Nov 30 Knee Deep in the Trout

I just got back from a week on the Outer Banks and I was itching to go fishing. With rain on the way and an east wind, I figured the Boat was a waste of time and a 25 foot aggravation. So I made the trek down to the Radio Island Rock Jetty on foot and it only took one cast to see the way it was gonna be. I felt sorry for all the guys standing on shore and north of the Jetty. They were pissing in the wind. Out where I was it was "game on". After 30 casts, I had caught 24 Speckled Trout. My only complaint was if you missed a bite you would have to reel in and re-cast. I hate when that happens. It got better. By the time the rain chased my home, they would bite over and over until you hooked one. I had a 30 straight cast streak with a Speckled Trout and a 26 straight cast with a Speckled Trout streak. Lots of Trout were over 14". I could've had a limit of keepers in the first hour, but I didn't keep a single fish. Luckily for the Trout, I forgot my stringer. With too many numbers bouncing around inside my head, I lost the actual fish count. For the best hour though, I was releasing them at a rate of 2 per minute. Crazy numbers. In 2+ hours of casting a green or red grub, I guess 150 Speckled Trout releases with a few of them being 16" and well over a pound. I also saw a few Black Drum caught on shrimp. Total Catch for the Day: 150 Speckled Trout up to 16" 

Nov 25 Jumping Mullets and Turkeys

This morning while ferrying Pilgrims across Hatteras Inlet on Thanksgiving Day, Frank and I destroyed the Jumping Mullets with our cast nets. Lots of 2-4 pounders that are full of roe. I also caught the largest Jumping Mullet that I've ever seen. It weighed 8 lbs. A monster. Also on Monday and Tuesday nights, I fished at the foot of the Frisco Pier with a mirrorlure. Perfect conditions on Monday night, light seas and winds, giant moon, incoming tide and plenty of bait in the slough. No bites though. Oh well, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Nov 21 Speckled Trout and Red Drum

One of my all-time favorites, Jim, was back today and I was thrilled to finally have "one of those days" again. I'm sure the guys will never forget it. The Speckled Trout fishing was not so great, but interesting for #1 the number of small Trout and #2 the number of jigheads we lost. Also, when your Fishing Guide tries to explain a concept, but can't demonstrate, you are usually in trouble. So as I tried to tell the guys how to catch "the big Trout" in the hard spot.... I lost jig after jig and never caught a thing! (Where was Stella, she could've showed them) Anyway, we caught 60 Speckled Trout and 3 were 14" or larger. Then we went to the East and made our day. Sight casting while chasing down 200 Red Drum that were running in and out of the breakers and up and down a Shoal, the guys caught 16 Red Drum from 18" to 30" and had a blast. Thanks for the patience and I'll never forget the casting frenzy when those fish "attacked" us. As usual, fishing is heating up and it's time for me to go back to Hatteras! Total Catch for the Day: 60 Speckled Trout up to 18", 16 Red Drum up to 10 lbs, 15 Bluefish, 1 Black Sea Bass and 1 Hogfish   ***2297 Total Fish in 2010***

Nov 20 Lots of Speckled Trout

Stella and I went fishing today and she kicked my butt. She caught a 4 lb 12 oz Speckled Trout and a 3 lb Speckled Trout. I caught a 2 lb 8 oz Speckled Trout and a 14" Speckled Trout. The larger Speckled Trout have been hard to come by lately and Stella's is the biggest of the year so far on my boat. She also released 67 Speckled Trout while I released 40. I got her back with my 2 Black Sea Bass. I lost 8 jigheads, while she lost 2. We teamed up to catch a few Bluefish and have a great time fishing. Damn, a woman that fishes! Amazing. Total Catch for the Day: 111 Speckled Trout up to 4 lb 12 oz, 7 Bluefish and 2 Black Sea Bass

Never Know What You Might See

Something like this, right under the bow. Winter and Spring is Basking Shark time at Cape Lookout. They are quite a sight!

Nov 18 Speckled Trout Chewing

Whats the difference between biting and chewing? Not sure, but they seemed to be chewing today. Brent, Scott, and Ken caught Trout after Trout after Trout. Seeing that nobody needed my help, I picked up a rod and joined the action. When it was over we had caught an outrageous number of Speckled Trout. Brent and I guessed 300. Of those, we had 6 over 14". We had some other fish as well, highlighted by a double header of Jumping Mullets on grubs, and Brents weighed 3lbs. Live Shrimp and Mud Minnows were a waste of time. Gulp was a waste of money. Grubs worked fine and so did smoked Bluefish skin. We took a 2 hour break and rode the Shoals and chased Gannets, for nothing. We found an Ocean Sunfish and a 18+ foot Basking Shark. That damn thing was an easy 2500-3000lbs (I have NO EXPERIENCE with animals of this magnitude). At the end of the day, big numbers for a slack fishbox. Fun regardless. Total Catch for the Day: 300 Speckled Trout up to 16", 20 Bluefish, 3 Red Drum up to 17", 2 Gray Trout up to 18", 2 Jumping Mullet up to 20" and 1 Hogfish 

I'm Home and the Weather is SUPPOSED to get better

Nov 22nd is open and the Speckled Trout and Gray Trout will be biting! I just got home from Hatteras, its blowing and a Small Craft Advisory is posted. Of Course..... However, it's supposed to get pretty tonight and the fishing looks great. I'm busy every day but Monday and I'd love to go fishing monday. Call me and let's go. 2010 is winding down and its time for a Big Finish! Last week at Hatteras, in mostly windy conditions, I caught one Squid on a Squidjig. Not a lot of effort. Total Catch for the Week: 1 Squid 

Check Out This Awesome Shark

In NC you got your Sharks that aint cool---Sharpnose Sharks and Dogsharks. You got your cool Sharks--Blacktips, Spinners, Blacknoses, Duskys, Silkys, Sandbars, Sand Tigers and Hammerheads. Then you got your Awesome Sharks--Tigers, Makos and Threshers. Then you the KING OF ALL SHARKS--Great Whites..... This week at Hatteras a very large Thresher Shark got caught in a King Mackerel Net. Pretty rare sight in NC, especially at this size. This would've made a nice trophy on rod and reel. Too bad, but what a fish 540 POUNDS! Also, next week when I get home, all I got open is Wed the 17th and Mon the 22nd. Speckled Trout and King Mackerel....

Nov 10 Hatteras Surf Fishing

Today was NOT my day. This morning I stood in the surf at the Frisco Pier with 15 guys and I saw probably 20 Speckled Trout and 5 Red Drum caught. I did not catch a single fish. I don't know why. It wasn't my day. It was a pretty morning, a beautiful sunrise and the cold water felt great pressing against my waders. But that was one fustrating morning of fishing. The Drum were up to 27" and the Trout were 2 pounders. Later, I fishing in another location and caught 3 baby Bluefish that were basically "Gulp Destroyers" and a dollar each, that sucked. I guess I got paid back for that "every cast for 4 hour" day. Total Catch for the Day: 3 Bluefish

Nov 9 Weather Forecast

I'm back at Hatteras and I've got the Night Run. I fully intended to bring my boat up here and fish for King Mackerel, Blackfin Tuna and taking a crazy shot at a Mako Shark. But.........the Marine Forecast is 20-25 through Saturday so, I decided to leave the Boat at home and have another boring week at Hatteras. Whew! Hopefully, a few Speckled Trout and Red Drum will be in the surf and maybe a few Striped Bass and Squid will be hanging around the Ferry Docks.

Nov 8 Speckled Trout Chewing

Today was a cold, breezy day. NW wind was just slack enough for the fishing to be relatively comfortable. Fishing seemed a little slow at the Rock Jetty for the small handful of Boats that were there and the Albacore were nowhere to be seen. So, on  whim, we dropped our hook on the offshore end of the Jetty. We were the "offshore boat" at the Jetty. Things were looking bleak after 3 Bluefish. Then it all changed. Not really sure, but the boats inshore of us looked pretty damn bored. Sometimes when you drop your anchor, you "luck into the right spot" that was us today! Joey and I caught 5o Speckled Trout in the next 90 minutes. We also caught a pair of 3+ pound Gray Trout and 4 Red Drum. The Speckled Trout were all 17" to 19" except maybe 5 that were 13" to 15". It didn't matter, we never had to consider the size limit to get our bag limit. We stuffed the livewell with 2-3 pound Trout and Joey had 58 lbs of Trout out of 22 fish (20 Speckleds and 2 Grays). to take back to Chesapeake with him. Great Fishing. Total Catch for the Day: 50 Speckled Trout, 4 Red Drum, 3 Bluefish and 2 Gray Trout

Nov 4 Speckled Trout and Red Drum Biting

It was beautiful this morning so Chris and I went back out to the Rock Jetty and the fishing was good, but nothing like yesterday. The biggest problem was aggravating Bluefish. We went through 6 dozen plastic baits in 2 hours. Then the wind picked up to 25 SW and the rain came and we decided to take off. The Fishing was interesting good. The Red Drum were pretty consistent right up against the Rocks but the Speckled and Gray Trout were definitely outnumbered by the quicker and more aggressive Bluefish. There were a few keepers to be had, but we released nearly all our Trout. Total Catch for the Day: 30 Bluefish, 15 Red Drum up to 20", 12 Speckled Trout up to 15" and 2 Gray Trout up to 18"    ****1693 Total Fish so far in 2010****

Albacore Conditions

The weather forecast sucks for everything except................... Albacore Fishing. The winds are supposed to be high and from the NW. There is plenty of bait in the water and there are some Albacore around Beaufort Inlet and Cape Lookout. Their numbers should be increasing daily. The Albacore fishing could explode any day now. Look at that picture! Nobody can sell an Albacore trip like Columbo!!! Let's go Albacore Fishing!

Nov 3 Every Cast for 4 Hours!

The weather today was rotten. The past 9 days has been terrible. The forecast through Monday is horrific. Is this some sick joke. I go back to work on Tuesday November 9th. I bet pretty weather start right about then..... This morning, I couldn't take it any longer. With 20kt NE wind and soaking rain, it still looked like my best day. Of course, NE and NW are two different animals around Cape Lookout. I perfer NE, so off I went, really looking for Albacore. What I found was a special treat. No more than 10 boats at the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty and every rod bent. So from 10 am until 2 pm I sat there and made cast after cast and caught fish after fish. Nearly every cast would result in a Speckled Trout, a Gray Trout, or a Red Drum. The Red Drum took a little extra effort. You had to cast close to the Rocks. Speckled Trout were matted 200 ft from the Rocks to right up against the Rocks. The Gray Trout came in waves. During one stretch, I caught a Speckled Trout on 66 straight casts. The streak ended when I broke off a big fish. Yes, there were some nice fish sprinkled in there too. I caught several Gray and Speckled Trout in the 2lb class and one Speckled Trout at 3lbs. I easily caught a limit of 15+ inch Speckled Trout. The Red Drum ranged from 16" to 20". These fish were biting any color or any thing. Where I was anchored, I was marking 4 solid feet of Speckled Trout on the bottom in 15 feet of water. This was definitely one of the best days of the year and one of the first "every cast" days at the Rock Jetty in a couple of years for me. Too bad I was all by my self! Trout Fishing is looking good right now but the forecast is high winds from the NW. That sucks! Total Catch for the Day: 200 Speckled Trout up to 3 lbs, 30 Gray Trout up to 2 lbs, 25 Bluefish and 15 Red Drum up to 20"

Nov 2 WIND KEEPS BLOWING

Same ole story in October. I'm off and the wind is blowing 25kts from the NE today. That's 9 straight days of Small Craft Advisorys. Every morning I wake up and say I'm going fishing, and every morning I look at the wind and say that's a waste of time, energy, and money. Something needs to change pretty soon or I will go crazy. I worked 11 straight days from Oct 12 through Oct 22 and it was beautiful. Since I got home the weather has sucked!

Oct 29 Toughest Day of the Year

My cousin, Ellen warned me that there would be days like this. Horrible. Everywhere we went there was a problem. I knew the 25kt NW wind after yesterdays 25kt SW wind was going to be trouble. First thing this morning I went to Beaufort Inlet and soaked my crew with sea spray as they casted to sporadic Bluefish in the "washing machine". After 10 cold, wet minutes and 4 Bluefish on metal, I decided a radical move was in order! So I ran 15 miles North and got out of the wind, but the current was horrific. The fishing was fast and furious. As furious as 8" Hogfish can get! (not very) So we caught them for a while and believed we could do better somewhere else. Wrong! Back to Beaufort and we tried yesterday's Spot spots. They were very crowded and not very productive. So the genius Captain decides to make another bold move! Out Beaufort Inlet and 8 miles East. For Nothing. Back to Beaufort Inlet for nothing. On to the Boat Ramp and a miserable day of fishing was over! Sorry Guys. It was pretty much a 65 mile boat ride. Total Catch for the Day: 14 Hogfish, 4 Bluefish, 1 Croaker, 8 Pinfish and 1 Sand Perch

Oct 28 Small Craft Advisory and Spots

I hate it when people book a fishing trip way in advance and I know how much they are looking forward to it.... And they drive a long ways to get here..... And the wind howls.... Today it was 20-25 SW and that is a killer for the things I like to do. I know where there are 100,000 2-5 lb Bluefish. I think I know where huge schools of Red Drum are cruising. I'm pretty sure I know where the Albacore are boiling. But today all that was impossible. So I had to search for things for Billy and his crew to do, safely and while trying to stay dry. So we went bottom fishing. It was not great, but interesting. Battling wind, current, and dirty water, we scrapped out a nice catch of Spots. We also caught a few large Hogfish and a variety of other bottom fish. Total Catch for the Day: 45 Spot, 12 Pinfish, 12 Hogfish, 1 Striped Sea Robin, 2 Northern Puffer, 1 Croaker, 1 Gag Grouper, 3 Black Sea Bass, 1 Inshore Lizardfish, 4 Bluefish, and 1 Spottail Pinfish

Oct 24 Bluefish Blitz and Hard to find Red Drum

Had Joey and Kim on my boat this afternoon and a trend is definitely developing. Whenever a "Kim" comes aboard, things are always "looking good". Yeah. Anyway, we got a late start and cruised the Shackleford Beach looking for Red Drum. We found a school and Kim got a 24" Red Drum while Joey's cast barely missed. The Red Drum then doubled back and disappeared into the chalk. After that, we ran up to the Shoals and burned the Bluefish up. We caught 40 from 2-3lbs each. We kept around 18 and released the rest. Kim and I had a blast in the tower looking at thousands of Bluefish and barking orders to Joey down below. We saw many Rays, no Sharks. We also saw 6 baby Manta Rays. Now that was cool as hell!! Total Catch for the Day: 40 Bluefish and a 24" Red Drum

Oct 19 Currituck Ferry

I been away for a while and I'm dying to go fishing. After a long week at Hatteras, now I'm pulling some extra time on the Currituck-Knott's Island Ferry. Life is getting pretty boring. When I get home, hopefully the fish will fill the void! In the meantime, tomorrow night I'm crossing the canal and going to the Coinjock Marina. It was really fun last time I was there. I got a few open dates starting Saturday. Fishing should be great. Give me a call at 252-241-8350.

Oct 11 Awesome Bluefishing

What a great day. With a bunch of hardcore, kill em all fishermen. I love it. The only problem was it was 15-18 SW wind and sloppy. The Bluefish motherlode was in 2 feet of water with 4 ft breakers coming up on the stern with a ripping current. Can you say deadly combination..... For the Fish! My guys couldn't move around or stand up too good. Me either. But they flat out slaughtered the 2-5lb Bluefish while I worked the throttle and turned the wheel. It was 5 hours in the washing machine. Every second was an adventure. But, you know what, they didn't seem to mind, the Bluefish looked happy, and I didn't really give a damn. The action was so tense and frantic, I never even pulled my camera out. Sorry guys and girls. Back to Hatteras and Currituck for 10 days of stupidity and sleep! Total Catch for the Day: 75 Bluefish, 1 Pinfish, and 1 Southern Flounder

Oct 9 5 Pound Bluefish and a School of Red Drum

Capt Lee (http://www.redfishaction.com/) and I went on a short trip today. The SW wind was aggravating and kept us off my beach Drum, but we found another school, so what the heck. Unfortunately, Lee was a little slow on his retrieve and a 5lb Bluefish hammered his gulp before the Red Drum ever saw it. I nailed a 27" Red Drum on my first cast. As we moved in for the second kill, about a dozen other boats had took notice and it was over for that school! They ran up into the breakers and disappeared. After that we rode around and played with some big Bluefish on light tackle. Lee got what we wanted and the rest walked. We also saw some grown Blacktip and Sandbar Sharks on the Outer Shoals. 100+ pounders. Total Catch for the Day: 8 Bluefish up to 5lbs and a 27" Red Drum

Oct 8 Awesome Red Drum and Bluefish

Great Day of Fishing! Finally! Today was a scouting trip and it was a classic. First of all, the Shoals were matted with 2-5lb Bluefish. It was every cast with metal or top water plugs. the trick was the 4-5 pounders were in the white water. So there was the danger element too! After boxing 12 fat Bluefish and releasing a dozen more, I pulled off that bite and headed home. Then it got really good. Cruising the Shackleford Beach first I found a couple of Red Drum. Then a few singles. then a group of four. Then more singles. At this point, I'd released 4 over the slot. Then I found the motherlode. Probably 500 Red Drum. Out of this school I caught 8 Red Drum from 27" to 34". It was pretty awesome. I think the fishing outlook in the near future is pretty damn good! Total Catch for the Day: 24 Bluefish up to 5 lbs and 12 Red Drum up to 13 lbs

Oct 7 Taylor's Creek

Weird year. I have fished in Taylor's Creek off the Dock a 100 times a year for the last 30 years. Until this year. Today was my first try of the year. 22" of rain recently made it tough, but with 4 Finger Mullet, I dropped one overboard, caught a Lizardfish, and finally caught a 22" Red Drum and a 27" Red Drum! Total catch for the Day: 2 Red Drum and 1 Lizardfish

Oct 2 Water Moccasins and other problems at Hatteras

So Tropical Depression #14 was a nightmare up here. Closed out the Ferry Channel. I sat over at South Dock for 45 straight hours and finally caught a ride home with the USCG. Twin 225 Hondas on a rigid inflatable. I miss my old Honda!! Anyway, here it is Saturday Morning and it's pretty. North winds have the finger mullet and the Bluefish in turmoil on the Beaches.....And my Truck, my Rod and Reel, and my cast net are trapped at Ocracoke and no way to get them until tomorrow. And.......somebody tried to kill me by planting a Water Moccasin on my Truck! Welcome to the OBX

Sept 28 Back at Hatteras

I arrived back in Hatteras today to work the Night Shift at Hatteras Inlet. From the looks of the weather forecast, there aint going to be a lot of fishing activity either. Thats too bad, I was ready to break out of my funk. Now it looks like I'll be sitting back watching it rain and blow. Next week when I get home, I'll be ready to go fishing. Big Time!

Sept 23 Awesome Suprize

Chris and I out to catch some Bluefish today and maybe a Red Drum. It was looking bleak. The Ocean and surf on the west side was sloppy, dirty and dead. We crossed the Shoals and found a big remnant of hurricane swell. Our Bluefish spot was closed out. Things were looking bad. We had a few Albacore around so we went out there to catch a couple of them. Chris and I each caught one. Judging by the picture, Chris was thrilled. Then we noticed quite a few Blacktip Sharks jumping. Some really big ones too. So we rode over to that area and put out an Albacore strip. Too easy, an instant hook-up. An hour later, I had released 2 Blacktips, one around 100lbs and the other was 50lbs. Chris had released a 50lber. As Chris was fighting a 125lber, on a whim I casted a top water plug. What happened next was unbelievable. One Shark showed up, then another...By the time I got my plug back near the Boat, there were 20-25 Blacktip Sharks boiling underneath my plug. Sloppy eaters those things. It was incredible watching 100+ lb Sharks 10 feet from the boat unsucessfully try to bite a top water plug. After my initial cast, we did learn to slow the plug down and let the Sharks blast it. That wasn't nearly as much fun as making them miss though. A couple of hour later and minus 4-5 plugs we headed home. I told Chris, we will never forget this day. That's a fact. Total Catch for the Day: 2 Albacore and 7 Blacktip Sharks up to 125lbs