6/27 Fort Fisher Meet and Greet

[FishinJewell]

Originally Posted by flyr6105

Hey Don! It was great meeting you and your family. I can tell you are really stoked about catching the red. After last year’s M & G, I bought my Manta Ray and launched my maiden voyage from Taylors Creek boat ramp. After an exhausting paddle up current (Learn the tides ... Again .. Learn the tides.), I swung around Carrot island and threw my spinner into a bunch of bait fish jumping like crazy On the second cast I hooked a red that gave me a great fight.

OK, so I told you I was spending the night at Carolina Beach State Park and going up Snows Cut on Sunday. My plan was to head into open water and troll for Kings and Spanish. At 7:00 am Sunday, I launched from a small sandy area next to the State Park Marina that was closed for renovations. What a sweet place to put in. I was able to back my trailer across 50 feet of grass right up to waters edge. I hooked up my modified trolling motor that I wanted to test and headed up Snows Cut. My auxiliary power unit worked perfectly and I was at the ocean inlet in an hour. I started heading out the inlet and hunting for calmer waters. I paddled for about 45 minutes working my way out the inlet as the waves grew bigger and bigger. There were also a lot of rip currents going every which way. I took lots of waves over the bow, but never felt like the yak was in trouble. Can’t say the same for my nerves. I’m an x private pilot and know that the safest maneuver away from danger is a 180 degree turn and that’s what I decided to do. By then the tide was coming in and the current was really strong. A lot of people were anchored along the north bank fishing; so I set my speed to keep my yak stationary in the current and started casting. Man did I get a lot of stares from boaters trying to figure out why I was stationary without an anchor and not drifting with the current. I got a few hits, but couldn’t hook anything. After 4 hours on the water, I headed back down Snows Cut and called it a day. After 4 hours of steady motoring, I still had 75% of my battery capacity left.

I talked to some of you about heading for some of the artificial reefs which I would really like to try. I need to find safer inlets to get into open water. I’ve now tried the inlet at the South end of Shackelford Banks, the inlet North of Bear Island, the inlet North of Snows Cut and the Wrightsville Beach inlet. So far, I like Wrightsville Beach although it is a 200 yard pull from the parking area across sand dunes to the beach. It’s also a launch into surf where the others are out of the surf. If anybody knows of launch points where the paddle to open water is not too far, let me know. I would also like to put together a reef trip this summer if we could get a group together. Definitely don’t try anything like that alone. If I get any answers to this post, I’ll start a reef trip thread.

Thanks for the message John. You are the man when it comes to rigging. We have to talk ... not sure I"m so creative. I love the trolling motor idea and would love a setup like that for my yak.

Give me a call anytime you're coming to the area. I'd be delighted to join you for some fishing.

Great meeting you and keep up the gret work !!


Don