The STORM of 2009

I'm sure everybody has seen a thousand pictures from the Outer Banks. At Hatteras Inlet, the storm was pretty un-spectacular. It was pretty much a Flood Event with very little problems caused by wave action. Highway 12 on Ocracoke was smacked by the Ocean pretty good. Nothing like what happened North of Buxton though. My picture taking was pretty much confined by the Flood Waters. These pictures are (top 2) Ocracoke Island. Hatteras Inlet. The bottom picture is Hatteras right in front of Teach's Lair.

Nov 12 Squid Fishing at Hatteras

Thursday was a Beautiful Night in Hatteras Village, even as the Beaches were being battered to the South (Hwy 12 in Ocracoke) and to the North (Buxton to Chesapeake Bay) during the high tides. The calm winds and clear water allowed me an opportunity to go out and make a few casts and catch something before everything got blown away! Fishing around the Ferry Docks and Oden's Dock wasn't great but it was interesting and there was enough action to keep me going for a couple of hours. The highlight of the night was a 28" TL Squid (counting the whips) that I caught in the Ferry Basin. I had missed 5 strikes on a Gulp in the same exact spot and I was convinced that it was a baby Flounder laying on the bottom under the lights. After bites 6 and 7, I thought "No way a Flounder is that stupid" I went over to my truck and tied on a Squid Jig. As soon as the Jig hit the water I was hooked up! Seconds later the water turned black with ink and my Squid was jetting across the surface. There's nothing like a big Squid on light spinning tackle! When I finally lifted this Squid out of the water his last blast of water shot 10 feet in the air. The power of the water jets! After that, the fishing was just good enough to keep me going even though I never found the schools of Squid I expected. I ended up with 2 more smaller Squid and had enough calamari for a 4 man snack the next day. There were also a few Flounders and other things biting the Gulps. All the Flounders were too small or borderline 15". Regardless, they were all released. Total Catch for the Night: 3 Squid, 4 Southern Flounder and 1 Inshore Lizardfish

Nov 8 Blueline Tilefish and Sandbar Sharks

I ventured into new territory armed with Butterfish for chunking Tuna and plenty of Metal Jigs as Chris and I headed SE out of Oregon Inlet and headed to The Point. Our Tuna plans died pretty quickly. The Trolling bite was pretty much a steady pick for the Hatteras Fleet and we never found what we were looking for to effectively start chunking. We tried it any way and it was a waste of time. The Oregon Inlet Fleet was somewhere to the North and that's we where we probably should have been. Oh well, there was still plenty of action to be had on the Metal Jigs. Some good, some bad, but it was all very interesting and made for some sore muscles today. One problem we had jigging was Sharks. I'm talking numbers and size. Our boat was pretty much surrounded by 5-15 Sandbar Sharks at every stop. These Sharks were 100-200 pounders and they liked Tilefish, Sea Bass, Metal Jigs and Pork Chop Biscuits! Chris and I each caught several and lost several more. One thing is for sure, reeling in a 150 pound Shark on a Jigging Combo from the bottom in 320 feet of water is a tough proposition. We each got a few Tilefish to the boat. I also picked up a 17 lb King Mackerel on a jig and a 10 lb Albacore on a Top Water Plug. I pulled the hooks on a decent Blackfin Tuna right beside the Boat. Total Catch for the Day: 8 Blueline Tilefish, 2 Black Sea Bass, 1 Albacore, 1 King Mackerel and 6 Sandbar Sharks up to 150 pounds

An Original Top Water Charters Graphic Design from 2003

Nov 5 Albacore, Flounder and Red Drum

A beautiful day, but not quite as fishy as I had hoped. Maybe I just gave up too quickly. The weather was getting prettier all the time and conditions were getting right for exploring farther to the East (where I love to fish!) when I came home at 2pm. Here's how the day went. Albacore fishing was good, not great. The fish were not staying up very long at all. It took a little luck and a lot of moving around this morning to stay on the fish. My first cast of the day connected on a 10 lb Albacore. I also caught a 8 lb Albacore on my 3 wt Fly Rod. The best fish of the day came on my Trout Rod with 6# test. I was searching the Shackleford Beach for Red Drum when I saw 5 Albacore cruising right up in the surf. I made a good cast and the race was ON! The fastest Albacore got there first and got released 10 minutes later. In between those 3 fish came a lot of casting and 3 other Albacore. I think the better Albacore Fishing was to the West, but like the variety that I normally find to the East! The most interesting thing of the day was the incredible numbers of Summer Flounder that are in the Shackleford Surf. In about an hour of effort I released 20 Summer Flounders and found 3 keepers at 15" each. I was casting a 5" White Jerk Bait right up on the sand to get strikes from these fish. Hook one and sometimes 2 or 3 others would follow it to the Boat! Finally, I got a tip on a school of Red Drum and I went and found them. One small group of maybe 15 Red Drum in the surf at Rough Point. My first and only cast connected on a fiesty 24" Red Drum. That's it! Total Catch for the Day: 6 Albacore, 23 Summer Flounder and 1 Red Drum **2235 Total Fish in 2009**

Albacore Markings---No Two Fish Are Alike

No two markings are alike. Like Finger Prints and Snow Flakes

Nov 4 Great Albacore Fishing

Today was a good one for me. I went by myself and Albacore Fishing was great. My Fisherman today (ME) had no problem fishing for what was the obvious #1 target. Here's how it went. My first cast after leaving the boat ramp got slammed by an Albacore east of Bft Inlet in Back Sound. Then I ran to the west and caught 6 Albacore between the Sheraton and Salter Path. All these fish came off small, fast moving pods that were smashing schools of bait in 20 feet of water. I also caught an oddball 15" Sea Mullet on a gulp right up against a Stop Net. Then I ran back up to Cape Lookout and found the best fishing of the morning. The Albacore inside the Bight were tearing it up and staying in one place for 30+ seconds. This makes for great fishing. In about 75 minutes, I caught 10 Albacore on 10# spin and 8# spin. I also caught 3 Albacore on a 9wt flyrod including a 34" NC Citation Albacore that bottomed out my 15# Bogagrip. My next cast hooked a bigger Albacore, but my fly line got tangled in my motor and I was unable to clear my line. I held on to the fly line for 45 seconds as the Giant Albacore bulldozed in circles under my stern. Finally, he popped the leader. Damn! After that I moved out front and caught 3 more Albacore on my trout rod with 6# test. Very testy battles and great fun. These Albacores weighed from 8 pounds to an estimated 18 pounds. Total Catch for the Day: 23 Albacore and 1 Gulf Sea Mullet

Hatteras Halloween Cast Netting

I never put a hook in the water, so this aint much of a Fishing Report. I was only up there for 4 days, but I did miss a golden opportunity on Thursday Night. When I drove by the Avon Pier around 11pm, I had no idea that Capt Pat Bracher (http://www.fishovertime.com/) and Capt Arch Bracher (http://www.fishthepelican.com/) were on the end of the pier releasing over 40 Giant Red Drum. I don't give high praise out for fishermen very often, but without a doubt in my mind, these 2 brothers are among the Best in the World at what they do. Anybody who disputes this comment is an IDIOT. As for me, all I did was make 2 throws with a 10 ft Cast Net. I throw caught a single 3 lb Jumping Mullet. My other throw caught 13 Jumping Mullets, including 3 Grown Ones that weighed 5 lb.s each By the way, the picture is of a Permit that found it's way into Frank's Cast Net.

Oct 29 Albacore and Bluefish

I'd have say it was great Albacore Fishing. Tom, Mike and Matthew each released an Albacore in about 5 minutes of casting. We didn't stick around to mess up that average. Off the Shoals at Cape Lookout we went and we found a full fledged Bluefish Blitz. The guys caught them on every cast and they kept all they wanted to clean. After that it was a struggle. We fished for Gray Trout and Speckled Trout and all we got out of that was a 13" Speckled Trout that was not up to current NC standards. I did toss the cast net a couple of times and load the boys up with quite a few large Jumping Mullets. Back to Beaufort Inlet and we played with Bluefish for another hour before we called it quits. I liked these guys, they were out for Blood. The top picture clearly shows that somebody had a worse day than we did. Hopefully nobody got injured. Total Catch for the Day: 3 Albacore, 1 Speckled Trout and 80 Bluefish

Oct 28 Speckled Trout, Gray Trout and Bluefish

My crew couldn't make it today. I hope Steve gets to feeling better and I really hope the fishing is a little easier next time. That was 2 tough days. The weather was rotten again today with a Small Craft Advisory in place. But with a live well full of Shrimp, I got a chance to go explore some places to fish when "you can't fish anywhere else". It was pretty interesting and I caught a few nice Speckled Trout up to 2 lb 8 oz. Later in the afternoon I ran back to Beaufort Inlet and caught lots of Bluefish, Gray Trout, and Hogfish on speck rigs. Total Catch for the Day: 6 Speckled Trout, 10 Gray Trout, 12 Bluefish and 3 Hogfish

Oct 27 The Navy Ships, Hard Fishing and Bluefish Everywhere

A tough WNW Wind this morning shut down my plan for the Rock Jetty and Cape Lookout Shoals and sent me scrambling for a back-up plan inside Barden's Inlet. Once inside, fishing was poor. I blamed it on a hard falling tide, whatever the reason, fishing was very frustrating this morning. Everywhere we went, Bluefish were on the scene to chomp our live baits. By 10am the wind had fell out and it was off to the Rocks. waiting for us was, of course, more Bluefish. Nearly every cast on nearly every kind of bait. We did manage a Speckled Trout and a Northern Puffer. By noon, we were tired of feeding tackle and Finger Mullets to the Bluefish. Then we ran farther east to look for last weeks Red Drum. All we found was dirty water, Bluefish, and a Southern Stingray. Now was time to push the PANIC Button. All the way back to Radio Island for Bluefish and more Bluefish and a few other small fish. Of course, after my half day charter was over, I returned to Beaufort Inlet and caught plenty more Bluefish and 7 Gray Trout on Speck Rigs. Total Catch for the Day: 60 Bluefish, 7 Gray Trout, 1 Speckled Trout, 2 Hogfish, 8 Pinfish, 1 Gag Grouper and 1 Southern Stingray **2066 Total Fish in 2009**

Oct 26 Bluefish in Windy and Wet Conditions

We got the Bluefish pretty good in Beaufort Inlet this morning. Then we ran to the East to look around. This excursion happened around 10am-11am when the Wind was steady at 25kts and gusting to 35kts. Needless to say, that was nothing but a wet boat ride. We came back to Beaufort Inlet and fished about 4 different places and found dirty water and very few fish. Finally, we ended up right back where we started and Howard, Tom, and I socked it to the Bluefish. It was nearly every cast with anything you tied on. The Bluefish were bigger than the ones we found in the morning. Howard kept about 12-15 Bluefish that were 1+ pounders. Howard also caught a Speckled Trout. When it all said and done, it was a good day to catch Bluefish on a day hardly fit for fishing! Total Catch for the Day: 50 Bluefish, 1 Speckled Trout, 2 Inshore Lizardfish, 3 Pinfish and 1 Black Sea Bass **1986 Total Fish in 2009**

Oct 24-25 Taylor's Creek Cast Netting

I cancelled trips Saturday and Sunday because of the weather. Unfortunately, both days the weather was very, very fishable. Saturday, I think the Ocean would've been unbearable, but the fishing could've been interesting inside the Inlet. By 11am Saturday, I had to go fishing, so off to the Dock I went loaded for Flounder and Red Drum. Conditions were perfect. Clean, high water. Bait was running. The fishing was a bust, though. In 2 hours all I got was a couple of small Flounders and a few of Nature's less desirable creatures. Right before I left I did hit 30 Corncob Mullets throw with my Cast Net. On the 25th, I concentrated on the Cast Netting and it was pretty good. I had a 40 Fish throw and then hit the mother-lode. A 200 Mullet throw, with size from Finger Mullets up to 2 pound Roe Mullets. The Rod and Reel 2-Day Total Catch for the Day: 2 Southern Flounders, 2 Inshore Lizardfish, 5 Pinfish and 1 Northern Sea Robin

Top Water Red Drum Action

Hard to beat this action. It was hard to stop fishing long enough to try to take some action pictures. Here is what I got! The second from the top picture is a school of Cownose Rays. The others are of Red Drum crashing on Top Water Plugs. I mean to say, a thousand Red Drum hitting a Top Water Plug until one finally gets hooked up. The pictures don't show the sheer numbers of Drum. Catching them was easy with a hook, it was a little harder with the camera. Hey, I'm a fisherman, not a photographer. That's GREAT FISHING!!

Oct 22 Red Drum Fishing Can't Get Much Better

I wish that I had a Charter today, or yesterday. Fishing simply CANNOT get much better. Great weather, clear water, and huge schools of Red Drum. So once again, with nothing else to do, Chris and I went fishing. Today we left the Dock at 12pm. We caught Flounders out of the sloughs and gullies off Shackleford Banks for an hour. Then we ran to the East to catch Bluefish. We found plenty and were having a blast catching 2-4 pound Bluefish on every cast with metal and top water plugs. Then, we suddenly found our boat surrounded by the biggest school of Red Drum that I have seen this year. Thousands of fish. We saw fish up to 30+ pounds. Miss the school and catch a Blue. Hit the school and catch a Drum. That's the way it went for 4 hours. Chris released a 18 pound Red Drum. My biggest was a 15 pounder. We caught fish on every cast all afternoon. We caught them on metal, plugs, Gulps, whatever. We left them biting and headed for home. As for the Bluefish, the ones near the Red Drum schools were large ones as well. Chris got a 6 pound Bluefish. I got a 5 pound Bluefish. Off Shackleford Banks we briefly stopped and cast to Albacore. The Alberts were tough because they were ram-gorging tiny minnows. They didn't want to chase a bait. I finally hooked up and released a 12 pound Albacore. We didn't want to quit because the weather is getting ready to change. Too Bad, the great fishing can't last forever. Total Catch for the Day: 40 Red Drum up to 18 lbs, 40 Bluefish up to 6 lbs, 12 Summer Flounder up to 17" and 1 Albacore

News and Observer and the Cape Lookout Lighthouse

Two items of note. First, Capt Marty is the subject of an article in today's News and Observer. That's pretty cool since it is my hometown News Paper. It is about fishing, of course and can be found in today's Outdoors Section. Second, this month the Cape Lookout Lighthouse is celebrating it's 150th birthday and the NPS is lighing up the Lighthouse with spotlights. It is a very pretty thing to see up close. Last night, my wife and her parents made the trip up to the Cape to see the Lighthouse. It was a beautiful night. It was hard for me not to be thinking about all those Speckled Trout out at the Jetty, but I fought off that urge and just walked around and explored the Lighthouse. It was a pretty cool experience and a great way to spend time with family.