It’s been way too long since I’ve posted a report – I’ve been so busy that I haven’t even had time to download my photos off my camera! Well – I finally found some time and here goes!
I now have the 30th (cancellation), the 31rst, the 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th available…come catch ’em up!
This time I’m starting with the 27th and counting backwards to the 19th.
Among the highlights:
I currently have a four day streak of 20lb+ king mackerel
We hooked TWO SAILFISH This week – both less than 4 miles from the beach!! It’s only a matter of time before a client of mine is lucky enough to finally land one!
The flounder bite is picking up FAST.
7/27 – I fished this morning with DaveDowneast hoping to find some kings/mahi and then some flounder later on. It was so hot and steamy that a thick haze hung over the water – so thick that at times we could only see a hundred feet.
The bite started off quite slow – we managed a few bite-offs, a few sharks and a king that was promptly sawed in half by a big ‘cuda. However, come late morning, the wind picked up and the bite turned on.
However, as I have been saying – you have to put in your time and the big ones will come. After catching a small dink king, I marked a pod of bait and started to put the lines back out – as soon as I got one into position, the bait dissapeared in a huge boil. The reel screamed and a big king made his smoking run – 15 minutes later, Dave expertly brought in a 20lb king. As soon as I could get the line back out, a fish almost jerked the rod out of my hand as it hit the bait in the propwash – i handed over the rod and the reel, again, smoked as the fish nearly spooled us with his first run. After the 350 yd run, and several shorter ones, Dave pumped a beautiful high 20s king from the depths.
During the following two hours, we messed around with the small 5-10lb kings, releasing a good number and keeping a small bailer dolphin that got wrapped in one of the lines. It was then that the real excitment began. Again, as I was setting a line, a fish picked up the bait and as soon as I handed it off, a beautiful 20lb gaffer cow dolphin started tailwalking. Honestly, it was one of the msot best fighting dolphin I’ve ever witnessed – she made an initial run of over 200 yds while jumping probably 5 times. After that, it took Dave 30 minutes to land her while she probably jumped over 25 times.
However, as he brought her to the boat – she had company – a 15lb friend! I grabbed a live bait, hooked it up, and tossed it in the propwash. Before I could count to three, the other fish was on and smashed it 6 times, throwing the bait (and hooks) before she came completely out of the water, landed on it and tailwalked around the boat with the bait in her mouth. After we landed these two beutiful fish – we decided to call it a day! Man, what great fish – Not bad less than FIVE MILES FROM THE BEACH!
Dave – a pleasure fishing with you again – you really are a lucky guy!
For the past week, all of my charters had planned on targeting flounder – but no one ever wanted to stop trolling. Imagine that!
7/26 – Fished a full day with Mike and Hunter and Daniel. They wanted to go after the bigguns and were ready to crank them in. We rode out to a king hole (the boys loved the choppy inlet – asking me if I could ride through it again) where it didn’t take long to produce the first fish – a fiesty 8lb king. Soon another king came to the boat, a shark, another king, and a very acrobatic mr. stink (a ‘cuda). An hour or so later, one of the reels exploded and Daniel embarked on an epic 30 minute battle with a beastly 20lb king (pictured).
After the bite slowed in the sweltering heat and the seas flattened out, I head out a bit further to fish another live bottom. The knockdowns were a bit few and far between, but we managed a couple nice 8-10lb kings and had a couple kings sky on our baits. It was then that the event of the day happened – as I was putting a bait out, a fish hit it so hard it literally ripped the rod out of my hand. It was again Daniel’s turn, The reel smoked and about 300 yds of line flew off the spool. Daniel cranked hard and a 40lb king came up from the depths – unfortunately, as many big ones go, he bit through the 40lb wire right at the boat. At least we got to see him!
All fish were released today – good job guys!!
7/25 – Full Day with Mike, Elizabeth and their son. They’ve been fishing down here a long time but really wanted to learn a lot more about fishing the area – particularly for kings, dolphin and flounder.
We started off the morning pulling some very lively baits for kings – the bite was not red hot but steady. We had some very substantial hits and landed a 7-8lb king before one of the flat lines was smashed as I was puttting it out. I handed over the rod and he was in for the ride of his life – several hundred yards of line dissapeared from the reel as a smoker king took off. Twenty or so minutes later, we put a gorgeous 25lb+ fish in the box! It was only seconds later, as soon as I put the lines out, that a massive 40lb+ fish skied 8 feet out of the water and landed on the long flat line. We screamed line briefly before the hook pulled, unfortunately.
A bit later, after a few short strikes, we had a great hit and a big fish came out of the water, very low to the surface before quickly tossing the hooks. I can’t say for certain that it was a sailfish – but it definitely wasn’t a ‘cuda! That makes the 2nd saild hook up of the week!
After the bite slowed mid-day, we decided to head a ways off the beach and try some more live-bottom for more kigns and/or dolphin. Out first biat out was hit in the propwash (8lb king) and it was pretty steady then on out for a spell. Among kings, some sharks and a bailer dolphin we had some solid htis and runs (including a nice dolphin) before we called it a day.
Good job guys – I hope to see you out there in your C-Hawk soon!! Also, always nice to have some Duke fans aboard!
7/24 – 3/4 Day with repeat customer Don and his wife Sharon. They were celebrating their anniversary and were very much looking forward to some nice time on the water. We started off doing the king thing – it was very steady, after a few biteoffs, in the rough wind sea one of the lines started screaming as hundreds of yards of line disapeared from the spool. Sharon picked up the rod, passed it to Don and he then battled what would turn out to be a 24lb King for close to 20 minutes. What a fish!
After a few more hits, we were suddenly in a flurry of knockdowns – our baits were hit as soon as they were dropped back, one after the other. As we kept missing fish, a rod bobbed and a reel went off. Sharon picked it up and low and behold – a SAILFISH jumped once before throwing the hooks! To further my claim and bad luck – 20 minutes later a boat fishing right beside us hooked and landed a gorgeous sail. Still, the second sailfish I’ve hooked this year! Less than 4 miles from the beach!!!
After we got tired of the kings, we decided to switch tactics and go after some flatties. It didn’t take long and Sharon had the hot hand, landing most of the fish we caught. While Don says it was because of rig sabotage, I credit her nimble hand and great patience. All in all, we landed over 9 flounder with 6 keepers in the 1-3lb range. After a very, very slow start – the bite is picking up FAST.
7/23 – Fished a short half-day with David – we cast to some very picky spanish in the inlet and tried a king hole before having to head it. We managed a few sharks but the boat pressure was a bit much for fishing a half-day that close. Still a gorgeous day on the water!
7/21 – Fished this morning with Bob of West Virginia. After a lengthy 4 hour rain delay, we finally got out around 10am. Within minutes of arriving at my destination – I knew it was going to be an eventful day. All around me, for what I estimate to be a square mile was an enormous school of greenie shad – all being slammed from predators of all shapes and sizes.
The first bait in was engulfed by a 10lb king, all the others by sharks. So I called over a couple of my friends – Captain Scott Crocker and Captain Dean Lamont. During the first half of the trip, we landed probably close to 12 sharks and 2 kings before we found the bite. Having kept just one for dinner, Bob probably released 4 or 5 more (we weren’t counting), had countless short strikes and several pull-offs and break-offs.
AT the end of the trip was when we had the moment of the day – within one minute, I had both of my flat lines hit and the baits stolen. As I reeled in the rig a big bull dolphin followed it up to the boat. I did a quick turn to cut him off as he swam away and had bob freeline a live cigar minnow into the propwash. Before he even knew it was hit, the bull started tail-walking around the boat. Thirty minutes later, I gaffed the gorgeous 17lb fish – not bad less than 5 miles from shore!!
7/20 – Today I had the absolute pleasure of fishing with some incredibly amazing kids – Shawn, Suzahn and her brother Cameron. I always say how dissapointed I am with many of the teenagers I take out these days – many have little, if any, interest in the outdoors, let alone fishing. While I try to do everything I can to help garner their interest in fishing, it’s always fantastic to see kids who have an intense enthusiasm and love of fishing.
Avid fishermen, these guys only wanted to do some light-tackle stuff – regardless of the species. Unfortunately, with the wind howling out of the SW with an extremely rough inlet – we weren’t able to get out in to the ocean and go after kings and dolphin. However, with a nice morning high tide, I put them on some huge schools of beautiful spanish mackerel. We caught a good number of these guys on very light tackle and Shawn had a lot of fun throwing a top-dog to them, watching them follow and strike it (but no hookups…).
As the tide dropped, the spanish moved out and after having released a good number of fish, we decided to try to find a few flounder before the day was out. We started fishing a few secret holes in the port, diligently working live baits over the structure. While we did land one nice 3lb+ flattie, the true success of the day was that we accomplished what I call the “port wall slam.” Flounder, undersized seabass, oyster toads, big american eels and ribbon fish. The ribbons were in there heavy today – they absolutely killed out baits.
Awesome fishing with you folks – I really hope you make it back down here again.
7/19 – I fished this morning with Ron, Norman and his wife LaRue. It was a half-day and they wanted to target flounder. While we spent half the morning chasing around big schools of nice spanish mackerel, catching them on 6lb test, after landing a right many nice spaniards, we decided to go after the flatties.
Within seconds of anchoring we were into fish – however, the vast majority of them were shorts! We probably brought to the boat over 25 flounder with only five keepers!!! It was bit frustrating but a good time was had by all and they brought home a good mess of fish. I know I’ll see y’all again some time!
