April 25 Largemouth Bass in Beaufort

Last Spring I was doing quite a lot of Freshwater Fishing. This year, not so much. This afternoon, I went over to one of my favorite Urban Bass Hotspots and checked it out. The wind was blowing a little too hard for the Fly Rod, so I decided to use a Plastic Worm instead. It wan't great, but in an hour, I had 10 strikes, 8 hook ups, and released 6 Largemouth Bass. All these were spunky, but weighed less than a pound. Better than nothing. We also went to the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores today and I assume this is a replica of the NC State Record Dolphin. I thought it was worthy of a photo! Total Catch for the Day: 6 Largemouth Bass

April 23 Good Sight Casting Action

Today was a good day of fishing. It was not a good day for the camera battery to die. There was 1 event that made today a day to remember. Our biggest Red Drum of the day (and the year so far) got mauled.......By a 9 foot Bull Shark. I assume it must have been a Bull Shark because I don't think the much more common Sandbar Sharks get anywhere near that size. Anyway, it all happened in 6 foot of water right under the bow. Hopefully some of the cell phone footage will turn out good. Maybe the images of the Shark that the guys captured will shed more light on the Sharks identity. I was more intent on getting my bucktail back that trying to figure out what kind of Shark it was! The day started with a bang. Our first 3 casts all connected with 30-40 pound Red Drum. We ran right up on a huge school. I figured it was going to be an epic numbers day, but it turned out differently. The final fish of this tripleheader turned out to be a 60 pounder on 12 lb spin. The big Red Drum nearly spooled us twice, then he found his way into the jaws of the big Shark. The carcass pulled the Bogagrip below the 50 pound mark. After that episode, we found the Red Drum schools 2 more times and released 3 more fish. We also "every casted" the Bluefish for 30 minutes. These Bluefish were 1-2 pounders. We didn't see any of the 3 pounders we expected. The Shoals weren't too lively today, but we did see an oddball out there today. A 4 foot Thresher Shark was headed east in the skinny water. He wasn't impressed with our bucktails. We also saw a Hammerhead Shark and lots of assorted Biters. Total Catch for the Day: 6 Red Drum (32-60+ pounds) and 35 Bluefish

Fishing Tommorrow

I'm pretty excited to be headed to the Shoals tommorrow to pick up the search for the Schools of Red Drum. It will be interesting to climb back up in the Tower after my last adventure. It is still really sore! In other fishing news, have you guys been checking out the Groupers thay the Hatteras Crowd has been whacking. Awesome. 40 and 50 pounders all over the place. Lots of Golden Tilefish. Well, hopefully I will post a great report tommorrow and as for this Blog, it is acting up and I don't know how to fix it. I'm getting a big empty space on my right hand column information. Are you guys seeing it too?

Back In The Day

Way back when.....The old 23' Maycraft was on the Sharks. Blacknoses and Blacktips. Even had a 400 lb Bull Shark bite a 35lb Blacknose in two right behind the boat in 6 feet of water! Will this be the summer that somebody gets eaten at Sand Dollar Island!

Right Whales

Here is the best I could get while respecting their space.

April 12 Awesome Red Drum Fishing and Right Whales

Today was a bad day for everything but fishing. A trip out of Ocracoke that I really wanted to do fell through. So I splashed the Boat at home and headed back to the Cape Lookout Shoals. Once there, the fishing was great, but I will always remember this day because.......Today was the day that I.......Finally fell out of the Tower!!! How hurt am I? I don't know yet. Let's just say my knee, my ribs, my wrist, and lots of things inside hurt. I think I'm okay though. Other than that, Puppy Drum were everywhere, Large Red Drum were scattered, and a mother and baby Right Whale were crossing the Shoals. That was pretty impressive in 6 feet of crystal clear water. The baby was 16-17 feet long. The mother was enormous. Awesome day except for the Girls at Ocracoke and my fall from the Tower. I did catch my 48 lb Red Drum on 10lb spin. Awesome. Total Catch for the Day: 12 Red Drum (5 Large up to 48 lb.s and 7 puppys up to 30")

April 11 More Sight Casting Photos!

These were pretty impressive or just pretty. What a Day!

April 11 25 Citation Red Drum by Sight Casting

What a difference a day makes. Kory, Chris, and I found a huge school of Red Drum within 20 minutes of starting our search. The first 3 casts resulted in 2 strikes. I was saying they were 18-25 pounders. I was wrong, the first 2 Red Drum of the day were 40+ pounders. After that, from 10am until 3pm, it was double and triple headers. All these Red Drum were over 33 pounds. We released several over 45 pounds. Kory and Chris definitely released 50+ pounders. Every Red Drum was caught by sight casting. Bucktails, Storm Swimbaits, and Gulps. We couldn't buy a strike on top water plugs. The coolest thing about these Red Drum was that many times we would chase them up into 1-2 feet of water and they were still hammering our baits. Honestly, they were thousands of Giant Red Drum on the Shoals today. Sorry to all the guys that never saw them and to the ones that ran over them. It was a good day to be on the "Top Water Charters" boat. Lots of big Sharks on the Shoals today as well. Total Catch for the Day: 25 Red Drum from 33 to 50+ pounds

April 10 Nothing But a Boat Ride

Mike and I headed east this morning to slay Red Drum, Bluefish, and release a few Albacore. But, when it was over, we had caught absolutely NOTHING..... I can blame it on the wind and the dirty water. The place where the Albacore had been was dead. The place where I wanted to go was a little too messy for sight-casting. So we looked around in a few other places and ended up at Ruddy Ducks on the MHC waterfront where we caught some Tuna, Amberjack, and Soft Crabs. Total Catch for the Day: NOTHING

April 8 BLOW WIND BLOW

I know that the wind is blowing and I just cancelled tommorrows trip, but the weather looks good for Saturday, Sunday, amd Monday. Give me a call and let's go fishing. I plan to fish Ocracoke Inlet on Monday and there has been a monster school of monster Red Drum hanging around up that way! 252-241-8350

April 7 Albacore Fishing

Albacore Fishing was great today at Cape Lookout. Unfortunately, the brutal SW wind made it our only option. We searched the Shoals inside Cape Lookout Bight and found nothing worth casting to in the clear green water. things are looking up though. The water temperature has risen nicely and it shouldn't be long before lots of fish invade our Inlets. Our plan was to search the Shoals for Red Drum but the weatherman did not cooperate. Thankfully, the Albacore saved the day. Huge schools of the green torpedos were ram feeding into huge masses of tiny bait. They weren't much interested in chasing a bait, but with a good cast and good timing, they were pretty easy to catch. Total Catch for the Day: 7 Albacore

March 27 25 Knot Winds and Dog Shark Frenzy

Greg and his Dad and his 3 sons joined me for a difficult day of fishing. Relentless North winds and very muddy water made finding fish today a big challenge. The great thing was, these boys just wanted to catch fish! That helped, but I was still worried about our chances. I knew that all my favorite "go to" spots were going to be impossible to fish. So I rolled the dice and ran East. When we got to the first spot, lines went into the water, and 3 rods bowed in a matter of seconds! It was a beautiful thing. Two hours and 30 Spiny Dogfish later the boys were happy! These Spiny Dogs weighed from 3 to 10 pounds each. After taking a break to eat lunch, which was interupted by a Smooth Dogfish and another Spiny Dogfish, we ran back down to MHC where we caught 12 Black Sea Bass. Total Catch for the Day: 31 Spiny Dogfish, 12 Black Sea Bass and 1 Smooth Dogfish

March 26 Lennoxville Largemouth Bass

Today I got a chance to go make a few casts in Beaufort's most legendary Bass Hotspots. Unfortunately, Korey and I couldn't find where the big ones were hiding out. I did manage to catch 2 small Largemouth Bass on a plastic worm. Total Catch for the Day: 2 Largemouth Bass

March 25 Citation Red Drum

I am sorry for the lack of updates. I have been slowed by all kinds of problems. My computer is in the shop, so I will not be posting any pictures until later. The fishing today was pretty good. Basically all the Albacore you wanted and they were extrememly easy to catch also. I took time to catch 2 Albacore, a 6 pounder and a 8 pounder. The target species was Red Drum and I found a couple of challenges. First, I could not find any schools of the slot-fish I was looking for. I did find a school of Big Fish on the west side of Shark Island. These fish were very spooky in shallow water, but I did manage to release a 51 lb Red Drum on 10 lb spin and a white jerk shad. After that I chased the school around but never got another bite. Over on the east side of Shark Island a different scenario was taking place and after a little trial and error, I figured out a method that worked. Casting my jerk shad under showers of diving Gannets, I caught and released 4 Red Drum in about 2 hours. These Red Drum ranged from 42" to 49" each. I didn't weigh any of those fish because I had a tough time reviving the first Drum that I released. Total Catch for th Day: 5 Red Drum and 2 Albacore

Feb 12 Cape Lookout Shoals

This wasn't anything but a freezing cold Boat Ride. I guess I was still high from my Oregon Inlet trip when I launched my Boat. What was I thinking! Floated the Boat at 9am. Ran all the way to Shark Island and back and was back in the Truck by 12:30. I really didn't see that much. A few diving Gannets. A few scratches on the Bottom. Lots of Comorrants. A few Bottlenose Dolphins. No Fish that mattered. I can say this: Of all the people on Planet Earth, I was the only Human Being to visit Shark Island today. The rest of y'all were too smart! Total Catch for the Day: Nothing

Feb 9 Striped Bass Fishing

I got a last second call to go Striped Bass fishing out of Oregon Inlet tuesday morning and with more terrible weather on the way, I said Why Not? So I made the trip up from Hatteras to Oregon Inlet to join Bryan and Brian. It was nice to fish on an old 23' Maycraft again. It brought back some great memories! The fishing was good and the fish were within 10 miles of Oregon Inlet. We caught a bunch of fish in the 30 pound class pretty quick. We kept 5 and then we hoped to catch a big one. No deal though. We caught 14 Striped Bass trolling in about 90 minutes and then jigged up 4 others. Back to the Boat Ramp by 11am. Sweet. Total catch for the Day: 18 Striped Bass up to 32 pounds

What I've Been Doing......

All winter long I've been watching the wind blow at Beaufort and feeling it blow at Hatteras! Right this moment I'm headed across Hatteras Inlet and it's blowing 40kts. I've also been watching it rain in Beaufort and getting soaked at Hatteras. Last night a 10 second sprint across the Ferry Deck was enough to saturate 3 layers of clothes. What I haven't done is GO FISHING. Hopefully, that is about to change. Be positive. Also on a positive note is the fact that I've been on an exercising mission. Doing 60 minutes a day on an Eliptical Machine at both Hatteras and Beaufort. Can't wait to see how long that kick lasts. So far, 41 out of the last 45 days. I'm getting ready for the Bonitos and the Cobias and the Big Drum. Up and Down. Up and Down. The Tower is going to pay off big-time this year!

Feb 1 Hatteras Time Again and Daydreaming

Time is flying by...Its already time for me to go back to Hatteras and seems like I just got home. Sorry about the Lack of Fishing Reports. I was thinking about pulling my boat up there, but the weather forecast through next weekend really doesn't sound so great. So, I'll leave it at home and that will surely cause the weather to be a little nicer! This week at Hatteras my goal is to catch a few Bay Scallops. The NCDMF was kind enough to open the Scallop Season in Pamlico Sound. I'm not sure what the hold-up was. The Seagulls have been dropping Scallops by the bushel baskets on Hwy 12 since September. The Lighthouse in the picture is at the south end of Key Biscayne and is called the Cape Florida Lighthouse. This would be a nice place to visit in February or March, anybody game for a Road Trip?

Jan 27 The Weather Ahead

Today looks like a nice weather day. Unfortunately, the rest of my week off doesn't look so great. But, we've seen bad forecasts turn good before, so I'll watch the weather and hopefully I can get in a quick day of fishing. This has been the worst winter ever. All ready and it aint even February yet! For lots of reasons. I need to break this spell I've been under. Seems like I been fishing for something other than fish....... I need to get back to the one thing I used to be good at! And start working on the Boat's little problems that I ignored all year.

Jan 20 Red Drum in the Surf

I spent about 4 hours in the Hatteras Surf on Wednesday and the fishing was great......For about 5 minutes! A small school of Red Drum swam into casting range just east of the Frisco Pier and the fishing was intense for the 10-12 guys that were right there, right then. I released a nice slot sized Red Drum and could plainly see the color of the fish 100 feet offshore of me. My next cast had 3 strikes until I hooked up again. When I put my hands on this Drum, I looked up and could still make out the school. I thought about carrying this fish to the Beach, but I decided to release him and try to hook one more. My next cast was a mis-cast and I broke off my Gulp. Of course, by the time I re-tied another jighead on, the school was gone. I waited for another hour and never saw them again. No Drum in the box and No Pictures for the Report. Total Catch for the Day: 2 Red Drum

Jan 18 Headed Back to Hatteras and thinking about Last Saturday

I am headed back to Hatteras tomorrow morning and will be working the Night Shift, so hopefully I can get some surf fishing worked in. Maybe I can catch something remarkable! I will be home again on Jan 27th and I will be ready to head back out and search for these Red Drum again. I am avaliable on Jan 28, 29, 30, and 31. Call Me.....Here's another look at Jan 16. It was a perfect day. Why can't we have more days like that! It was a great day to be out on the Cape Lookout Shoals and see Thousands of fish. It was a beautiful sight. Taking pictures of the Drum schools was hard because I couldn't put the rod down long enough. Some of the pictures I did take didn't come out, but none of them showed the sheer numbers of fish. At times, it was one giant school. Other times it would break up into 5 or 6 schools. If it wasn't for so many Red Drum, the white hood would be hard to forget too...........

2009 Fishing Season Highlights part 1

The 2009 Fishing Year was a very strange one for me. As usual, I constantly had to cancel trips due to high winds or endure long, hard days of improvising because of the wind. Catching quality fish is always a challenge in those conditions. We also experienced 3 monster rains in summer and fall that changed the fishing. Finally, I also lost about 6 weeks of fishing in the peak summer charter season when I was back and forth to Chapel Hill with a family medical issue. On the positive side, I spent more time freshwater fishing this year than I have in 25 years. I also started fly fishing again. Something I hadn't done in years. My fly rod highlights included a 7 pound Largemouth Bass (on the 3 wt) and a 39 pound Red Drum (on the 7wt). Sweet! As far as my normal fishing year went, I saw more Cobia than ever before and found out that they aren't as stupid as I always thought! More Red Drum were caught on my Boat than ever before, mostly by sight casting with light tackle to massive schools. Albacore Fishing was the best in years. Bluefishing in the Spring was awesome with lots of sight casting to 7-12 pound fish. Sheepsheads were once a mythical fish to me, now they represent the easiest NC Citation out there. I have caught 29 Citation Sheepheads with very little effort the past 2 summers! And finally, the Highlight of the Year was Chris Chadwick's new NC State Record Spadefish that was caught on my boat back in June. One of probably 10 State Record sized Spadefish that we caught. 3015 Total Fish and 51 NC Citation Fish Caught

2009 Fishing Season Highlights part 2