Feb 25 Hickory Shad Biting

Chris and I escaped from the stressful world today and hit Neuse River for some Shad Fishing. When we first arrived up to Pitch Kettle Creek, it was apparent that the fishing was excellent. However, Chris and I struggled to find our niche! Finally on our second anchoring attempt, I hooked with a small Buck Shad. Better than nothing, we were on our right! Wrong! Then the doldrums hit. Christopher was going into look down mode. His two favorite spots were occupied. Things were looking bleak. Christopher ran up a Creek and emptied his 9mm on some unsuspecting water molecule. He felt better. We ventured back out in main river current and we found our spot. Every third cast we'd hook up a nice Hickory Shad but 4 out of every 5 were bucks. We ended up with a nice pile of red roe delictasies. YummYumm. Taste better than the Captain's spelling. Momma says I aint doing enough crossword puzzles. Mental sit-ups. Yeah Right....... I got that off my chest...........Pretty soon,  Shad will turn to Bluefish will turn to Atlantic Bonito will turn to Cobia..... By then The Marty & Robin story will be finalized. With either with a yes or a no. God figuring out these fish are much easier
Total Catch for the Day: 45 Hickory Shad up to 2 lb 2oz

Feb 22 Beautiful Day and Good Bluefin Tuna Action

I joined CL Lupton and crew today for a Bluefin Tuna trip out of Oregon Inlet. It was a beautiful day and pretty good fishing as well. It was also a great day for viewing the Blue Planet. Thousands of Common Dolphin and lots of huge Hammerhead Sharks. The Bluefin Tuna were there as well. Just not always biting. In the afternoon, we found a huge school of them. The bites came quicker and the action was great. The entire time, our boat was surrounded by hundreds of Common Dolphin in all directions. These are the Dolphin that look like they are wearing tuxedos. Beautiful little critters. As for the fishing, we had 9 bites, released 6 Bluefin Tuna up to 200 lbs. We also killed a 210 lb Tuna. Our smallest Tuna was cute "little 70 pounder". Great day. Great Crew. Total Catch for the Day: 7 Bluefin Tuna up to 210 lbs

This Is Why I'm Here

Capt. Marty,


I believe God put all of us here for some reason. We may be close to finding that reason in our life time here. Sometimes never. I can tell that God wants you to be a Fisherman, just like some other famous fisherman (lol). You give much joy to many people, some you meet, some you don't. We have never met, but I read your articles every time you post. The people that do fish with you get great knowledge, great fishing, and a good friend. Now whats better then that?



We all need some attitude adjustments, it makes us a better person. Don't let anyone change your passion. Chin up... Your a good man.

Your friend

Wayne

Feb 13 Freezing Cold and Hickory Shad

Capt Chris knew I was bummed out so he bit the bullet and took me on the Neuse River on an early season, freezing cold, Hickory Shad excursion...... My lasting impression? Chris is a great friend. IT WAS COLD!!!! The fishing was poor. We found a few Shad up in Pitch Kettle Creek. (That is just for you, Tuggy!) I really believe the best Shad fishing is a week to 10 days away. However, its always good to get the first one "out of the way". Chris and I also explored some new area. Brice's Creek and the lower Neuse around New Bern. We couldn't buy a bite. Hopefully the pace and the results of the fishing will be on the upswing soon. I need a diversion. Weird, my favorite pictures from this day were not the "fish pictures". Also, being sad and shedding a tear is a liberating experience. For obvious reasons, I've been a little emotional. But when the tears freeze down the side of your face, it really pays to "think about something happy" for a little while instead. Thanks Columbo.....Total Catch for the Day: 8 Hickory Shad up to 1 lb

Feb 10 Amberjacks saved the Day

I had the pleasure to fish with Capt Chris Kimrey and Dustin today on a beautiful winter day. Light winds and NO seas. For much of the day, fishing was a let down. Trolling for Wahoo and Blackfin Tuna was pretty poor and we were 10 miles away from a brief morning bite. Oh well. Lunch time found us 50 miles offshore on a beautiful tide line. It was a sight to see, with 73 degree water moving east at 4 knots and 69 degree water moving west at 3 knots. Where the water rubbed together whirlpools spun balls of foam the size of volkswagons like kiddy toy spinning tops. Thousands of Man-o-wars, some kind of weird worm, and small fish abounded. However, no feeding fish or birds were present. It was an epic spectacle and an epic let down. So we ran to a nearby wreck and casted and jigged as a last ditch effort. We were rewarded with an epic "Jack" day. Amberjacks, an Almaco Jack, huge Blue Runners, and an Albacore all fell to the jig. A little inshore we jigged up a Gag Grouper, lots of nice Black Sea Bass, Bank Sea Bass, and more Amberjacks. All in all, a great day. Total Catch for the Day: 14 Amberjacks up to 20 lbs, 1 Almaco Jack at 14 lbs, 1 Albacore at 8 lbs, 6 Blue Runner up to 5 lbs, 1 Gag Grouper at 7 lbs, 14 Black Sea Bass up to 3 lbs, and 2 Bank Sea Bass 

Feb 4 Long Hatteras Boat Ride

A beatuiful day on the water. A horrible day of fishing on the Top Water Boat.... The outlook was good.... A large school of large Red Drum on the Shoals.... The best Blackfin Tuna bite on the Planet right off Hatteras... Bluefin Tuna fishing has been slowly expanding to the south... So we were ready! So what did Frank and Ian get? We made it to the 280 Rock. We saw one school of Blackfins airing it out! We circled the area for 30 minutes and didn't get a bite. We jigged on the Rock with no luck. We saw one other boat jig up one Blackfin Tuna..... The Bluefin Tuna bite blew 12-15 miles NE of our location and it was just too far away to run to at 11am since we were already 30 miles SE of Hatteras Inlet. We did stop by the Diamond Shoals Lighttower and catch some Albacore and a Triggerfish and a Hogfish. Then we ran in to Diamond Shoals and looked for the Red Drum schools. We found none.... So we called it a day and ran home to do Ferry duty last night. All together we ran 80+ miles and came home with a nice Gray Triggerfish. Thats one expensive fish sandwich right there! The highlight of our day was having a very close encounter with a huge, adult Manta Ray! This beast dove right under my boat and I swear his width was close to our length....  25 FEET!!!  Total Catch for the Day: 3 Albacore, 1 Triggerfish, and 1 Hogfish

Jan 30 UPDATE

I am headed back to Hatteras tommorrow. I have the Night Run and I am taking my Boat. There have been a couple of Bluefin Tuna caught inshore at Hatteras. Therefore, I will be doing some Bluefin Tuna fishing this week/next week if conditions allow it. Please call me if anyone is interested. 252-241-8350... Wed Feb 1 through Mon Feb 6

Jan 28 Spiny Dogfish Heaven

It was too pretty to sit on the shore... I was wishing I was in Va Beach.. I was wishing I knew where some good fish were down here in Beaufort Inlet.. I was bored.. I was missing Robin.. Sooooooooo, I launched the Top Water Boat! First time in a while. The Ocean was pretty, but there was some groundswell.. I debated headed west, but I am always pulled east! Off Cape Lookout, I found some Loons and Mergansers over some marks. So I dropped a speck rig and quickly got rewarded with a Dogshark. Then another and another and another... Quite a few, in fact. Big, pregnant female Spiny Dogs. 10-12 pounders. After getting my reel on, I continued my journey to the Shoals. Same old story, ever since Hurricane Irene the Shoals have sucked. I hope that something changes up there before Spring.. The Cape Lookout Shoals are poor and the formation is as bad as I can remember. I have been scouring those Shoals 50+ times a year for 20+ years. So, I consider myself a knowledgable person when it come to the Cape Lookout Shoals... (While I continue to fail in less important fields such as.... Personal Finance, Relationships, Health, but hey, at least I'm good at something)... Anyway, I crossed the Shoals hoping to find acres of Albacore and rolling Striped Bass... Negative... What I found on the Summerlin Reef was 4 small Red Drum, a handful of Bluefish, Black Sea Bass, and a Oyster Toadfish... With such a sterling catch, I am disappointed to say, I left my camera at home. I'm sorry!  Total Catch for the Day: 10 Spiny Dogfish up to 12 lbs, 10 Bluefish up to 10", 8 Black Sea Bass up to 8", 4 Red Drum up to 14" and 1 Oyster Toadfish

Jan 26 Striped Bass gnawing off Virginia Beach

What a great day to be fishing... The Blue Planet was putting on a show. Humpback Whales and Gannets. Striped Bass and Bluefin Tuna. Miles of Menhaden. The biomass was incredible. Right off the metropolis of Va Beach.. I knew I had arrived in the big city when Sea Tow was broadcasting an Info commercial every 10 minutes on the VHF Radio.... Welcome to the BIG TIME I guess.............Back to the Fishing! It took a few passes, but catching 3 Bass, then 2 Bass, and then 3 Bass again and our 4 man bag limit was met and we were done by 9am! All the fish were probably Chesepeake Bay fish in the 20-24 lb class. They were caught right at the mouth of the Bay. I also lost a nice one that I guess was 40+ pounds. I've never felt a Striped Bass run like that. Ever. Damn probably would've been a new career best for me, but the hook pulled.... We pulled off 2 others and that was it. 8 out of 11 Striped Bass in 3 hours of trolling in a huge fleet of boats right off Cape Henry..... Then we ran in to the dock and we dropped off our fish. Then it was off to the Tuna grounds.... We should've headed home! A few hours of Bluefin Fishing was fruitless for us. We did see one boat doing battle with a Bluefin Tuna in 35 foot of water a couple of miles off the Beach. We watched him spin counterclockwise for a hour and we left him spinning off False Cape.... We came home after a couple of hours trolling and running around. We called it a great day. A Bluefin Tuna would've made it a perfect day! Total Catch for the Day: 8 Striped Bass up to 24 lbs

Jan 24 FISHING SOON

Its been dead.... I been in a SLUMP..... Just as the depression deepens, looks like I'm headed to Virginia Beach on Thursday to sample a little fishing! Thank Goodness....  Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I will be home and looking to go..... Any takers!

HAPPY NEW YEARS

I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I hope that 2012 is a great year for fishing. In the near future, I will do my year in review and toss out some meaningless statistics. I also would like to apologize to those of you that read my blog on a regular basis for "getting slack" towards the end of the year. I am planning on fishing hard in 2012 and hopefully the action will be fast and the fish large and hungry! In the near future, I plan to try to get in a little action on Striped Bass, Bluefin Tuna, Speckled Trout, and/or Red Drum. I am also optimistic that the Hickory Shad run is a good one this year. The past couple of years have been poor. Well, thats about it from for now. I have just arrived back in Hatteras for a week of freezing cold Ferry Rides. Hopefully this cold trend will jump start the Striped Bass run off Oregon Inlet. If it doesn't, well shoot, I'll just have to stay bundled up with Robin. Sounds like a win-win situation to me!

Dec 30 Speckled Trout Limit

The title might be a little deceiving. The fishing was very strange. Fishing in a spot that was dead yesterday.... Fishing in a spot that, by all accounts has been dead for 2 weeks. Fishing in a spot that has traditionally been an early season spot for Speckled Trout.... So today I left the dock at 1130 because I was bored. Right at the top of the tide. I dropped anchor in a spot near the boat ramp, just to waste a few minutes...... First cast. Wham. A 2 lb 8 oz Speckled Trout. Second cast. Third Cast. Fourth Cast. Wham wham wham. There's my limit. Incredible. 100 casts later.... stuck on 4 Speckled Trout from 2-3 lbs each. Amazing. Could these be the last fish of 2011? Total Catch for the Day: 4 Speckled Trout up to 3 lbs

Dec 29 Beautiful Weather and Lots of Dogsharks

Stephen and I fished together on July 4th. It was rough as a cob and I tried to talk him out of it. But he had come all the way from Syracuse, NY and he came to fish. So we went and Stephen caught a pile of Bluefish and a 125 lb Blacktip Shark. So today was going to be much different. In good ways and bad! Fishing early was a struggle. Fishing late was a struggle. Watching wildlife was spectacular. Blue Planet material. Gannets, Loons, Scoters, Gulls, and Terns by the hundred. Bottlenosed Dolphin, of all sizes, everywhere we went. Hundreds of them. And one, maybe two Humpback Whales. The one whale stayed in our area for over an hour. Acres of Menhaden were definitely feeding the Blue Planet today... What about the fishing? The Cape Lookout Rock Jetty sucked. The Cape Lookout Shoals sucked. AR 315 sucked. Rouse's Slough sucked. In the middle of all that, we jigged up 15 Spiny Dogfish on speck rigs in 55 ft of water off Cape Lookout as our friendly Whale circled. My apologys to Stephen for the poor fishing. Last time I was apologizing about the weather. Next time we are due for a perfect day. Total Catch for the Day: 15 Spiny Dogfish up to 10 lbs and 1 Black Sea Bass

Last Night's Journey

To begin with, Squid fishing was good. The Squid were small. I guess we're having "popcorn calamari"... The jig was bigger than the Squid. The aggressive little demons would still attack it though. I ended up with 39 Squid. Not bad.... On to the main event! So I caught a bucket full of baby crabs. At 1245am I took my position and waited for Mr Tautog to show up. Holy Cow what a wait. I felt like a Blue Heron. I stood and I stood and I stood. A few times I got dizzy/sleepy and nearly fell to my death. Finally at 435 he showed up. Casting a baby crab in the dark in 12 kt wind was a trick, but I hit the right spot a few times. For 5 minutes he would charge the crab and flash under it. Then (in the dark) it looked like he had a hard time eating it. I suppose Tautog are better known as daytime feeders and maybe eating at night is a challenge? Finally about 450 I got a bite and missed. Then another, and another. I was furious now. I dropped another crab and a crewmember walked up and distracted me..... My line came tight! I got him finally, but the hook pulled. Then another Tog showed up, the big one from the night before. Now it was 455 and time to load. I dropped one final crab and wham, he nailed it. When the Tautog broke the surface, it was obviously not the big one, but thankfully it was a Tautog! Mission accomplished. My whole life is better! Total Catch for the Night: 39 Squid and 1 Tautog

Dec 21 NO FISHING REPORTS

Once again, I am very sorry about the lack of fishing reports! In all honesty, there has been a lot of other things going on. Christmas and lack of interest in fishing charters have made combined to keep me off the water for another week.. Now I'm back up at Cape Hatteras and I am working another night shift. Pretty much, its just like last week. On the Hatteras side, I caught 17 Squid and they were very small ones. Just right for bait. Late last night, I caught a Toad and a Sea Bass and I gave up. After firing up the Ferry at 430am, I took one last look over the rail at 455 and there swam the fish of my dreams (right now). A 6-8 lb Tautog was chasing and pinning Crabs against a piling. I watched in a stupor for a few seconds... With traffic coming aboard, I snapped out of my trance and ran to my truck and grabbed my rod and a Squid. With a minute before time to leave, I got back to the spot and Mr Tog was gone.. Dammit. Why do I feel that fish was symbolic of my entire life? Tonight I will try to get him, but the weather is worse and my odds are poor. Wish me luck! Total Catch for the Night: 17 Squid, 1 Black Sea Bass, and 1 Oyster Toadfish 

Dec 10 Squid Jigging

They are back...............

Dec 8 Not So Good

Here lately I've been haunted by the Full Moon. Fishing tonight was no exception. Not sure if the Moon is completely full or not, but one thing is definitely certain..... I am not having one of my better fall fishing seasons!   Hopefully, the winter fishing will make up for it.....On to the latest Fishing Report......... The Hatteras Squid run has fallen off. Needing Squid for Tautog bait, I did manage to catch one nice one at 15". Other than that I purposely snagged 5 more baby Squid in the 3"-4" range. Snagging anything at that size was a challenge. On the other side, I could only manage 1 Oyster Toadfish on the hook. I did see the largest Tautog that I've seen since cousin Tony reeled in a 6 pounder back in 1989 at AR-315. The one I saw tonight was a 5lb Tautog but I couldn't entice him to bite. He was patrolling the shadow line by a large concrete stanchion. The Togs are slurping small crabs off the surface and the 5 Tautog that I have captured all had stomachs full of crabs.... I only have a small handful of fishing gear so I'm pretty restricted in my attack. I need a dip net to catch some crabs, but with 4 in my garage at home, I just cant justify buying another one so I can try for the elusive 5 lb Tautog.... Speaking of Togs, the ones that I have eaten rank up there with the finest tasting fish I have ever eaten.... Total Catch for the Night: 6 Squid and 1 Oyster Toadfish

Dec 7 Ferry Dock Fishing

First of all, I apologize for the lack of reports. Last week at Beaufort, the weather was nice but I had boat trailer and truck problems. I also had no charters, so I let it rest. No boating and I surely missed some great Speckled Trout fishing. I did walk out to Radio Island a couple of times and caught some undersized Speckled Trout............ Moving ahead to this week, I am back to work at Hatteras. On tuesday night, I fished for squid on the north side dock and tautog on the south side dock. I actually had an interesting catch. I caught one Tautog and a variety of other fish, including a 16" Black Sea Bass. The Squid fishing wasn't so good. Reports from up the shore, at Oden's Dock, was a great run of Squid........ Last night, wednesday, the weather was horrible and I did not fish... Total Catch for the Report: 25 Speckled Trout, 1 Tautog, 5 Black Sea Bass, 10 Bluefish, 3 Oyster Toadfish, and 2 Squid

Nov 30 Robin's Birthday, IGFA International Angler Magazine and Time for Fishing

Today is Robin's Birthday. It's going to be hard to sneak in a fish or two.......

I have a photo and a trip description in the Nov/Dec edition of International Angler Magazine. I am a IGFA Certified Captain so if you fish with me, please remind me to give you a free IGFA Membership

I'm back from Hatteras and ready to go fishing. Speckled Trout should be on-fire. Red Drum, Gray Trout, Sea Mullet, and Albacore should be avaliable. Call me if interested at 252-241-8350.

Nov 28 World Record Tautog on Fly Near Miss

I've caught a bunch of Squid this week. All my friends have eaten plenty of calamari. So, to mix things up, I broke out the 3wt fly rod. On the North Side, I found the Squid eager to attack a fly or anything else that moves. On a fly, the problem was hooking one. Squid are impossible to hook unless they "grab" a point. That's why a "squid jig" has 8-16 points. Anyway, drawing strikes, losing them and landing a few of them is a blast! Squid after Squid. Night after Night.another. It has been Great fun.....   Meanwhile, over at the South Side, there hasn't been a lot of action. But I've been playing with the fly rod anyway..... Lots of empty drops with the Squid jig and empty casts with gulps, grubs, and mirrorlures... I didn't try the fly rod over there until Sunday Night. After a few empty casts and after dropping my fly by a set of pilings suddenly a mystery fish darted out of the shadows and examined my fly. A look but not a take! "What on Earth was that" I wondered. On my next cast, the fish rolled out of the shadowsbagain and turned on it's side. No mistaking that profile. Tautog, and a nice one too. Not a traditional fly fishing target, to say the least! Not my field of expertise, but I would think it is nearly impossible to target and not very receptive to a fly.... But, hey, I had found an opponent and I was in a ballgame! The next cast was looking bleak, then with one mad rush, the 3-4 lbTautog enhaled the fly right before my eyes and I was hooked up! The tiny 3wt rod was bent double, triple, flexing to the reel seat as my hefty Tautog dug for the bottom. Twenty seconds later, the hook pulled... It was over dammit. In retrospect, the 2011 IGFA Record Book showed the 6 lb Tippet Tautog Records to be at 1lb 10oz and the one I hooked up was easily a 3-4 pounder. Anyway, he escaped so what the heck........ The great thing was, now I could focus on Squid on the North side and Tautogs on the South side. Fearing that my ultralight fly rod was overmatched around all the rocks and pilings, I went to conventional tackle and 40# mono for Tautog.........   After losing the first Tautog on fly Sunday night, I managed to land 3 later that night from 2-3 pounds each on cut squid. Monday night I caught another 2lb Tautog, but I had a shot at a 5-6 pound career best Tautog, but I couldn't coax this one to eat. He charged the bait, flashed underneath, rolled, and did a headstand on top of it. It was 20 minutes of drama and tension, but the big one never ate the bait! Bait fishing bycatch consisted of baby Bluefish, Bass, and Oyster Toads...  Meanwhile, on the Hatteras side, The Squid continued to bite.....  Total Catch for Sunday and Monday Nights: 38 Squid up to 18", 4 Tautog up to 3 lbs, 6 Bluefish, 1 Black Sea Bass, and 1 Oyster Toadfish     Pictures Later

Nov 26 Squid on the Fly Rod

This was a fishing session spawned out of pure boredom and insomnia. Unable to sleep, I basically did what I been doing since 1970 when my Dad had to drag me off the Morehead Ocean Pier every Sunday Afternoon........ I went fishing!  And since Squid are different, challenging, plentiful, and tasty right now, we can say I went Squid fishing. For a new twist, I broke out the 3wt Fly Rod. It didn't take long! Unfortunately, with 1 point, as opposed to 10-14 points on a squid jig, I pulled off 75% of my strikes. Regardless of the difficulty in landing them, I did proudly catch my first Squid on a fly rod. Whether they were landed or not, each strike resulted in a nice battle because the Squid were reluctant to let go of the fly. I actually had several violent surface strikes with healthy splashes of water and lots of black ink spraying. I also managed another big pile of Squid. For variety, little Bluefish were also crashing the fly with reckless abandon. I also played around with a squid jig and managed another first, 2 Squid at the same time on one jig! It was 2 hours of fun on a very dark, beautiful night, with lots of falling stars.  Total Catch for the Late Night/Early Morning Session: 14 Squid up to 17" and 6 Bluefish

Nov 25 Squid are Biting Good and My Girlfriend is Happy

As my girlfriend sits 8 miles up the road in Buxton, what on earth is Capt Marty up to late at night?  Squid Fishing of course......I'm catching them too.... Last week, for the first time in our 5 month old whirlwind romance, Robin said, "You fish too much, give me a break!!!" I thought to my self, "Oh Jeez, here we go again, I hate to lose this woman, how can I balance this." This week, so far I don't have an answer, but thankfully Robin is at her parents house and everything is great and she really isn't keeping close tabs on my fishing habit this week. Whew!!!!  Anyway, my buddy Frank Folb. Jr is catching Squid at a good rate as well....... Our buddy Al Farkas is castnetting them...... The Great Hatteras Squid Run of 2011 is alive and well. Frank had a 12 Squid on a jig in 10 minute rally... I had a 8 Squid on a jig in 5 minute rally... Aside from the rallys, it's slow and steady....Then Al bombards the flock with his net and chases them to the Gulf Stream... Minutes later, another flock show up and the bite resumes.. Frank's night is half over... Mine is done. I caught enough for another big platter of calamari. 2011 is winding down and it's time to go fishing!!!! Total Catch for the Night: 18 Squid up to 16"

Hatteras Thanksgiving

Capt Marty has a new cell phone! Feel free to call me up and harrass me! Next week, if anyone wants to go fishing Nov 30, Dec 2, Dec 3 or Dec 4 please contact me at 252-241-8350. I would expect the Speckled Trout fishing to be extraordinary....... Also, Happy Thanksgiving to friends, family, and even to my opponents and enemys.... Today the Ferry Dock served up Chicken for lunch. I assume the general thought process was that everyone would go home to a big turkey dinner.... Not Capt Marty. Breaking from tradition, I pulled out a premium can of 2 layered Norwegian Sardines. Adding to the fineness of this culinary delight, I poured off the oil and added vinegar. I'm drooling like Pavlos Dog as I type. Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving dinner as much as I will enjoy mine.

Nov 22 Late Night at Hatteras with Squid and Speckled Trout

With bad weather right around the corner.... I pushed the limits of my endurance and did a double header tonight of Squid jigging and mirrorlure slinging. Both ideas worked out for a change! The Squid were off to flying start, I caught 9 nice Squid pretty quickly, but I turned that fishery over to a friend that wanted some calamari worse than I did. After cleaning up the mess I made cooking up some Speckled Trout fillets in the galley earlier, I got bored and drove out to the Frisco Pier. It was a beautiful night, but the tide was falling and was really low water already. I said, what else do I have to do, so I tossed the first cast of the night.... Three reel handle turns later, the rod bowed and a 18" Speckled Trout surfaced and shook his head all the way to the beach. An hour later, I had 4 Speckled Trout on the Beach. That bag limit was made up by 2 at 18" and 2 at 17". I also released 4 smaller ones from 15" to 13". Another very satisfying Speckled Trout expedition. I love them on a mirrorlure, at night, from the surf. Nice adventure. Total Catch for the Night: 8 Speckled Trout up to 2 lbs and 9 Squid up to 19"