July 31 Wahoos and Blackfin Tunas

Gerald, Scott, and I endured 40 miles of 5-6 foot speed bumps all day long. We also endured a very slow day of fishing in and around 30 fathoms. No Dolphin action makes for slow summertime fishing. By the end of the day we had 2 Wahoo (22 and 25 lb.s) , 2 Blackfin Tuna (5 lb.s each), and 3 Barracudas. We missed about 5 strikes. It was so rough, the only time I took my camera out was on the way offshore to take a picture of Dale Britt's charter boat Sensation. My camera got soaked by blowing spray!

July 30 Red Drums and Flounders

1. I'm headed offshore tommorrow so I'm taking it easy today. I'll pull 2 shifts on the dock. This morning I fished a hard falling tide and my first four drops were pretty successful! A 22" Red Drum and 3 Flounders. After that it was hard times so I saved the rest of my Finger Mullets for later this afternoon. The afternoon session was better for Red Drum, with a 21" keeper and 5 releases. Flounder were still biting with 3 keepers and 2 toss-backs. The grand total for the day at the dock was 6 Red Drum and 8 Flounders!

NC Fishing Citations

On June 24, 1988 I weighed in an Amberjack at Davis Fish Company on the MHC waterfront that weighed 66 pounds. It was my first NC Citation. Since that day I've been collecting them. The 10 lb 5 oz Sheepshead that I caught on July 26 was my 366th Citation. A total of 28 different species are represented in my collection. In the spring of 2008 NCDMF made a few changes in the Citation Program. A few species were added, one species was dropped and some minimum weights were changed. If these new rules had gone into affect sooner, I estimate that I'd be well over 400 total citations and I'd have 33 species represented! These numbers do not count what my clients and guests have caught through the years.

July 24-26 Citation Sheepsheads

I had a great 3 day run of catching Sheepsheads on the north end of Ocracoke Island. Citations Galore. On July 24, I caught Sheepsheads weighing 8 lb.s 4 oz. and 8 lb.s 6 oz. On July 25, I caught Sheepsheads that weighed 8 lb.s and 8 lb.s 8 oz. On July 26, I caught a Sheepshead that weighed 10 lb.s 5 oz. I also had a pair of 7+ pounders. I released several between 2-5 lb.s.

July 21 Flounders in Taylor's Creek

I made my first Front Street dock fishing trip of the year this afternoon. Size was a problem, but numbers were good. In an hour of fishing with live Finger Mullets, I landed 8 Southern Flounders and 2 Red Drum. The Red Drum were really small to nail live baits. Two of the smallest that I've ever caught, one was probably around 8" and the other close to 10". The Flounders ranged from 11" to 17". Two were keepers, twins at 17" each and they made the trip to Moore St. to my parents house. Bon Appetit.

July 19 Tropical Storm Coming!

Fishing was pretty good before this Storm developed. This chart is from NOAA and it looks like we are going to get some significant wind. Batten down the hatches! Looks like my fishing is over until I get home from Hatteras. Hope it doesn't blow all the Sheepsheads and Flounders away! My Citation Count for 2008 is down. We need to pick up the pace pretty soon.

July 18 Flounders Chewing

Yesterday I found a great spot for Speckled Trout and Red Drum. Today that same spot was covered up with Flounders. From 7am until 11am nearly every cast was a Flounder. The only other fish we saw were a dozen Bluefish and very few Black Sea Bass, Lizardfish, and Pinfish. I estimate that we caught 60 Flounders. We kept 14 between 15.5" and 19". All the rest went back. We also had 8-10 Bluefish from 1-2 pounds. We were fishing a channel with an average depth of 10 foot. We found a "Black Hole" in the middle of this channel and it was matted with Flounders. Like shingles on your roof! When we first found the "Black Hole" we each caught keeper Flounders on 4 straight casts; the 8 Flounders on deck in the second picture.

July 17 Sailfish, Crevalle Jack, Speckled Trout, and Red Drum What a Mix!

Not a pretty day. Mostly cloudy early and a 15 knot North wind. Not a good day to to throw a Top Water Plug. But I did anyway. My first cast was followed by a Barracuda. My second cast was creamed by a Crevalle Jack. While chasing this Jack around the wreck my boat suddenly became a safe haven for a school of Thread Herring that was under seige by 3 Sailfish. As if a big Jack on a spinning rod wasn't enough, I quickly hooked up 2 Sailfish on cigar minnows. Triple header. Twenty minutes later I had released a 72" Sailfish, broke off a Sailfish that got tangled up with the Crevalle Jack, and released a 20 lb. Crevalle Jack! Before I left the area I also caught a few Black Sea Bass on a jig. Later in the morning I went inside and caught 2 Red Drum (27" and 30") from the tower. I also caught 4 Speckled Trout (18" to 20") that were cruising the edge of a channel. Finally, on the way home, I visited my favorite Shoal and saw a dozen Blacktip Sharks from 40 to 60 pounds each. Sailfish picture was done with my cell phone! That was the best I could do....It actually turned out pretty good!

July 13-14 Hatteras Sheepshead Frenzy

The convicts finally showed up in their usual places at Hatteras Inlet. On the 14th I actually found where the motherlode hangs-out when they aren't cruising the pilings. My first drop with a Urchin and 8-10---8-10 pounders all fought over my bait. Amazing. Ten minutes of panic later and I had 8 lb. 4 oz. and a 8 lb. 2 oz. citation Sheepsheads on the deck, along with a 7 lb. 8 oz. Sheepshead and released 4 in the 3 to 5 pound range! On the 13th I got a 8 lb. 5 oz. citation Sheepshead and got busted off by "the biggest Sheepshead I've ever battled!" The 80# PowerPro never had a chance.

July 6 Horrible Fishing

Steve and Scott encountered poor conditions all the way around this morning. We pushed back the start time from 6am until 7:30am, but it didn't seem to help. We got soaked early and often as we tried the Ocean in mounting seas and scattered thunderstorms. Then we ran for cover and found dirty water inside everywhere we went. By 2pm we had endured enough bad fishing and headed home under improving conditions. The final tally was 1 Blacknose Shark at 15 pounds and a few Black Sea Bass, Bluefish, Sea Robins, and a Southern Stingray.

July 3 Amberjacks and a Sand Tiger

It is starting to sound like a broken record, but the Amberjacks saved the day. After a slow morning of trolling we got bored and went to check out the Russian Freighter wreck off Cape Lookout. This wreck has been sanded up for 10 years and last year it miraciously "re-appeared". Today it was covered with Amberjacks and Sharpnose Sharks. Brad and Wesley each caught an Amberjack and pulled on several others. We battled several on the 10# spinning rod. Wesley lost one to a huge Barracuda. We moved on to the north and hit another spot where we caught 15 keeper Black Sea Bass and a Spanish Mackerel. Finally on the way home we hit one more place and Brad released a 70 pound Sand Tiger Shark and broke off a bigger Shark!

July 2 Light Tackle Wreck Fishing

Brad and Sarah joined me today for a half day of inshore wreck fishing. There was a ton of action and lots of strikes. We also saw some huge Barracudas that wouldn't bite. They were content to follow us around! When it was over Brad had caught a Barracuda and kept an Amberjack for the grill. We also caught Vermillion Snappers, Triggerfish, Spanish Mackerel, Black Sea Bass, Spottail Pinfish, Scup, and some Grunts.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July to everybody. I am availiable on July 5 and 6 if anyone is interested in a fishing trip. The picture is a Taylor's Creek sunrise!

June 23 The No-Shows

This morning I went out to catch bait for a late morning Shark Trip. By 10:00 my crew had cancelled because of thunder outside their motel window. Oh well, it did look ominous. The bait fishing was fantastic. Acres of Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish. These fish weren't huge, my Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish were from 13" to 18", but their numbers were outstanding. The only thing that made the fishing difficult was because they were located on a shoal and the tide and wind made it real sloppy. Regardless, in 90 minutes of casting, I caught 24 Spanish Mackerel and 20 Bluefish. My live well was loaded with bait and a nice limit of Spanish Mackerel on ice. On the way home I did stop and bait up a Shark. A nice Bluefish under a ballon quickly attracted a 100+ pound Blacktip. Since it was just me, I tried this on a light spinning rod with 10# test. It looked good until the first jump. Probably 6 feet high and at least 3 complete twists. When Mr. Blacktip hit the water the line parted and it was over. I think it would've been a great session on the shoal today. Oh well, back to Hatteras this afternoon.

June 22 Big Blacktip Sharks

Good Shark fishing inside and a 33" Cobia outside. Everything was caught while casting from the tower. The Cobia was released as were the Sharks. Two 100+ pound Blacktips put on a great show. One of them jumped 17 times and nearly spooled a TLD 15 twice. All of the Shark action came in 3 feet of water. The final tally was 4 Blacktip Sharks, 1 Blacknose Shark, and 1 Cobia from the Bouy Chain. I hope this inshore fishing is getting ready to take off here in Carteret County.

June 20 Amberjacks and Barracudas

Went out by myself today to see what I could find. Caught a few Spanish Mackerel first. Looked for a Flounder and struck out. Then I missed a Barracuda on the tube. Caught 3 Amberjacks on metal. Then it got interesting. I pulled in half an Amberjack. I tossed him back out on one of my "Shark Rigs" and Mr Cuda was still there! He quickly devoured the rest of my Amberjack. Three monster jumps and a smoking run later, I released a nice 54" Barracuda. My Bogagrip bounced around the 40 pound mark and I released him pretty quick and in great shape. Probably my career best Barracuda. A thunderstorm then chased to the north, but I stopped on 1 other wreck and caught more 2 Amberjacks on top water plugs. My final tally was 4 Spanish Mackerel, 6 Amberjacks (8-30 pounds), and a 54" Barracuda. No self portraits today. The Cuda would've made a nice picture.

Open this Week and the Weather looks Nice

I'll be looking to catch Flounders, Mackerels, Amberjacks, Barracudas, Spadefish, Sharks, and I might even go look for a NC Tarpon this week. Give me a call if interested!

Back to Hatteras Tommorrow

I'm going back to Hatteras tommorrow morning........I'm sure there will be a nice little run of Cobias in the Beaufort Inlet area due to my absence. Go get them guys. Also--Happy Birthday Mike

June 8 Observing Marine Life

If we caught what we saw today, it would've been an epic for McCrae Grady and his crew. Everything was different today. For starters, we made a 24 mile round trip to catch bait and we loaded the boat with perfect sized Menhaden on my 2nd throw. Sadly, it went downhill from there! On the fishing grounds, we couldn't hardly get a bite, period. No Cobias, no Rays, and no Sharks. Unbelievible for June with an incoming tide and a light SW wind! By lunch time we went riding and even though in the end we had nothing to show for it, it was an amazing ride! After an uneventful tour of the entire Shoal at Cape Lookout we were making the return trip back to the west side when we found 1 small area that was alive with fish. Cobias, Tarpon, and Sharks. Yeah, I said Tarpon. 11 Tarpon total, 2 groups of 4 and 1 group of 3. Plus, at least 8 Cobia. Jeff, who was with me in the tower, will never forget when that "tadpole" (Cobia) turned broadside and went from 10" to 50 pounds in an instant!! And, giant schools of Thread Herring pushing right on the shoals. The only problem was every single one of these fish were in 2 foot of water with a rapidly "drying out" shoal in front of them. We could only approach from the west. To do this I had to "attempt" to cross about 100 yards of 3 foot water with a 3 foot SW ground swell breaking on our stern. This was just to get into a long casting situation. That, my friends, is an impossible proposition. Long casts were made from a wildly pitching deck and tower. A few were close and might have had a chance, but nothing ate. We weighed every option. We considered anchoring up and bait fishing, but to safely anchor, we would have been probably 200 yards from the fish. There was NO ANSWER to this fishing problem. It was nice to see those fish, finally. Sorry to the crew. We rode 90 miles and caught a 2 lb. Bluefish, a Spanish Mackerel, and a Shark. We also observed a 8' wide Spotted Eagle Ray and 2 Leatherback Turtles, very closely!

June 7 Amberjacks bail out the Cobias, again

Once again we spent the day Cobia fishing and fishing was extremely poor. We spent several hours at Cape Lookout bait fishing and it was a pretty interesting mix of Sharks up to 85 pounds and Southern Stingrays, and a Loggerhead Turtle. After that we rode the shoals and found 1 Cobia cruising. A nice 50+ pounder that would not bite! Our travels eventually lead us to a wreck where the guys caught 5 Amberjacks on bucktails and metal. These AJs ranged from 20-28 pounds each. Fun, but not what we wanted! We tried to catch Spadefish but they wouldn't cooperate. When it was over, Dexter Davis and crew had rode 98 miles with me and had 0 Cobias in the box. Very Disappointing!

June 6 Catching Bait

It's not supposed to blow, so it's time for Sight Casting right? Well, it wasn't sopposed to blow today either. Yeah right. I thought I'd enjoy a day of easy scouting and fishing today with my brother, Mike. Wrong. With with the 5-10 SW forecast, it was easily blowing 18-20 so we made the 25 mile round trip run to the bait. I hoped. We found a few dozen and made a stand in Bft Inlet on the tail of the incoming tide. We caught 1 Southern Stingray and 1 Sharpnose Shark in a 45 minute fishing session.

June 3 Amazing Day at Hatteras

Fishing was incredible today! Cobia was the target, but we weren't hard-headed. It was a Spanish mackerel event taking place on Diamond Shoals. I started out alone and caught my 15 Spanish Mackerel in 15 casts and then released probably 40 more. These Spanish Mackerel were 1 to 3 pounders. There was so many Mackerel in the water, it was nearly impossible to concentrate on finding a Cobia.

Later in the day, Don and Tina and their kids joined me and we caught 58 Spanish Mackerel and then.....Here comes Mr. Cobia right at me, a good cast and a quick hook-up. A hour later and Tina has herself a 65 pound Cobia. Nice Cobia, but the story today was the Spanish Mackerel. I have never seen that many in one general area. Everywhere I looked there was loose schools of 50-200 fish and this was in a huge area. It was obvious that they were spawning. From the numbers I saw, I'd guess it was a sucessful day for reproduction!

June 2 61 pound Cobia

Fishing out of Hatteras Inlet, I got 1 cast this afternoon and made it work on a 61 pound Cobia. This one was a beast on 12# mono and a bucktail. Close to 20 minutes to the boat and a terror on the gaff. It's always an adventure when fishing alone!

May 30 Diamond Shoals Tower and Cobias

I picked a terrible day to leave the camera at home! David Rose and I went out looking for Cobia and we found 6 of them. However, for a variety of reasons, most of them gave us the slip! When the day was done, we had a much better time casting top water plugs to the 1000+ Amberjacks that called Diamond Shoals Lighttower home. By the end of the day we had caught 6 Amberjacks up to 25 pounds, 4 Triggerfish, 15 Black Sea Bass, and tossed back a pair of undersized Cobias. We saw 4 additional Cobias including a 60+ pounder on the Hesperides that looked real hard but would not bite! Other than that we saw Ocean Sunfish, and lots of Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel. The Amberjack fishing was incredibly exciting because on nearly every cast there would be dozens of Jacks in a complete frenzy around the plug until one of them finally got hooked. The view from the tower was awesome!

May 26 30" Cobia and 400 lb. Spotted Eagle Ray

I finally found a few Cobias today! I found a Huge Spotted Eagle Ray cruising along with 5 Cobias at Cape Lookout. I made 2 amazing casts! The first cast was amazing because a 30" Cobia out raced 4 others to my bucktail and 2 of them were close to 50 pounds. After hooking up the little Cobia, my second cast hooked up the Ray! Amazing. 15 Jumps and a half mile later I broke him off. It must've been a funny sight. Me dragging the little Cobia behind the boat, chasing a huge Ray, and still casting another Rod towards the leaping Ray. At least it was exciting!

May 25 Amberjack not Cobia

No excuses today, it was beautiful weather. Bright sun and light winds. Perfect sight casting conditions! And we rode 110 miles and found Amberjacks, Spadefish, and a Mother Right Whale and her calf. No Cobias. I guess the highlight was the 60 foot Right Whale with her 20 foot Baby that was swimming a mile off Atlantic Beach. Other than the Whale, I guess the schools of 10-20 pound Amberjacks that chased our top water plugs around a pair of nearshore wrecks was pretty cool. We also caught keeper sized Black Sea Bass, Vermillion Snapper, Gag Grouper, Tomtate, and a bunch of Cigar Minnows on the sabiki rig! However, John and Hoyle came to catch a Cobia and they went home disappointed. I'm sorry guys! Once again, it looks like the motherlode hit Hatteras first this year.....

May 24 Rain, Wind, and Bluefish

Today was like 2 different days. The morning was nasty blowing rain. Real ugly. This afternoon it turned off pretty, but the fishing close to the beach was not good. Still no bait around and hardly any Cobias in Carteret County waters. Looks like Hatteras got them this year...But we still tried and Scott Tart and his 3 sons joined me for a tough half day of fishing. When it was over we had caught Bluefish from 8-10 pounds, Sharpnose Sharks, a Bullnose Ray, and a Southern Stingray.

May 23 No Cobias Today

A year ago today, we caught a 92 pound Cobia and a pile of Big Bluefish. Bait was everywhere. Today there is little or no bait and as far as I know there were ZERO Cobias caught from Beaufort Inlet to the Shoals at Cape Lookout. I don't claim to know everything, so I'd guess that somebody caught a Cobia somewhere, but it wasn't by anyone near me or anyone in my "Cobia Network". ***Update--I heard of 2 Cobia caught late in the afternoon in BFT Inlet*** Anyway, Matt Keane and his Dad and Brother fished with me this morning on a half day trip and I think everybody caught a Sharpnose Shark, Matt caught a 15 lb. Bullnose Ray and a nice Bluefish. We had a couple of Choppers chase the top water baits unsuccessfully. Finally we sight casted live crabs to varoius sized Sheepsheads, up to 10 pounds, in way too much wind and current. Once again, we were unsuccessful. Too much wind, clouds, and chop vs. groundswell for Ideal Cobia Sight Casting Conditions. Tough fishing!!

The 2008 Top Water Charter Boat

Here's a couple pictures of my Boat. Now let's get it nice and Fishy!

May 21 Good Spanish Mackerel Casting Action

Chris and I went out looking for bait this morning but the Ocean was too tempting so we went fishing instead. Not sure what we were looking for, but Spanish Mackerel was what we found. In a cool hour-long casting session we caught around 15 Spanish Mackerel. Funny thing was, they looked small while in the air, but the ones that bit our metal jigs were nice ones, all over a pound. Chris also caught a 14" Gray Trout. Later we used the several of the Mackerel for Cobia bait and caught 7 Sandbar Sharks up to 25 lb.s and 2 Sharpnose (yuck!) Sharks. After putting Chris on the Mystery, I went up to Cape Lookout and caught 5 Bluefish, including 3 Choppers in the 8-10 pound class on top water plugs. The Bait prognosis for tommorrow and beyond doesn't look good. I never saw a Menhaden flip all day long. Hope for Sight Casting Weather!

May 20 This Wind is Killing Me!

Blow, Blow, Blow! The wind will not give up and it is killing this Cobia Season. From all reports there are a few Cobia around although the bait situation is terrible. Tommorrow I will be out looking for a Cobia, a Bluefish, and schools of Menhaden! Hopefully we will have some Sight Fishing Weather very soon!

May 15 Double Grand Slam---Tarpon, Bonefish, Permit

Spent the day with Capt. Pat Bracher, http://www.fishovertime.com/ and had another great day of Flats Fishing. This was the 5th day that I've fished with Pat since 2000 and it was my 3rd Double Grand Slam with him. Amazing.

I started the day with 4 Tarpon (130, 120, 120, 75). Then I caught 2 Bonefish (4, 8). Finally, I caught 2 Permit (10, 32) including my new career best. I also caught a Crevalle Jack (10) and pulled on a Goliath Grouper on the Permit rod (12 lb. test). After much give and take the Giant Grouper (100+) made under his ledge and forced me to break him off.

May 14 Crevalle Jacks and Sharks

On May 14th our fishing was made difficult by 20 knot winds and a Yamaha Jet Ski commercial shoot. We did manage to catch a few Crevalle Jacks to use for Shark bait and we managed to hook several large Bull and Lemon Sharks that tried to pull our 13 foot Boston Whaler into open water where it was a little too rough for us. I had to break off all our Sharks to avoid the Divorce Lawyers that are on Meredith's speed dial.

Later in the day I tried to catch more Barracudas down at Bahia Honda but I couldn't reach my favorite spot because the tide was too high. We did see lots of Tarpon rolling near the Old Bridge though. Things are looking good for tommorrow!