Sorry guys for my lack of reporting, guess I'm getting lazy in my old age. I've had several charters since my last report and we have just killed the dolphin each time. Catches have been in teens and twenties. The dolphin have moved in some and you can catch them between 14 and the 90 foot drop.
Had trips Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Saturday was a half day inshore and we caught some nice spanish out over Rough Point. The water was full of bait balls and some nice fish. Sunday and Monday were offshore and we loaded up on some very nice dolphin. We fished south both days.
This has been the worst spring for weather I can remember. I've lost eight charters due to the weather. Finally got some fishing in over the Memorial Day weekend. Fished 3 of the 4 days and loaded up on dolphin. The dolphin bite is really good right now and hopefully it will continue through the summer. We caught some very nice ones 25#+ and then many smaller ones with majority being gaffers. Mainly fished 90 foot drop area but it appears they are starting to work in towards 14. Now is the time to get out there while this bite is hot. Sorry but I only have one picture this time.
Wind, wind, and more wind sums up the spring so far. Only managed to get in three trips the entire month and lost four. Sorry to say but not a single tuna was caught? We caught some nice dolphin, a few wahoos and kings and jigged up a bunch of amber jacks and a few nice grouper. May is starting out windy as well and have already cancelled two charters. Things will get better just don't know when so everyone hang in there.
Hey guys, I'm back at it after a no fish winter. My dad has been very sick and recently passed away so I've been dealing with his illness. I've been waiting for some weather to run the boat and chase some yellowfin. It looks like next Tuesday will be a great day to give it a try. I'm looking 4 guys at $160 each to go and give it a try. You know how the weather can change but right now it looks like a go. If you are interested and can go give me a call at 252-230-5315
I've had a few inshore and a couple of offshore charters since my last report. Inshore the spanish and blue bite has been great. Have caught some grey trout, sea mullet, and spot bottom fishing. Went off shore last Friday and this past Monday.
Friday was an awesome day on the water. Went south looking hoos and was not disappointed. The first 8 bites ended up with no fish. 3 cut offs with one on wire and the other 5 came unbuttoned. Needless to say I was very frustrated. But then our luck changed and we did not lose another fish the rest of the day. We ended up with 6 hoos. They were all about the same size 30-35 lbs. That was a lot of meat. We also had a small blackfin and alantic bonita.
We were suppose to go offshore Tuesday but I called party and decided to go Monday before the blow. they called for 10-15 and 2-4. Well the man missed it again. It was really rough in the hot water 4-6 building to 6-8. The bite was slow for all of us but we did manage 2 nice hoos and a b... [Read More]
I had a father and his two sons on a near shore trip and they told me they wanted to catch big fish and did not care about fish to eat. The Atlas was covered with AJ's and they had a ball for about two hours until they gave out and up. The Spanish bite has been consistent and will only get better over the next month. Offshore the wahoo bite is picking up and we have caught some dolphin as well. Looks like the fall fishing is cranking up so let's get out there and have some fun.
Don't you just love August fishing? Have been pretty busy with in shore and near shore trips. The Spanish bite has been has been good around the inlet in the deeper water. The near shore bite has been slow for kings and dolphin. AJ's have saved the day on most trips as well as some bottom bouncing. Finally yesterday we were able to find a decent bite near shore. We caught 2 gaffers, 2 kings and a 44# citation wahoo. The wahoo hit a Tiagra 30 on the planner rod. Needless to say it was a battle. It sure was nice to catch some decent fish trolling. On a much sadder note, I lost my best friend and 13 year companion, Sandy. She was a good ole fat yellow lab. When she was younger she use to love to go fishing and when she was older she loved to come to the cleaning table for some suhsi. Needless to say she will be missed and for all you guys that have lost such a friend you know what I mean.
Well folks I've stayed pretty busy fishing with just some catching. As most guys will attest we're having August fishing in July. I think those real hot days we had in June did us in. Last year in July I could go to 14 and catch 15-20 small dolphin about every trip, but not this year. Enough of complaining and making excuses, it is what it is. Offshore we have caught some dolphin, not a bunch but some, some wahoo and a few sails. Deep jigging has saved the day a few times with some nice AJ's, BSB, and other bottom dwellers. Everybody has been great and had fun so from that stand point it has been great. I've told my parties prior to going out that it was slow but they still wanted to go and give it a shot. Inshore the Spanish bite has been pretty good outside the inlet in deeper water. I've got a different kind of charter this week, I'm taking some guys down the ICW to play golf in Myrtle Beach. We're going to have fun and it is a nice change. Best of luck to everyone... [Read More]
Have been real busy but the winds have picked up and caused several cancellations this week, Monday, Tuesday Friday and Saturday. Hopefully this run of wind will be short lived. Last week I had several inshore trips and caught some nice Spanish on the half day trips. I fish for Spanish on real light tackle which is more fun but you catch a few less fish. I'll try to start taking some pictures of those trips. Our offshore trips have seen more and more small dolphin with some gaffers scattered in. This is the start of typical summer time fishing. I've had a lot of children on board lately and that makes this profession worth while. Here are a few pictures:
I have been extremely busy the last two weeks and this is the first time I've had enough time to post a report. The first week of June we had four offshore charters and the fishing was good except for Saturday the 7th which was horrible. The water really got hot and the fish disappeared that day. We had very good catches of dolphin and caught two sails. We also caught some barracuda and albacore. Last week we fished our first Big Rock and it was a different kind of fishing than I'm use to. We pulled lures the entire week like the rest of the guys. I tell you it is slow fishing and it is hero or zero. We had one hook up on Wednesday but pulled the hook after about 30 minutes. We did catch some nice dolphin but none big enough to weigh. I had a great crew of guys that had a lot of fun. Back now to the fishing I like this week. I have 4 inshore trips and 2 offshore trips for another busy week. This will be my first inshore trips of the year so hopefully we can fin... [Read More]
Have been real busy and that is good but I'm glad for a break. Looks like everyone has been catching dolphin and that is fantastic. Had charters last Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. This stretch started out kind of tough when I was told that my lower units were full of water and the boat had to be pulled in to the shop on Tuesday. So Wednesday we had to use Larry's 28' Albemarle for the near shore charter Wednesday. I was concerned about this trip because I had not done one and did not know if we would catch any fish. Water was 71 degrees and we did ok. Caught a few small kings, one small dolphin, some nice black bass and a fish I did not expect, a pretty nice yellowfin tuna and I was shocked. Friday was another eventful day. When we started to put out out riggers they were jammed from not being put up correctly from the shop and we had to fish without out riggers. Needless to say I was hot but we improvised and really had a great day - 15 dolphin and 7 wahoo. Se... [Read More]
Left inlet with a following sea so not a bad ride. The fishing area was rougher than expected, 8-10 feet. Started fishing south with the waves which was not that terrible but turning to circle a bite was a disaster. Put lines in about 2 miles beyond 90 foot drop and fished south to 530 line. I had a crew of three of our finest from Bragg and a 10 year old son. I was concerned about the son and had told his father I did not recommend him to go the day before. The son came and did better than the men. He was the last one to get sea sick. Put lines in around 8 and by 11:15 had 9 dolphin and 2 nice wahoo. They decided they had enough fish and enough of the ocean so we started home at 11:30. The ride home was an adventure with a hefty head sea. All in all we made it back and they were happy with the catch and the site of land. Had one for today, Sunday, but one butt kicking a weekend is enough.
Had charters Wednesday and Thursday. The Wednesday charter was some guys from Wilson that I coached and that went to school at Hunt. Ended up being a beautiful day even though there were 8-9 foot swells. Light wind made the swells nice. Ended up catching 26 dolphin and a wahoo. We had some real nice gaffers and a couple of 30+ bulls. Thursday we had some guys from Raleigh and the weather was pretty nice but not as nice as Wednesday. We stopped early with 21 dolphin and a wahoo. We had a couple of big wahoo bites that that bit through our line. We fished both days between the 530 and 540 line in 200 foot of water. Two really good days with everyone happy. Have a couple this weekend if we don't get blown out.
We had a pretty good weekend all the way around except for the ride out both days which was very bumpy. Saturday we caught 8 dolphin, 2 wahoo,one was real nice, and a couple of kings. Sunday all we caught were dolphin with a couple of nice ones and the rest small. Everyone had a great time except for the couple that got sick. They were real troopers and never complained and caught a few fish as well. I feel really bad when folks get sick and there is nothing I can do to help them.
On our charter Saturday we ran across a very rare site, a huge whale shark. We circled him several times and was amazed at his size and the way he just cruised along just under the surface. I've heard that to see a whale shark in the wild was a once in a life time experience and I can certainly believe that. One of the guys on our charter got a couple of pictures of him and some nice action shots of some dolphin.
Man was it nice to finally have a pretty weekend to fish. The name of the game was Dolphin-Dolphin. I do not know where the tuna have gone, I guess we missed the big bite with all the bad weather. Maybe they will pick up this week. Fished way north on Saturday all the way to 800 line and fished the 530 line on Sunday. We had one 38lb citation bull and a few other nice dolphin mixed in with smaller ones. Looks like the dolphin bite is going to be hot. Here are a few of the real nice fish we caught.
We had a very nice family from Maryland on board on a very nice weather day. Put the lines in just north of the rock. Water was green and full of grass. No way to fish there so we moved further north and fished around the 660 line. A lot of boats fished the same area but the bites were slow. Water temp stayed around 71.9 the entire day. The real warm water was way offshore and way north. We ended up the day with 1 tuna, 2 gaffers and a sling-er and 1 chopper blue. The boys had a great time and I really enjoy watching the kids have a good time. Wish the fishing had been better for them but that is fishing. They are coming back in June so hopefully the fishing will be better.
Finally a small window of opportunity. Headed out with a great crew from Kinston and Scott Crocker as the mate. Started fishing at the 530 line and fished up to the Rock. It was a little rough 5-7 feet and it never laid down even though thw weather man said it was. Shortly after putting the lines out we picked up 2 wahoo on top. One was nice and the other small. Then about 9:30am the tuna bite was on till about noon. We picked up a total of 7 with a couple small and the rest very nice. We had one black fin at 20+ We also caught one small dolphin. The water looked clear and it was 77 degress on the rock. Man it was nice to finally see some tuna. Friday looks good before the blow Saturday but I'll be on th hill unfortunately. Scott did a great job and he was coverd with blood from head to toe.
Had my first official charter of the year Friday the 21st. I had a wonderful group of folks from Chatham county. It started out a little rough in the am but calmed down in the afternoon. Fishing is still slow from all this wind and the dirty water. Did not sound like other boats were doing too much as well. Water temp was a constant 70.3 degrees and there was no current to speak of. Started fishing around the 500 line in 240 feet of water. As we were putting the line down on the planner a big wahoo hit the bait. Donnie who is in the 7th grade had the first fish. He fought the fish about 15 minutes and he was one excited young man when that wahoo came over the gunnel. We had him weighed and he weighed 44 lbs so Donnie will receive a citation for his catch. Seeing a young man catch a fish like that makes this business very rewarding. After that we waited a long time for the next fish which was a 15-20lb yellowfin. It was good to finally see a tuna. We had a bite off and two real s... [Read More]
Made up a "cob web" trip Thursday with some good friends to check out the boat after being up on the hill since August. Have added some new features and everything worked great. Man was it a beautiful day Thursday offshore. It may have been the prettiest day I've ever experienced. Went to 500 line and fished from 480 line up to 530 line the entire day. SST shot indicated some warmer water offshore the Swansboro Hole but I did not want to burn that much gas since it was a trial run. We had a nice break, 67-71, with lots of floating debri but the water was still dirty from all the blows we've had the last month. We saw a lot of life in the area from whales, turtles, and bottle nose dolphin but not many game fish. We did manage to boat a few fish but no tuna. We had a gaffer dolphin and a nice wahoo, 30+ along with a small dolphin and wahoo. All in all a fantastic day on the water with great friends. First charter is schedule for this Saturday but have already cancelled due to... [Read More]
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. 2007 was a great year for me and I want to thank all my customers. I have recovered from my surgery and ready for a better than ever 2008. Now is the time to start thinking about yellowfin tuna and getting a trip booked for the spring. Last year the best bite was early and if we have a warmer than normal winter it probably will be early again. Thanks again to everyone and especially those that wished me well during my surgery and recovery.
July has been typical for hot water fishing. Lots of small dolphin and some wahoo. Inshore fishing has been mostly spanish and blues. I am having a couple of surgeries in August that will put me out of commission for the rest of the year. I wish I could fish but I need to take care of these problems so that I will be ready for the tuna run this spring. This will be my last report till then but don't give up on me. I will be back better than ever and look forward to the spring and making all my customers happy.
Had 4 charters since my last report and that makes 16 out of the last 19 days and I'm exhausted. Going to take some days off during the 4th and get away from the crowds. All 4 charters had great crews and we caught a lot of the smaller dolphin along with some gaffers, some wahoo and nice kings. We have been getting 15-30 dolphin on each trip. Have not bailed any dolphin yet, all on the troll. Getting in to the typical summer time fishing pattern with water now 80 from the beach to offshore.
Man what a stretch and starting tomorrow I have 6 more in a row. Happy to be busy but very tired. The dolphin bite has been fantastic with plenty of nice gaffers. Have caught a few wahoo and kings as well. Have released 4 sailfish and man were they pretty.
06-21-2009 10:40 AM
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