Upcoming Adventures with NC Mountain Trout

Next week when I get home I will be joining Jalen up at Cullowhee for some fly fishing and ultra light spin for Mountain Trout in the Tuckasegee River. I am so excited. I've only caught 10 Mountain Trout from Natural Surroundings in my life. That's 8 Rainbow Trout and 2 Brook Trout. Jalen is pretty confident that I will catch lots and lots of Trout. Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout, and Brown Trout. I can not wait to get my first Brown Trout. One of the Top-100 Gamefish on Earth by anyone's standards.... I'm stoked. I'll be happy with 20 fish in 2 days and Jalen promises that we'll top that in the first 2 hours.... We will be fishing pretty near that opening of a Delayed Harvest Stream and that means the NC Inland Fisheries Commission has put nearly 10,000 Trout in the Tuckaegee and delayed the opening to allow these Hatchery-raised Trout to get acclimated to the Natural Environment... While I'm out there, I will also be taking a shot at my first Smallmouth Bass and also Spotted Bass.... Once again, Smallmouth Bass are another of the Top-100 Gamefish on Earth by anyone's estimation. Finally, Jalen will also be taking me to a spot where the wild Brook Trout live and there is something spiritual, mystical, magical, and enchanted (If you are a Fisherman, if you aren't they are cute little minnows) about catching these special creatures.... The Brook Trout is the only true native Trout that was found east of the Mississippi River.... If I can get a Brown Trout and a Smallmouth Bass on this trip, I will consider this a Landmark Fishing Trip.... My youth is evading me and my bucket list is starting to look daunting.... To knock off 2 big ones like this in one trip, this could be huge in my fishing career!

Of note, there is a cool website at www.flyfishingtrail.com that covers the area that I will be fishing.. Also, Jalen is more than likely going to put himself in business as a Fishing Guide up near Cullowhee in the near Future. If any of my readers like what they read and see when I cover my actual fishing trip, I can forward you Jalen's number as soon as he's set-up to start guiding.... I can't wait!

Capt Marty's Bait Bucket

Last September I felt the need for a new Bait Bucket.... So I built one. A nice one. Unfortunately, my operation can not run on the little yellow bucket with the spring loaded door 95% of you are familiar with. Nope, my bait bucket's are customized 5 gallon or even a 10 gallon bucket that has 75-100 holes drilled into it, the lid is wire-tied on, and some sort of hatch is made into the lid.... These buckets are capable of holding 40-70 finger mullets.... So anyway, last September I made a brand new bucket and named it the "Mullet Hilton"..... I loaded it with Finger Mullets and tied it off on the North end of Ocracoke Island..... Then at some point, the metal handle backed out of the holes that were made into the original 5 gallon bucket.... And it drifted away. We came into the Ferry Basin just in time to see it "turn the corner" and head for Hatteras Inlet. I was pissed off because #1 lots of work went into building the "Mullet Hilton", #2 tons of hapless Mullets were doomed to slowly starve as they drifted out to sea..... That was it, that was the end of it.....

Move ahead 12 months, and last week Jennifer and I was riding the Beach and just happened to have about 40 lbs of Mullet that I had castnetted the day before.... Out at Hatteras Inlet, I asked a fisherman if he needed any bait? Sure he said, and he followed Jennifer and I back to my truck. He helped himself to all the fresh Mullet he wanted.... Evidently, he remembered my name from the side of my truck. Later he and his wife were talking about me. My name must've seemed vaguely familiar..... See last year, the found a bait bucket in the surf up Cape Point at Buxton. It had "Mullet Hilton" and "Marty Moore" written lightly on the lid. So a couple days later, Nancy from Pennsylvania called me up and said "Did you lose a bait bucket last year?"..... I had honestly forgot, but quickly remembered..... Anyhow, Nancy and Tom dropped off my bucket at the Ferry Dock Monday afternoon and me and the "Mullet Hilton" have been reunited.... Amazing, that bucket drifted 10-12 miles east before hitting the Point. Then, the folks that found it were the same folks that I ran into by chance, a year later. Small and Crazy World..... Something strange? Miracle? Good Things are starting to Happen? The Tide is Turning? Things are starting to Go My Way?

 I'm starting to believe that I might just catch a big Flounder, a big Sheepshead, or a Pompano this week....

Sept 24-30 Late Night Fishing at Hatteras Inlet

Here I sit, back at my Eastern Headquarters, working another Night Shift...... I will use this post to make my nightly Fish and Fishing Activity Reports. In the past, this would be a great week of catching Flounders, with several NC Citations... This year my expectations are low. I do expect to catch lots of Jumping Mullets in my Cast Net and I also expect to Gig several nice Flounders.... Who knows, maybe some of that "Old Capt Marty Magic" will come back and I will catch a Bragging Sized Flounder and/or Sheepshead.... If I'm feeling really fishy, I might try to figure out a way to get out to the Blue Water... Hatteras, right now, is probably experiencing The Best Wahoo Fishing in the World. Recently, every single Charter Boat out of Hatteras caught their limit (14 or 16) Wahoo.... I can see ONE BOAT, but EVERY BOAT! That's Amazing. Finally, I am going to hit the Beach at least a couple of times. Looking for..........a Pompano

Sept 24- There was alot going on tonight. Everywhere you looked, some kind of fish was doing something on the surface. Lots of activity. The weirdest thing was for about 15 minutes, right at 4am, a bunch of Ribbonfish started airing it out. Sometimes 3 at a time. I had never once seen a Ribbonfish jump in my life.... Suddenly, last night, they were hurling themselves skyward all over the Ferry Basin. It was impressive. I didn't catch any. I didn't do a good job of figuring things out. I stuck with the tried and true methods. Jigging with a 5" white Gulp Jerk Shad and fishing a live Mullet... I caught 3 Summer Flounders and 2 Southern Flounders. I also caught a friendly Oyster Toadfish. I also cast netted a load of Jumping Mullets and gigged 4 Southern Flounders. Good Night Everybody, I've been up all night and I'm tired....

Sept 25- This is where "Good Job, Capt Marty" meets "Capt Marty, who the hell cares!"..... I watched those Ribbonfish jump again last night until I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to figure out how to catch them. They were easy enough to catch at the MHC Port Wall back in the King Mackerel Tournament Heyday.... Lucrative too, at $3 to $5 a pop! Anyway, I rigged up a slip bobber and baited up long thin silvery strips of cut bait and..... Woo-La, here come the Ribbonfish, plus Gray Trout and Bluefish. With my attention divided, I got a bite on a big Finger Mullet that pulled lots of drag and wrapped me up on a piling and broke off, popped the 80# PowerPro on barnacles.... So eerily reminiscent of the 10 lb 6oz Flounder I caught in the same spot, on the same bait, exactly 9 years ago.... I am pretty freaking sure that I lost a Doormat Flounder tonight. Damnation.... I did manage to catch 5 Flounder total, including a 22" Summer Flounder that weighed 4 lbs.

Sept 26- The wind was blowing like crazy. North-Northeast Wind. Its a terrible direction for fishing or gigging. Of course, that didn't stop me. I had my chance to be a hero. In Hatteras Inlet, at 3am, standing knee deep in waist high breakers..... Dirty, foam streaked water.... I saw 2 Doormat Flounders. One was running, but it ran right by me. I struck with my gig. Nothing. I missed. Minutes later I was still shaky. I saw another one. Ten Pound Flounder. This one was deeper, but it wasn't moving! I moved in, Got ready. Struck with my steel shaft! Nothing. I missed. Unreal..... I quit right then. It was too rough and too dangerous, and no need to beat myself up..... "LOSER" So I went back to the boat and had a blast catching Ribbonfish. I quickly caught 4 on spin with cut bait and the slip-bobber. Then I got out the trusty 7wt Fly Rod with a white clouser. I worked hard but I got 6 strikes. Out of those, I landed 4 Ribbonfish on fly. One finally bit off my fly and that was that! I also caught several Bluefish and Pinfish. On the Flounder rod, I had one bite.... And found trouble in the form of a Conger Eel. Great..... Goodnight Everyone

Sept 27 and Sept 28- Too much wind. No Fishing. No Gigging. No Castnetting

Sept 29- I was looking at a big night of gigging, and then at midnight a pick-up truck load of giggers showed up and got an hour headstart on me.... DONE. So I played with the fly rod and it was a Pinfish and Bluefish festival. I was trying for 100 releases, but after an hour I said, "WHY?" and went to bed. (I'm guessing 60 Pins and 20 Blues) Not before a 17" Summer Flounder and my new career best Conger Eel grabbed my bait. A 9 lb Conger Eel. Scary

Sept 30- I was tired and it was blowing..... I wanted to hit the Jumping Mullets with my cast net to get some to take home to my Daddy. No Luck..... Earlier in the night I caught a 8" Lizardfish that swallowed a 5" jerkbait. Linda Lovelace would've been proud. I also caught 3 little Flounders..... That's it!

Total Catch for the Week: 5 Summer Flounder up to 22", 9 Southern Flounder up to 19", 32 Bluefish, 2 Gray Trout up to 16", 11 Ribbonfish up to 36", 2 Conger Eels at 6 lbs and 9 lbs, 1 Inshore Lizardfish, 69 Pinfish, and 1 Oyster Toadfish

Sept 23 More Great Casting Action

Jim, Jim, and Dan caught many, many fish today in very trying conditions.... We have been on a run of great weather, but unfortunately, all that came to an end yesterday. Three inches of rain and this morning's hard NE wind lowered the water temp in the Ocean by 6 degrees and dirtied up the water... I expected fishing to be really difficult today... I was pleasantly suprized by an all-out bite today west of Beaufort Inlet. And this bite lasted nearly all day. My guys loaded up the cooler and the livewell this morning by throwing metal lures.... Then we ran 67 freaking miles searching for King Mackerel or even larger Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel... We failed and we ended up right where we started and the fish were still there! I must admit, we did get one bite pulling a live Bluefish. Off Barden's Inlet, we had a 14" Bluefish cut off clean, right behind the head. It certainly looked like the work of a big King Mackerel. Dammit! That would've made our day. As it was, we still had a great day of casting. The only problem was the average size of the Beaufort Inlet fish is pretty pitiful compared to the Cape Lookout Shoal fish! Nothing we could do about that today. The Shoals were closed out. NO FISHING POSSIBLE...... Total Catch for the Day: 65 Bluefish up to 2 lbs and 30 Spanish Mackerel up to 2 lbs

Sept 21 Citation Mackerel Day

We didn't know what to do this morning or where to go..... Black Clouds loomed in every direction. You could smell the rain. You could feel the cold wind. So, we stopped short and tossed out some live Menhaden. We got a zippy strike and Parker got the rod...... And then, the mystery fish dumped my reel. Thirty minutes later, Tuggy dropped a 36 lb King Mackerel on the deck and the Party started.... Linus and Parker started swilling Brandy and it lead to their demise later in the day.... Anyway, we got sick of turning slow circles and decided to go casting.... After 30 minutes of that action, with Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel, we decided this day and this crew was a better fit for life bait fishing. That freed their hands up for more Beer! This also lead to 2 Citation Spanish Mackerel, including Will's 8 pounder. We finished up our adventure casting metal to Crevalle Jacks on the Shoals and I called that "A Good Time".... Mission Accomplished!  Total Catch for the Day: 36 lb King Mackerel, 10 Spanish Mackerel up to 8 lbs, 20 Bluefish up to 2 lbs, and 7 Crevalle Jack up to 5 lbs

Sept 20 Scouting Trip

I've been off the water for a while. A week at Hatteras and now a few days off here at home. Tomorrow is a work day, so I went out and did a little scouting today and I really liked what I saw.... I'd say tomorrow is going to work out okay! I made a "big circle" out Beaufort Inlet, east off Shackleford Banks 3 miles offshore, back to the Beach, and then ran up the Shackleford Surf back to Beaufort Inlet..... As I made this "great circle" I saw Albacore that I didn't catch, I saw Spanish Mackerel that I caught..... In the Shackleford Surf, I saw Red Drum that I didn't catch, I saw Crevalle Jack that I caught.... All in all, I'd say the waters are very "fishy" right now. Tomorrow's conditions look good. I'd guess that we are going to have a good day.... Total Catch for the Day: 7 Spanish Mackerel up to 1 lb and 2 Crevalle Jack up to 4 lbs

Sept 11-16 Night Run Activities

Starting here, I'm going to run a tally of Night Shift Fishing.....

Most of these nights, I will be playing with both the rod-n-reel and the cast net.... To be honest, the cast netting should be great. Last night, for instance, one throw and I caught 14 Jumping Mullet between 2-5 lbs each.... The Rod-n-reel fishing is problematic.... Over at South Dock, the State Dredge is tied up. That is causing 2 problems... First, it throws off all fishes natural tendency to follow the shoreline around to the area where I like to fish.... Also, the Dredge and a new bank of lights over there have created a situation where there is entirely too much light... What all this light does is spread the bait and larger fish over a wide area. I learned LONG AGO that fishing at night was GREAT from lighted docks... All you had to do was fish the "area of light".... You could catch ALL THE FLOUNDERS in a very short time. That Revelation that I had back in 1990 is solely responsible for probably 95% of my NC Flounder Citations....... UNBELIEVABLY, on top of all that excessive light, the area that has produced SO MANY FLOUNDER for me from Sept 2003 through Sept 2012 is now "in the dark"..... NO LIGHT AT ALL....... I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but people CAN NOT appreciate HOW GOOD THE FLOUNDER FISHING has been in the past in this location.... Up to 28 Flounders per night and per night, I mean from 1245am until 430am.... And by 28 Flounders, I mean 20" up to 28".... I have collected as many as 4 NC Flounder Citations in 1 night over there. I collected 16 NC Flounder Citations in one week, September 2004. Dozens of 6-8 pound Flounders.... Three of my top 4 career Flounders came from South Dock. One of my benchmark 10 pound Flounders came from South Dock. Fishing was so good over that one week in Sept 2004, just about every time you'd pull up a Flounder, another one would be hanging on to the egg sinker.. Imagine that, while netting a 6 lb Flounder, there'd be another 4 lb Flounder chewing on the egg sinker... I don't know how to describe fishing ANY BETTER THAN THAT... Shingles On The Roof

Sept 12- I caught a 17" Southern Flounder in a foot of water on a live Thread Herring. I also caught 2 little Southern Flounders that I released...

Sept 13- I've given up on "Flounder Fishing", those days are over, for now. So I played with my 7wt Fly Rod. I wish I had the 3wt instead. It would've been sporty... As it was, around 2am. a ravenous horde of Pinfish started a feeding frenzy in a hard to reach area... I figured it out though, hooking my cast around a 40 piling cluster and letting the wind bend my fly into the feeding zone... That sounds pretty damn good, too bad it was Pinfish instead of Speckled Trout! Anyway, since it was "on the fly" and I'm still learning and it's all new.... I played with it for a while! Nice variety of Pinfish, Silver Perch, baby Bluefish, and the cutest little Black Sea Bass I've ever seen. Plenty of each of them. It all added up to.......NOTHING but lost sleep and a little more confidence in my Fly Rod. And because I got a Mountain Trip coming up to fish with "Mountain Trout King" Jalen, I need all I can get!

Sept 14- I finally caught a 19" Summer Flounder tonight. Caught him on a 6" Finger Mullet. I also caught a couple of large Oyster Toadfishs. I then threw the castnet twice and caught app 75lbs of Mullets. The second throw netted 40+ corn-cob sized Mullets.

Sept 16- Cat-O-Strophic..... Capt Marty is on Suicide Watch.... This afternoon I pitched a Sea Urchin to a feeding Sheepshead.... A BIG ONE..... 12-15 pounder. Mr Sheepshead immediately engulfed my bait. As soon as he felt the sting of my razor sharp 7/0 Octopus hook, he ran very quickly, stripping my 80# PowerPro off a nearly locked-down drag, and circled a 40 piling cluster. and........ Ping, he was GONE...... The PowerPro, as tough as it is, is NO MATCH for a sharp edge, and wouldn't you figure it.... A 75 year old Sheepshead is "smart enough" to leave just enough barnacles on a piling to allow him to escape!  So here it is..... In the past 2 years, I've hooked 2 JUMBO Sheepsheads and lost both of them... Long gone are the days, 2008 and 2009, where I dominated the Sheepshead Game. Hell, I got 17 NC Sheepshead Citations in 2009 alone. Nowadays, they kick my ass and it aint even funny....

Total Catch for the Week: 3 Southern Flounder up to 17", a 19" Summer Flounder, 15 Pinfish, 6 Bluefish, 4 Silver Perch, 5 Black Sea Bass, and 6 Oyster Toadfish up to 3 lbs

Remember 9-11-2001

Here I am again, back at Hatteras.... Time sure flies by.... Seems like I just got home and here I am back at work again....  But get this, here it is September 11.... Remember Sept 11, 2001? Who could forget that day. The day the World changed. Twelve Years Ago.... DAMN. I remember 9/11 was a Tuesday, our first day back at work. We got off work on the following Tuesday, which was September 18th. On that day, I fished up at Kitty Hawk on the Kitty Hawk Pier. They were having a great run of Spot up there. Lots of Citation-sized Spot were being landed. I decided to roll the dice try to get me a NC Spot Citation. At that time, and still to this day, a Spot Citation is a tough one to get...... So Spot fishing I went! At daybreak the Spots started biting 2 at a time. The biggest ones I'd ever caught or seen for that matter! Great fishing, but I had been up all night. I was exhausted. By 10am I quit. I already had a great catch. I had several dozen Spot from 10 to 11+ inches. I had one that was slightly larger than the rest. All my hopes laid with that one Spot! On the way home I stopped at Whalebone Tackle and weighed my largest Spot. It was perfect, exactly 12" long and weighed exactly 16oz. Mission Accomplished. I got my NC Saltwater Fishing Citation for Spot.... When I got home, my Dad and I lit the grill and grilled up 8 big fat Spots. They were delicious. It was a bright Spot in a very scary time of our lives.....

As for the Fishing this week..... Hopefully a Pompano and a big Flounder will fall to the prey to the tricks and tactics of Capt Marty.....

Also, I'm hoping that my lovely bride, Jennifer, will come visit me and we will have a great time! Baby I promise you the Honeymoon Suite at Burris Motor Lodge and the greatest Sushi Platter known to Mankind from Dinky's...... Please Baby Please

Next week when I get home, I am OPEN and AVAILIBLE on:

Wednesday 18th
Thursday 19th Full Moon and Red Drum Fishing should be EPIC
Friday 20th
Sunday 22nd  

Sept 10 Part 2 Flounder on the Fly

I've been playing with my Fly Rod all summer in this one spot trying to catch a Flounder. Last night I did it... But not before getting my feelings hurt...  So I dropped a white, weighted fly that Jalen tied for me on a sandy shoal in a about a foot of water.... First drop and, as usual. a Flounder blew up a puff of sand as it exploded off the bottom to pursue my fly.... Just like a dozen others have done all summer.... Perhaps this one started off out on the edge of the light field where I couldn't see it clearly. Or, perhaps this one just blew up more sand then others and it obscured my vision for a second. For whatever reason, even as I clearly saw it was a Flounder, it didn't sink into my thick skull the size and magnitude of the Flounder that I'd just seen! By the way, all of this action is under a bright light and everything that happens is in perfectly "plain view".... Last nights water was extra clear also.... So anyway, Mr Flounder enhales the fly and settles to the bottom..... I quickly and firmly strike with the 7wt Fly Rod and the rod develops a deep bend and Mr Flounder immediately starts shaking his head violently.... His gyrations are telegraphed up the heavy fly line right into my left hand... Cool, this is a solid hook-up.... Because the water is only a foot deep, the Flounder is on the surface in seconds.... I peer over the side and "Holy Toledo, I'm looking at a freaking mini-Halibut".........  The Flounder that was sitting there with the white fly in it's mouth was of little resemblence to the Flounder I thought I had seen rise, chase, and eat the white fly! The Flounder I was looking at, I'm guessing was 22" long and between 4-5 pounds... Suddenly I'm having visions of grandeur. At the same time, I'm also thinking "how can I land this thing, my net is 200 feet away".... Then suddenly it's over. The tiny hook pulled. Damn.... Minutes later, I unceremoniously landed my first ever Flounder on Fly. A sporty 12" Southern Flounder. A certain future Doormat, no doubt. Regardless, it was another Mission Accomplished.... Later in the night, at South Dock and using live Thread Herring, I catch 3 more Southern Flounder and 2 very vocal jumbo Oyster Toadfish... That's it. Good night everyone. I've been up 25 hours! Total Catch for the Night: 4 Southern Flounder and 2 Oyster Toadfish

Sept 10 Career Best Spanish Mackerel

Today was a very busy day for me. The day I go back to work. Say my goodbyes to my parents and feel guilty for not being a better son during the past week. Take newspapers and breakfast to my Dad over at Harborview rehabbing a Hip Surgery... Walking my Mommas dog and giving her medicine like I should've been doing all week... "Way to come through in the clutch, son"... Big Help last day.... Missing in Action days 1 through 6.... For all that I'm genuinely sorry.... Then there is my beautiful wife Jennifer... I've loved her since she hit the bulls eye in Capt Russel's Lounge back in 1995... Regardless of that, our time together has been minimal... All that's going to change now. She's my soulmate and I'm stuck to her like a Remora is stuck on a Lemon Shark... But I still had to say goodbye this morning... Then I had Tiger, Emma, and Little Sid. I even had to go out and catch Little Sid's food for a few days.... I can't expect Jennifer to catch worms, minnows, or crickets for my pet Bluegill! Finally I had to pack clothes, personal supplies, fishing equipment, food and drink for 7 days. And if that ain't enough, I have to leave home by noon to catch the 1 pm Ferry or I can leave home by 1230 and drive to Hatteras. That leaves me a 30 minute buffer.... All of that THIS MORNING.... Now, this is a FISHING BLOG, so what's the catch? Well, y'all know me! Here lately. I've been averaging a Citation Fish per day is a whole helluva lot of temptation. Too much for Capt Marty..... So like a damn fool, after performing my duty list... I launched the damn Top Water Boat.... Raced to the bait.... Caught it..... Raced to the spot.... And fished for 60 minutes! It was worth it. The Spanish Mackerel is an important fish in my Life and my Fishing Development... A 3 lb 8oz Spanish Mackerel caught on a gotcha plug off the Morehead Ocean Pier in August 1974 made me a FISHERMAN right then and there and nothing ever pulled that label off me. I was 9 years old that was a break-through catch... Over the years, Spanish Mackerel have made lots of memories and been targeted and supplied bragging rights a many a day.... And today, I got my new career largest Spanish Mackerel! To me, that is ONE HELLUVA IMPORTANT FISH.... The first of 3 Strikes. I got my giant Spanish Mackerel. She was 30 inches long with a 17 inch girth. This Spanish Mackerel weighed 9 lbs. A minute later I crashed back to Earth when I pulled off a rather healthy King Mackerel after a 5 minute battle... I'm guessing 25 pounder. Ouch ... Then came a lull. I said 10 more minutes and gotta go. At the 2 minute to go mark, I got a bite, of course. Caught a "run of the mill" 6 lb citation Spanish Mackerel... Hauled ass in. Sprayed off the Boat. Jumped in the Truck and drove to Hatteras. I love you Momma, Daddy, and Jennifer.... And Emma. And Tiger. And Little Sid. I'll be better to everyone when I get home... If the fish quit biting, I'll be the best son and husband ever!!! Total Catch for the Day: 2 Spanish Mackerel up to 9 lbs   ****Also, Sorry about the absolute pathetic PHOTO quality****

Sept 9 Another Citation Spanish Mackerel

Today I went and caught bait and ran out to the 3rd double set of Bouys in Beaufort Inlet. I was looking for a King Mackerel. All I got was one strike. It was a good one. It was not a King Mackerel. It was a real nice Spanish Mackerel. Biggest one of the year so far, this one weighed 7 lb 4oz. I wish I had more time. Mine is up, it's back to Hatteras tomorrow morning..... Total Catch for the Day: a 7 lb 4oz Spanish Mackerel

Sept 8 More Great Casting Action and a Citation Spanish Mackerel

Today we found the Greatest School of Bluefish that I have ever encountered... Acres and acres of Bluefish. Completely covering the surface of the water... Busting bait... Nice Bluefish, the majority were 2-3 pounders... It was every cast. As soon as your lure hit the water there would be a fish on it....  Unfortunately, we already had a cooler full of them, but we couldn't help ourselves.... Big Sharks were cutting through the Bluefish and added excitement when they appeared near the boat. We tossed a half of a Bluefish out there on a wire rig and we had a pick-up, but we missed it....  After bailing a 100 Bluefish and a few Spanish Mackerel mixed in, we ran offshore searching for something else..... We found huge schools of Albacore crashing baits in 60 ft of water.... But, once again, they were the most annoying fish ever... One school produced a tripleheader. We only released one though... Didn't seem like a big deal, but we never, ever hooked another one. That sucked and we wasted an hour slinging metal to "un-hookable" fish... That ruined a prefectly great day. Everything was difficult from that point on.... Much later, we live bait fished in Beaufort Inlet and had only one strike.... That sucked... Cody did catch a 6 lb Spanish Mackerel but that was it..... Total Catch for the Day: 100 Bluefish up to 3 lbs, 5 Spanish Mackerel up to 6 lbs, and 1 Albacore at 5 lbs 

Sept 6 Citation King Mackerel and Citation Spanish Mackerel

This morning I was going to get the Boat out of the water and for some damn reason I went and caught a net full of Menhaden.... Then I went out of Beaufort Inlet. I had decided that I was going to spend 60 minutes dragging 3 live baits around the shipping channel..... Then the rain came. I wondered "what the hell am I doing out here"...... Then there was a pull of drag off one of my rods! I looked behind the boat and I saw a dorsal fin. Then a splash. Then one of my reels screamed as whatever I'd seen had eaten a bait. I knew what it was from the beginning.... If you've ever seen the sickle-shaped dorsal of a Hammerhead Shark, you'll not forget it.... Sure enough, 10 minutes later I had a tough little 40 lb Scalloped Hammerhead Shark beside the boat for a picture. A nice Hammerhead Shark, hell that was worth the trouble of going! Right? Hold On! A minute later, I was past a Set of Bouys that I planned to troll up to, so I started reeling in my live baits. I had decided to make the same drift over again. As I cranked in the last of my 3 Menhaden, something slammed it just a few feet from the boat. Lightning fast but this one burned out quick. A minute later I tailed a fat 7 lb Citation winning Spanish Mackerel. Oh damn, I just caught supper. This was working out okay. Then I ran back inshore and planned to duplicate my previous drift. Right off the bat I caught another big Spanish Mackerel. As I was setting my baits back out, something amazing happened..... Two lines were in the water and all I needed to set out was my "short bait". As I turned and pitched the last Menhaden in the water, a flash of movement caught my eye under the bubble trail coming out from my propeller... This started out as a flash of silver, but seemed to turn brown as it moved to the right out from under and behind my boat.... I thought Cobia or Shark and I pulled up my Menhaden and pitched it in front of the mystery shape.... The line quickly came tight and I felt it immediately because I was still holding the rod.... Then the line went slack... Not seeing real good because of the cloudy conditions, I reeled in and got tight again. Set the hook and the rod and reel jumped into action. The shape/color took off in a blur and suddenly stopped 40 feet from the boat. What the hell...... I pulled back and the line went slack again. As I reeled frantically the line sliced with speed you cannot appreciate without experiencing.... The line cut a path across the bow of my boat, came tight on the other side and line smoked off my reel for 20 seconds.... Straight towards a Green Bouy.... Oh great, an obstacle..... Again the line stopped, just for a second.... Then the line again "poured" off my reel. The Fish was headed west and now there were no obstacles.... Just me and my fish.... I was really thinking Blacktip Shark at this point. Too fast for a Cobia, but no jumps like a Blacktip.... I swear I thought I saw brown.... A very short minute later, I looked over the side and saw....... A long stretch of green and silver.... Pretty enough..... A big, long King Mackerel.... Mission Accomplished. Too bad it aint next weekend and the Atlantic Beach King Mackerel Tournament.... This one is NOT a TOURNAMENT WINNING FISH, but it would've been a BIG MONEY WINNER.... Hell with the Northeast Wind that's blowing right now, this one probably would've won it today....  Total Catch for the Day: 1 King Mackerel at 37lbs, 2 Spanish Mackerel at 4lbs and 7lbs, and a 40lb Scalloped Hammerhead Shark

Sept 5 Incredible Casting Action

This might just be a day I'll never forget....... Details later. As for the Fishing, I promised John some wild and wooly casting action for Bluefish, Albacore, and Red Drum..... Thats' a Home Run and 2 Strike Outs.... The Albacore were a bonafide mystery. We found them again but after casting a hundred times into a foamy feeding forays and not getting strikes... And seeing a single stingsilver splash in the midst of an acre of feeding fish and ALL THE FISH suddenly disappear, I swear Albacore don't act like that.... I think that today we were casting over acres of feeding adult Frigate Mackerel, Those aggravating damn things started showing up at Cape Lookout in May and June of 2012. I've seen them on the eastside last March and again 15 miles out in June.... I honestly think that today we were slinging metal lures to Frigate Mackerel instead of Albacore. Other than being aggravating, no-biting pests, the Frigates are nearly identical to juvenile Albacore..... Also, the Red Drum never showed up for us... I suspect a couple of other boats impacted our chances. Whatever. We looked for them and found a great casting session right up on eastern beach.... Every cast was intercepted by all sorts of gamey predators. Blue Runners, Ladyfish, Crevalle Jacks, Spanish Mackerel, and Bluefish.... We were stationed just beyond the breakers and casting into a slough right up against the Beach. Great Great Casting Session.... Earlier, we had already hammered the Bluefish.... We also saw a 25 lb Crevalle Jack, a Tarpon, many Pompano, and many Blacktip Sharks..... I've probably burned out on casting metal for now. I'd love to go up there and target Pompano with Sand Fleas..... I doubt I got energy for that....We'll see..... Total Catch for the Day: 60 Bluefish up to 3 lbs, 12 Spanish Mackerel up to 3 lbs, 3 Blue Runner up to 2 lbs, 1 Crevalle Jack at 6 lbs, 1 Ladyfish at 3 lbs, and 1 Agujon 

Sept 4 Red Drum, Albacore and Bluefish Frenzys

Today was one of those great fishing days that occur every so often...... In my opinion, to make a day of fishing "a Great Day" one of 3 things needs to happen. (1)You need to catch a large trophy fish. (2)You could catch an incredible variety of nice fish. (3)Or you need to find a large school of feeding fish that produces incredible fishing... A Melee. An Onslaught. A Blitzkreig. A Donnybrook. A big bloody Fishing Frenzy.... Today, when we found fish, we found FRENZYs..... Bluefish. Albacore. Red Drum. The Bluefish stole the show early this morning... Orrin and gals pulled up to a school this morning and we bomblasted them. Nearly every cast. Mostly 2-3 lb Bluefish. A great class of fish! While the crew was getting their "sea legs",  I made a cast to "show them how its done".... I promptly caught a 4 lb Mini Whopper Chopper. First of many. Filled the cooler and filled the livewell.... Then we headed east and found school after school after school of Albacore. Acres of Albacore ripping across the water, everywhere you looked.... Catching them was tricky because they were siphoning tiny bait... Or more properly "Ram Gorge" feeding... Our stingsilvers were a little bigger than the bait the Albacore were feeding on.... They were definitely not chasing baits... But we caught them. Martha joined the fun once on an Albacore triple-header... After that we headed back to the shallow water where we unsucessfully fished for Blacktip Sharks..... That was a bummer, but as a result of our lost Shark Follys, we discovered a vast school of Red Drum. We moved in and caught 4 of them before they slipped across a very skinny spot and disappeared into a distant channel. "See you tomorrow, chumps I thought as I headed us back to the dock. Great Day.... Total Catch for the Day: 50 Bluefish from 1-4 lbs, 4 Red Drum from 4-9 lbs, 7 Albacore from 6-8 lbs, and 2 Spanish Mackerel up to 1 lb 8oz