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Beautiful morning at Hatteras Village |
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Lucky Guys... Headed Offshore on a pretty morning |
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Poor little Fella, hooked deeply so I kept him |
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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:
"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.
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
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