Weekly Column - July 17, 2006

This past week-end was a mixed bag as far as fishing goes. The “blow” that past offshore just as the week-end approached really made a mess of the offshore fishing. Inshore was decent on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

Of course that was the Saturday some buddies and I had planned long ago to make a trip out to the Gulf Stream. We did make it out on Saturday but not to the Stream. Not even close. We left at 4:30 in the morning and were met by five foot seas with intervals of five seconds or less and building.

When we were about 12 miles off shore we deployed five trolling lines and kept heading out. We figured we would stay in the 15-20 mile range. The seas and wind picked up considerably as we got further out. The last straw was when the wind shifted direction causing the tops of the swells to roll over in big white caps. It looked like we were in a washing machine. We couldn’t keep our lines from fouling each other so we headed in.

Later that afternoon I decided to take my wife and dogs out on the boat. We usually ride over to Lea Island or one of the other boat accessible beaches. Usually she relaxes on the beach and I do some surf casting. My wife doesn’t fish but she loves to go out in the boat. So this time I decided we’d stay in the boat and fish the marsh banks as the tides were right for drum fishing. My wife grabbed a book and got cozy in the bow.

After about 30 minutes I got into a school of good sized red drum. After working my first fish of the day for ten minutes or so, I had him near the boat for the third time. I asked my wife to bring the net over so I could put him in the boat for pictures, which she happily did. This one weighed in at over 7 pounds. Funny thing is later that day I hear my wife on the phone telling a friend about how “WE” caught this really big fish! Its okay honey, you can fish with me anytime, just keep that net handy.

The NC division of the FLW series held its first event for the 2006 season on Saturday. It was based out of Southport and had 100 boats entered. We saw a few of them in the morning but there weren’t fairing much better than we were. Only 38 of the 100 boats entered weighed in a King Mackerel. The winner of the tournament was the BLUEBYU team captained by Welsh Carson. They weighed in a 27.5 pound fish. Closer to home, Hampstead resident Captain Randy Griffin of the WILD RIDE FISHING team finished second with a fish tipping the scales at just over 24 pounds.

Catching Report

The Kings have finally moved in closer to the beach. They are hitting live menhaden the best but will also take a dead ballyhoo or cigar minnow. The weed lines are starting to re-form now that the wind has died back down. Check them for mahi mahi in the 10-20 mile range. There have been a few reports of tarpon too.

Inshore the drum, flounder and trout continue to bite. With the hot weather, deeper water in the early morning and late afternoon is producing the best bite. There are some reports of black drum and sheephead being taken on sand fleas and crabs near bridges and pilings.

Topsail Island’s piers are reporting a good mix of fish being caught. Surf City Ocean Pier reports some good runs of speckled trout, flounder, some Spanish and a lot of blues. An 80 pound tarpon was caught from Jolly Roger Pier this past Friday. Ed from Seaview Pier reports that plenty of blues are being caught with some Spanish and speckled trout also being taken.

Tight lines to all!