I've been tranferred to Cedar Island and I'm now working with the Big Boys! Newest boat in the fleet, MV Swan Quarter built in 2010-2011. I've got a lot to learn..... It'll be nice being home at night, that's for sure.
As for the fishing, hopefully the next fish I catch will be a King Salmon or a Steelhead. Its been a long time coming, but its time for Capt Marty to scoot 15 hours up the road and try something new. I will be standing knee deep in Lake Ontario's creek run Salmons and Trout. Please let them eat my fly...... I will be looking for my first King Salmon, my first Coho Salmon, my career best Brown Trout, and my career best Rainbow Trout. Atlantic Salmon also run these creeks but I damn sure ain't expecting to get that lucky....... I'm honestly hoping for 3 of the other 4 and I'll be lucky...
I'm hoping to check these guys off my bucket list. And hopefully this will propel me towards an Alaskan Fishing Adventure in the summer of 2016!
BIG FISH on LIGHT TACKLE The daily fishing reports from Capt. Marty Moore of Top Water Charters. Plus, news and notes from Capt. Marty
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Bad News
I have got to say, I've seen this day coming from a ways off. She held up longer than I would have ever guessed. Unfortunately, concerns about the health of my Outboard Motor affected every decision that I've made on the water for the past year, and to some degree, the past 4-5 years..... Then last Wednesday, she finally did it. A pretty serious break down. My ole 250 Suzuki did have the common decency to run like a scalded dog all the way back to the Dock. The problem is, or better stated, the obvious symptom is the shards of fractured magnet that are stuck all over my engine and visible when the cowling is removed. Decision time ahead for Capt Marty. Pour $$$$ into a 2003 250 HP Suzuki that already belongs in the Outboard Motor Hall of Fame, buy a new Motor, or become a Surf Fishing Guide...... As for right now, anyone interested in foot fishing for Speckled Trout? The numbers are going to be good. Let's Go!
Also be on the lookout for a:
GoFundMe account for "Capt Marty's New Outboard"
WTH, also look for a GoFundMe for:
"Send Capt Marty on an Australian Black Marlin Quest"
Also be on the lookout for a:
GoFundMe account for "Capt Marty's New Outboard"
WTH, also look for a GoFundMe for:
"Send Capt Marty on an Australian Black Marlin Quest"
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Oct 22- Where Did All The Fish Go
Once again, what a difference a day makes.... Yesterday was probably the most sea life I'd ever seen. Acres of Menhaden and Anchovy. Thousands of Pelicans, Gulls, and Terns. Armadas of Predators. Bluefish, Albacore, Bottlenosed Dolphin, and Humpback Whale. All gorging like a Honey Boo Boo Family night at Golden Corral. Today, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. Absolutely beautiful weather and you would think, mid-October and Fishing will be Great. With the Top Water Boat on Life Support and in need of a new Outboard Motor (YIKES........ ) I joined Capt Christopher Columbus on the FV Santa Maria and we went out Straight Sight Casting Red Drum Excursion... Things did not go as planned! Chris and I explored the New World from Shark Island to the Sheraton at Atlantic Beach. We saw No Red Fish, hell we did not even see a Blue Fish, or any other if the ROY G BIV Spectrum................ I did fire a cast towards a swirl and a rip and I managed to hook a miracle Albacore. Amazing. We rode 50 miles and the lack of visible life was incredible. Moreso after yesterdays plethora of Life. Well, it wasn't 1492, but I did sail the Ocean Blue with Christopher Columbus. Meanwhile, Capt Tyler Thomas took my charter for today while my crippled boat sat in my yard. Fate Unknown. Total Catch for the Day: 1 Albacore at 10 lbs
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Oct 21- Great Great Albacore Fishing
What a difference a day makes! The fishing today was Outstanding! Well, let me rephrase that... The "Albacore" Fishing was Outstanding! Some other things we tried, we struggled. Jim and Trish made their day out west of Shark Island where the Albacore presented themselves nicely, with some individual forays lasting from 15-20 seconds. This action lasted for at least 2 hours in the morning. There were plenty of opportunities to go around for each of the 10-12 boats out there. Whether you liked Fly or Spin, this was a great morning for catching Albacore........ Jim could cast a stingsilver with the best of them. Trish's casting was fairly short, but no matter, she did fine on her own. She had No Problem catching at least 5 total "Do It Yourself" Albacore. On occasion that I joined them casting, we accomplished a tripleheaders at least 2 times..... Much to the chagrin of at least one "1 month a year" Albacore Guide. I found his eye rolling, shoulder shrugging humorous. Later his mumbling and preoccupation with what my Boat was doing got a little more offensive. I guess I need to apologize for the fact that not only can I catch 6 Albacore to his One, but I can also hang a stingsilver between his eyeballs from 200 feet away into a 15kt northeaster.... But, I love my Fly Rod too and I do appreciate the skill and the fishery... I do recognize, however, that there were PLENTY of Albacore to go around and I'll be damned if some Cat that you don't even see on the water until October is going to push me off of a school of fish. Especially when my clients are paying there hard earned money to catch the same fish that everyone else is chasing. Off soapbox. Also, it was an incredible day for watching Marine Life and seeing its abundance. We saw acres of Menhaden and Anchoviy.. We saw thousands of Sea Birds. Pelicans were feeding in a very unusual manner. Herding "red bait" in massive shoals and corralling them. Wings spread, scooping up shovel fulls of tiny Anchovy from a "sitting on the water" position. We also saw hundreds of Dolphin and a Young Humpback Whale right up in 20 feet of water. Awesome day, Great Clients. Lots of sore-mouthed Albacore. Sorry Charlie, this ain't the Chicken of the Sea. Total Catch for the Day: 17 Albacore from 8 to 11 lbs, 12 Bluefish from 10" to 2 lbs, 1 Inshore Lizardfish, and 1 Menhaden
Oct 20- Tough NE Wind and Fishing Struggles
Great client Brent showed up after a 2 year hiatus..... In all fairness, I spent time in Brent's Penalty Box for knocking his 10 lb Spanish Mackerel off his stingsilver with my poorly aimed Landing Net. Oooopps. Unfortunately, today there would be NO MACKEREL, King or Spanish.... In fact, Live Bait Fishing was very very very disappointing. Especially considering the Hell of Catching Menhaden and the slow, wet run 10 miles to the (Not So) Hot Spot... The ride home was even worse. All told, it was a waste of 4+ hours. Brent established (again) his vertical jigging prowess by catching a Blue Runner, a Gag Grouper, and a Whitebone Porgy. Three very interesting species! Once back near Cape Lookout we had our fun catching 2-3 lb Bluefish while casting metal lures. The coolest thing about the action today was the forage species. Incredibly the Blues (and Gulls and Pelicans) were gorging on 6-8 inch Ribbonfish. Millions of them. There were baby Ribbons jumping everywhere. Brent and Ken decked approximently 30 Bluefish. Killed a few and released the rest. We then added Albacore and Red Drum to the party being hosted by King Mackerel..... They called it the "Fish Embarassing Captain Marty Fall Extravaganza". All in all, I was very disappointing not to find better Fishing for these guys. The middle of October is supposed to produce Great Fishing and despite the sucky NE Wind and dirty water, I was very disappointed. Total Catch for the Day: 30 Bluefish from 2-3 lbs, 1 Gag Grouper, 1 Blue Runner, and 1 Whitebone Porgy
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Oct 17- Citation Red Drum Surprise
I picked a damm fine day to leave my phone in the truck. Jennifer didn't have hers either. No big deal, we were just going for a short boat ride. Emma was riding too so I grabbed 2 spinning rods and I figured I'd catch her a Bluefish to munch on. After catching 5 small Blues inside the Inlet, I decided to check out Rough Point for schools of Red Drum. Conditions were ideal except for dirty water. I gave up quickly on this idea because it was impossible. I wasn't willing to blind cast on 8 miles of Oceanfront.. As I turned the Top Water Boat around and headed back to Beaufort Inlet, sonething caught my eye. A huge dark spot on the water covered up with splash splash splash pop pop pop...... A HUGE school of Menhaden. Biggest of my year. I raced over for a closer look. I explained to Jennifer how I used to love to snag Menhaden as a kid on the Morehead Ocean Pier. Like this! As I drove a stingsilver into the school. My rod bowed and the tip throbbed as my treble hook found paydirt. My wife thought it was cool! Watch this then, I said. I could already feel mystery fish hitting my snagged Menhaden. I quickly cranked him up to the surface and a half dozen 3-4 lb Bluefish followed it up. Darting in and biting out plugs of flesh. Cool as hell but sadistic. Jennifer felt sorry for the hapless Menhaden, now just a carcass. Suddenly the boat's shadow spooked the Bluefish. I was hoping to hook a larger Blue. I freespooled the "still snagged" carcass to the botton. By the way, I had a great view because I was still in the tower. Amazingly, on the bottom, I got a quick bite. The hookset was solid and the fish surged away like a runaway Freight Train! This fish was obviously pretty damn heavy and strong and my first guess was a Shark. I figured with a stingsilver tied directly to 10# mono, a battle with a big Shark would end pretty quickly. My opponent was still taking line and there was occasional jerk jerk as my quarry shook his head. I dared to tighten the drag fully expecting my line to part on the "Shark's" sharp teeth or abrasive skin.... Neither happened. In fact, I was able to stop my opponent and actually gain some line back. As I fought my fish from my Tower we were attracting the attention of several other Boats fishing nearby. Everyone wanted to see what I had hooked. Finally, 10 stressful minutes after the hook-up, my line started to rise and a large reddish bronze fish materialized out of the greenish gloom......My mystery fish turned out to be a 42" Red Drum.... From the waters off Shackleford Banks, in October.... That's a weird place for a mature Red Drum to be. Just goes to show.... You never know what you might catch when you drop a bait in the damn Ocean! Total Catch for the Day: 1 Red Drum at 42" and 2 Menhaden
To be continued
To be continued
Oct 16- Fat Albert Frenzy
Fifteen year ago, Ten years ago, Five years ago..... George Bush and everybody else in the World who fished with Fly Tackle would descend on Beaufort Inlet and Barden's Inlet in October and November to chase the suddenly popular Little Tunny, better known as, and incorrectly known as: Albacore, False Albacore, and Bonito.... Call him Fat Albert and everyone knows who "that fish is".... I pesonally call them Albacore, but I'd love to catch a real, or True Albacore! Just DON'T call him a Bonito because the real Bonito in everything a Fat Albert is plus it's great eating.... (Shut Up Capt Marty, it's late) What I was getting at is this, there are millions of Albacore around Cape Lookout right now and there are very few guys out chasing them. We found them yesterday along with a few of their sleek gray enemies..... This morning. I ran out there to try them on my 5wt Fly Rod. By myself. It's tough, I quickly frustrated myself. Pulled out the metal on spin and caught them on 4 straight casts at one point. In 2 hours, I released 7 Albacore and had a great time! As I told BenJeye yesterday, It's one of my favorite things. Releasing hard fighting but otherwise worthless Fat Alberts. And yes, I know that nowadays they have some value and the Fish Houses are buying them. To me, if they ain't worth $1 a pound, they ain't getting mine..... It just isn't worth if. Every single Albacore, or whatever you choose to call them, they EARN their freedom. Let them go! It makes me feel good...... Total Catch for the Day: 7 Albacore from 8 to 11 lbs
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Oct 15- Best Experience of the Year
I was careful NOT to say "best fishing of the year" but BenJeye and I had one of those rare "Magic Fishing Moments" play out all around and right beside and just beneath the Top Water Boat and he nor I will ever forget it. In my 40+ years of Fishing (Hell Yeah I'm counting the many weeks and weekends I spent on the Morehead Ocean Pier as a 10 year old) I've never seen anything to rival today's show.... So if I got you "hooked", you must be wondering what the hell happened to us? Well, our day was tough and challenging. Beautiful weather in mid-October usually means the Best King Mackerel Fishing of the Year. Adding to the challenge was all the terrible weather we've been experiencing as well as Capt Marty's lack of recent fishing... I sat out all last week off because of horrible weather and the past week I was at Hatteras. I didn't miss much, as the weather remained horrible. With no up to date information, just drawing on 20 years of experience HARD CORE King Mackerel Fishing..... BenJeye and I ventured out and our goal was an NC Citation for BenJeye..... First of all, the Menhaden were "un-catchable" in front of Harker's Island for some damn reason. We settled for about 14 Bluefish from 8" to 10" each in the livewell instead. Piss Poor but better than nothing, Casting metal to marauding Bluefish was fun enough after a 2 week hiatus from the Top Water Experience! So with some bait, less than ideal, but better than nothing, we hauled ass 12 miles South of Beaufort Inlet. Arriving at "the Spot" we fairly quickly caught BenJeye is FIRST career King Mackerel. What we used to call "Hatteras Stock" this King Mackerel was stocky as hell and ran like OJ "The Juice" Simpson back in 1973..... His second run was outstanding and for a minute I thought we had BenJeye's pink slipper, but he faded to a stout 23 pounder and our day was young and the outlook was bright.... Then, we went 2 hours without a scare.... Crapola! We then decided before calling it quits, we would head over to the Fenwick Island Wreck and see if we could catch an Amberjack. Here's where a drab day turned into a day to NEVER BE FORGOTTEN...... We found no Jacks, hell we didn't even find a Wreck. Has it "sanded over", who knows? Well, LGF knows, I need to ask him..... Later on that.... Anyway,, we ran up on many many many Albacore schools.... BenJeye had never caught one of those either. I picked up a spinning rod and slung a stingsilver in a foray of foam and green back missiles. Immediate hookup followed by a quick release. As BenJeye started his personal Albacore quest, something off to the east caught my eye. Something incredible was happening. As I stared away at "something" the Albacore "blew up" right beside me..... BenJeye didn't see this as he was casting off the portside and I was casting off the starboard side. I know what I saw. In a sea full of splashes and whips of green and silver, I saw a distinct whurl of black and yellow. With hands shaking, I quickly cast my stingsilver. Just as it entered the "feed zone" a mini bulldozer of high speed Blackfin Tuna broke the surface just right of my racing lure. A quick twitch of muscle and the Tuna veered into my stingsilver, A big splash and BOOM. I was hooked up. A different kind of run. Strong, deep, heavy, deliberate. "Hey Jeye, I got a freaking stud-ass 25 lb Blackfin Tuna hooked up". As soon as I formed the sentence, the rod tip popped up and the line went limp.... Incredible. FIVE MONTHS AGO, THE SAME EXACT THING HAPPENED. (Ryan Handsbro and me off Atlantic Beach) I am 0-2 on kick ass Blackfin Tuna on spinning tackle in 2015.... Guess what? THAT AINT IT..... Crazy as it seems, even though there was acres of Albacore busting in all directions.... And at least a few Blackfin Tunas! Those were NOT what had caught my eye.... No, No Way. Off to the East, it was still happening... Sharks and hundreds of them, were jumping. Here. There, and Everywhere. We have all seen Blacktip and Spinner Sharks jump. And spin. But here today, they were jumping 5-10 at a time. For up to 10 minutes at a time. We are talking about hundreds or even thousands of Sharks. Jumping Jumping Jumping over and over again. Little ones at 20 pounds. Big ones at 7 feet and 150 pounds..... We ran the Top Water Boat to the action. BenJeye was in for a treat. Hell, Capt Marty was in for a treat. Something INCREDIBLE was Happening Here and that aint no joke. Funny too, I've experienced schools of Sharks through the years and they've never been Boat Shy... But these were. So it seemed....... We'd run to them and they'd disappear. Five minutes later and 1000 yards to the east, they would start up again. We tried 3 times to get into them. But they would elude us..... Finally I ran east of where they were jumping. Here I turned the motor off and we waited. After a few minutes, the Albacore popped up close by and we started casting towards them. BenJeye had left a live Bluefish overboard and suddenly his reel started singing.... As I moved towards the stern, I looked over the side and here they came..... An Army of Sharks.... Twenty Sharks wide and a parade that was 50 Sharks long! Big ones too, 100+ pounders. Suddenly the jumpers started.... Freaking crazy. BenJeye shot some video. We caught some. We broke off some. We released 4 by the Boat. The smallest one I pulled into the Boat for a picture and he was a 40 pounder..... After watching this amazing show, I almost believe the jumping was a conscience effort to pummel and bewilder the Albacore... To stun them or confuse them... To make them easy to catch... I will say this much, because this happened.... Right in front of me. Once whie BenJeye was fighting a Shark, I tossed my stingsilver at an Albaacore blow-up. I quickly hooked an Albacore. Right in front of me, 3 of the larger Spinner Sharks exploded off towards my Albacore. My drag screamed like no Albacore ever screamed it before! The chase lasted about 10 seconds. Just off my bow, the Sharks gave up the chase and swam back to the boat. Dorsal fins out so there was no mistaking a Shark for a Shark, I watched them.... The 3 large Spinner Sharks lazily swam just in front of my position. They waited. My Albacore played itself out of energy.... As I tried to land it as quickly as possible BUT it wasn't quick enough! Right at boatside, right in front of BenJeye and me, the 3 Spinners waited and then pounced on my exhausted Albacore. They shredded it in seconds. After that show, it was getting late and it was time to go.... I told BenJeye, this stuff DOES NOT happen everyday, We looked out to the east and south of our position just west of the Cape Lookout Shoals. Sharks were hurling themselves into the air in 3 individual groups. There was anywhere from 5 to 20 Sharks airborne at any given time. A few 20 pounders. A bunch of 50-100 pounders. A few 150 pounders. The ones we landed were all Spinner Sharks. Strange because during the past 25 years, I land approximately 30 Blacktip Sharks for each Spinner Sharks..... I find it hard to believe what I saw on Oct 15, 2015...... Total Catch for the Day: 30 Bluefish from 8" to 12", 6 Albacore from 7 lbs to 10 lbs, a 23 lb King Mackerel, a 15" Spanish Mackerel, 6 Spinner Sharks from 40 lbs to 85 lbs, and 3 Sharpnose Sharks from 7 lbs to 9 lbs
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Oct 13- End of an Era
I go home tomorrow and my time at Hatteras is over. No need to ponder that now, lets go King Mackerel Fishing. Get er Done! Albacore, Red Drum, and Speckled Trout too..
Pretty soon Capt Marty will be headed north. In search of new challenges. Yall better catch me before I change gears!
Pretty soon Capt Marty will be headed north. In search of new challenges. Yall better catch me before I change gears!
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Oct 9- Gray Trout Suprize
Fishing is damn slow! So slow, I ditched the rod and reel and grabbed the gig and light. This despite high winds and dirty water. The two biggest No-No's of Flounder Gigging! Either/Or it was just a waste of time... .. Actually time spent alone, wondering the warm edge of any salty body of water is very very soothing to my soul. Reflecting on my past and future, while searching for a great flounder is what makes this activity so appealing to me. Of course, there are other factors. You are matching wits with one of Mother Nature's Greatest Evolutionary Creations: The Flounder. Incredible in camoflauge and a stealthy top end predator. This fish should be admired as Way More Than a Delicious Fish Dinner. This Fish is the King of the Salt Water Environments Shallow Bottoms. No small fish passes a hungry Flounder without paying the ultimate sacrifice. And they never saw what hit them! Anyway, to gig this amazing creature, you must approach one in complete darkness; bringing it into your "circle of light".... Then before the Flounder understands what's happening, you must thrust your gig into his muscular body. You must be quick or your Flounder will explode off his sandy hiding spot and disappear leaving a trail of silty clouds along his escape path! You can follow him, but beware, he always always runs towards deep water... Doing ALL THIS versus one of Nature's Greatest, Alone, While knee deep in the water off a desolute wind swept Outer Island Beach. On a dark and windy Night. Less than a mile from where 90 men, women, and children drowned during the wreck of the SS Home back in 1837..... On top of all this, pondering your past and future, searching for flounder..... Sometimes in the wind and the crashing waves, I have heard the cry of women and children calling for help in the surf. Tortured souls that can't rest.....
Alone. Dark. Windy. Flounder. Ghosts.
A fishing report that went Bad.... Total Catch for the Night: 1 Gray Trout at 24oz and 1 BlackSea Bass
Alone. Dark. Windy. Flounder. Ghosts.
A fishing report that went Bad.... Total Catch for the Night: 1 Gray Trout at 24oz and 1 BlackSea Bass
Friday, October 9, 2015
Oct 8- Long Night and Slow Fishing
BenJeye and I stayed up between 1am and 415am and "fished the night away"...... There was a Falling Tide but no perceivable water movement all night. The water was very Dirty. There was NO meaningful Bait. In other words, it's early October and the Ferry Basin should be FULL of MULLET. Running Finger Mullet and the resident population of huge adult Jumping Mullets. They should be full of Roe..... They are GONE. Without the Fingers, the predators are missing. Without the adult Mullets, our grill is cold. No Roe for Bobby Garrish... it is a sad time.... Back to the actual fishing... I guesstimate that in 195 minutes I probably made 150 casts.... I had 5 bites. I missed 2 bites. I caught a Flounder. A Gag Grouper. And a Speckled Trout. The Speckled Trout is significant because in the thousands of hours I have spent fishing here since 2002, this is my First Speckled Trout at this location. Odd...... Meanwhile BenJeye caught a Gag Grouper and a Lizardfish. Long Night. Total Catch for the Night: 1 Southern Flounder, 1 Speckled Trout, 2 Gag Grouper, and 1 Inshore Lizardfish
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Oct 7- Fishing, Flounder, and the Flood
Well....... After 13 years, 30+ NC Flounder Citations, precisely 34 NC Sheephead Citations..... A 6 lb 2oz Gray Trout, a 10 lb 6oz Flounder, a 12 lb 8oz Flounder....... My career best Tautog, Conger Eel, and huge Lookdowns...... A freaking 9 lb Jumping Mullet in my Castnet....... A 1000+ Squid up to 36"...... It's Coming to an END.......
The Things I've seen over there at South Dock through the years! A Pigmy Sperm Whale. An Asian Tiger Shrimp. A Glasseye Snapper. Y'all get the picture????? The Flounders, and the Sheepheads, and the Squid really MADE THAT PLACE ROCK though.... A Scuba Diver was checking the Prop on a Ferry over there back in September of 2004. I'll never forget it. I was headed to work, a NIGHT Shift. I had my cast net, my bait bucket, and my 15 foot landing net (I was ready in other words).... He came up, and said, I'll never forget it, he said, "Does anyone ever fish over here? Because I'm here to tell ya, there are Flounder down there like shingles on a roof......" That night between 1230am and 400am I caught 28 Southern Flounders. 20 of them were over 3 lbs. 5 of them were over 6 lbs. The largest was 10 lbs 6oz.... My Captain laughed at me as he walked on the Boat. "You been up all night? What an idiot" Idiot Indeed. The Events that make you and shape you.
It's all coming to an end..... This is MY LAST SHIFT at The Hatteras Inlet Ferry Operation.... Next week, I start working at The Cedar Island Ferry Operation. Therefore, this Is My Last Chance to fish the Glorious South Dock, which is located on the North End of Ocracoke Island.... Too bad #1 The Finger Mullet run was peaking 2 weeks ago. The Flounder shadow the Finger Mullet at Hatteras Inlet.... #2 We just had our "Hurricane for 2015".... Not really, but we had the Rain of a Hurricane plus more and we nearly had the wind... The water was "as high as" all the Storm Surges I've experienced down at Hatteras Village. The exception would be Hurricane Isabel. That seems like a lifetime ago. It was 2003, my second year at Hatteras..... Oh well, in other words, THE WEATHER RUINED THE FISHING! I been saying that ALL YEAR. Is it just me? What an assed-up year of Fishing.... Top Water Charters has had a terrible year and I have caught less fish than any year back to..... I'd guess 1985. Another story for another day, but I re-discovered Fishing in April of 1986 after kinda quitting in it for 2-3 years.... Other things seemed more important, for about 3 years.....
Anyway, my crewmate and Harker's Islander Ben-Jeye Taylor has Commercial Fished and been a 3rd Percentile Mercenary his entire life and has never caught a fish.... We have talked about and planned for this Night Run all the way back to May...... WE certainly weren't going to let Floodwaters, Erosion, Dirty Water, No Bait, Dead Basin, High Wind, ChowdaHead Josh or anything else keep us from Fishing. Ben-Jeye had heard all my stories. He wanted to catch a Flounder... Like I said, there was NO LIVE BAIT to be caught. The Tide was falling/LOW all night. The Water was HIGH as HELL and Filthy all Night (It takes a great Outdoorsman to Understand the paradox of "Low Tide" and "Extremely High Water" but you will have to trust me, I know what I'm talking about) The deck was stacked against Ben-Jeye as we started our Late Night Fishing Session. Imagine my suprize when on his 3rd or 4th cast Ben-Jeye decked a fat 17" Southern Flounder on a Gulp Shrimp! Awesome. Mission Accomplished! It wasn't great, but an hour later, I had caught 2 Southern Flounders and Ben-Jeye had caught 2 Southern Flounders. I had the best one at 2 lbs.... The weather is improving, the conditions are improving, maybe the Mullet will come back, and I've got 5 more nights at Hatteras Inlet. SAD.... HAPPY..... All rolled up into one! Total Catch for the Night: 4 Southern Flounder up to 2 lbs
The Things I've seen over there at South Dock through the years! A Pigmy Sperm Whale. An Asian Tiger Shrimp. A Glasseye Snapper. Y'all get the picture????? The Flounders, and the Sheepheads, and the Squid really MADE THAT PLACE ROCK though.... A Scuba Diver was checking the Prop on a Ferry over there back in September of 2004. I'll never forget it. I was headed to work, a NIGHT Shift. I had my cast net, my bait bucket, and my 15 foot landing net (I was ready in other words).... He came up, and said, I'll never forget it, he said, "Does anyone ever fish over here? Because I'm here to tell ya, there are Flounder down there like shingles on a roof......" That night between 1230am and 400am I caught 28 Southern Flounders. 20 of them were over 3 lbs. 5 of them were over 6 lbs. The largest was 10 lbs 6oz.... My Captain laughed at me as he walked on the Boat. "You been up all night? What an idiot" Idiot Indeed. The Events that make you and shape you.
It's all coming to an end..... This is MY LAST SHIFT at The Hatteras Inlet Ferry Operation.... Next week, I start working at The Cedar Island Ferry Operation. Therefore, this Is My Last Chance to fish the Glorious South Dock, which is located on the North End of Ocracoke Island.... Too bad #1 The Finger Mullet run was peaking 2 weeks ago. The Flounder shadow the Finger Mullet at Hatteras Inlet.... #2 We just had our "Hurricane for 2015".... Not really, but we had the Rain of a Hurricane plus more and we nearly had the wind... The water was "as high as" all the Storm Surges I've experienced down at Hatteras Village. The exception would be Hurricane Isabel. That seems like a lifetime ago. It was 2003, my second year at Hatteras..... Oh well, in other words, THE WEATHER RUINED THE FISHING! I been saying that ALL YEAR. Is it just me? What an assed-up year of Fishing.... Top Water Charters has had a terrible year and I have caught less fish than any year back to..... I'd guess 1985. Another story for another day, but I re-discovered Fishing in April of 1986 after kinda quitting in it for 2-3 years.... Other things seemed more important, for about 3 years.....
Anyway, my crewmate and Harker's Islander Ben-Jeye Taylor has Commercial Fished and been a 3rd Percentile Mercenary his entire life and has never caught a fish.... We have talked about and planned for this Night Run all the way back to May...... WE certainly weren't going to let Floodwaters, Erosion, Dirty Water, No Bait, Dead Basin, High Wind, ChowdaHead Josh or anything else keep us from Fishing. Ben-Jeye had heard all my stories. He wanted to catch a Flounder... Like I said, there was NO LIVE BAIT to be caught. The Tide was falling/LOW all night. The Water was HIGH as HELL and Filthy all Night (It takes a great Outdoorsman to Understand the paradox of "Low Tide" and "Extremely High Water" but you will have to trust me, I know what I'm talking about) The deck was stacked against Ben-Jeye as we started our Late Night Fishing Session. Imagine my suprize when on his 3rd or 4th cast Ben-Jeye decked a fat 17" Southern Flounder on a Gulp Shrimp! Awesome. Mission Accomplished! It wasn't great, but an hour later, I had caught 2 Southern Flounders and Ben-Jeye had caught 2 Southern Flounders. I had the best one at 2 lbs.... The weather is improving, the conditions are improving, maybe the Mullet will come back, and I've got 5 more nights at Hatteras Inlet. SAD.... HAPPY..... All rolled up into one! Total Catch for the Night: 4 Southern Flounder up to 2 lbs
Friday, October 2, 2015
October 1- More Rain Coming......RAIN RAIN RAIN
I have well publicized the fact that October is my Favorite Fishing Month and the Oct-Dec period is my Favorite Fishing Quarter of the Year. Like a Football Game, the Fishing Season's relative success or failure is usually decided in the 4th Quarter....... This year, it seems like October is getting off to a horrible start. It's raining this morning. It's supposed to rain all day, all night, and into tomorrow.
STOP THE NON SENSE
ITS FRICKING RAINING and IT'S RUINING MY LIFE
STOP THE NON SENSE
ITS FRICKING RAINING and IT'S RUINING MY LIFE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)