Thursday, July 31, 2014

July 30- Too Many Cars and Small Flounder Chewing

Beautiful morning at Hatteras Village
Lucky Guys... Headed Offshore on a pretty morning

Poor little Fella, hooked deeply so I kept him

One Cast with the 10 ft Net and it's Mullets Galore!
Night run on the Hatteras Ferry means tying up on the Ocracoke side at 1am. That way, there is a boat sitting over there if there is an emergency. Unless it is bad enough for a Medical Helicopter, we are the only way off the Island.... So Tuesday night we had a 1am ambulance therefore we only had an hour of down time. Enough time for me to throw my cast net twice and load up on Jumping Mullets..... No time for the Rod N Reel.... Last night, it was the same, but different. No ambulance, but when we left Ocracoke at 11pm, there were 90 cars left behind. Therefore, we had to make an extra run.... Once again, I had very little down time.... We secured at 345am and I need to re-fire the engines at 430am.... For those not familiar with my "South Dock Fishing" let me educate you.... Since the Fall of 2003, I have landed 44 Citation Flounders up to 10 lb 6 oz from this location. I have landed 34 Citation Sheepsheads up to 12 lb 8 oz from this location. I have landed my career best Gray Trout at 6 lb 2 oz. I have landed all my largest Tautogs here. I have landed monster Conger Eels here. On the weird side, I have landed Stargazers, Lookdowns, Scorpionfish..... I have literally caught tons of Jumping Mullets here in my cast net. I have caught Mullets up to 8 lbs. Mullets with Remoras they are soooo big. I have seen hundreds of huge Mantis Shrimps. I have seen a 14" Asian Tiger Shrimp here. I have watched Otter families raise little ones. I have watched baby Otters "come of age" when they pop up at 3am with Spadefish clutched in their jaws! We have a small resident group of Canada Geese that were young and very unsuccessful at raising babies.. This year they finally figured it out and raised a large brood.... I have seen Loggerhead Turtles right under me as I stood on the Ramp. Because the lights and glare, they had no idea I was there..... I watch Night Herons fish all night long..... I've seen Harbor Seals frolicking under the lights in the dead of winter. Speaking of dead, unfortunately, I have seen a Humpback WhaIe beach itself nearby and eventually die... I have seen a Pygmy Sperm Whale beach itself in the Ferry Basin and eventually die. Dead Harbor Porpoises. Dead Bottlenosed Dolphins..... In other words, my time spent at South Dock is a large part of the appeal of my job with the Ferry and my Life in general.... 

So, I'm bummed. This week, we've been running all night and I've had little chance to enjoy the interesting fishing. Why is this place so special? Well, my opinion is because it has several features that serve as "fish magnets" when they occur singly... The fact that this spot has several of these features and you have the recipe for a Great Fishing Hole..... These factors include: Deep Water, Heavy Structure, Well Lighted at Night, and within a quarter mile of a Major Inlet.... The highly productive Pamlico Sound meets Gamefish Junction of the Atlantic Basin right around the corner from the Ferry Dock on the east end of Ocracoke Island.... The only drawback is that for 20 hours a day and for 365 days a year, Ferrys are constantly coming and going.... Honestly, I don't think it bothers the fish one iota!

Anyway, last night with one hour to play, I threw the cast net one time and caught about 18 Jumping Mullets from 1-3 lbs.... Then I tied on a leadhead and gulp, and in the skinny water under the bright lights, I caught 5 Southern Flounder in 10 minutes. One was a keeper at 15", the others were fighting chunks, but measured from 13" to just under legal.... Once again I was up all night and once again I was too tired this morning to go search for Pompano.... I have got to get this done. I got a few more day.... But, its nice to know that the night time fishing should be good if I actually get time to try..... Also, todays grilled Mullets featured Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce and were damn good! Total Catch for the Night: 5 Southern Flounder up to 15", 4 Pinfish, and 1 Black Sea Bass

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Honestly, I don't think the boat traffic bothers the fish one iota"......it may be all that boat traffic is a huge plus keeping the food supply stirred up and helps to attract the wide array of stuff you encounter. Plus everything else you mentioned...all pluses pluses pluses.

Capt. Marty said...

When Ferrys come and go every 15:minutes it becomes part of the normal environment over here.... BTW, its 1130 on thursday night and we just left loaded and we left 50+ cars in line. So............ It looks like another long night. Daggone It