Dec 20- Red Drum!

So today I walked out on the Beach just north of the Frisco Pier and made a few casts. And the miracle of miracles happened! I caught a Red Drum. A small one about 18" long. Three casts later, I got another one. This one was nicer, a 25  Drum that weighed about 6 lbs. I sliped this lucky guy back into the surf..... Then I hit a lull.

Dec 20- Hatteras Inlet Hike

I wanted to say "Thank you" for all the kind words and encouragement lately... And the Fishing offers! From 4 lb Speckled Trout to Smallmouth Bass! I'm gonna surprise some guys soon and Show Up Ready to Fish!!!

Seriously, thanks a lot... Also, fishing is very slow up here in the surf and on the docks.... NO SQUID! Last year this time, it was a freaking SQUID BLITZ. Big Squid too.... I haven't seen a single one this week...

Right now, (12:11 am) I am standing in Hatteras Inlet. Ocracokes North End. It is DARK and COLD, but I feel very ALIVE!

Good night

Dec 17- Capt Marty, "Where you Been????"

Well, good question! And I do apologize to the guys that read my blog regularly and to Family Members that use "this" to keep track of me..... I honestly have done LESS FISHING over the past 6 weeks than any time in my life since 1985.... That is SAD.... People that know me, they know that I LIVE FOR FISHING and FISH in general. I love FISH. As a child, I learned to read on Peterson Field Guides and Salt Water Sportsman and Field and Stream..... Anyway, what's wrong with me? Good Question. Here is my best answer.....

Now, I could say that my Parents ongoing medical issues have had me tied up..... But, that aint true. I have tried to help a little more over at their house. I have taken my Dad to a few appointments.... Momma and Daddy both have had really painful and/or stressful medical issues and they are still being resolved.... But, I have not spent THAT MUCH of my TIME over there... I actually feel guilty sometimes because it seems my brother, Michael who lives in Raleigh has probably done more for them than I have.... Anyway. it's the Holidays and New Years is right around the corner and I WILL DO BETTER....

So, what is it then? Well, here it is..... As everyone knows, a PUNK or 2 PUNKS (it seems) stole 23 Rods and Reels out of my Garage on November 13..... All my stuff including reels that I have used, cared for, babied, and used to catch built My Personal 200,000* Fish Memory Bank (*- my estimate....well, I caught 2086 fish in 1988 and counted every last Pinfish!) with.... In other words, MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE SINCE 1985 HAS BEEN ABOUT FISHING.......

These Reels, some of which I have had since 1985. Those old reels were As Good As New..... The Penn 550SS that I caught a 50 lb Yellowfin Tuna on a stingsilver on 10# test mono on September 19, 1988..... GONE..... The Shimano TLD 15 that I caught a 240 lb Bluefin Tuna on 15# mono on a cigar minnow on November 30, 1996..... GONE...... The 12/0 Penn Senator that I caught a 58 lb Wahoo on a high speed lure pulling it 30 knots on April 15, 1988...... GONE....... The Penn Slammer 460 that I caught my 94 lb Cobia on, the Shimano TLD 15 that I caught my 83 lb Red Drum on, the Shimano Speedmasters that I caught my $52,900 King Mackerel and my 3 GIANT WAHOOS on, ALL THE RODS and REELS that I've used to collect my 800+ NC Citations on AND ALL THE RODS and REELS that I used to build TOP WATER CHARTERS with since 2001..... Over 700 Charters...... G O N E

All GONE.... It really took the wind out of my Sails....... Someone asked about "Did you catch a Bluefin Tuna" during that brief, but incredible BITE earlier this month? Well, the answer, sadly is NO, I didn't.... Unfortunately, the Tuesday and Wednesday of The KILLER BITE, I was back to Work. The Sunday fish started it, I heard about it and I honestly could've fished that Monday.... BUT, I didn't have the Rods and Reels capable of catching a BLUEFIN TUNA! That, is a PAINFUL STATEMENT...... Now, I must admit, I do have my "Trout Tackle".... I kept all that class of spinning tackle inside the house in my "Fishing Wardroom"..... And the Fishing has been up and down. Mostly Down.... But, like last week and so far this week, the weather has been great..... But I just haven't felt like it.... I've been a LOST SOUL. Having all that PERSONAL STUFF stolen, they stole my HEART and SOUL. It will not, can not be replaced.... The Memories tied up in those "armfulls" of Rods and Reels.... I can not explain it. I AM NOT YOUR AVERAGE FISHERMAN. Those that know me best, they know it.... My LIFE is CHANGED FOREVER, part of me is MISSING.....

Anyway, moving forward because I have NO OTHER CHOICE....... Here are some Facts.... I did actually go Fishing twice. I forget the dates. Once at Radio Island and once to the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty. Both days felt sad and empty. Both days the fishing sucked. I caught some fish but I couldn't get "into it".... The TOP WATER BOAT actually ran surprizingly well...... As far as my Missing Tackle..... I am currently waiting to hear back from FARM BUREAU and see how my HOME OWNERS POLICY handles this issue..... Hopefully, I will be happy with the outcome and start putting my gear back together....Capt Christopher Columbus went up into my attic last week and pulled down 3 Penn Senator 6/0s on beautiful 35 year old Magnaflex Boat Rods. We had toyed with the idea to chase a Tuna but it seemed like the bite had died on us.... So, I do have "some tackle"..... I can do Trout and probably heavy Trolling and heavy Bottom Fishing..... Grouper Fishing like its 1980 again! Thats what we used, 6/0 Penn Senators!

Hopefuylly, by Bonito and Cobia season, all these problems will be in the past! I love all you readers and family and I am SORRY for disappearing...... I'm at Hatteras this week and I am geared up for Ferry Dock Squid or Puppy Drum in the Surf.... Hopefully I will catch something this week and get my life back in order!

Total Catch for the Two Trips: 20 Speckled Trout and 1 Gray Trout

TWO MORE PICTURES

This sign alone was enough to EXCITE me! Musky Water! If, by a miracle, a damn Musky would've bit my spinner....

Emma Jean accompanied me to the Mung Hole and she had a great time. i, on the other hand, didn't catch a damn thing... 

Nov 19- Outer Banks Cold

It's been a while since we caught those King Mackerel. This King Salmon picture has me "plotting" a vacation!

And....... My Lord, a Brown Trout. This Trout would be H U G E in North Carolina!

I betcha one of my cousins got an earful when my Uncle Pete caught this FINE Largemouth Bass.....  BRAGGIN RIGHTS

Capt Tuggwell lands a Trophy Bear!

Being Cold to the Bone sucks. Jennifer and I experienced some of that while camping.... When its 30 degrees outside and the air in your air mattress becomes 30 degrees also...... Its hard to get warm, even if your wife is hotter than a Boar Mink..... Whatever the Hell that means..... In my opinion, my wife is SOOOOO HOTT she is partially responsible for Global Warming. She can melt a Polar Ice Cap..... She melted my cold heart back in the summer of 1996 with a dart in the Bullseye at Captain Russel's Lounge. It took me 18 years of stalking, dating, romancing, waiting, suffering, missing, scond guessing, imagining, fantasizing, dreaming, day dreaming, etc etc etc to FINALLY GET HER TO  NOTICE ME..... Anyway, I got SIDE TRACKED..... Dammit, it's cold, I'm at Hatteras, Working Day Shift.... As the weather improves and the nighttime temps rise, I will get out and attempt to catch a Squid or a Flounder, or a Speckled Trout..... In the meantime, others are fishing (and doing well)..... These are some pictures. Top Water Blog reader, Wayne Conklin was telling me about a GREAT TRIP he had to a River off Lake Ontario that has me salivating.... I've made NO SECRET of my Freshwater Dreams.... Literally ALL I think about is Rivers and Lakes in far away places (or not so far) where I can conquer NEW and EXCITING SPECIES...... King Salmon, plus slammer Brown Trout and Steelhead definitely "perk my ears up"..... Also on display is my Uncle Pete who recently caught a beautiful 7 lb Largemouth Bass. Also, for the heck of it, Capt Tuggwell recently helped put a shooter on a 500+ pound Black Bear. I personally ain't into that scene but congrats to Capt Tuggwell. He is highly highly successful at Whatever He Decides To Do! He is dedicated, motivated, and "just damn good"


A Rare Capt Marty's Side Note:

Guys that Succeed at Everything They Touch

Merwynn Tuggwell Taylor, Jr
Forrest Gump
Jameis "Gump" Winston
Warren Buffet

STOLEN FISHING TACKLE

Here it is guys. A list of things that were stolen from my garage 2 nights ago. We got pretty good info; two real good leads... Obviously, one is wrong but hopefully one is right..... Based on this, I expect my gear to show up either in the Wilmington, NC area or right here in the Morehead City/Atlantic Beach/Beaufort Area...... Two unique reels that are pretty valuable and rare nowadays were my two Penn 12/0 Senators. Both are Black and Big. Each reel is (was) mounted on a Penn Stand-Up Tuna Stick. These are heavy combos, each weighs around 8 lbs fully loaded with line...... Please guys keep an eye out for HOT REELs.... Lots of Penn Spinning Reels. "SS" series and "Slammer" series. Also, Shimano "Speedmaster" and "TLD" series reels.... I am missing 4 Shimano Speedmasters. The type of reel used for King Mackerel Fishing. Two of them are loaded with bright Green 25# Ande line and the other two with clear 25# Ande. Also missing 2 Shimano TLD-15s. One is loaded with oddball white braided line. I am also missing 3 Shimano TLD-20s. These reels are my Cobia/Grouper/Amberjack reels. They are loaded with 50# line. Two are (were) on Ugly Stick Boat Rods and one is (was) mounted on a Outer Banks Custom rod. Most of my Spinning Reels were mounted on 6 foot 6 inch Black Ugly Stick Custom Rods..... One to watch out for was my Personal Cobia Combo. It is an old Penn 560 Slammer with the frame painted with Caterpiller Yellow Paint. (Same as the Heavy Cat Equipment, like Dozers and large Diesel Engines). This reel is (was) mounted on a dark green, 7 ft 6 inch St Croix spinning rod..... All together, by my best recollection, I am missing 22 rods and reels..... Some of these Penn 550 SS reels were bought by me back in the 1980s. I realize that in all likelihood these rods and reels are gone and I will never see them again... But I know that quite a few people read this Blog and I am asking you guys to please just keep your eyes and ears open. I know the Penn 12/0's are rarely seen these day and if anyone is selling them, then that's a red flag reel..... My Penn Spinning Reel with the Cat Yellow Frame, to be damn sure they aint stuid enough to sell that one??? Anyway, I'm sorry guys for lack of reports. I have had lots of duties and worries as my Parents face all kinds of medical challenges. I've had my own ups and downs as well. Back Pain, Boat Problems, Deer Accidents, etc etc etc.... I was hoping that this Fall was going to be a re-birth of Great Fishing for Top Water Charters..... Well, as it stands now, it looks like I am about done! I do have my Speckled Trout Tackle and that's about it. Hopefully my Home Owner's Insurance will treat me fairly and I can start putting this back together as soon as possible. Surely by next May I will be capable of putting 4 baits on the bottom for Cobia while having 2 Spinning Rods rigged up with bucktails and ready to let fly if we see a swimmer....

Nov 13- All My Rods and Reels are GONE

Low Life Frigging Thief. Lowest Form of Life on Earth. A fricking Stealing Punk Bastard.... Someone broke into my garage and stole 23 Rods and Reels. Five King Mackerel Live Bait Combos. Four Cobia/Amberjack/Grouper Combos. Two Bluefin Tuna Stand-up Combos. Two Blueweater Stand-up Combos. 8 Various Penn SS Spinning Combos from all-purpose Mackerel/Bluefish size to Cobia Sightcasting size.  Two Shimano TLD-15s on custom made Hatteras Rods..... All Gone. All gone so some Pill-Head Punk can get a 20 minute buzz. Now lets see how this is resolved.... All my Trout Tackle is still here, so Top Water Charters is still availiable..... But I aint happy...... On a happier note, My Dad's back surgery was called "successful"... Let's see if it helps knock out some of the extreme pain that he's been living with the past year.

I"M  F*CKING  PISSED  OFF

Thanks alot you POND SCUM PIECE OF SHIT

Nov 13- Excuses Excuses Excuses

This No Fishing is getting me down.... I left the King Mackerel biting and it's time for the Speckled Trout to make their move to the Inlets and Beaches.... It's also the "traditional" Albacore season.... This morning is probably the last pretty morning for a while and I'm sitting in Carteret Surgical Center with my Dad who is having back surgery..... Brings back memories to 2010 or 2011, whatever year it was..... I was in here with a Blown Disc..... Anyway, it's been tough seeing him in pain for such a long time. Hopefully today's procedure will fix him up and free me up to return to my work in the Ocean! I apologize to long time readers!

Nov 8-10 New River and Mountain Adventure

Emma loves the Woods... Coyotes drove her crazy at Night though. Sleepless Nights for Emma Jean

The New River is actually the second oldest River on Earth

Capt Marty dreams of Smallmouth Bass 

Crystal Clear Water and Easy Wading......

Cranberry Creek is where the Locals said to Fish

My Beautiful Wife..... What does she see in me?

As you can tell........ Mountain Adventure is a far cry from "Capt Marty Slaughters Rainbow Trout and Smallmouth Bass"!!! It aint like I didn't try. Jennifer and I camped up at New River State Park. What a great State Park and what a beautiful River. The New River is highly respected as a Smallmouth Bass Fishery. I really enjoyed wading this River and Jenn and I found some stunningly pretty Mountain Roads along the River that offered a million pretty casting spots.... The water was crystal clear. Rocks and Ripples abounded.... And...... No Fish! I saw 1 damn fish in 3 days, and that was a large fish from the Sucker Family...... I also waded and fly fished in Cranberry Creek. Here I had 2 Rainbow Trout rise to a fly and on both cases the Trout missed its mark...... Great Camping Trip. Beautiful Scenery. Great Fishing Place. Caught Nothing and that would typically leave me out-raged, but in this case, I quickly accepted that ONE FISH would make this a successful Angling Quest... I never got that ONE FISH. but we had a great time anyway.... Total Catch for the Trip: ZILCH

I will finish this soon.... Sorry for being slack. Between my Mountain escape and my Dad's back surgery, I've been tied pretty tight lately.....

Nov 6- Beaufort, NC vs Beaufort, SC

Well, in the past 15 years I've had two cases of mistaken location. Big Mistakes. I mean NORTH vs SOUTH misses...... Today it cost me a day of income, while down south, Lee was left scrambling to find a Fishing Guide on short notice! Sucks..... Here I am on vacation from work and so far, my Dad's doctors appointments and geographical screw-ups are derailing my fishing adventures..... Now the weatherman is all set to "tie me up"... High winds are predicted and as I walk through the neighborhood here at 930pm, I agree, it's blowing harder than a ball bouncing AFAM grad befelled by March Madness..... Anyway, with today's trip cancelled and deposit slip shredded, I did some pretty decent "foot fishing". Both Radio Island and the Mung Holes were alive today. In the saltwater, a green grub and 3/8oz lead head fooled the Speckled Trout and a few Grays as we'll. A big surprise was a little Black Drum too.... I would've preferred a "little surprise" by a "big Black Drum"  but that's  as unlikely as that sentence was funny. Ha ha..... In the sweet water, it was the same ole story.... Tossing a bug imitation on my old Ted Williams Sears and Roebuck "magic" bamboo wand, I landed another fabled Beaufort Grand Slam. Several Largemouth Bass and Bluegills. After a little effort and several relocations, I was finally able to capture an elusive Pumpkinseed and close out my Slam. Mission accomplished. Tonight I will not fondly recall the high leaps and blistering runs of Trophy King Mackerel. Nor will I visualize my darlings beautiful smile as I shock her with lovingly selected gifts that I buy with the half day wages.... Instead I'll remember the subtle rise and slurp of a 6" Bluegill. The headshake of a small Speckled Trout that picked up my grub.... All fond memories just the same!  Total Catch for the Day: 13 Speckled Trout from 10" to 16", 4 Gray Trout from 12" to 14", 1 Black Drum, 4 Inshore Lizardfish,  4 Largemouth Bass from 10" to 15", 12 Bluegill, and 1 Pumpkinseed

Nov 4- Catfish Crazy Fishing Report

Emma, feeling like Balboa, surveys new territory

Monster Green Tail Shrimp, captured in the Cast Net

Nice Bluegill came from very Brackish Water

Ryno with our first keeper Catfish. We kept eight all together

Another Stud Muffin Bream

Emma hoping for Sashimi.... I thought those 3 spines might be too much for her to overcome

Too Rough for King Mackerel Fishing. So we took Ryan's boat and we headed to South River and we went searching for Speckled Trout. South River is pretty well known as a "Trophy Trout water" and we figured we could get out of that pesky west wind that made it too rough for Ocean Fishing... The short version of our South River adventure: Ryan and I face a steep learning curve in this unfamiliar water. We were coming up empty and we kept pushing up farther and farther. Finally we hit a dead end at a low bridge on Open Grounds Farm. I've fished here a few times in the past. In warm weather, this is Puppy Drum country. When it's cold, there is supposedly a good Speckled Trout Hole in this location! However after much casting and probing different areas, Ryan and I amazingly each hooked up at the same exact time. Crazy, 2 hours of nothing, and now we were both reeling in fish... Mystery times two! Well, Ryan ended up with a Channel Catfish and I ended up with a nice Bluegill. Not exactly the Red Drum-Speckled Trout combo we envisioned...... We spent the next hour here, fishing with the 4 live Shrimp we brought from the morning's bait hunt off Harker's Island...... The shrimp were well recieved as we drilled the Catfish..... Talk about making Chicken Salad out of Chicken Shit! I guess, you could say: Fishermen want to catch something! Our hopes de-generated from King Mackerel to Speckled Trout to Catfish..... All in a day's fishing.... But, I must say, that is an unusual line-up. You could never plan a day to turn out like that! But, hey, at the end of the day, it was fun and somebody will be eating a platter of fried Catfish.... Last time I checked, Catfish are a MAJOR foodfish in the United States! Total Catch for the Day: 6 Channel Catfish up to 3 lbs, 6 Brown Bullhead up to 24oz, and 3 Bluegill up to 12oz

Fishing!

You guys should really consider going fishing!!!!!!!

NOVEMBER FIRST NEWS and NOTES

The King Mackerel has incredible power, blinding speed, and is quite the acrobat

Capt Tuggs welcomes a Tasty Visitor aboard the Top Water Boat

The only month better for overall Fishing Variety than October is....... November.  King Mackerel, which produced the Best Fishing of the Year in October, sometimes actually improve in size and numbers over the month of November. That's hard for some people to believe, but as long as the water stays warm, the King Mackerel Fishing can keep right on improving right up to Thanksgiving! Albacore and Red Drum Fishing can also be outstanding throughout the month of November. That's THREE HEAVY HITTERS in the Inshore North Carolina Fishing scene right there..... Now, to make good news even better! The month of November is also the very best month for coastal Speckled Trout Fishing... By coastal, I mean fishing on the Ocean Beaches, Rock Jettys, and generally around our Inlets..... In other words, where Capt Marty and the Top Water Boat can get on them! That is literally FOUR of our MOST IMPORTANT FISHERIES at or near PEAK FISHING...... Don't forget that we still have plenty of Bluefish around, Groupers are gorging on anything they can eat driven by falling water temperatures, Flounder are still here, Cobia, Blackfin Tuna, and Wahoo are weekly occurences in the King Mackerel Fleet catch. Spot, Sea Mullet, and Gray Trout are inshore on windy days and sometimes they occur in Vast Numbers.... In other words, The ONLY THING better than October is November. Fishing Is Great. The only thing that can stop the Top Water Boat from having a great catch is BAD WEATHER.....

By the way, Capt Marty is NOT going to work on the Hatteras Ferry next week.... I am going to be home a few extra days. Instead of heading North on November 4, I will be staying put in Beaufort and I WILL BE availiable for Fishing. There is a good chance that Jennifer and I will be going on a trip at some point before I return to work on November 18.


Plenty of OPEN DATES in November. Come on, I got the Top Water Boat and the FlyN Fish ready to roll.......... November 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 are presently OPEN..

All that being said, It's Blowing 30-40 kts right now and the next couple of days are SHOT

Oct 30- Tugwell Mackerel Massacre

Tuggwell collecting Pink Slips

180 lbs of gutted King Mackerels. Great Catch in less than 150 minutes of Fishing

Capt Tuggwell came racing to town this morning to get in on this Fall's epic King Mackerel bite before the weather goes to crap this weekend. Facing rough seas with wind and seas set to increase into the afternoon, it was important that we get this done quickly. Also, with the Top Water Boat down again, the smaller, quicker FlyN Fish was perfect for this task. I recruited hard core fish killer, Stacy to join us..... Departing at 7am, we had bait at 730am, and we were beating our way out there by 8am.... Once at NWP, first menhaden in the water got crushed and we were in for another incredible day of fishing! I aint got much time, so I'll give the short version.... Tuggwell, Stacy, and I fished in sloppy and wet conditions. It wasn't a camera day. We pretty much fished from 9am until 1130am. We never went 5 minutes without a hook-up. We fished 2 rods. Tuggwell held a rod and I held a rod. Stacy held the wheel and the gaff.... We missed very few bites. We caught 9 King Mackerel. We had 5 over 30 lbs. Tuggwell caught 2 twins that weighed 36 lbs each. We also caught a pair of Albacore, the second one had us thinking "Blackfin Tuna"..... That really was our only disappointment. If the size of King Mackerel ratchets up like it usually does when this fishery shifts to the East Side in November..... WATCH OUT  Total Catch for the Day: 9 King Mackerel including 36 lb King, 36 lb King, 34 lb King, 31 lb King, 31 lb King, 28 lb King, and 2 Albacore at 15 lbs and 16 lbs

Oct 29- Greatest Show on the Water

John Boy's first career King Mackerel

Kings were chewing. It was hard to get more than 2 lines in the water

Pesky Albacore moved in late in the day

As we were counting our catch, we dropped a live double-header in the pile

Our last couple of Kings were released to fight another day!

JohnBoy and I went King Mackerel Fishing and it was out of this world. For the first 3 hours, we never got more than 2 lines out...... Fishing was not only great, it was also spectacular as nearly every King Mackerel leaped out of the water on the strike..... We saw so many beautiful jumps it's hard to recall them all..... One particular is etched in my mind. It was a King that we missed! A 30-35 lb King that leaped upward in a classic pose.... Arched body..... Just like s Traditional Mount. Then he slowly turned his head down and entered the water prettier than Greg Louganis ever did in the 1984 Olympics.... It was one to remember, that's for sure. JohnBoy picked a great day to go King Mackerel Fishing for the first time. JohnBoy caught 3 King Mackerel that were large enough for a NC Citation. Unfortunately, the King Mackerel were biting so quickly and the action was so fast that I did a poor job taking pictures of all the fish. I got JohnBoy's first King with "live colors" but I never took another good King picture..... In my defense, it was very rough out there today and there was alot of boat's fishing in the area...... We ended up with a 135 lb limit of King Mackerel and 2 Albacore at 13 and 15 lbs. JohnBoy caught King Mackerel weighing 32 lbs, 30 lbs, and 30 lbs...... Congratulations JohnBoy and you're ready to tackle this on your 23 ft Parker next summer....... Total Catch for the Day: 11 King Mackerel from 12 to 32 lbs and 2 Albacore at 13 lbs and 15 lbs

HALLOWEEN FISHING----TRICK or TREAT

Traditionally, if the Weather is Good-----The Fishing is GREAT

Furthermore, if the Weather is Great-----THE FISHING CAN BE BEYOND YOUR WILDEST BELIEF

Halloween 2005---- Top Water Charters catch with 1 Angler:

6 King Mackerel 12-20 lbs
2 Amberjack 35 lbs
2 Gag Grouper 10-12 lbs
7 Albacore released
30 Bluefish 2-4 lbs
16 Southern Flounder 20" to 24"
4 Red Drum from 25" to 30"

Come getcha some of that!!!!!!

Oct 28- The King Mackerel and Bluefish

First Fish of the Day

Girls Gone Wild

Capt Tugwell's secret Love Child

Everybody caught a King Mackerel and these were a nice class of fish

I finally got a beautiful day to go fishing! I had a great crew! My problem was..... I didn't get off work at Cape Hatteras until 1030pm..... So I drove nearly 5 hours to get home, got my boat ready, and met my crew at 10am. We were supposed to go out on Wednesday, but with great Fishing and Weather forecasted, I knew this crew needed to go fishing on This Day! So we pulled it off...... The King Mackerel Fishing was the "big deal"..... Unfortunately, this crew didn't really care about catching Kings.... So, when everyone caught a King, we left the King Bite and ran to the Shoals to search for something different.... What we found was absolutely amazing! THE MOST BLUEFISH that I've seen in 10 years! Miles and Miles of Bluefish. Millions of 2-4 lb Bluefish. The crew caught all they wanted and then I went searched for some  Red Drum. I actually found a nice school of 50-70 Red Drum cruising among the Blue Horde.... I made a cast with a Gulp and immediately hooked up. Then something unbelievable happened. From my perch 15 feet high, I watched this happen.... As the hooked Drum broke away from the school about 20 Bluefish suddenly raced in his direction. Then right before my eyes the Bluefish ran up to the Drum and started biting the gulp that was protruding from the Drums mouth. Very quickly the Bluefish managed to bite my jighead off and the Drum swam away..... Afterwards, I searched for the School for 30 minutes until I gave up... A great day, then we had a shaky ending...... Three miles from Beaufort Inlet, I had the same old gas problems that had me tied up earlier..... We finally got the Top Water Boat moving after an hour delay.... I think I will use the FlyN Fish for the rest of my weeks fishing and there is a BLOWWWWWW coming so I will have some time to work on my boat! Total Catch for the Day: 3 King Mackerel at 28 lbs, 25 lbs, and 24 lbs, 1 Albacore at 13 lbs, and 12 Bluefish from 2-4 lbs

Oct 19- Pigfish and Pinfish

Before I pulled my Boat out of the water, Jennifer and I went fishing. Unfortunately, the wind was howling and we really didn't need any Spots. Joe was kind enough to give me 15 nice Spots the day before..... The Bluefish in Beaufort Inlet were in a life threatening rip created by the Ground Swell, the Tide, and the Wind.... In other words, our options were limited. Besides, all I had was a box of Squid. So....... We fished for 60 minutes in Gallant's Channel and even though the catch sounds puny, it was fun watching TLOML pull in some fish..... Jennifer and I actually tied in the "Top Fish" department. We each caught a jumbo Hogfish.... We also caught lots of Pinfish, Hogfish, and Black Sea Bass... I caught a Lizardfish, locally known as a "Preacher's Prick".... I also caught a rare little guy called a Rock Sea Bass..... Closely related to Black Sea Bass and the lesser known Bank Sea Bass.... The Rock Sea Bass is much smaller and rarer than its two cousins..... Total Catch for the Day: 12 Pinfish, 8 Hogfish, 4 Black Sea Bass, 1 Rock Sea Bass, and 1 Inshore Lizardfish

Oct 18- Scary Good Bluefish and Spot Fishing

Joe with a Double Header

Gulf Flounder

At this point we started giving Spots away!

More Ground Swell. Too much WSW wind. Tides that were too low. Dirty water...... Capt Marty the complaining, excuse machine, overturned suckage box!!!! But alas, Joe was happy just getting out and being on the water..... As a matter of fact, Joe's great attitude made everything better. It was a miracle! The Inlet Bluefish doubled in size overnight and yesterday's One Spot became today's Fifty Spots!!!! What a difference a day made! A couple of things that I tried did not work. Two different Speckled Trout ideas fizzled..... However, the Bluefish in Beaufort Inlet was great in the morning and the bottom fishing for Spot was outstanding! Also of interest, one old guy beside us caught a very very nice Flounder on a bottom rig. Probably a 6 lb Flounder. I wish it was on my boat! Total Catch for the Day: 50 Spot up to 12oz, 24 Bluefish up to 2 lbs, 7 Gray Trout up to 14", 1 Gulf Flounder, 15 Hogfish, 8 Black Sea Bass, 30 Pinfish, and 4 Inshore Lizardfish

Oct 17- Best Pinfishing On Earth

Kay and Stacy teamed up to catch a pair of Speckled Trout

I admit, I was torn...... Should I say, "Capt Marty unlocks key to secret Speckled Trout Fishery" or "Top Water Crew bombards Pinfish like the Nixon Bombed Hanoi on Christmas Day in 1972"???? Tough decision. And since the Speckled Trout will probably be a fluke catch...... And since the Pinfish will probably be repeated a 1000 times over...... I went with the Pinfish Title.... Seriously, Stacy and Kay joined up with me today and my personal goal was to catch my Dad 8 damn Spots.... After yesterday, I figured we'd kill them. The Top Water Boat was definitely en fuego on the Spot yesterday.... Today, it was a different result. Totally.  First problem was that every damn boat was anchored up and I couldn't get a suitable drift. Yesterday, there was probably 90% anchored boat rate. However, I had a perfect drift path and nobody got in my way, and more importantly, no one could really see our results..... A damn nice pile of Spots and I saw more Spot caught on my boat than the other 50 boats combined..... On the other hand, today we caught ONE SPOT in 60 minutes of effort. We had to anchor up with the rest of the fleet and we probably weren't patient enough either.... We left as the peak tide was approaching. Honestly after we caught 85 Pinfish to our ONE SPOT enough was enough..... Upon leaving the "Spot spot" we did bumble into a pair of beautiful Speckled Trout. One was over 2 lbs and I swear I saw a 6 lb Speckled Trout flash by off my bow.... Check in tomorrow to see if this was Real or just a Fantasy..... Anyone remember Aldo Nova? Total Catch for the Day: 2 Speckled Trout at 24oz and 40oz, 1 Spot, 85 Pinfish, 8 Hogfish, and 7 Black Sea Bass

Oct 16- Good Fishing in Tough Conditions

Good Eating Right Here

Another Small Sample of our Nice Catch

More Spot More Spot and More Spot

The Ground Swell killed the fishing! I take it that there's a Hurricane or Tropical Storm out there somewhere. Huge and annoying Ground Swell ruined my best 2 options. The Cape Lookout Shoals were totally covered with whitewater and breaking waves. Low tide in the morning didn't help.... The worst part was that we could see an incredible bird and fish event taking place on the Eastern Edge. Too bad, some very dangerous conditions layed between us and the action.... So, low tide and bright sunshine in October usually means a really good chance to find Red Drum schools, pods, and even single fish in the Shackleford Banks surf.... So I crawled up top and we went looking... Unfortunately, the same SW groundswell closed out the Beach and fishing and finding fish were impossible... So, I guess so far things ain't looking good..... But, to the contrary, Matt and Tony left my boat very very happy.... These guys fish and they understood the problems we faced.... They also sat out their surf fishing down at Emerald Isle yesterday and watched the rain and wind.... I think they had pretty low expectations! Fortunately, first thing this morning the guys caught small Bluefish on nearly every cast in a very tough tide rip in Beaufort Inlet.... Then we missed on the Shoals and the Beach..... Needing some fish and some action, I headed back inside Beaufort Inlet, broke out some bottom rigs and shrimp, and we did really well on the "much sought after" Spot.... Nice Spot. I told the guys that, even though I rarely fish for Spot nowadays, that today was MY BEST SPOT DAY SINCE 2001.... Bottom fishing was wide open.... Every drop... Pinfish, Spot, Hogfish, Gray Trout, and others... Bites came quick. It left a good taste in our mouths and a "feel good feeling".... On the way home I tried to ruin the "feel good" by hitting the Taylor's Creek docks for Red Drum... It was a fail, fail, fail endeavor. With rising winds and raging tide, the Top Water Boat is not a Dock Hopper... Too big, too bulky.... Great day through, we out-fished every boat in our vicinity.... The crew was great. Atlanta boys.... Hot Spots in grease. Yum. Total Catch for the Day: 24 Bluefish up to 24oz, 24 Spot up to 12oz, 2 Gray Trout up to 24oz, 3 Inshore Lizardfish up to 15", 40 Pinfish, 8 Black Sea Bass, 24 Hogfish up to 16oz, 1 Northern Puffer, and 1 Scup

UPDATE---- TIME TO FISH

This is a VERY IMPORTANT FISH on the NC Coast in the Fall

Been fighting computers, Google, etc etc etc

Working off IPhone for now. I have no idea how to do pictures to my blog via this device

Sorry Guys...... Let's just go fishing

Booked: Thursday and Saturday

Open: Friday, Sunday, and Monday

Come on, Kings, Spots, Trout, Drum, Albacore

Computer Failure

First, not sure how or why, but several people have told me that my old website is now "in Spanish"..... I honestly haven't worked on that thing since 2008 so I have no idea how that happened..... Number two, my laptop is so infected with adware, malware, virus, whatever... That I simply can no longer use it..... Pictures and Fishing Reports have temporarily ground to a halt..... In fisherman's terms: My Laptop is like a kid fishing with 10# test over a wreck and hooks up a 75 lb Amberjack. In other words, it ain't gonna work. Plus, I'm at Hatteras and I damn sure can't do anything about any of my problems up here on this Sandspit.....

Oct 6- What Went Wrong ??????

THE BIG ZERO

Beautiful weather. October. Light Winds. Cooling Ocean Temperatures. This sounds like a can't miss fishing day! Well, we missed. The cast net failed. The throttle failed. The Captain failed. The Angler failed..... No King Mackerel bites. And then with "hot info" about a 10,000 fish school of Red Drum two miles away, my grumpy, distracted Angler mumbled,  "I've had a belly full, take me home"........ Well, on one hand, I can't say I blamed him..... But on the other hand, for someone that used to fish 40-50 days per year, someone that hasn't fished but 6-7 times in all of 2014, for someone that's caught  1 ( that's ONE) Red Drum in his entire life, on the prettiest day of the year, and getting ready to drag their tired ass back to Rawlee....... I can not figure out to save my ass why my angler didn't want to go "catch a Red Drum on every cast"....... Oh well, everybody's different I reckon. In hindsight, I should've just ran to the Eastside first thing.... Go with what you know...... Chasing a bite that's 48 hours old sucks sometimes .... Total Catch for the Day: Nothing

Oct. 3- Interesting King Mackerel Fishing

Alex with the first bite of the day

Pretty cool, a baby Hammerhead Shark

45 lb Hammerhead Shark.... If left alone this monster could top 2000 lbs one day

10 lb King Mackerel for Alex

The Fire Drill

Alex scores a 12 lb King Mackerel

Alex pretty much lets everybody hold one of his Kings!

They told me yesterday was EPIC.... Poor Capt Marty was hanging out with his Dad and taking part in a high level financial summit...... Can't catch them all, right? So today, Rob and his son Alex and their friends were with me for a day of whatever. I suggested King Mackerel! The guys agreed and off we went. We quickly caught our bait and made the 18 mile run to where the Kings chewed yesterday! Once there, fishing was good. Lots to see on a half day trip. Big Sharks and King Mackerel were jumping in all directions. We landed 2 Sharks right off the bat. The second one was a 45 lb Hammerhead Shark. Awesome. After that it was a King Mackerel rally, only interrupted once. This time it was a Houndfish. These monster Needlefish are affectionally known as "Raleigh Sailfish".... As far as the King Mackerels went, it was bittersweet. We hooked 7 and landed 4. Not bad for a "half day charter".... The problem was, our 4 caught King Mackerel were cookie-cutter 10-12 pounders.... The 3 we lost were absolute "smokers"..... Dumping my Shimano Speedmasters of 300-350 yards of 25# test mono! Two broke the wire. The other separated the 30# flourocarbon shock leader.... DO WHAT!!!! Never in my Life have I experienced more than ONE of these events a YEAR.... NOW THREE IN ONE DAY!!!! To make matters slightly worse, we also missed 4-5 aerial strikes from nice King Mackerel. The great thing about this group was that they didn't care to kill or keep anything.... All those missed strikes were still enjoyable visual, spectacular events..... The lost fish, while they had Capt Marty in a suicidal state of mind, the crew's spirits were great...... Great Day. Lots of Action. Very very interesting Half Day of Fishing...... Total Catch for the Day: 4 King Mackerel from 10-12 lbs, 45 lb Hammerhead Shark, 8 lb Sharpnosed Shark, and a 48" Houndfish

Sept 29- Last Hatteras Flounder Tango

Capt Marty's largest Flounder of 2014

Not bad for a rainy 60 minutes of Fishing

Got a nice one! 7 lb NC Citation Flounder..... Also got 2 other nice ones, including another Citation winner. Raining all night. Miserable night with a nice payoff....... Total Catch for the Night: 3 Southern Flounder at 2 lbs, 5 lbs, and 7 lb 4oz

Sept 28- Awesome Flounder Rally

These Flukes were 5 lb and 4 lb

Chewing

Getting ready for the Fillet Knife

For a short time it was like the "good ole days"...... Reminiscent of 2004.  After a slow start to fishing, avoiding the Barbarian Hordes of Pinfish while looking for Sheepsheads, and finding none..... After a boring hour, I noticed a small gaggle of  Finger Mullet up in the shallows. A rare sight nowadays..... In the years before the much discussed Dredge Carolina was tied up in the Ferry Basin, there would be school after school after school of Finger Mullets passing through. Shadowed by Flounders "beyond your wildest dreams"...... Anyway, for old times sakes, I threw my cast net and caught 15 fat Finger Mullets.... Good Thing. It paid off.... Anyway, I grew tired of looking for the Mythical Sight Castable Sheepshead.... Tired now and yawning.... I pondered laying down for an hour. No, I've got some live bait, once again I thought, "for old times sakes" I'm going to toss a Mullet out on the old "Flounder Berm"..... Twenty seconds later, it seemed like Andre the Giant thumped the back of my hand that was holding my rod. Okay, that's familiar! I paused 15 seconds and lifted my rod firmly...... The rod bowed and the fish surged off. A minute later, I netted a 4 lb Southern Flounder..... Thus began the best 30 minutes of my 2014 Fishing Season (Well, that's debatable) Nine Flounder on Nine Mullets on Nine Casts to the exact same spot. A 5 lb Founder, Three 4 lb Flounders, Three 2 lb Flounders, and Two 16" Flounders. As Gary Cooper netted my last Flounder, another crazy South Dock Phenomenon began! I have fished here 20-60 nights per year, every year since 2004..... That's literally hundreds of nights... Its always been a great place for very small snapper Blues. I've honestly never seen a Bluefish approach 12oz here..... As I celebrated my 9th Flounder and could nearly "bet my life" that #10 was minutes away..... But NO! Suddenly the water boiled. My Finger Mullet was chomped in two. I flicked it back out there, a bleeding half Mullet.... It was instantly crushed. The fish was incredibly fast and strong. It raced circles in the dark straight below my perch on the Deck of the MV Croatoan. Finally, my fish broke the surface. Spooled up with 80# PowerPro, I swung my quarry up and over the rail.... WHAT? A freaking 3 lb Bluefish. Peering over the side, I saw 12-15 of these Blue "Eating Machines" bolt under me and head for the lights and shallows. The water boiled again.... I never caught another Flounder. I tried a couple more Finger Mullets but they were chomped up. Finally my treble hook (the only treble hook in my truck) got bit off by a Chomper Bluefish..... Amazing night at South Dock! Total Catch for the Night: 7 Southern Flounder from 2 lb to 5 lb, 2 Summer Flounder at 16" each, 1 Bluefish at 3 lbs, 2 jumbo Pinfish, 1 baby Gag Grouper, and 2 Atlantic Needlefish