Nov 3 Night Mission....... Mission Accomplished

Fished from 10:15 until 1:45am. Collectively we caught 40 Speckled Trout. A few were too small. Lots of 14" keepers and a few larger up to 16". All the fish were caught on light spinning tackle with gulps or mirrorlures... The first place we tried was a bust. However, the second place we tried was just barely good enough that we couldn't leave! We never made it to the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty. We should've went up there, we probably would've had a shot at some bigger Trout plus some Red Drum... Oh well, nice night with a great anglers. Beautiful Night. Total Catch for the Night: 40 Speckled Trout up to 16"

Nov 3 Carolina Inshore Grand Slam X 5

No charter today, dammit... The lovely Miss Robin is get pretty much moved in and squared away... Boat fixed... Light winds, sunny, good tides... Guess what I did.... Finally... Went fishing and fishing was good. Albacore were everywhere, but competition was tough and the fish were moving around alot. I tried for an hour and released 5 on metal and light spinning tackle.. Then I went to the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty and fishing was excellent, nearly every cast fishing!. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the "Large Trout" spot so I didn't get involved with that. However, in an hour, I did manage to catch a bunch of Speckled and Gray Trout and 2 nice Red Drum. Then I found some more Red Drum on the Shackleford Banks Beach and caught a few more. Finally, back in Taylor's Creek and the Flounder were chewing again. I caught 4 nice ones up to 4 lbs and a couple of throwbacks with very little effort. All in all, a great day. Sorry about the crappy self-portraits, but thats all I got when fishing alone... I need some help guys... Let's go fishing! Total Catch for the Day: 5 Red Drum up to 7 lbs, 6 Southern Flounder up to 4 lbs, 18 Speckled Trout up to 1 lb, 2 Gray Trout up to 2 lbs, 7 Albacore up to 12 lbs, 1 Black Sea Bass at 13", 4 Pinfish and 1 Spottail Pinfish

Nov 1 Flounder's Chewing

It took about 5 seconds this morning to see that the fish were biting today. It was windy, so today's cancelation was a tough call.... So with not alot happening, I went fishing and tried to drag Robin along. Against her will she caught a 4 lb Flounder and a 5 lb Flounder. Not sure if a bikini pic is going to be possible. Not sure if a bundled up pic is even going to be possible! I'm still working on that....... Fishing was good inside, in a couple of hours we caught Red Drum and Flounders. We failed in a Speckled Trout quest, but we really didn't try! And the day is not over. I got a livewell full of Flounders and a nice tide tonight. As of now, Total Catch for the Day: 5 Red Drum up to 7 lbs, 14 Southern Flounder up to 5 lbs, 8 Pinfish, and 6 Inshore Lizardfish

Oct 26 The Broken Down Boat Update

The Top Water Boat is crippled and Capt Marty is scrambling for a back up boat! This aint good at this time...... After making a serious effort at fixing this problem myself, the Top Water Boat is now in the shop. It is scheduled to be released from the boat hospital by the first of next week so hopefully I will resume fishing activitys quickly... With the tide beginning to work in my favor at night and Capt Columbo returning from his recent battles with the Houston Texas Shipping Channel, I do expect some Red Drum, Speckled Trout, and Flounders pics to be published soon....

Oct 21 Slow Inshore Fishing in Improving Conditions

Fishing was hard this morning. High Winds from the past 2 days and heavy rains had created lots of problems on the inshore fishing grounds. This morning, the water was filthy, the wind was blowing 18 kts from the west, and the Ocean was confused and angry... Our dilemma was, how far out was the cleaner water where we might find Albacore and was the forecast of diminishing winds and seas accurate?? So we stayed around Beaufort Inlet early and the fishing was very hard and slow. Brent did manage a 19" Speckled Trout. We also caught a handful of Puffers and lots of garbage. The most exciting moment of the morning was Ken's Atlantic Stingray on light tackle. Then we went riding, east and west, for 70 miles.... We pretty much found nothing. We never found an Albacore, a Bluefish, or a Red Drum. We tried all sorts of radical approaches. Reports from all over were poor, but I believe we probably should have started fishing 15 miles out and that would've been a long, cold, wet ride early in the morning. King Mackerel fishing was probably our best bet in hindsight!  Finally, the last fish of the day was a 4 lb Black Drum that Ken pulled out from under a dock at Crab Point and Mark lost a nice Red Drum beside the boat. Ouch. Brent's highlight was the awesome new rod and reel that I failed to find him a fish to pull the drag. My apologies to this fine crew and this hard day of fishing. By the way, conditions did improve throughout the day and by late afternoon, it was beautiful on the water. Total Catch for the Day: 3 Speckled Trout, 1 Black Drum, 1 Spot, 1 Bluefish, 6 Northern Puffers, 1 Atlantic Stingray, 1 Croaker, 1 Southern Sea Mullet, 1 Spottail Pinfish, 1 Rock Sea Bass, 8 Black Sea Bass, 15 Pinfish, 20 Hogfish, and 2 Inshore Lizardfish

Oct 19 Rain and Wind Report

We fished today in absolutely horrible conditions. Pouring Rain. Wind that spin around the compass from SW to NE and back to SE. The wind blew 20 kts from the SW, then became light SE, then it blew 30 kt NE, finally it settled back to 20 kt from the SE when I pulled up the boat... The fish didn't know what to think. We fished 3 places and the fishing was across the board poor. We did, as predicted, catch a high volume of small fish. The top catches were a 17" Speckled Trout, 3 Northern Puffers, a baby Gag Grouper, and a Clearnosed Skate.... That top fish list tells the tale on this day. We should've stayed home! But, it was still fun! Total Catch for the Day: 25 Pinfish, 25 Hogfish, 3 Speckled Trout, 3 Bluefish, 1 Spot, 3 Sand Perch, 10 Black Sea Bass, 1 Gag Grouper, 1 Spottail Pinfish, 1 Clearnosed Skate, and 1 Oyster Toadfish

Oct 18 What a Forecast (GALE WARNING)

I been sitting up at Hatteras, the weather has varied between fair and beautiful.... The scenery has been spectacular.... And no I haven't seen a Speckled Trout! So now I'm back in Beaufort for 21 straight days and in typical October fashion, I'm looking at 20-25 kt winds, pouring rain, and a bunch of possible cancelations... But tommorrow's crew says "Go For It"... so into the rain and wind we shall sail... We will probably be looking for Spots, Hogfish, and a plethora of other bottom feeders. Hopefully they will be abundant and hopefully they will be biting!

Oct 10 Taylor's Creek Failures

Okay, this WAS THE WORST FISHING EXPERIENCE I've had since the mid-90s. I snuck out of the house in the middle of the night to fish a tide. I had plenty of bait and conditions were "right". I had caught a nice Southern Flounder earlier in the day, but was plagued by Lizardfish. So what happened next was a catastrophe. First Mullet to the bottom gets eaten. When I set the hook, the rod bowed as a big Flounder exploded off the bottom. Glancing to see where the net was, I missed something. The rod tip snapped up and the fish was gone. WTF? My line broke (I thought) where my braid joined my shock leader. Dammit. It seemed like a 5+ pound Flounder. I quickly re-tied another Carolina Rig with no shock leader. 80# braid straight to the swivel. Next Mullet down and it gets slammed. The rod bows and as the fish surges, the line parts. In the dark, I spin the reel handle in disgust. "Is the braid rotten, I wonder?" Looking around, I'm out of leader material.... So I drive all the way home. Carefully I enter the house to get some mono. Robin's dog explodes.... Robin explodes... "You'd rather fish than be with me!"...... "No Darling, but the Flounder, Baby, you wouldn't believe how big they are! "..... "Show me one!"..... "I can't yet".... You get the picture! Anyway, I get back to the Dock and my next Mullet hits the bottom and is chomped. I lift the tip and its glued to the bottom and the rod tip is chewing to the beat of a monster.... I count to 25 and set the hook. This monster explodes off the bottom and heads offshore... And I clearly see the 80# braid seperate at the rod tip. Oh My God. No. I look and see the glass insert is broken and has a razor sharp edge. It took 3 losses for me to figure it out. Three Citation Flounder. (A guess). I pop the ceramic out and tried it with no insert. Never had another bite. No Flounder to show Robin. Stayed out all night on our last night together for 7 days. I'm in trouble over fishing and I actually care. And, the Flounder kicked my butt. It was a horrible night. Total Catch for the Day: 1 Southern Flounder and 5 Inshore Lizardfish

Oct 7 Windy, Cool, and Speckled Trout

I had a cancellation this morning and it seemed like a pretty day so...... I promised Robin warm weather, light winds, and hungry fish. Standing there in a Black Bikini this morning, she said, "Will you take my picture when I catch a big fish" Hell Yeah! Unfortunately, when we hit Beaufort Inlet, the NE wind was pushing 20 kts and it was too cold for Bikinis or Robin. So we hit a couple of places inshore and Robin DID NOT CATCH a fish worthy, in her opinion, to be photographed. The Northern Puffer was as close as we got! So I let down the few of you that come here for something other than fish! As for the fishing, we caught 15 Speckled Trout and a handful of garbage and managed to have a good day despite the cold wind.....  Total Catch for the Day: 15 Speckled Trout, 6 Black Sea Bass, 1 Pinfish, 1 Northern Puffer, and 1 Inshore Lizardfish

Oct 5 The Big Return to Fishing

Tom and Mike are great return clients and they brought along 2 buddys this morning.. I have been out of town for 21 days, so I was a nervous wreck. The fishing storys I'd been told were of great Albacore fishing and vast numbers of Blacktip and/or Spinner Sharks.... At the end of a long half day charter, we found World Class Albacore Fishing on spinning tackle and Out of this Universe Spinner and Blacktip Sharks on cut Albacore..... In between we caught Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish, Red Drum, Summer Flounder, and Cownose Ray. Fishing for the all the other stuff was good, but not up to Top Water Charters standards. The Red Drum were in the dirty water and hard to spot. We found 2 small schools of them. Hooked 4 and landed 2. Our Red Drum captures were 26" and 25". The Bluefish were in the shallow water with 4 foot breakers on the stern. The  Spanish Mackerel were everywhere, but no where in particular. All blind casting. The Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel ranged to over 2 lbs. The Albacore were small ones in the 4-6 lb range. We were casting over huge schools of breaking fish and honestly, Albacore fishing could've only been better if the fish would've been larger. The days highlight was the leaping Sharks. We found an area where they were jumping at a rate of 8-10 per minute. Turned out to a huge area teemimg with giant Spinner Sharks and large Blacktip Sharks. Once we arrived, it didn't take long to hook the first doubleheader. One broke off and we landed a 80 lb Blacktip Shark. Before leaving, we released a 125 lb Spinner Shark and  150 lb Spinner Shark. I lost one a 100 pounder on a top water plug on 10# spin and at one time we had 50 Sharks swarming around the boat. The final detail about the day was the 45 lb Cownose Ray Mike snagged on a stingsilver. He got winged and is headed for the grill. Total Catch for the Day: 14 Albacore up to 8 lbs, 14 Bluefish up to 2+ lbs, 3 Spanish Mackerel up to 2+ lbs, 2 Red Drum at 8 and 7 lbs, 3 Summer Flounder less than 15", 2 Spinner Sharks up to 150 lbs, 1 Blacktip Shark at 80 lbs and a 45 lb Cownose Ray

Oct 1 21 Straight Days of Work is Coming to an End

I am still at work! I'm sick of it and I am ready to go fishing. I will be home on Tuesday  October 4th. Hopefully, the winds will be light and the fish will be chewing... I have some open days that week. For those interested in things other than fishing, Robin is fine and me and her are getting along fine. As I was looking around her room, I found a Red Drum Citation. Could this be the one???? Open dates Oct 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10

Still at Stumpy Point

Looking for some Good Karma. Sacrificing Fishing to help Hatteras Island. I will be working 21 straight days..... 9 down and 12 to go..... sheeesh!   Ready to go fishing again starting in October.....

Sept 13 I'm in Dare County

Back to work tommorrow for me. I'll be ferrying from Stumpy Point to Rodanthe. Not a real exciting run, to say the least. Hopefully this week I will spend a couple of nights over on Hatteras Island. Give me a chance to look around and I might even get a chance to wet a line. From what I hear Hatteras has been on-fire leading up to this full moon and has had none of the dirty water that plagued me on Saturday. Im also going to be exploring a few fishing possibilities in and around Manteo. I've seen some beautiful ponds and of course the ditches around Stumpy Point have to hold some life........  Next week I am wide open. I will be fishing with Capt Tuggy and Capt Columbus, however I'd love to pick up a charter or two. My open dates are Sept 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26. Its time to catch a King Mackerel. An all day trip this time of the year could possibly see King and Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish, Red Drum, Albacore, Amberjack, Barracuda, Grouper, and Flounder.... All on the same day. Give me a call and let's go fishing! 252-241-8350

Sept 11 Red Drum and Speckled Trout on Foot in Beaufort

This is my favorite kind of fishing. A trip where I have less than 5 dollars invested.... Fishing the high tide in Taylor's Creek on Hunter's Dock. Its the season for Red Drum and Flounder. The tide was right. The moon was right. Robin is in Buxton sleeping peacefully. I had nothing better to do.... First cast with a 5" Jerk Shad got smoked... Three minutes later I was still in the fight. Then the neighbor's dock pilings got involved and it was over. Incredible. Tough way to start this little fishing adventurencredible! My next bite was an oddball. As soon as I set the hook, this fish came to the surface and shook like a wet dog. A minute later a 20" Speckled Trout slid into the grass and into my hand. Looking good now. The next hour produced 5 Red Drum from 26" to 31". All these came off the little Beach down from my dock. All these Drum waged war in a tight area between 2 docks. Each Drum was reluctant to dive under a dock and thus they were not very smart and they were captured. The lucky one's were released. Lack of a Flounder kept me from the coveted "Carolina Grand Slam".Total Catch for the Night: 1 Speckled Trout at 20", 5 Red Drum up to 11 lbs and 8 Bluefish

What Else is New

Nothing is really new, but Capt Marty might be looking at the world a little differently soon......... Other than that, recovering from Hurricane Irene. Ferrying from Stumpy Point to Rodanthe. People .....have asked because I've been quiet, but Robin and I are still dating and it looks pretty serious and permanent. Recently, we have been spending time apart because of the way the Storm affected Hatteras Island, but all is well in Paradise. We did get to spend a day together recently and we checked out Hurricane Katia and we found ourselves in a place called Water Lilly. What a beautiful place. What a beautiful girl. Enough, Let's Go Fishing. Its what I do best!

Sept 10 Part 2 Cedar Island Red Drum Chewing

Fishing all day in the Atlantic Ocean sucked. I beat my head against a wall all day. I also knew the Drum bite had been pretty good in the Sound/River. So even though I was pretty tired I decided to go for it. I also knew that come Monday, I will be headed back to Manteo for 7 more days of the Stumpy Point-Rodanthe Ferry. So this is pretty much it for my Giant Red Drum window. Its about to close, so I'm in panic mode. With 2 friends close by that had been itching to go, we got a late start and by 900 we were set up. By 945 it was looking good. By 11 it was an epic chew. By 130am, it was over. Started with 5 rods, ended up everybody holding a rod and fishing 3 rods total. Non-stop action. Dan and Tom each had 10 releases. I had 9 releases. I had a 50 pound Red Drum on the Boga Grip. The smallest Red Drum was around 40 pounds. Awesome fishing. Best I've seen in 4 years, but I missed it last year while doing something stupid. Can I do that one over. Sorry, all pics on Cell Phone, I will work on getting them transferred. Total Catch for the Day: 29 Red Drum up to 50 lbs

Sep 10 Hard Inshore Fishing

Fishing for the first time after a major Hurricane is always a challenge. The fact that the storm was 2 weeks ago was supposed to make things easier. Also, I knew the fishing was pretty good last Saturday while I was at Hatteras made me think today would be a good day. Unfortunately, I was wrong. An Unforecasted 15-18 kt SW Wind, a Screaming East to West Longshore Current, Dirty Water, and a Horrible Afternoon Tide Stage made everything we tried to do a challenge. The fact that Shark Island is completely gone took away the incredibly fishy habitat that I'd been hammering since May. The Cape Lookout Shoals will still be a great place to fish, but they are changed forever. The 2-3 foot SW chop coupled with the 4 foot SE Hurricane swell made searching the Shoals impossible today. All in all, it made for a tough day of inshore fishing. We tried 6 different things and they all failed. We fished 2 extra hours and I just couldn't make it happen. Sorry Guys. Total Catch for the Day: 1 Little Tunny, 1 Crevalle Jack, 1 Ladyfish, and 1 Southern Stingray

Sept 6 Good Red Drum Fishing in the Neuse River

Lots to do today so this is going to be short and sweet. We fished late afternoon/early evening. It was bumpy on the Neuse River. Fished down at Piney Point. Fishing was good with a real good hour right before dark. Missed a few bites. We expected the fishing to really take off after dark, but it never materialized. We finished up with one slot Drum to keep. We released one 20 lb Red Drum. All the rest were Citation releases, with 3 in the 50 lb class. Tuggy had the best for last with a 54 lb Red Drum that was the last one caught. Total Catch for the Day: 11 Red Drum and 6 Southern Stingrays

Hurricane Irene Aftermath and Stumpy Point

How long has it been. It seems like a lifetime ago that we rode out Hurricane Irene. Robin was in Beaufort with me and we had a good time during the Hurricane. No real damage around here, just shingles! Then I got called to duty at Stumpy Point on the Ferry. For the next 7 day, we carried construction vehicles and an assortment of other stuff over to Hatteras Island. Somehow, Robin got over there and somehow, I came home without her. Looks like I'm in for a long week. So...........Let's go fishing. Please. Tommorrow I will update my open dates and all the stuff I have neglected!

The First Hurricane Irene Cancelation

Well its a beautiful day and I've had my first Hurricane Irene cancelation. I think the Ocean is getting a little bumpy. Who knows, I may go for a little boatride as soon as the Time Warner Cable guys gets done rigging me back up

Aug 15 Bluefish Chewing and Great Jigging Variety

Mark and his boys joined me this morning for a half day adventure. I owed them a good one after botching Friday/Saturday Night. It was a little breezy and choppy this morning in our first spot, but the fish were there and the fish were hungry. It wasn't every cast, but there were enough Bluefish on metal to make sore wrists and hands. Then after stuffing the livewell and the cooler, we went east looking for a big Sand Tiger. Unfortunately, the usually cooperative Sharks were not biting our baits today. We did manage to have some serious fun by dropping stingsilvers to the bottom and ripping them back to the surface. Interesting mix of Jacks and other oddball fish. All in all it was a success, but I did mess up a little by heading back across the Shoals to look for Spanish Mackerel.. The Mackerel were nowhere to be found and our search for Red Drum was wiped out by a steering failure in my upper station. That really sucked and needs my attention. Fast! Total Catch for the Day: 60 Bluefish up to 3 lbs, 2 Amberjacks, 1 Blue Runner, 1 American Red Snapper, 1 Spanish Mackerel, and 1 At Sharpnose Shark at 8 lbs

Aug 14 Cedar Island Wind, Lightning, and Waterspouts

Bad news. I pushed this trip back a day to take advantage of SW wind. The guys that fished Friday night got beat up by the East wind, but they caught a few fish.... So Sat Nite was looking good. Nice 10 kt SW wind. But, as we arrived at the boat ramp a dark cloud was coming. We sat out the first rain in our trucks. An hour later, we scrambled. We anchored up and started fishing with rain and lightning in the vicinity. The pressure gradient turned the warm SW wind into a cold NE wind. It was rough. The very thing I tried to avoid. Two differences though, the fish were not biting and there were big storms all around. We stuck it out for 3 hours. Missed a Monster Shark and caught a Bluefish.... Then as I stared west into absolute darkness, a bolt of lightning lit the sky behind us.... And clearly illuminated was a monster waterspout and it was on not too far away! I tried to deny it... I told Mark to watch the western sky and wait for lightning.... Seconds later a serious groundstroke to the west. I said what did you see. Mark said, "A Tornado!" Goodbye fishing grounds... Not in the Dark! We hauled it to the boat ramp. I drove back to Beaufort in driving wind and rain and amazing lightning... My fault guys, we should've caught them Friday night and stayed home saturday.... Captain Failure...Total Catch for the Night: 1 Bluefish

Aug 11 Part 2 Slow Red Drum Fishing

Berkley, Chris, and I made the 40 mile trip east tonight to sample the Southern Pamlico Sound Red Drum fishing and it was a little disappointing. The forecasted SW winds never materialized and we bopped in the swells delivered by 15 kt NE wind. Not our best Drum winds! We stuck with it and we caught a 25 lb Drum around 9pm and a 45 lb Drum right at 10pm. We thought the 10 oclock Drum was the "start of the bite" but the bite never came and it was over. All said and done, it wasn't worth it.... Total Catch for the Night: 2 Red Drum up to 45 lbs

Aug 11 Bluefish and Barracudas

Jeff and his boys went today on a half day trip and we had a great trip last year that made expectations high! Fishing was the same or better this year. Last year they bailed Bluefish and caught Amberjacks. This year they tore up the Bluefish on every cast and did well on Barracuda. The Amberjacks are still missing and I dont have time to search for them on a half day trip. Jeff had the big fish of the day when he released a 35 lb Barracuda. I am still camera-less and the big Cuda was released beside the boat before I could pull out my phone! We caught a 20 lb Barracuda later and missed a few spectacular strikes. The boys also caught some nice Spanish Mackerel on metal. Jeff lost the day's big mystery fish after a fairly long battle on light spinning tackle. An unknown fish ate a stingsilver just off the bottom and we chased it offshore of the wreck and lots of long runs and lots of throbbing. My guess was that it was a large Blackfin Tuna. Oh well, can't win all of our battles, but I wish we could have seen what we were up against. The 12# spinning tackle was slightly over matched in this battle.... Total Catch for the Day: 50 Bluefish up to 3 lbs, 2 Barracuda up to 35 lbs, and 2 Spanish Mackerel up to 3 lbs

Aug 8 One More Day in Hatteras

Another week on the Big Island has come and gone and I will be headed home tonight. The key to good fishing next week and good life in general will depend on whether or not I can coerce Robin to get in the old fishing truck this afternoon to make the journey back to Beaufort. I think it's going to have a happy ending! My schedule is pretty full next week between fishing trips and a Coast Guard License Physical. As it stands right now, I got Friday August 12th open and that's it. If nobody calls, I'm sure I can find somebody that will go fishing with me. Robin. Or I could stay home and do nothing. Robin. Or I could go to the Courthouse and get married. Robin. Just kidding, that was for your benefit Tuggy..... Anyway, looking for some Red Drum anglers starting this week and my next 2 weeks off. Its time to get the Citation Train Rolling again. Call me at 252-241-8350.

Capt Marty is back at Hatteras and ROBIN

Cape Hatteras is a different kind of good now. Really, really good. When I'm at work, I watch the Jumping Mullets and Sheepsheads swim around... They used to drive me crazy. I'd be tossing a cast net all morning and dunking Sea Urchins all afternoon..... Now I stand around grinning and waiting to get off work so I can go see ROBIN...... Waiting to see ROBIN..... ROBIN is so sweet, and smart, and thoughtful, and kind, and cool, and cute, and beautiful, and Smoking HOT, I really feel like the luckiest guy around... Those Citation Sheepsheads are lucky too. Because since I met ROBIN, I aint been chasing them this summer... Does anyone blame me? Huh? When I get home, I got Friday August 12th open. Fishing has been awesome, but so has Life in general. Once again, thanks to ROBIN. Anybody want to go that day please call me at 252-241-8350... Everybody have a great week... In the meantime, please don't wake me up from this dream that I'm dreaming!

Aug 1 Every Cast Bluefish and More

Howard and crew bailed the Bluefish this morning and the Bluefish were much bigger than they were Sunday. The first school we hit and the last school we hit were both solid 2-3 pounders on every cast on metal lures.  In between, we merely caught 1-2 lb Bluefish on every cast for 2 hours. Sigh. We also had a short flurry on Spanish Mackerel. Then we rode the Shackleford Banks Beach looking for a Red Drum. Failed. We cruised west looking for an after lunch Mackerel. Failed. We ended up jigging metal at AR 315 and found plenty of action on a variety of fish. Total Catch for the Day: 75 Bluefish up to 3 lbs, 10 Spanish Mackerel up to 2 lbs, 1 Southern Flounder at 18", 12 Black Sea Bass up to 14", 1 Rock Sea Bass, 1 Oyster Toadfish at 3 lbs, 1 At Needlefish, and 4 Inshore Lizardfish

July 30 Bluefish and Sand Tigers

Same mission as yesterday. Stuff the box, stuff the live well, and go find something huge. First thing in the morning, the Bluefish were there. A dozen black schools of them. Every cast. Three anglers hooked up. I even joined the fray. We bailed them. For an hour. Stingsilvers were flying and popping off. Bluefish everywhere. Then we went looking for a fight. Brandon was ready. The first bite was a let down. A freaking Sharpnose Shark on a butterflied 3 lb Bluefish. What a letdown. Next bite was a monster. Brandon aint no 7 year old like yesterdays "monster slayer" but the fight was similar. Then the hook popped out after 10 minutes and that Shark was still on the bottom. We never saw this Shark....... A few minutes later, Brandon released a 150 lb Sand Tiger and he did it in 3 minutes. Makes me wonder how big the other one was! After the Shark and facing a "pick up the girls" deadline, I made a critically bad decision to go Amberjack hunting. It was a failure. A 14 mile round trip to fish for 15 minutes. Duh. No Amberjacks present and we missed a Barracuda bite and had a few other Barracudas swarm us but the bait was too smart and hid under the swim platform behind the motor. I was furious, needless to say. Sorry guys, we should've gone Blacktipping.... Total Catch for the Day: 75 Bluefish up to 3 lbs, 2 Spanish Mackerel at 2 lbs, a 7 lb Sharpnose Shark, and a 150 lb Sand Tiger

July 29 Every Cast Bluefish, Deep Jigging Mackerel, and a 250 lb Shark

Yeah, it was worth the wait. The weather was much prettier today than yesterday. It worked out good for Chris and the Boys.... The worst part of our day was that I didnt have my camera! I missed alot of great action shots on Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel. The schools of Bluefish were insane today. We spent a couple of hours casting over thousands of 1-4 lb Bluefish. Stuffed the cooler and the live well. Then we headed to a wreck that was covered up with Spanish Mackerel. We caught a few, but we had bigger fish to fry. One drop to the bottom and we got what we were looking for and then some! An epic battle between a 7 year old boy and an 8 ft long Shark...... And, the boy won! Classic. Probably the second largest Shark ever on Top Water Charters.... Not counting the Basking Sharks we have snagged and released. Anyway, it was a great day, non-stop action, a never to be forgotten Shark for a kid, lots of good eating fish, and a mission accomplished! Total Catch for the Day: 60 Bluefish up to 4 lbs, 10 Spanish Mackerel up to 2 lbs, 1 Pinfish, 1 Inshore Lizardfish, 1 At Thread Herring, and a 8 ft long 250 lb Sand Tiger Shark 

July 28 Too Much Wind

I hope I did the right thing..... Chris had a AM halfday charter and since we were both free tommorrow, I decided that we should let this wind blow out and try again in the morning..... Hopefully, the winds will be lighter, the seas smaller, and the fish hungrier tommorrow.... In the meantime, Robin and I went swimming and hung out and had a great day.....and we didn't catch a single fish!

July 18 Awesome Fishing Period

Today was one of those days.... Very consistent and easy Spanish Mackerel up to 2 lbs on metal first thing in the morning. A leaping missile attacks of 100+ pound Blacktip Sharks in open water a few miles east.... Hammering a school of Spanish Mackerel... Watching them chase down and engulf live Mackerel right by the boat was incredible... Then 2 acres of 1-3 lb Bluefish on every cast and up to 4 per cast on one of my crazy rigs! Bigger Bluefish too. Heather lost a 4-5 pounder because I didn't get the net quick enough. Scott had a 1 lb Bluefish chomped in half by a larger Bluefish. Then we ended up the day with 65 and 75 lb Blacktips on live Bluefish and cut Mackerel in the skinny water. What a blast. Easy day and, of course, I got to go back to Hatteras tommorrow. Total Catch for the Day: 12 Spanish Mackerel, 60 Bluefish, and 3 Blacktip Sharks