FISHING and the WEATHER

Okay guys. The weather looks good. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Its mid November. its now or never for 2013 for some Fish Species. I hope to see some Speckled Trout, some Red Drum, some Black Drum, some Spot, some Sea Mullet, and hopefully even a few King Mackerel and Albacore in the next few days!

I am home until December 3rd. Call me up (252-241-8350) and let's finish 2013 with a SPLASH

Nov 10-11 Awesome Squid Fishing

I decided to drop the Night Run Fishing Tally for the last two nights of this Shift. Something unusual is happening and it is definitively "worthy" of having its own headline and report! What's happening is Squid.... That is not so unusual. It is mid-November. The water is cooling off and its time for the Loligo Squid to show up. What makes this years Squid special, so far, is their average size! They are big... The Biggest Baddest Squids that I've seen, except for the ones on the Discovery Channel. Don't get me wrong, these aren't 50 lb. Humboldts! But to me, they are Bad Ass "Red Devils", just like the ones off Baja California. Bad Ass. Bad to the Bone. Banging. Whatever you want to call it..... Back to Reality..... So, in 2 nights I caught several Squid over 20". The biggest Squid I landed was 23" long. It didn't have really long whips, so it was a stout 23" monster! The smallest ones that I've caught were 18" long..... And, I lost one that was probably 30"...... Of course I did....  Anyway, last night (11th) I fished exclusively for Squid with a rig contsining 2 squid jigs. It looked great! I hooked 11 and caught 10. Lost the Giant One. Sunday night (10th) I caught 3.... So I cleaned 13 Loligo Squid and you wouldn't believe the size of the bag of meat. Calamari! Total Catch for the Two Nights: 13 Loligo Squid 18" to 23"

Nov 10 Lunch Special---Fried Flounder Plate

From the moment my crewmate Lee said, "I love those little baby Flounder fried whole", I knew that my task was collect enough Flounders for us to cook for lunch.... As the word spread throughout the crew, more guys wanted "in on our little plan"...... So I needed more Flounder. Tonight (friday) we decided that I had collected enough (supplemented by 8 Jumping Mullet fillets) to move forward with our plan. So, at 1130am tomorrow, we shall have our lunch of fried "whole baby Flounder", red beans, and corn bread..... College Football and Fried Dabs. Life is still pretty damn good!

Now that its over, the fried whole Flounder and the fried Mullet strips were killer. Lee cooked on a Trawler for years.... Great spawning grounds for Fry Daddies. Always has been, always will be. Food is important for morale on boats and constant access to the freshest seafoods.... I'll take a Shipboard Cook over a Culinary School Grad any day for some cooking tasks.... Southern Fried Seafood!

Collect enough Flounder to feed 5 men..... Mission Accomplished 

Nov 5-11 Another Running Tally from Hatteras

Here I am again.... The weeks fly by! The Fishing Season flys by! It already looks like a crappy weather week. Sometimes the fish don't care about that. So, last night I looked for some Squid and didn't see any. In the past, I've caught really nice numbers and size of beautiful Loligo Squid up here at this time of the year.... Last night as I gyrated my Squid Jig across the shallow, well lighted areas I saw the tell tale shifts and movement on the bottom..... Going back to a white Gulp I was quickly witness to several Flounder pushing and shoving each other to get to the Gulp first. Crazy. The amount of small Flounder that are still everywhere I fish is amazing.

Nov 5- Quickly giving up on Squid jigging, I found the baby Flounders were still in their 2 favorite places in the Hatteras Ferry Basin. Really just 2 well lit, sandy, shallow lumps. I caught 6 Summer Flounder off one and 5 Summer Flounder off the other. Over on the Ocracoke side, I caught 2 Southern Flounder. It makes sense, Ocracoke is south of Hatteras! All were too small. Dabs.....

Nov 6-  Okay this was a little better! I caught an 18" Southern Flounder over at South Dock on a gulp shrimp and a Trout Rod. I needed a Landing Net bad and mine was on the other side in my Truck! We found a homemade net made out of an onion sack on the Sea Wall but it had no bottom. We lassoed the Flounder and finally lifted him over the edge. As soon as he cleared the water he shook his head and broke the line. Fell at my feet, mere inches from going back in the water! An hour later I got a 19" Summer Flounder from the North Side. A few small ones were released as well. Plus, I saw, not caught,  three of the biggest Squid I've seen in a long time.

Nov 7- Baby Flounder are biting gulp shrimp on both sides... Lee and I talking about whole baby fried flounders.... Dabs... Man they'd be damn good. I've already caught 4 Jumping Mullets in the Cast Net.. After starting out with the baby Flounders, I "accidently" hit on a 19" Flounder that took the entire crew to land! Too hard to explain.... The question is ....... Where is my Landing Net? Evidently it fell out of my truck, or was stolen.... Hundreds of Citation Flounders and Sheepsheads in that thing....lots of memories.... Irreplaceable--- a 12" hoop net on a 15 foot aluminum telescopic pole.... Finally, late night, I lost a monster. I saw him. 5 lb Flounder at least. No Net!!!!!

Nov 8- Fishing slowed down tonight. Or perhaps it was because I am out of Gulp Shrimp. I'm using 3" white shrimp with a chartreuse tail.... Tonight I tried gulp jerk baits and regular grubs but the action was nearly non-existent or maybe the tide is finally working against me? Not sure. I finally did catch a Summer Flounder and a Black Sea Bass right before midnight.....

Nov 9- Slow fishing because of the tide cycle. Halfway through the night I had caught 1 Summer Flounder and 2 Black Sea Bass. Over on the Ocracoke side, I had multiple bites from rather large Squid. Not much of a chance to land them on a Gulp Bait.... So, I switched over to Squid Jigs. The action picked up a little. I caught 1 nice Squid. I also caught a 4 lb OysterToadfish. I caught a small Summer Flounder and lost a 20" Flounder after a long battle on the Squid Jig. I actually could've netted him probably. Dammit. A Squid Jig has no hooks, just pins. I had that Flounder pinned pretty good. But, of course, he got off when I tried to lift him..... Then, right as it was time to call it a night, I saw a nice school of Squid. Pretty impressive. Thirty or more, large Loligo Squid.... Hopefully tomorrow night I can figure them out!

****Moving Nov 10 and Nov 11 to its own Post*****

Total Catch for the Week: 20 Summer Flounder up to 19", 6 Southern Flounder up to 18", 3 Black Sea Bass, 1 Oyster Toadfish at 4 lbs, and 5 Bluefish

Nov 4 Back to Work, Jalen's Brown Trout, and Capt Tuggy's Deer

As I return to work it seems that Jalen and his brother Josh have been catching awesome Trout in the Mountain Rivers and Capt Tugwell and his Dad have been "getting it done" in the Roanoke River Badlands. All I know is the last time we fished together, Tuggy brought some cold deer soft tacos and they were AWESOME. Best Boat Food of the Year.... Bring some more Tuggwell!!!!

Personally....... I had a Sorry Damn Week...... Wednesday was pretty and I literally couldn't do it.... I blew it. Thursday could've been okay if Chris and I didnt shy away from the rain...... Friday and Saturday early should've been "Trout Days"...... Sunday and Monday were SUCKFESTS..........

Now its back to Hatteras Island and the 7 Day-Night Grind...... Looking for the last of the Flounders and the first of the Squid!

I've got the Xtra Nite Run this time so that one sucks for everything..... 1230pm until 1230am....

I also hope and pray that my lovely wife and I will soon head west to the Mountains so I can go after that elusive Brown Trout again. What a prize Jalen is holding in the top pic! A 23" Brown Trout! I have ZERO experience with those things, but Jalen has big hands and I'd guess that's a 4 lb or larger NC Citation Brown Trout. God I want that one sooooo bad!

Nov 3 Horrible Conditions

Another day, another Full Day Cancellation..... I was getting antsy. Best time of the year is passing very quickly. So today, I allowed my urgency to cloud my judgement and run up to Cape Lookout to the Rock Jetty. The problem was the wind. 20 NNW Knots. That little bit of west made it to where there was 1-2 swell running down the Jetty. After the tide changed, it became straight 2 feet and some 3 ft seas. Not fun when your bow is pitching 2-3 feet up and down. Snatching on your anchor line over and over.... And the Rock Jetty looms right off your stern..... Hell, you are there to FISH so FISH we do... The problem is when you break anchor and immediately start to fall back towards the Rocks, it takes a second to recognize because you are concentrating on FISHING..... Today was the dumbest I've been in a while and didn't catch anything of consequence.... The water has gotten very, very dirty. Fishing sucked across Carteret County today as best I heard..... Everything I caught was too small.... Total Catch for the Day: 30 Bluefish, 1 Gray Trout, and 2 Speckled Trout

Nov 2 Short and Unproductive

I cancelled a King Mackerel trip this morning. I was pretty sure we could cast for Albacore or fish for Speckled Trout in relative peace..... But it wasn't what my guys wanted so we put it off until next time...... So, Jennifer and I went out late, around lunch time. It was cold. It was a miserable tide cycle, falling hard. I caught 5 baby Flounders and a few Bluefish. Never had a Trout bite. As I expected, Trout fishing was pretty good very early on a rising tide. The falling tide brought dirty water and the forecast is just supposed to get worse and worse..... I've got the same guys tommorrow that I had today and we've already cancelled again. After a crappy weather start to the season I've had pretty good luck up until these two... I was really looking forward to King Fishing with these guys two days in a row.... Not to be, this time..... Total Catch for the Day: 4 Summer Flounders, 1 Southern Flounder, 6 Bluefish, and 1 Inshore Lizardfish

Oct 31- Great Albacore Fishing and Snagging Mullets

Its Halloween and the Weatherman played a bad trick on us..... Slight chance of rain? How about it rained on us continually from 830am until 130pm. The weather absolutely derailed our "King Mackerel" fishing.... Up towards the Shoals we found Albacore fishing "as good as it gets".... When the vast schools of "red bait" seeks your boat for cover and the Albacore Squadrons are bombarding them right under your feet! A 5 foot cast is too far.... We still wanted to go King fishing at that point though. Chris and I released 2 Albacore each. Then the rain set in.... We ran to the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty to ride out the rain. And that's where we sat for the rest of the day.... Speckled Trout fishing was okay. I caught them pretty good, but mostly they were a little too small. Bluefish were pesky. The big draw was the Jumping Mullets. They were more commercial gill netters up there than rod and reelers..... We decided to start snagging them. I am a snagger from way back... As a child I would tie long strings of treble hooks and snag anything and everything from Mullet to Menhaden to Spadefish to Sheepsheads to Bottlenosed Dolphins..... Anyway, Chris and I had a great time snagging Jumping Mullets up to 6 lbs. It really was the best thing we found on this miserable, rainy day..... Total Catch for the Day: 16 Speckled Trout up to 14", 10 Bluefish up to 14", 1 Summer Flounder at 14", 4 Albacore up to 12 lbs, and 8 Jumping Mullet up to 6 lbs

Oct 30- Red Drum Everywhere

Today was a lost cause. It was beautiful. It was warm. I am home. It is THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR TO FISH.... Mid to late October to mid November is the best inshore fishing of the year, period...... And, we will not get many more days this beautiful weather-wise.... And this morning my back was hurting so bad and was stiff that I simply could not do it.  I was wide awake at 4am. I was up at 7am. I could not get going until 12pm.... I finally launched my boat and rode out to Beaufort Inlet. I knew the Speckled Trout were chewing at Cape Lookout. I briefly considered gong up there by myself. I decided against it. I did decide to search Rough Point for Red Drum.... I didn't get there... I ran over a Giant School of Red Drum  in Beaufort Inlet. A monster school. I had 2 rods up top in the Tower and I quickly hooked 2 fish. I climbed down and released 2 Red Drum, both were in the 20" range. I quickly caught 3 more. All the same size. Then I lost that school. I headed east and didn't go a 1/4 mile before running into another school. Again I hooked 2 from the Tower. Two more Red Drum from 21" to 23". I caught another before I lost them. I considered keeping one, but damn, I just gave away 4 Flounders to a guy at the Boat Ramp. Good Karma. I decided that if I was going to keep a Red Drum, it needed to be big enough to feed two people. I was thinking Red Drum on the half shell, grilled with heavy blackening seasoning.... I looked briefly for a school of larger Drum. I didn't see any and I gave up quickly and headed home. Aching back and hoping for a big day on Halloween! Disn't take many pics, all the Drum looked the same. I tried to get some pics of the school, but I'd get too excited and start fishing... Need to teach Emma to take pics. She is my new "fishing partner". She is a beautiful Yellow Lab that came with Jennifer as a package deal when we got married....Total Catch for the Day: 8 Red Drum from 20" to 23"

A Little Fishing Philosophy

One of the Great Thrills of Fishing is that we are both Surprised by the Strike and we Expected it all along......

By the late Donald Millus from Conway, SC from his literary classic:

"FISHING THE SOUTHEAST COAST"

The Best Fishing Book I ever read....... And I read it probably 25 times..... Cover to Cover......

Fans of my Blog recognize this saying. I think its worth repeating on the day after I caught a Citation Flounder in a crazy spot and with my Trout Rod..... (I was surprized)  I had the foresight to carry my Landing Net with me though and I wouldn't have landed this Flounder without it..... (I expected it all along)  And it was a (Great Thrill). My Ferry Crew watched this unfold and I'd say they were actually impressed. As should be, Flounder and/or Speckled Trout are always Big Attention Getters. My Oiler and Assistant, Mr. Peco de Gallo, will be having fresh Flounder tonight courtesy of me.

Also, Thank You to Mr. Donald Millus. Sir, you helped me catch this Flounder!

Oct 22-28 Flounder Week 2013

I am back at Cape Hatteras and back to work..... Once again, I will keep this Post as a "running tally" of my fishing successes and failures.....

Oct 22- Damn I just had a 7 Flounder Rally in 10 minutes at Hatteras Village. Topped off by a 5 lb 2oz  NC Citation Flounder. All caught on a "trout rod" with 8#  mono and a white 4" Gulp Shrimp. I'm pitching it in 2 feet of water to lighted areas. Is this "my slump buster"? It feels good. Alot of fishing left in this night! It's GAME ON..... So, it rained and stayed windy later in the night.... I caught a couple more Flounders though. Interestingly, as I looked closely at my large Flounder, it turned out to be a Summer Flounder. This one is definitely my career largest and first career NC Citation Summer Flounder! Obviously, I have caught many many Southern Flounders over 5 lbs...... So, the total for the night finished up at 7 Summer Flounder up to 5 lb 2oz and 3 Southern Flounder up to 16". Great start to my week!

Oct 23- Today I had a great 30 minutes on the Beach up at Buxton. Fishing at the original Cape Hatteras Lighthouse location where 3 old, broken up Steel Groins are still in place. Up here they call them "the Jettys". Regardless of their name, they make a great fishing area. I haven't fished up there in a long time. I'm not sure why? Lazy.... So today I was tossing a white gulp 50 feet out in the Ocean. In 30 minutes, I had 4 bites. I missed two and hooked two. The two I hooked made it to the Beach and were absolutely beautifully colored Summer Flounders. Nice ones too. One was 21" the other was 20". Time to go to work now. I expect more Flounders!  Well, expectations were NOT met.... Fishing sucked. All I managed to catch was a Flat Needlefish. That is my second "weirdo" Needlefish of 2013.... Earlier I caught an Agujon. My career Needles include: Houndfish, Atlantic Needlefish, Agujon, and Flat Needlefish. It's a very cool family of fishes....

Oct 24- Another bad night of fishing. No bites around Hatteras. Over at Ocracoke, it was bad also. No Flounder action. I even went gigging. Nothing. Finally, out of boredom I dropped a bottom rig baited with shrimp among the Rocks.... Caught a gaggle of Pinfish and Sea Bass. Out of  nowhere I got a monster bite. It pulled drag as it bored downward. Then.... POP went the 10# mono! I think it was a big Oyster Toadfish, but..... I have a few doubts. Dammit, I wish I would've seen it. Finally, a couple weeks ago I bought a new "Roe Mullet Net"... Large Mesh, Heavy Weight 10 foot Cast Net. I've thrown it a few times. So last night I threw it and Be-Jesus.... What a Load.... at 3am I struggled to pull a load of adult Jumping Mullets over the side. Thud. A net loaded with Mullets. 22 Jumping Mullets up to 5 lbs. I threw alot back because I just don't need them.

Oct 25- Continuing with the Flounder theme.... So far this week, I've caught a few Flounder. I got a Flounder Citation. Today I baked a Jumbo Flounder with potatoes and onions. Finally late this afternoon, I just walked over to the Beach nearest to the State House and started casting a white gulp shrimp... My first cast bogged down on the retrieve, then my rod tip started bouncing as a Summer Flounder began to shake his head in an effort to dislodge my hook. Yessir, another Flounder! Another rally. All of these Flounders were borderline, 14" to 15" to 16", and I didn't keep any of them anyway. I was going to keep a 3+ pounder if I caught one. This was a very enjoyable fishing session. No one else was catching anything. I shook them up bad by walking up and catching 6 quick Flounders and a Spot. Also, the False Albacore were tearing it up just beyond the outer bar. If I could've hooked one of them..... INSTANT LEGEND

Oct 26- Really not alot of fishing....  Dropped a bottom rig over the Rocks and caught an Oyster Toadfish. Dropped it again and hooked a monster. Presumed a huge Toad. Regardless, I never saw it. It snapped my 10# mono in heavy structure. It hurt though. I hate losing fish.... Tried to play with the Flounders and coudn't find any...

Oct 27- Big difference from yesterday. When I first got to work, I dropped a gulp down in a foot of water and a little Flounder attacked. The bait was too big. But, he attacked anyway. Again and again and again. Over and over. Probably 30 times this Flounder attacked that gulp. I told anyone that would listen "Fish are going to bite tonight".....  And bite they did. Flounder after Flounder, They bit all night. I had a couple of licensed guys on the boat so no one get excited... When it was over I had 8 Southern Flounder, including 3 that were in the 4 lb class. I also had 2 Summer Flounder. My smallest Flounder was 15". He was bleeding pretty badly or I would've released him. I released 4 Flounder that were borderline. I didn't catch anything other than Flounder. No garbage. Great Night!

Oct 28- Another good night of Flounder fishing. Another NC Citation. This one was a 22" 5 lb Southern Flounder that attacked a 7" Mullet. I also caught 2 19" Flounders, a Summer and a Southern. I also got a pair of 15" Summer Flounders. I released 3 Flounders that were too small. Also released a some garbage fish and some Bluefish that were too small. Walked over to the Inlet at 3am and saw an astounding number of Red Drum right in the suds... Ran back to my truck (as much as my back would allow) Ran back to the Inlet and wouldn't you know, they were gone.....

Total Catch for the Week: 21 Summer Flounder up to 5 lbs 2oz, 16 Southern Flounder up to 5 lbs, 1 Spot, 6 Bluefish, 7 Pinfish, 3 Oyster Toadfish at 2 lbs, 1 Flat Needlefish, and 12 Black Sea Bass

Oct 21- Bad Time Fishing

Ryan and I were dying to go King Mackerel Fishing...... However, persistent NE wind caused us to redirect our efforts. In hindsight, we would've been better off staying off the water entirely..... We did catch a few Bluefish and Lizardfish out by a Stop Net off Atlantic Beach..... Hoping for a Speckled Trout and finding........ NONE...... After that we went on a quick Albacore Cruise and there was nothing quick about that. I didn't want to run far to the east so we dropped that plan.... The last thing left for us was to scour the Beach for Schools of Red Drum..... Here's where it really turns sour..... So, after a 4 mile search, we found about 300 slot sized Red Drum milling in less than 2 feet of water. Beyond the breakers, under the foam. About 6 of them swirled and gave away the school..... Ryan and I salivated as we moved in to "collect our limit".... First I hooked up, first cast! Ryan hooked up! Mine pulled off...... I cast again, hooked up! Ryan pulled his off...... I pulled mine off..... PANIC! I said 11 oclock and cast again..... Ryan sailed off course to 1 oclock. Behind the school. My cast found paydirt! Hooked up! As I tried to show Ryan where to cast, I pulled the hook again. WHAT? Ryan's cast went un-answered. I cast again. NOTHING.... They were gone. Four Hook-ups. Four Pull-offs. Now they were gone. We searched for an hour and never saw them again..... Thus ended a Terrible Fishing Day..... Total Catch for the Day: 5 Inshore Lizardfish and 4 Bluefish 

Oct 20- Fly Fishing Beaufort

Windy, dark, rainy morning. I very briefly went boating this morning. I had visions of Speckled Trout swimming through my dreams. The reality..... I caught 4 baby Flounder and got wet and cold. Then I cut it short and tied up on the Beaufort Waterfront and hit my Mommas for breakfast. Good ole Days revisited. After that, I was done boating and I grabbed my fly rod and went Bass Fishing. It wasn't great, but it was fun. Started off with a small rubber legged spider and I caught a pair of Bluegills. I was seeing lots of Largemouth Bass but they didn't respond to the little bug. So, I dug out a larger Bug and for a few minutes the Bass went nuts. I released 7 in 15 minutes and the bite died. And Emma went swimming to seal the deal. Total Catch for the Day: 3 Southern Flounder, 1 Summer Flounder, 7 Largemouth Bass, and 2 Bluegills

Oct 18- Giant Albacore and Bluefish Frenzy

Not my best day.... Some mistakes were made, we had some wire malfunctions, we lost some "big fish" to tangles and twists, we broke "big fish" on a Wreck, and finally, I tried to net a 8-9 lb Spanish Mackerel as opposed to gaff it and that ended in disaster with the hooks hung on the net and the Spanish getting out and getting gone in a flash.... I am sorry Brent, no body feels worse than me.... Then we had a throttle break down that honestly, had it occured an hour earlier, we would have been in big trouble.... But it didn't and its fixed now. Props to Stacy who I hired to mate for a day. He caught the bait, he made rigs, he set out our spread, and he fixed my boat. Thanks again Stacy..... The fishing was as "action packed" as you would want it..... Unfortunately, the majority of our bites came from oversized stud Albacores. I weighed a 20 lb Albacore on my BogaGrip and we had 2 other just that large. We had another that wasn't that heavy but was still 34" long.... Albacore Citation City...... We also missed a 25 lb King that "parted the wire" after skying on the bait and smoking the reel...... The wire broke...... When that happened, we were amazed..... Then it repeated itself over and over again...... We also lost Amberjacks and other Albacore, and mystery strikes to "wire failure"..... I've never seen it before. #4 Malin single strand breaking over and over. It was embarrassing, but when you're on the Ocean, you can't simply go get more...... Then came the "Spanish fiasco". Brent caught him on a stingsilver and light spin..... We had 2 big fish hooked up and pulling drag on the live bait rods, plus we were right over the Wreck..... I thought the net would be quicker and easier. Wrong and that was that. My fault, time to move on from that..... The day spiralled down hill after that..... Much later, we found a major Bluefish frenzy on the eastern edge of the Shoals. Everybody caught all they wanted.... I sent the men home with an apology and a bag of Triggerfish fillets. Once again, Stacy cleaned all those Triggers. I ruined the day. Stacy saved the day....... Total Catch for the Day: 5 Albacore from 16-20 lbs, 25 Bluefish from 2-3 lbs, 2 Sharpnose Sharks, 5 Pinfish, 1 Hogfish, 1 Tomtate, and 2 Black Sea Bass

Oct 17- Excellent Dolphins and Vermilion Snapper Fishing

George, Antonio, and I set sail this morning in "perfect conditions" and the plan was to try to catch Rainbow Runners at the Yancey Wreck, jig up some Amberjacks, and let George get in the water with his gun and shoot some really nice fish..... Fail. Fail. Fail..... But, we had one of the greatest days of the year! First, the Yancey was covered with cold green water and apparently the Rainbow Runners checked out. The Jacks weren't interested and George didn't like the idea of swimming in 145 ft of green murky water. I didn't blame him. So we switched gears and ran a mile farther south. The second place we stopped produced the prettiest Vermilion Snapper I have seen in 20 years..... We caught them with the few squid we had..... Out of Squid, out of Snapper.... We also caught lots of other interesting stuff including 12 Gray Triggerfish.. Hearing the radio chatter from just a mile away and it sounded great for Dolphin and good for Wahoo, we made the radical decision to go trolling..... Then we got struck. Right as George and Antonio were setting out lines 3 and 4 I saw 300 Dolphin racing in on us from out of a long slick..... Trolling was canned immediately. As George donned his wetsuit and got his gun ready, Antonio and I bailed Dolphins. Then just as George was ready to go in, up comes an ornery 9 ft Bignose Shark. As the big Shark watched us catch Dolphin after Dolphin, he became increasingly enraged..... Chasing our fish almost out of the water, snapping at air, and splashing water everywhere. It was looking dicey for swimming, to say the least. Suddenly a 6 lb Sharksucker raced ahead of the Dolphin and ate my bait! I quickly landed my new career best Sharksucker!  George and I figured this "overgrown Remora" had probably harassed this Shark for years! Mr Bignose would quickly devour him if given a chance.... George quickly rigged up a Shark Wire while I prepared the Sucker..... As predicted, the instant the Sharksucker hit the water, the Shark pounced and quickly ripped off 400 feet of line straight down. George and Antonio quickly brought him back up..... Before we released him, we made sure that we encouraged him to leave the area. With the coast clear, George slipped silently into the 480 foot deep water. Hello. 4 8 0   F E E T   He quickly speared 2 Dolphin and we ran for home. I might have left out a detail or two but my finger is cramping..... Great day on the water. Great Catch. Go see Antonio at Stillwater Bar and Grill on the Beaufort Waterfront.... Total Catch for the Day: 27 Dolphin from 2-5 lbs each, 15 Vermilion Snapper 3-5 lbs each, 12 Gray Triggerfish from 4 to 6 lbs each, 2 Amberjack up to 22 lbs, 1 Sand Tilefish 2 lbs, 2 Blacktip Sharks at 10 lbs each, 2 Sharksuckers at 5-6 lbs each, and a 150 lb Bignose Shark 

Oct 16- Albacore and Bluefish in the Wind and Rain

Lewis and his boys came fishing with me today and unfortunately, there was a little too much North Wind to go out and more than a couple of miles off the Beach. We tried to live bait King Mackerel off Shackleford Banks but it wasn't productive. The majority of the day was spent chasing Albacores and slinging metal lures. The boys were excellent casting and soon got the hang of it. They lost a few battles and won a few... Everyone released an Albacore. We also got into a crazy Bluefish frenzy up towards the Shoals. The boys were catching Bluefish by dipping their stingsilvers with one foot of line off their rodtips. Jiggle 2 seconds. Fish On!   Later in the afternoon we pulled livebaits and casted to breaking fish again. This time down by AR-315. We searched for Red Drum on the Beach unsucessfully.... All in all it was a little disappointing since it is mid-October, and good weather should provide great fishing. We probably missed it by a day! Total Catch for the Day: 75 Bluefish up to 1 lb, 8 Albacore up to 10 lbs, 2 Spanish Mackerel up to 1 lb, 1 Atlantic Bumper, and 1 Hogfish

Oct 8-14 Hatteras Nightshift Fishing Tally

Rain..... Blow..... Rain..... Blow

Dirty Water..... High Tides......

As soon as it clears, watch out , it's October and the fish are supposed to be chewing! Surprisingly, I hear the Spots are actually biting! Its been a while. Bring on the Spots! We'll see......

Oct 11- Got the Fishing Week going last night. The weather was much nicer. Light winds, some drizzle, cloudy and cool. it felt like an October Night! I got that "Speckled Trout feeling". As a matter of fact, if I was home, I think I'd head over to Radio Island (hint hint, wink wink, clears my throat) and try to catch some nice early season Speckled Trout....  Back to Hatteras.... I was really unprepared last night. Didn't have my Flounder gear for fishing. Didn't have my waders for gigging and my batteries were dead anyway. Well damn. I threw the cast nets and caught 1 large Mullet and about a dozen Finger Mullets. On the live mullets, I caught 2 undersized Flounder and 2 Lizardfish. Like I said, I was NOT READY.... By the way, 10 years ago, on Oct 11, 2003, I caught my career largest Flounder. In Taylor's Creek, right on the Beaufort Waterfront I pulled up a 10 lb 11oz Flounder. Doormat. A 10-11 on 10-11. Can't forget that one! Never fished again..... Total Catch for the Period: 2 Southern Flounder, 2 Inshore Lizardfish, and 1 Oyster Toadfish