Ferry Career allowed my to FISH and FISHING lead me to the Ferry. Lots of great days. Lots of great catches. Lots of fun.....

Ahead this week, it looks like a windy, sloppy Bermuda High week. The SW wind will beat you and wet you, but fishing is generally good. I'm hoping for less than 15kts and 2-3 ft seas..... Probably gonna be more and more.... Hopefully Wednesday and Thursday bring great catches... I'm probably gonna shut it down after that. Monday I have another half day with a great client that I haven't seen in years. Please let the weather be good! Good luck to everyone who reads this and I hope to see you out there!

2013 COBIA SEASON in REVIEW

As of right now, I've had 49 Cobia caught on my Boat this year.... Despite this decent number, I consider 2013 to be a failure.. You have to remember, working a week on-week off schedule is great.... But I'm just as likely to miss great stretches of fishing as I am to hit it.... This year, I was around for some great fishing but I missed an entire week of pretty weather and great fishing.. I had an incredible stretch of bad luck with Cobia, especially the larger ones. On the Cobia that I hooked from up top, we had a long stretch of fish that mysteriously pulled off as soon as I passed the rod down to an angler from the Tower....... We lost 2 very large Cobias that got in the motor. Our crazy bad luck with Cobia also leaked over into more bad luck with other species.... Like an enraged 18 lb Dolphin 5 miles off the Beach that COULDN'T eat a live menhaden despite its all-out effort.... Or, worse, a fully lit up 7 foot long Sailfish that tried to eat a bucktail for 20 seconds in plain view, in crystal clear water, while 3 miles off the Beach.... These two were a KILLERS. The Sailfish in particular would've been a very very very very noteworthy catch considering TIME, PLACE, and METHOD

So, with 2 Cobia in the 75-80 lb range lost on the motor and at least 5 Cobia in the 40-60 lb class that mysteriously pulled the hooks after passing the rod down from the Tower, this Season was definitely testing my Confidence as a Fishing Guide and testing my Anger Management as a Fisherman...... I hardly ever lose a Cobia after they are hooked when I am fishing by myself.... To me, they may be hard to find, but they have traditionally been easy to hook and easy to catch... My most common problem with Cobia has been lifting Giant Cobia into the boat by myself. Thats' it. A few EPIC Failures, but not many.......... Back to this year.......Then, the final blow came on June 12th when we had a 75-80 lb Cobia that was eaten by a Giant Shark after a 15 minute battle...... This Cobia was a minute from the Gaff.... This was the final straw. How else can we lose one! (Oh yeah, I forgot the Cobia that had been on ice for 2 hours and I had already gutted that I accidently dropped overboard at the Boat Ramp while passing it to Jennifer's brother... Bryan was going to grill it up for his girlfriend, and it disappeared into the dark waters,,,, FOREVER)   So there was another way to lose one!  

Finally, the last nice Cobia we encountered, on June 14, I actually pulled the bait out of his mouth after he had picked it up, surfaced, and ran toward the Boat... I reeled up the slack and thought I set the hook..... I swear this Cobia smiled at me and the bait "fell" out of his mouth...... No one to blame on that one.... Maybe he was laughing at me. Whatever.

Now, all that being said, our Cobia Fishing just wasn't all that good. Guys that are bragging about how great it was..... They don't know what GREAT Cobia Fishing is! As I stated in an earlier post, The North Wind that we had on May 3, May 4, May 5, May 6, and May 7 killed our season.... For Knuckleheads that WANT TO ARGUE WITH ME, I suggest you read Capt Aaron Kelly's Blog. He had days where he equaled my season. They had limits of 8-12 fish on some days that weighed from 50 to 80 pounds each..... All those days of North Wind pushed that first wave, with all those fat, ripe females North of Cape Lookout....

Looking back, IF we'd caught 55 Cobias, including the 3 over 75 lbs, I'd say that I had a successful Cobia Season.......... IF we'd caught the 55 Cobia with 3 over 75 lbs, plus the early season, inshore Dolphin, and an "unheard of" Sailfish caught on casting a bucktail on light spin..... Then I'd say TOP WATER CHARTERS is a Red Hot Fishing Machine and it's going to be a Record Setting Season.... Oh Lord, so close.... Meantime, my fellow Captains and Guides up at Oregon Inlet are still seeing 50 fish a day and catching limits of BIG FISH.... I saw a catch the recently off a center console out of Va Beach that was fishing down off Dare County.... Four Guys and a Limit of 8 Cobia.... Four in the 70's. Four in the 80's..... That's a Cobia Limit that weighed well over 600 POUNDS....... That, my friends, enemies, and competitors IS GREAT FISHING.....  It is fustrating for me personally and professionally..... I did my best on the days that we exclusively targeted Cobia. I swear, sometimes its very easy. One day in May of 2010, we caught 19 Cobia up to 94 lbs.... That was a piece of cake..... This year was different... I'm sure some guys out of Beaufort Inlet had record seasons for them, but overall, off Beaufort Inlet, the fish were generally small and on MY BOAT..... Lady Luck WAS NOT on my side....

Back at Cape Hatteras

Once again back to my "real job"...... I needed a break from the sun and all the Rays that have been harassing me! I have the NIGHT RUN so there is a decent chance I'll get some Flounder and possibly a Sheepshead..... More likely, I will read about it and it will DRIVE ME CRAZY and I will hit the Beach (despite the SUN) and give chance to some Pompano and Sea Mullet..... Its that time of the year at Hatteras.... Citation sized Pompano and Sea Mullet is about the only thing possible to motivate me into "daytime action" right now...... Stay Tuned.....

Of note, my pal Capt Chris met CJ Leslie in the Newark Airport yesterday.... They also flew to Charlotte together.... CJ was up there to work out with the Brooklyn Nets.... Apparently CJ is an avid Bass fisherman from his days growing up near Holly Springs, NC.... Some of my best days ever Bass Fishing came from RL Vaughn's Ponds in Holly Springs....Anyhow, Capt Chris has got CJ all pumped up with prospects of a day spent fishing with TOP WATER CHARTERS.... He is very busy with the NBA Draft looming and various workouts around the Country.... Hopefully we can make this happen and it really sounds like a cool adventure.... It's not everyday we get to fish with a World Class Athlete and I hope I could put him on great bite of some variety!!! Hopefully not Southern Stingrays

June 17 Uncle Ray Visited......and wouldn't leave

Uncle Ray wouldn't leave us alone is more like it..... Uncle Ray is a pet name used by Cobia Fishermen and when used, we are referring to the mighty SOUTHERN STINGRAY.... And this is the animal that killed popular Nature TV Star Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Hunter"........ As for today's fishing, Roger is an avid fisherman from an area in Pennsylvania that borders on Lake Erie.... He whacks Steelheads.... That's a BIG DEAL....... Steelhead is actually a migratory Rainbow Trout that has been voted as one of the World's Top 25 Gamefish! In other words, Young Roger is a fisherman.......  So today, he came a long ways, to fish with Capt Marty on Top Water Charters..... And regardless of what caught, his lasting memory will be the Southern Stingray after Southern Stingray that came in waves.... The small ones were 50 lbs.... The larger ones we saw were 150 lbs..... There were a few that we never even saw..... His Mom, Ann, had her Dive Charter canceled today because of the 20-25 kt SW wind.... Not many people were fishing with us..... Fellow guide and dare devil outdoorsman, Chris Kimrey on the FV Mountmaker  was there with us..... As Always...... Chris fishes more than anyone. Period.....  Anyway, Ann got to pull her heart out on a few Giant Rays as well..... In between, Roger managed quite a few Sharks as well..... Five different Species, from a 200 lb Sand Tiger to an 8 lb Sharpnose Shark.... Roger scored an NC Citation for the release of the Sand Tiger as it was over the 80" minimum...... It was fun and we're all real sore..... I already was from yesterday.... Total Catch for the Day: 1 Sand Tiger at 7 feet and 200 lbs, 2 Blacktip Sharks up to 35 lbs, 1 Spinner Shark at 14 lbs, 1 Blacknose Shark at 17 lbs, 2 Sharpnose Sharks at 12 lbs, and 18 Southern Stingray up to 150 lbs

June 16 Aching Back Day

A SW wind that was a "little too much" to allow us to run all over the Ocean today dictated what we did and where we went..... I guessed that our best chance at a fun and action packed day would be to fish fresh and live Menhaden on the bottom at Cape Lookout.... Call it Cobia fishing, but at some point in mid-June it really becomes "Shark Fishing"..... A Cobia is very possible, but other stuff is more likely. As long as the "other stuff" is Sharks, then the fishing will be fun.... Too many Southern Stingrays spells trouble.... Today was BIG TROUBLES... By my estimation, we caught between 1200-1400 pounds of Southern Stingray... Scott and Rob were both suffering from body, wrist, hand, and back aches.... I lost 25+ hooks.... Incredible. Wherever we moved, 50-100 lb Southern Stingrays were there and they were hungry.... I managed a few Sharks. We managed a Cobia. We managed an Octopus...... We really won't remember any of that.... It was the "Day of the Big Ray"... Period.... Total Catch for the Day: 1 small Cobia, 1 small Octopus, 1 Blacknose Shark at 22 lbs, 1 Sharpnose Shark at 12 lbs, 1 Spinner Shark at 18 lbs, 3 Blacktip Sharks up to 45 lbs, and 20 Southern Stingray from 50-100+ lbs each

June 14 Non-Stop Action

One bite and one line peeling adventure after another..... John Boy was on the scene and he fished the starboard side and I fished the port..... John released a small Cobia and I shook the hooks on a 40 lb Cobia...... Who wants to be messed up with all that bloody mess and delicious meat? Rays were supremely aggravating today and Sharks provided many thrills.... I nailed a sweet Bonnethead Shark... All Sharks are welcome aboard the Top Water Boat except Sharpnose Sharks, Smooth Dogfish, and Spiny Dogfish...... John Boy popped the leader on a BIG BOY today.... It certainly wasn't a Blacktip. Possibly a nice Sandbar Shark or even a baby Tiger Shark.....Total Catch for the Day: 2 Blacktip Sharks up to 65 lbs, 1 Bonnethead Shark at 14 lbs, 1 Bluefish at 1 lb, 1 Cobia at 30", and 4 Southern Stingrays from 30-150 lbs

June 13 A Cobia Breeze

Finally Finally Finally...... Four little ones and one BIG MOMMA...... If you guys can't tell, I'm without a camera again... I've been using my I-Phone.... With the constant barrage of wind and spray and Jennifer onboard, NO Fishing Pics or Fish Pics got taken until late in the night. I did finally manage to land an adult Cobia... This one swam by the boat just as we were setting up. I quickly cast a live Shad in its direction and the big Cobia chased it down into the murky depths.... Fifteen seconds later I was feeling like a fool.... So I started reeling in the bait and as it neared the boat..... Here comes the big Cobia right behind it all fired up and hell bent to eat. She was on it in a second and it was game on.... Five stressful minutes later and 3 trips under the anchor line, I got the gaff in her and that was it....  She bottomed out the 60 lb Boga Grip and that's always nice....The "bent up in the cooler" picture didn't do that fish justice..... Other than that, we had a really nice flurry of bites that produced a sack of spunky little 30" to 36" Cobias at slack water... Kept a couple and released a couple. Not a lot of fishing in all that wind, reminded me of fishing in all those squalls on June 3rd.... Results were just as good! And, no tackle testing and back-aching Stingrays. Total Catch for the Day: 5 Cobia up to 68 lbs and 2 Blacktip Sharks up to 70 lbs

June 12 BIG SHARK DAY

Very, very interesting and enjoyable half day spent with Mark.... On a day where Mark wanted to learn lots of things about fishing Beaufort Inlet, the persistent SW wind had us "handcuffed" so I figured the best lesson to learn on this day would be how to "bait fish for Cobia".... WE did make the run out to the Shoals and looked around. I hope Mark got alot out of this trip.... As for the fishing, on a day where we DID NOT put a Cobia in the Boat, I can't imagine a day being much more exciting.... Something happened early that I'm still trying to come to terms with... We had a great bite, textbook hook-up. We had what appeared to me to be a 70-80 lb Cobia jump 40 feet out right off the stern. I'd bet my ass it was a Cobia. But uncharacteristically, it was rotating while airborne. And those big Cobia rarely clearly their bodies totally airborne... Thus, it looked exactly like a Cobia. Jumped exactly like a Blacktip Shark.. It was pretty close. There was some glare. I DID NOT see any Dorsal or Pectoral Fins.... Anyway, 10 minutes and 10 trips around the boat later, it seemed like the END OF THE GAME  on a BIG ASS Cobia. Then some weird things happened from the Rod's perspective.. Some pings, some hard shakes. The 80 lb PowerPro sends weird vibes anyway... This one was trying to tell a story... Something was happening 20 feet below the boat.... Suddenly...Ping and its over. Mark reels in and my 4 foot leader is bit off and 18" of it is gone.... Part of me said, well it was huge Blacktip to begin with.... Part of me said, WOW something crazy just happened.... An hour later, we had a bite that flat out Freight Trained 400 yards of 80# PowerPro in seconds. Tight drag. Never slowed down, never sped up,never changed direction. I cleared one line, saw what was up.... I dumped the anchor, seconds later there was a dozen wraps left on the reel, Mark squoze the drag and... PING, fish gone this time bit off at the hook... This was a 200-1000 lb Shark. I'm not trying to be funny, just to say it WAS A GIANT SHARK..... Makes me think earlier in the Day, hell our 80 lb Cobia got devoured by a Giant Shark. I thought it at the time, but it seemed too obscure... Now, I'm not so sure.... The rest of the day? After that, who cares? Total Catch for the Day: 2 Blacktip Sharks up to 50 lbs, 3 Southern Staingrays up to 75 lbs, and a 14 lb Bluefish

BACK to BEAUFORT

Well I'm home and Ready to FISH! Going out tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday the way it looks right... Funny, I just spent twenty minutes with a Doctor from Chicago that's coming to Beaufort on Saturday was pretty hyped up about fishing.... Right at the end of the conversation he said, "Yep, we're flying into Charleston friday night and can't wait to get on the water"..... I said, Man we got a problem... You are talking about Beaufort, SC and I operate out of Beaufort, NC.... 6-7 hours difference! Oh well.... So I'm free on Saturday!

Also I'd like to officially wish good luck out to two of my pals that are participating in the BIG ROCK BLUE MARLIN TOURNAMENT: Gerald "the Admiral" Currin who is fishing on the "The Yellowfin" and Joey "the Animal" Bell who is fishing on "The Fishing Partner".... Good luck ole Pals.... In the meantime, us poor folk will be fishing for lowly things like Cobia, Mackerel, Shark, Jacks, Blues, and Drum.... (Thank God) Marlin Fishing is a team sport and I prefer the individual nature of inshore fishing personally....

Good Luck Boyz.... Joey's up next! Been waiting since August 21, 1993 

Jalen the Mountain Trout Man !!!!!

We got a new guy working with us this summer.... Jalen, who is a student at Western Carolina, and is an avid Fly Fisherman and ties lots of flies as a hobby.... As a matter of fact, he tied me a bunch of flys and they are pictured above..... Jalen loves catching Trout in the Mountains and will be doing some Guiding up there starting this Fall or next Spring... The funny thing is that Jalen's mother is very good friends with a woman that has been part of our family since, sheeeeesh 1984 or 85.... Ilse married my cousin Tony and Michele was her best friend way back then..... Anyway, Jalen shows up at Hatteras 29 years later.... I can guarantee you that Jalen and I will be friends... As a matter of fact, he will be fishing with me next week and he will be catching some things that he's never caught before..... Hopefully a Cobia, an Amberjack, and maybe a Grouper.... In exchange, He will guide me to my first Brown Trout and Smallmouth Bass when we can find the time... So far this summer, Jalen has been fly fishing around Atlantic and Cedar Island this summer and has caught a 20" Speckled Trout on the fly......

In the meantime, TS Andrea is gone and hopefully the weather will return to normal... Next week I have a trip on Wednesday and a trip on Monday... Big gap in the middle. Fishing is going to be good. Anyone want to join me, this will probably be my last shot at a Cobia until next May! And it's time to start thinking about the Next Adventure.....

June 6 Bad & Good Fishing Again

First up, Big John and I went across Ramp 55 early, early this morning at 1am and gave it our best shot.... I soaked a Sp Mackerel head for 15 minutes..... Nothing.. Meanwhile, Big John battled intense longshore current on light spin as he attempted to fish sand fleas in the slough. John caught a Citation Sea Mullet last weekend and was convinced he was "on a roll".... Maybe he is, but last night wasn't good odds....

So this morning, since BAD WEATHER is imminent, I rode out to Hatteras Inlet and saw a familiar sight milling around out by a sand bar.... Co Co Puffs and lots of them. All small, but clearly visible in the moderate surf and dingy water... So I cast to them with the only thing I could reach them with. A stingsilver. A bright yellow one. And I'll be damned if 10-12 little Cobia didn't give chase.  And a legal, 33" Cobia won the great race and he will be joining us for dinner on the Ferry tomorrow night. As if it couldn't get any sweeter, my next 10 casts were intercepted by 2 other Cobias.... Fortunately for them, they only made it as far as the Blue Water Board that I pirated off the SS Tugwell. One Cobia was 31" and his pal was 28". So they both walked... In the land of Pyracy and Mystery and all things Illegal and Immoral, Capt Marty did the right thing and let 2 Cobia go.... And I will feel the wrath of my crew for doing this... Remember, on Hatteras Island,  these guys could very well still be living in 1976... Still bragging about catching 50,000 pounds of Chopper Bluefish and getting 7 cent a pound for them.... Okay, sure would be nice to see them blitz again on Thanksgiving Day. That aint gonna happen in my lifetime again, I'm afraid... But, there are 2 Cobia today that met me, and they are swimming northward as I speak. It makes me feel good.... Total Catch for the Day: 3 Cobia up to 33"

June 3 Great Cobia Fishing

All those Beautiful days..... All those Poor Results..... Then came today with 15-20 kt SW Winds. Scattered Rain Squalls. Gusts up to 40 kts. Total "whiteouts" with wind and rain..... Sight casting was both dangerous and honestly, I have gotten tired of the failures.... So today we went "bait fishing".... And when Larry and Ann come fishing, good things happen. Now I must say, things were looking bleak. Catching bait was aggravating... Of course, at Cape Lookout big black bait balls awaited us! But we were worried about it so we caught it in the windy, dark Back Sound and it wasn't easy this morning.... So, then first bait in the water, and a 80+ Cobia eats Larry's bait, acts absolutely crazy around the boat... Smokes Larry's 80# PowerPro with 15-18 lb of drag..... The battled raged.... Then I'll be damned if he didn't pop the line in my Suzukis cavitation plate. OH MY GOD, HERE WE GO AGAIN. KILL MYSELF. KILL KILL. KILL...... Michael Myers has nothing on me! Jason and Freddy Krugar are my cousins..... Then, slick as a whistle we get a double header. Suddenly 2 Cobias are jumping behind the boat.... And thus began the best 3-4 hours of Bait Fishing for Cobia that I've experienced since BJ Swain and I caught 10 a few years ago. We killed 5 from mid 20s to mid 40s. We released a couple of smaller ones. We pulled off a few (ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH) by the boat. We caught 3 Sharks and one of those was a 125 lb Blacktip Shark. A grown ass man of a Shark. We pulled on Uncle Ray once and never saw him. Must've been a 100+ pound "area rug" Southern Stingray..... All of this in absolutely horrible weather. So, you never know. Total Catch for the Day: 7 Cobia up to 43 lbs, 2 Blacktip Sharks up to 125 lbs, 1 Sharpnose Shark at 10 lbs, and 1 snagged Menhaden

June 2 Bad Luck--Good Luck

Two trips today. John was first and we rode west and hit 2 big bait balls. The first one, we were the second boat there and a nice Cobia had just been boated when we arrived.... Too Bad. We never saw another one.... Five miles farther west, we found another big bait ball. This one had 4 boats on it, and the motherlode had already been sacked up when we got there. While there I did hook a Cobia but it quickly pulled off. Before we left another lucky boat caught a 60 lb Cobia. That hurt, but it wasn't that bad. We were too late, nothing we could do to compete against the fleet out of Swansboro. We were way down there and we got there as quickly as we could! So at this point, we were "too late" but we'd only seen 2 Cobia caught out of 10-15 competing boats...... So we ran back to Beaufort Inlet.... One last Bait Ball before the Inlet.... It was "all ours", no boats around and there sat 2 huge Cobias..... John couldn't see them so I fired my bucktail.... A 50 pound Cobia enhaled it.... I set the hook 4 times and line raced off my reel. Finally, a SLUMP BUSTER!!!!! I passed the rod down to John and the line went limp. Slump Buster my ass..... Cobia Fishing Suicide watch has begun... This was awful. Our time was up and I'd hooked 2 Cobia and they both pulled off..... Never in my life have I experienced this....

So Laden and Tuggy rode back out with me and we rode east. On the way up we saw 1 that wouldn't bite and Laden caught a very small Cobia. Once we turned around and started back home, it all changed again.... Casting to Turtles, we caught 4 Cobia in rapid succession. Not big ones, we did get a catch of 20-25 lb Cobias. We saved one opening for a ride to Beaufort in hopes of getting a big one but it never happened..... Total Catch for the Day: 5 Cobia up to 25 lbs, 2 Bluefish up to 2 lbs, and 18 large Menhaden snagged