NC Angler Fishing Blogs

What do you get when you mix 30 kayak anglers, a starter battery, an amplifier, an electric guitar and musician Trip Rogers? A National Anthem launch to remember!

The 1st Annual Hardcore Kayak Fishing Team Tournament rocked from start to finish on Saturday, October 3 in the upper stretches of Lake Wylie, just below the Mt. Island Lake dam. Plenty of water was covered and plenty of fish were caught, including the 5-fish tourney winning CPR limit by YakN (no easy task when none can be within an inch of each other...).

See Page 2 for more details.... [Read More]

Skooteri and I got up in the wee hours for a Halloween run to Bath for more of the slam action he had been working the last 2 weeks. Not the greatest catching report, but its always a good time to see some kayaks on the home page! [See Page 2]

Mission: Catch a freshwater striper from the kayak at Jordan lake.
Status: Read Page 2 to find out!

NCangler sponsor GetOutdoors put on their 2nd annual kayak fishing tournament this weekend in Greensboro. We hoped for cooler weather and more fish than last year. We got both in abundance. Temps in the high-30s and a constant rain made for a challenging day, but many fish were measured and the competition for prizes was fierce. [see page 2 for details]

This week's adventure for the kayak crowd was the 2nd Annual Kayak Fishing Meet & Greet at Fort Fisher, hosted by Druminator, and featuring his dad on the grill! I'd estimate somewhere between 30 and 40 kayak anglers made it out to the Fort for meeting, greeting, fishing, eating and checking out the other boats.

I put a bunch of NCangler faces to names out there, but its a bit of a blur right now. Here's an attempt to list the ones I had not met or fished with before - Druminator, NCMalibuEx, Straps57, Moseyak, Ebogdanski, 69corps, CarolinaFly, Erayyak, Nraycroft, RouseD, NCPierMan, Mulletman, Cody (Yak4fish Jr.). Repeat offenders were Lefty, me (JeffONC), Mikefromsa, Skooteri, Yak4fish. I'm sure I missed a handful - if I missed your handle, let me know and I'll get your attendance recorded! (Have seen posts from Fishgent, Eric6708, Meatloaf1991, Buckeyejoe, Flyr6105, EastCoastYak, Redneck Paddler, Msgdan from SC/KFS - don't recall formally meeting you guys,... [Read More]

It was a big day of firsts at the inaugural Get::Outdoors Kayak Fishing tournament on Lake Brandt in Greensboro today. First kayak fishing tournament for most of the participants, me included. First time for most of us on Lake Brandt. First time meeting the Hardcore guys face-to-face. I'll try to let the pictures do most of the talking and save the chatter for the forums...



Next Page: The anticipation... [click for page 2]

The Spanish have arrived, Spanish mackerel that is. Many anglers including myself have been enjoying the early spring mix of Atlantic Bonito and bluefish and now Spanish mackerel. Of course the drum and trout continue to be favorite targets in the sounds and creeks with larger flounder starting to show up too.

Often just called “Spanish” this fish is the smaller cousin to the king mackerel with a strong family resemblance. In fact Spanish mackerel look very much like a juvenile king mackerel. The easiest way to tell them apart is the front portion of the first dorsal fin of the Spanish is black, it looks like a flag. You can also tell by the lateral line on either side of the fish. On a King it drops down about halfway back on either side where as on Spanish it remains fairly level all the way to the tail.

It is very important to distinguish the difference as the creel and size limits are different for the two species. The current regulations for NC coast... [Read More]

I made a quick stop at Penny's Bend on the Eno River in Durham this afternoon (April 15, 2009) looking for some White Bass. I managed to find a few and enjoy an hour or so down there...
[See Page 2 for the story]
[***Update: See Page 3 for the Rest of the story***]

A good guide and a good photographer are invaluable tools in any angler's arsenal. GanzAndere (Joel) showed me around Cane Creek Reservoir on Aug 9, 2008 and got some really good pics of my battle with this 6.75lb largemouth. Thought I'd try to string them together here.

See page 2 for the play-by-play... [click for page 2]

When fishing for Yellowfin I use mostly sea witches-blue/crystal and pink/crystal on a 20 foot wind on leader of 80# flurocarbon. My leader is connected to the main line with a 150# Spro swivel.


Here are the remaining materials:


The hook is a sharpened Mustad 7/0 Tuna hook. The 1/4-1/2 ounce egg sinker is located under the hook. The pin wire is 10/0 and is used to assist in rigging the ballyhoo and for protection from Wahoos. The pin wire is above the hook.


Here is the finished product:


Hope this helps. If you have any questions, let me know... [Read More]

I have a pretty good deal going at Cane Creek reservoir near Carrboro, NC. GanzAndere (Joel) fishes throughout the season, finds and patterns the fish, then I show up one Saturday in August and let him guide me to his spots and share his secrets. Shallow crankbaits have been working this year as this 5lber confirmed. It wasn't a historic day by Cane Creek standards, but a fine day of catching.

See page 2 for details.

I spent Wednesday afternoon in Fayetteville, visiting the John E. Pechmann Fishing Education Center. The occasion was one of their Wounded Warrior/NC Handicapped Sportsmen/Military Family fishing clinics. I'm no fly-fishing expert, but Al K allowed me to come down and be part of the volunteer staff.

Not a huge turnout of guests on this warm afternoon but a handful of families took advantage of the open gates and got a chance to "Face the Giants" in the hatchery ponds. See Al's report here for the official summary of the event. I got to poke around and take in what the the JEPFEC has to offer - details of my adventure are on the next 2 pages.

see page 2 for the fly-tying... [Read More]

Well the 2009 Raleigh Bass and Saltwater Fishing Expo is history now. I want to thank all our members who stopped by and said hello. We took pictures of as many as we could, but I'm sure we missed a few folks in the process. I'll be posting some photos of members later today who stopped by the booth. Thank you all for your support.

We sold a lot of products including NCangler.com t-shirts and hats and a whole lot of TackleMonkey.com hats and visors. It was fun to see the reaction to the TackleMonkey brand.

We may be running some online specials in the next couple weeks to close out some inventory so watch for an announcement on that.

I want to say a special thank you to my good friend Topsail Angler for all his help with the booth layout, setup, sales, marketing, you name it, he did it. Thank you Mike! You da man!

Thanks again to all our NCangler.com members for your support of NCangler.com and TackleMonkey.com!

Randy
NCangler... [Read More]

Captains Blog: Saturday March 31, 2007
B. Everette Jordan Lake
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Saturday was a beautiful day and I was excited to have the opportunity to do a little Crappie fishing with Jordan Lake guide Steve Stephens of Hot Spot Charters. I met Steve at the Ebenezer Boat ramp at 12:15, where he had just dropped off a morning charter, a husband and wife wanting to learn the technique of trolling of Jordan Lake stripers. We headed over to the Beaver Creek area of the lake and slow trolled minnows for several hours. Fishing was a bit slow but we managed to put 12 keepers in the live well including a very nice Crappie that weighed over 2.5 pounds by the Boca grip scale. Many thanks to Steve for an enjoyable day on the water. The fish will be cooking in about 30 minutes.

If you're looking for a great day of fishing for Striped Bass or Crappie contact Steve Stephens of Hot Spot Charters. Steve is a great source of fishing infor... [Read More]

On Friday evening, September 18, 2009, I headed to the Dam Area of the Smith River to fish "the falling water" which occurs right after they shut off generation for the day. Friday's shut off was at six o'clock which did not leave much time for fishing but I was determined to make the most of it.

I elected to start fishing about a third of a mile downstream from the dam so I really couldn't safely step in the water until about six thirty. I sat on the bank and stuck my wading staff in the water's edge as a gauge of how far or how fast the water was receding. I mentally told myself that when it reached a certain point I would venture in. After a short while I realized I was burning daylight so stepped in up to my knees and worked my way downstream to a point where I knew a good run was located.

I had no more then moved off the steep path to the river when I heard a splash where I had just been sitting and saw a doe deer paddling for the opposite shore - This section is a fa... [Read More]

My good friend Mike Becker (Topsail Angler) was in town last Thursday to help me with moving some product display furniture. We took advantage of the opportunity on Friday, December 19th to do some Striped Bass fishing on Jordan Lake with Capt. Troy Roberson of Striper-Sniper Adventures. I've fished with Capt. Troy several times and it is always a pleasure to do so. We were joined this day by new NCangler.com member KST&BLST.

It was a very foggy start to the day but the temperature was much more to my liking than our last outing with Capt. Troy. We had arrived at the boat ramp about 6:30AM. We were planning to live-bait fish with shad and were on the water before first light. Capt. Troy loaded up the cast net on the first cast with about 400 shad! He culled that down to about 90-100 of the smaller size with a few larger ones just in case. We had five lines in the water and Capt. Troy's Minn Kota quietly worked a pattern thru the fog. We were marking signif... [Read More]

The old adage about March, in like a lion, out like a lamb may be true more often than not. But on yesterday's fishing trip the March weather was like a lamb and the fishing ROARED like a lion! What an awesome day to go fishing. The winds were less than five knots, there were no seas to speak of and the sun shone bright all day. It was a little cold, especially on the ride out but tolerable.

We headed out about 6 am with Rick Croson who operates Living Waters Charters out of Wrightsville Beach. On board with Rick was Jodie Gay, owner of Blue Water Candy Lures, Randy Durham, owner of NC Angler and myself. The purpose of today's trip was to get some HD video footage for a couple of projects Randy is working on (Randy also owns Credence Pictures). The projects revolve around the jigging technique and highlight the use of Roscoe, Jodie's newest jigging product.

We headed for the Steeple, a place near the Gulf Stream, about 62 nautical miles from Masonboro inlet. The w... [Read More]

Yesterday I finally got to make a fishing trip to the Gulf Stream this month. The weather kept me penned down for a few weeks and then I had some other issues that kept me off the water, so I was ready to do some catching yesterday. My friend Scott Erickson was kind enough to invite me to go with him and his buddy Tanner aboard his boat the "Reel Dream".

We met at the high rise bridge boat ramp on Topsail Island before dawn and headed out of New River inlet, when the sun came up over the horizon we were already six miles offshore. The seas were flat so we made great time. We arrived at Gulf Stream to find beautiful blue water. Man this plan was coming together nicely. We put out a five rod spread and started trolling the "break" looking to catch a hoo or two with maybe a nice tuna or dolphin in the mix.

We had two solid hook-ups but both came unbuttoned after a minute or so. It got the blood boiling but that was it. No more bites on the troll.... [Read More]

... [Read More]

I had the pleasure of fishing with Randy (NC Angler) today. Last time we fished together for kings and dolphin, we had a bunch of sharks that enjoyed a free meal at our expense. This time we managed to avoid feeding the carnivores of the deep and Randy was able to catch some whole fish!

We left out of New Topsail Inlet this morning around 7:30 and had our first fish of the day in the box, a king mackerel, before 9:00. We lost a couple of more then I boated a nice 14 pound dolphin. We caught a shark and then the reels went quiet for a while.

Finally we heard that sweet music from the clicker on the reel and this time Randy boated an 18 pound bull dolphin! Then as we were redeploying the lines, I got a strike as I was putting a bait out. It turned out to be the largest king of the day going just over 12 pounds! We were liking this pattern, king, dolphin, king, dolphin, etc.

We ended up with 4 kings and a pair of nice dolphins. Not a bad day at all and no half-a-fis... [Read More]

Right now is one of the best times of the year to catch a Wahoo off the coast of North Carolina. They can be found in decent numbers in depths ranging from 180 - 300 feet. That means a pretty good boat ride for most of us but it is well worth it.

Wahoo are one of the fastest fish in the ocean reaching speeds over 50 miles an hour with ease. Fisherman know them as the greyhounds of the ocean. They range in size from 20 pounds to upward of 100 pounds with good numbers of them in the 25 - 40 pound range. They are related to king mackerels and at first glance there is a strong family resemblance.



With a mouth full of teeth and speed in the blood, these fish are fierce carnivores. They also are great fighters. They often will run several hundred or more yards several times after being hooked up. They have smoked more than one reel with their dazzling speed. They also can put on a decent aerial display when trying to dislodge the hook.

To top it all off, they m... [Read More]

I paddled out of Upper Barton Creek this morning on a lazy, late launching trip with a short window of time before I had to get back for work. The primary purpose was to check out some re-work I had done on the fishfinder, which had started acting up this season. Glad to report that the re-seated transducer is working perfectly - no imaginary underwater forests, no problems finding the bottom, no problems finding fish. Ran into NCangler member "Kayak Fisherman" as I was launching. Was able to trade some tips and suggestions about the lake as it was his first time launching there.

See Page 2 for the action...... [Read More]

Drum, Drum and more Old Drum. How about wife with her first. If you haven't caught one, nows the time. Don't have to fish at night but you can. Fish drops and ledges with FRESH bait and plenty of it. Blue fish and other bait stealers are hungry too.
Nice slot drum catches with flounder (most too small) mixed.
Spanish mackeral in river feed on all this bait. Trolling with spoons or plugging when they are seen feeding works. Most caught are too smal - measure before you keep.
Remember my and Shrine Club tournaments coming up. Want alot of participants to make events a big success. Applications and information links on my web page.
Will have live shrimp next week if weather cooperates for those who don't catch their own.

Fish Safe and keep only what you eat,
Capt Dave... [Read More]

Captains Blog: Wednesday November 8, 2006
(Okay I borrowed that from Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. I'm the Administrator...I can do stuff like that)
B. Everette Jordan Lake
-----------------------------------
You know, it is never easy to find the right combination of time off work, an opening in our family schedule and favorable weather conditions at the coast for some saltwater fishing. Thus I only make about 4-5 trips to the coast each year at this point in our lives. So I started looking at freshwater options that are closer to home and potentially more doable. As a result I went fishing for Striped Bass for the first time on Wednesday morning. I had booked a charter with Capt. Troy Roberson of Striper-Sniper.com a couple months back and have been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to learn how to catch this beautiful fish of the freshwater variety.

It had rained hard most of the day on Tuesday and into Tuesday night. I awoke aroun... [Read More]

I hope everyone had a happy holidays and ate too much food. If I didn’t get out and fish I would be big as a house. The Striper fishing over the past few weeks has been really good except for the long and some days, bumpy ride. Most of the fish that we have been catching are up the beach 40 to 50 miles off Corolla. They have been small as 10 lbs and over 35lbs , but plenty of fish. We have caught them casting and trolling, but I prefer jigging. I just wish they would move closer to Oregon Inlet. I haven’t done any other type of fishing and the offshore boats have been Striper fishing also. Maybe after the next cold front, the fish we push to the south. I do have a few open dates left, so give me a call.

Tight lines, Ray





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