Sept 30- Beaufort Freshwater Grand Slam

Its been a while since I've seen that. Took the 3wt Fly Rod over to the Mung Hole this afternoon. After 2 casts, I had my Largemouth Bass and my Pumpkinseed. Five minutes later, I had my Bluegill for a Beaufort Sweet Water Grand Slam. After reaching that landmark I continued to throw popping bugs into my favorite Urban Water Hole. What developed was a surprise. Probably the best Pumpkinseed fishing Id ever experienced. I released 8 Pumpkinseed and caught 2 more Largemouth Bass also. Total Catch for the Day: 3 Largemouth Bass, 8 Pumpkinseed, and 1 Bluegill

Sept 25-28- Ferry Dock Fishing

This could've been "The Week". The Finger Mullet run is peaking at Hatteras Inlet and back in the good ole days, that would've could've should've meant 5-10 Flounders over 20" per night with 4-8 Citations for the Week and a Top Fish of 8-10 lbs. I've been at Hatteras since 2002 and I've got 30+ Flounder Citations at home that came off 2 little sand ridges at South Dock. No joke. Many people may remember those old postings!

Unfortunately, this week I was right there and ready to hammer them BUT..... Instead, we got 10 inches of rain and it blew a Gale for nearly the entire week. I dodged the rain long enough to burn up one pack of Gulp 5" White Jerk Shad. I managed to catch 6 Southern Flounder and 3 Gag Groupers. That's it. I let them all go. I'm changing....... Total Catch for the Week: 6 Southern Flounder up to 24oz, 3 Gag Grouper, and 1 Inshore Lizardfish

Bad Weather AND Erosion of our Barrier Islands

The weather on the entire North Carolina Coast is HORRIBLE..... First of all we have a "Super Moon"event taking place. I heard it on the TV this morning as I slipped in and out of sleep. Without googling it, I assume that in addition to a Full Moon; the Moon is at a point in it's orbit that brings it to it's closest position of the year in relation to the Earth. This event by itself would cause abnormally high tides and extreme differences between high and low. This larger range of tide would obviously create more currents, in and out of our Inlets, plus more Longshore Currents and more Rip Tides. This alone would cause Coastal Flooding. More water and faster moving water than normal, that is flowing in and out of our Inlets and Passes will naturally lead to increased erosion in addition to the flooding. And anyone to who cares, you better take a look at both Beaufort and Hatteras Inlets if you want to remember what they "were"....... There has already been erosion in the past 3 years that will forever (In our Lifetime) change the way these Inlets look. At both locales, there has been 1,000's feet of Beach lost (I dare say 1/4 to 1/3 mile, but it would be a guess). There has been hundred of Cedar Trees and other Barrier Island vegetation lost. These will not grow back in my lifetime, if they do at all. Beaufort Inlet has changed so damn much in the past 3 years, the LACK of PUBLICITY that this has received absolutely BLOWS MY MIND. Same thing at Hatteras Inlet. These are the localities that I see and use the most. Perhaps its happening everywhere, I dont know. In summary, the west end of Shackleford Banks is flat out melting into the Ocean. At Hatteras Inlet, its the west end of Hatteras Island that is getting devoured by the Ocean. The north end of both Ocracoke Island and Bogue Banks pretty much comes and goes, but there has been not really been much "net change" in the time span that I've been paying attention.......

Back to the weather, the astronomical high tides, in addition to a strong High Pressure System to the North of us and a Coastal Low Pressure to the South of us has created a Pressure Gradient that is producing steady and somewhat gusty East and Northest Winds that are pushing waves on shore that is causing EVEN MORE WATER to pile up in Coastal North Carolina. (That might be the Longest Sentence Ive ever wrote. All you Grammer Teacher's put there remember, I am a Fisherman)... Finally, on top of all that, It's been raining on and off, very torrential at times, for the past 48 hours. The amount of water standing on Ocracoke and Hatteras Islands is unbelievable. Highway 12 on Ocracoke Island is underwater and thus, The Hatteras Inlet Ferry Operation is closed down. There is literally no where to go if you ride across from Hatteras to Ocracoke..... What we got up here is a perfect scenario for a Coastal Flood, Astronically High Tides, Low Pressure to the South, Strong High Pressure to the North,,,, Any of those elements alone could cause minor Flooding. Added together, and there is WATER EVERYWHERE..... Fortunately, the winds have been steady at around 20kts, with higher gusts.... If a little higher, the steady winds couldve been really problematic...

The worst part...... Evidently we are probably gonna miss a kick ass Eclipse tonight. Too Cloudy. A very rare "Red Moon" event that's happening tonight and peaking at 10:47 pm on the US East Coast according to one website I read. Oh well, hopefully we will get a glimpse.......  Also, and more importantly to Top Water Charters,  these winds usually produce a "Fishing Hangover" inshore. I do predict this:  Once the Ocean stabilizes after this Puff, The FISHING is going to EXPLODE. Hopefully this event wont blow all the Mullets to South Carolina and/or scatter our Menhaden schools. We are going to need some Menhaden pretty bad because the King Mackerel are getting ready to Blow Up!

IMPORTANT

As of Right Now, The TOP WATER BOAT

DOES NOT HAVE A BLANKET LICENSE

In other words, Clients and Friends and Anglers will need a 2015 North Carolina Saltwater Fishing License to be LEGAL when fishing with Top Water Charters. 

Short Term Licenses cost $5 for NC Residents and $10 Non Residents. Licenses can be purchased on-line. I will offer Anglers a discount from my rates to offset a portion of their Licensing Costs.

I am sorry for this inconvenience.

King Mackerel Fishing

For the next 6-8 weeks, weather allowing, I will be pursuing "The King" of Inshore Fishing. There is NO DOUBT that the most exciting inshore gamefish from Texas all the way around the southeast US coast to Virginia is the King Mackerel. As a kid who spend my early years on the Morehead Ocean Pier, King Mackerel were in a class by themselves as gamefish and the men that fished for them were legendary. The jumps, the strikes, and the line blistering runs are never forgotten. I remember my first King Mackerel like it was yesterday. It came from AR-315 while vertical jigging with a redhead gotcha plug. It was a 14 pounder and I landed him on a 16 ft Boston Whaler back in September of 1987. I remember my biggest King Mackerel like it was yesterday. It was October 30th of 1997. It came from the 30 Minute Rock, on the last Shad in the livewell. It hit while Stacy Mills and Gerald Curran were each fighting 30 lb Kings. My big King struck in the gray light approximately 15 minutes after the sun had slipped below the horizon. Ten minutes later, Gerald gaffed my King Mackerel in total darkness and dropped him straight in the fishbox. The following morning I was excited to dig our fish out because, the first fish that I caught that morning was a 74" long Wahoo. I couldn't wait to carry him to Aaron's Bait and Tackle to get a Citation. My big surprise came when I lifted the lid on the fish box and saw a Huge King Mackerel. I had NO IDEA my last fish was a that BIG! After a photo session, we went over to the Tackle Shop where I wrote up a 53 lb King Mackerel, a 85 lb Wahoo, a 55 lb Amberjack, and a 12 lb 6oz American Red Snapper. That was, still to this day, my Greatest Single Day of Fishing in my life. Finally and Fondly, I remember the 37 lb 4oz King Mackerel that I caught in August of 2000 that was eventually worth $52,900 because it, combined with the 30 lb 8oz King Mackerel that I caught the day before, won the Snead's Ferry King Mackerel Tornament................    By the way, I could just as easily write about 3 HEARTBREAKING King Mackerels that GOT AWAY! One huge King that broke the wire last year on a charter, another Monster King that escaped in another Boat's down rigger cable that would've been worth $100,000 in Grand Ole Opry's Greater Wilmington Open KMT, and one 25 pound King that broke my line (panic) on the Indian Beach Pier as a Rookie! But, its 4am so I'm gonna end this!

Next Week:

Let's Go King Mackerel Fishing:

Open on Sept 30, Oct 1, Oct 2, Oct 3, and Oct 4

During October and November some of the Best King Mackerel Fishing on the Planet takes place off the Carolina Capes. Home at Cape Lookout, we will get our share. Let's break the Top Water Charters and/or Capt Marty's boat record this year.... It still stands at 53 lb

FISH OHIO PINS

Weird...... Today while cooking Walleye fillets for our supper I took a break and went to the mailbox. Inside was my 2015 FISH OHIO PIN. This is basically the Ohio equivalent to a North Carolina Fishing Citation. I qualified for a 2015 Pin on both July 9 and July 10 with large Walleye from Lake Erie. The Walleye are delicious and getting a "Fishing Award" in the mail is always fun!

Sept 20- The Honeymoon Miracle King

Today I was fishing with Elvis and Diana. They got married Thursday and are spending a week at Harker's Island. I felt honored and nervous. In the meantime, on Saturday Jennifer and I went out for a joyride on the Top Water Boat. I secretly wanted to catch a Crevalle Jack on fly and I wanted to scour the Shackleford Beach for Red Drum. Meanwhile, my wife thought we were out for a boat ride. Regardless of our intentions, as we rounded the corner at Lennoxville Point, we were smacked in the face by a suprizing NNW wind at 20-25 kts. All Fly Fishing, Red Drum hunting, and casual Boat riding immediately went "out the window". I was disappointed, my wife was mad, hell even Emma was giving me bad looks....... We settled on Wade Shore and anchored up for swimming and a hike to the Ocean. Nice time we had! I even went "Naked and Afraid" on a dare! Anyhow, back at the Boat, I turned on the VHF Radio and listened to the NOAA Marine Weather Forecast for the Sunday forecast for my Big Honeymoon Charter. It was a very disappointing "Small Craft Advisory" with 20 kt North Winds...... A nightmare scenario! Later, as I talked to Elvis I explained our plight and actually tried to talk him out of going fishing. Thankfully, Elvis persisted and I planned for a miserable day of "2 hook bottom rig fishing" and an avalanche of Pinfish, undersized Hogfish, Croakers, and Black Sea Bass. A "best case scenario" was an early Spot bite...... I rigged up some ultralight spin and was in the process of pulling most of my usual tackle off the boat, when I figured, why not leave a couple of King Rods in the upper rod holders. Thank Goodness........ Then I bought 2 pounds of shrimp and some fresh #5 hooks and went to bed with visions of blowing spray and Pinfish swimming around in my head..... Imagine my surprise at 2 of Mother Nature's boldest early AM weather hints when I arrived at the Top Water Boat at 6am. #1 was a HEAVY HEAVY DEW. That means the night before was very calm and cool nighttime temps. (Calm).  #2 was a very suprizing HEAVY FOG. Nearly zero visibility for a while between 630am and 730am. (Again, calm). To get to the point, there was NOT ANY 20 kt winds this morning! All my fears were unfounded. Actually, as the day unfolded, it wasn't the prettiest day to run around in the Ocean, but it was a beautiful day and we found something exciting to do. I never touched the shrimp and I never saw the first Pinfish! Our first move was to try to catch some Menhaden. I drove out from under sunny skies and dove the Top Water Boat into a Fog Bank off Harkers Island. Seemed like a bonehead move. It was dark, damp, and eerily quiet. For 10 minutes we sat in stunned silence. Then our first mini-miracle occurred.... Right on cue, just as the Fog lifted, the Menhaden started popping and I literally mean a half mile of solid bait! One throw of the 10 foot Cast Net yielded us 30-36 prime King Mackerel baits. The "perfect" number. No need to throw again! Maybe we'd get a chance at a Big Fish after all...... We quickly loaded the Live Well and ran the inside passage to Cape Lookout and as we entered the Bight we saw a beautiful sight! A stud King Mackerel hurled itself upward through one of the many many immense schools of large finger and corn cob sized Mullets that were racing westward all over the entire area. I quickly deployed a couple of menhaden on livebait rigs amid millions of running mullets.....and it didn't take long! The rod in the port side T-Top Rod holder screamed! Diana took the rod as Elvis and I cleared the cockpit. Then it got interesting....... As I ordered Diana to the bow, I took the helm and prepared to pursue our runaway King Mackerel. I glanced left and saw trouble. BIG TROUBLE and there wasn't a damn thing I could do. With our fish stretching out 150 yards of line, the was a 35-40 foot Sailboat under sail that was "right on top" of where our line entered the water. I'm not sure what sort of keel that boat had, but looking back, I have NO IDEA how we didn't lose that fish. The Sailboat actually tacked hard to miss our fish and really all he did was successfully run over our fish twice. But, it was close quarters and there was nothing us or him could do to avoid it.... A stressful minute passed and the Sailboat finally passed. Amazingly we quickly became aware that our fish was still hooked up and moving in a manner not consistent with the motion of the passing Sailboat! We were still HOOKED UP and we were clear of all obstacles! Finally, our King made one play towards my outboard but Elvis grabbed the rod and quickly anticipated the King's move and countered it. As he handed the rod back to Diana, the King surfaced and I quickly sunk the gaff. Hallelujah! And since it was the ONLY BITE OF THE DAY, I'll quit right there! Three Things...... #1 Elvis and Diana were GREAT and I'm wishing them a great life together! #2 King Mackerel were putting on an aerial show today. We probably saw 18-20 SKY ROCKETING KINGS in 2 hours. In spectacular fashion. I know I saw 20-25 lb Kings flying 30 to 40 feet high today, with hundreds of Mullet showering all around. Very Exciting! #3 Finally, the King that we caught was an AMAZING SURVIVOR of one crazy accident. Evidently, sometime in the past, a fisherman somewhere had dropped or tossed a small coil of bright silver single strand wire, probably 60lb test or so, overboard and apparently this King Mackerel had mistaken it for a baitfish and swallowed it. A Coil of Wire! I am not sure if there was even a hook on it. Honestly, it could've had a Sea Witch and a Ballyhoo on it at one time! If so, it was never actually Trolled because the wire had never been uncoiled! All I could see was the coil of wire that had worked its way through the King's left side abdominal wall and had healed itself all around the wire. It had left a wide scar and it really didn't seem to be having much of a negative affect on this fish's life at all. It was amazing and a testament to the toughness and survivability of this species.... I'm sure Elvis can tell us more about it when he steaks up this otherwise healthy King Mackerel! Total Catch for the Day: 1 King Mackerel at 22 lbs 

****Here are a couple of pictures that Elvis sent me. They clearly show that this was a ballyhoo rig that was rigged on single strand wire. A "Wahoo" rig. How it ended up in a King Mackerel's stomach before the wire was even uncoiled will forever be a mystery!

Sept 17- Gloomy and Windy, Decent Casting in the Surf

The Jeremy and I went up the Shackleford Beach today at low tide. Scouring and Scouting for schools of Red Drum. I forgot one little piece of pretty significant equipment though.... My polarized sunglasses. Duhh Huhh. Needless to say, I did not find any Red Drum. With Jeremy and Emma unpatiently tapping their paws, I did find school after school of frenzied action in the surf and just beyond. Slinging stingsilvers brought quick action. Emma did her best Grizzly imitation. Ripping the fat rich skin off the Bluefish and also devouring the velvety brains...... Pretty sick really and "bad bad girl" could be heard up and down the Shackleford Beach. Total Catch for the Day: 9 Spanish Mackerel, 4 Bluefish, and 3 Crevalle Jack

Sept 16- Tough Fishing

Today was a pretty day. Fairly light winds, partly sunny/ mostly overcast. Favorable Tide Cycle all day. And, finally, there were hundreds of thousands, hell, hundreds of Millions! How can you tell the difference! Let's just say, "millions of Finger Mullets" from Cape Point to Beaufort Inlet. Unfortunately, the wind was stronger than forecasted (10 kt vs 15+ kts) no big deal, BUT, the wind was from the Northeast. 10 kt NE Wind is fine. Northeast wind at 15 kts sucks and kills most all inshore bites and it makes it rough as hell offshore....  Always has, always will. 2015 or 1984, no different. Catching live Menhaden might have helped, but we didn't see a single flip in the 45 minutes we spent out front of Harkers Island. So, no live Menhaden for King Mackerel baits... Also, Albacore traditionally like the Northeasters, but we never saw the first Albie bust bait.... Double Dammit!  We went to Cape Lookout praying for clean water and maybe a few bait balls.... It was here we found the mother lode of Mullets, and caught 5 dozen in the cast net.... We also saw 2 fat Kings jump inside the Bight but we could not coax a bite, despite our best efforts! Much later, in Beaufort Inlet, we had a screamer that dumped half a spool in 10 seconds. Dropped the hooks as I lifted the rod out of the rod holder...... Crappy end to a beautiful, but unsuccessful day. Capt Marty's worst year ever continues........Great effort by Joe and Dan. Joe is a great client and catching fish is "not that important" to him. He enjoys time on the water. Thank Goodness for that Miracle! Total Catch for the Day: 8 Crevalle Jacks, 2 Spanish Macketel, 2 Bluefish, 1 Atlantic Thread Herring, and 3 Jumping Mullets