Column - Oct 31, 2006

Ready, set ...

Wait. Yeah, that was me last week-end. I was ready and set to go fishing, but Mother Nature had other ideas. She sent a "blow" in and what a blow it was, with winds gusting to more than 50 miles per hour and seas reported at the ILM3 buoy in excess of 15 feet!

That certainly changed up the fall fishing. In fact, it just about came to a complete halt. Even after the wind died down Saturday night, the seas were still kicked up and the water was very "dirty."

The good news is, the fish still need to eat, so once things calmed down the bite was back on during the week. In fact, the beginning of the week the weather was so calm I thought I lived next to a lake instead of the mighty Atlantic.

Well, maybe not but it was very calm.

Weather interrupted fall fishing but that’s it, just a short pause. The bite is back on and the weather is allowing anglers to go get ’em.

Catching report

Inshore the bite has resumed in full force -- speckled trout, puppy drum, red drum and flounder are being caught. The roe mullet are in the creeks and marsh ditches, and look for the drum to be close behind them. The spots are starting to show up in the ICW in decent numbers.

In the surf, plenty of red and black drum are being caught on cut bait and shrimp with an occasional keeper flounder and small blues. There are still a few pompano, but I expect they will be gone any day as the water temperature continues to drop.

On the piers the bite has been strong. Mullet, flounder, spots, drum, blues and croaker are being caught in good numbers. Fish bites, shrimp, worms and cut bait are all producing well.

Off shore, the kings continue to bite and can be found along the 10 fathom (60 feet) curve about 12 to 15 miles out. Some grouper and nice size black bass are being brought up from the bottom from about the 15 to 20 mile range. There have been a few wahoo and tuna caught further out.

Tight lines to all!

Fishing Trip - October 26th

Took the afternoon off today and headed off shore. The weather was wonderful! Sunny, very light breeze, 1-2 foot seas! The weather is suppose to get real nasty tommorow and Sat, so I wanted to get a quick trip in before then.

I was by myself (all my friends had to work) and only had a few hours. I ran out to an area off Topsail called the river bed (a large, general area running NE/SW). It has some really nice ledges about 15 miles from the inlet. I caught a mess of black bass, biggest was 18 inches (kept two of the biggest), 2 gag grouper - 26 & 30 inches (kept them of course) and a bunch of Grunts (kept a few of the biggest). Only one shark! All caught on live and dead cigar minnows.

I had a float rig out with a huge live mullet on it hoping a king would pass by for lunch. No takers though.

Not bad for a quick afternoon run.

Column - October 23, 2006

Warning: This column contains a fish story. While it’s a clean story, if you are sensitive to the truth being stretched, twisted, altered or obliterated, you may want to avoid politics and stick to reading stories from fisherman.

On a recent fishing trip off shore I had the opportunity to catch a fish, twice.

The seas were calm with a gentle breeze and a few clouds in the sky. It was the kind of day where it’s very enjoyable just to be out in the ocean. You know what I mean -- peaceful, serene and relaxing.

We decided to head out about 20 miles to some ledges and try our luck bottom fishing. I made up some of my "super duper" grouper rigs the night before; they’re much like the ones you can buy in tackle shops, but with a unique bead pattern. I alternate red, green and silver beads above the hook but below the lead weight and swivel. It’s a tradition I started one day years ago while goofing around on a slow fishing day.

I had a few assorted, colored beads in my tackle box. Having nothing better to do, I decided to string a bunch of them onto my bottom rig. I figured it would at least give the fish something to stare at.

No sooner than I dropped it down, I had a bite. The tugging and pulling indicated it was a grouper. Sure enough, up came a roughly 12-pound grouper!

I put the rig down again and after a short wait, I hooked and landed another grouper about the same size. The third attempt resulted in a broken line, and I lost my fancy bead work. I had no more beads and no more grouper rigs, so I headed home. But a tradition was born. Ever since then, I make my rigs using the same pattern of beads -- not that fishermen are superstitious or anything.

On this most recent trip, I anchored over one of my favorite ledges hoping to find some nice grouper. I lowered a big, fat cigar minnow down to the bottom one of my "super duper" rigs. It no sooner landed than I felt a slight tug on the line.

One thing you learn early on about grouper fishing is that you need to pull the fish off the bottom as quickly as possible. The whole battle is usually decided in the first 10 feet. When a grouper grabs a bite to eat, they immediately turn to their hole or rocky ledge to digest the meal. Once in a hole, it is very tough to get a grouper out of it. I liken it to trying to pull up a freight train that is wedged in a cliff.

On this occasion, because he bit it so quick, I wasn’t prepared. When I felt the soft bite, I was slow to set the hook and begin the retrieve -- just slow enough that the grouper made it to the safety of his hole.

I pulled and pulled. He wasn’t budging an inch. Finally, he broke the line off. When I pulled it up, the tell-tale signs of the line rubbing on a rock were evident.

I tied on a rig and lowered another cigar minnow. This time, knowing the exact depth, I stopped 10 feet short of the bottom. My hope was to lure a grouper away from the ledge and the safety of his hole. Nothing after five minutes, so I lowered it five more feet.

Bam, fish ON!

I quickly set the hook and turned the reel handle as fast as I could. It felt like a ton of bricks on the other end, but I was making some progress. Finally I got the fish to the surface -- a nice 15-pound grouper. As I removed my hook, I noticed another rig hanging from his mouth.

It was another of my rigs with the unique bead pattern. I had caught this fish not once, but twice, on this day! I think that was the best-tasting grouper to ever pass my lips.

Catching report

Inshore, the speckled trout bite has been on and off but should be improving with the colder weather and the northeast wind. Flounder continue to bite striped mullet, pogies and soft artificial baits. The spot catches have been strong at times; just be patient because the bite seems to go in streaks right now.

Red drum, black drum and some trout are being caught in the surf. Surf City Pier reports a great fall bite. Lots of spots are being caught when the wind is out of the northeast. Anglers are also catching pompano, flounder, drum and some big kings. The Virginia mullet are biting in the late evening and at night.

Off shore, the king bite has been excellent. Many fish in the 15- to 30-pound range are being caught on live and dead bait from the beaches out to 15 miles. The grouper have moved in closer and can be found in 65 feet of water on ledges and reefs.

Grab and pole and go fish! Tight lines to all.

After Work trip

Snuck out after work for an hour or two of fishing. Loaded up on a some small pogies that were convienently lounging by the boat ramp. Boated over to one of my favorite areas for flounder and tossed out a pogie at 4:45. First cast, fish on. 13.75" flounder. Next cast to same spot. Fish on. 13.5" flounder. Dang. Third cast to same spot. You guessed it - Fish on. Another 13.5 flounder. Cast to some different spots, nothing. Cast back to that same spot. Bam - fish on. 13.25" flounder.

I must have found the nursery....lol.

Never did catch a keeper size flounder. But had a blast trying!

Total = 6 undersize flounder. 0 keepers.

Column - October 16, 2006

The Topsail Offshore Fishing Club holds an annual king mackerel tournament that pulls in anglers from all over the state as well as some from other states. This year the tournament was held the second weekend in October, a shift from its former August date. This later date was to avoid conflict with other tournaments.

This year they also added the Sloop Point Volunteer Fire Department as the beneficiary of profits from the sale of tournament advertising. In turn, the VFD helped in the planning and execution of the tournament.

More than 100 boats entered this year’s tournament, including one from yours truly. My little 19-foot center console craft was dwarfed by some of those big 30- and 35-foot boats, but with calm weather and the kings in close to shore this time of year, it was worth a shot. There were a number of other smaller boats with the same idea.

Most king mackerel tournament fishermen prefer live bait; large menhaden is probably the top bait choice for most teams. Finding good bait of any sort proved to be the big challenge this year -- the heavy rains last month caused many of the baitfish to move out of the area due to the lower salinity levels. With the cold weather pending, it seems they just kept heading south.

My team knew this, so we headed out Friday looking for a reliable source of menhaden. All we could find where smaller ones, so we opted to go a different route. We spent the afternoon trolling and jigging for blue fish, which we then penned up to use on Saturday. This proved to be a good decision, as many teams wasted what proved to be the best bite period of the day catching bait. We also spent part of the day fishing some different areas to help determine where the big kings might be found.

Tournament rules call for 7 a.m. to be the earliest lines can be in the water. We left the dock at 5:30, picked up our penned blue fish and headed for some last-minute checks for menhaden. Finding none, we headed out of the Topsail Inlet and motored to our fishing spot.

We arrived at 6:55 and spent the last 5 minutes before the tournament’s official start making last minute checks of our gear and rigs. Satisfied all were well, we put out our first line at exactly 7 a.m.

One other boat was also there with us at the start, and by 8:30 there were 21 boats in that same area. But most were too late for that spot.

We had our first strike before 7:30 and our last one of the morning before 8:00. We hooked the fish we ended up weighing at 7:43. It was a 15.5-pound fish, far less than the hoped for 30-pound smoker. Still, it gave us confidence we had made the right choices and lifted our spirits as we fished the rest of the day.

We did get a couple of strikes in the afternoon, but no smokers. So we headed to the weigh-in with our 15.5- pound fish. We finished 39^{th out of 109 boats -- only 51 of those entered even weighed in a fish. Not bad for our first KMT as a team! We had a blast to boot!}

^{Congratulation to the Ocean Isle Fishing Team, which took first place with a 45.5-pound smoker! And kudos to the Mount Maker team, which finished 6th overall in a 17-foot boat -- the smallest boat in the tournament to weigh a fish.}

Catching report

The kings are all over. From the beach out to the 15 mile range there are plenty of 15-20 pound fish to be caught with some smokers mixed in as well. False Albacore, small Spanish, and blues are also being caught. In the 17 – 30 mile range the grouper bite has been ON. Some nice grunts and black bass are also being caught on the bottom.

Inshore the drum, grey trout and flounder bite has been steady. The speckled trout bite is picking up with the recent cold snap. Live finger mullet and shrimp are still available for bait. Many folks are using mirro lures, X-raps and gulp to target the specks.

Vinita at Surf City Ocean Pier reports that black drum catches have been steady using cut shrimp. She also reports catches of small pompano and some flounder in the daytime with sea mullet biting at night. Anglers at Sea View Pier are catching sea mullet and black drum. Folks fishing from the Jolly Roger pier have been catching pompano, black drum and sea mullet.

Tight lines to all!

Topsail King Mackerel Tournament

Mark, Pat V. & I fished the Topsail King Mackerel Tournament yesterday.

Mark and I "pre-fished" yesterday to scout out the kings and to locate bait. We decided that our best chance was in an area called Topsail Ledge, Ole Smokey #1 and some other ledges in the vicinity. Bait has been scarce since the heavy rains last month, we could only find small mendaden, too small. So we went trolling for some blue fish to use. We found some near the Topsail inlet shoals. We penned them up overnight. We also caught a few Spanish by accident...lol

We headed out at 5:30 in the morning, did some quick checks for bait - nothing - picked up our penned blues - three escaped overnight (must have flipped over the top) but still had enough to get started. 7 am was the official start time, a major bite time for today was at 7:34 so we were on station and ready at 6:55. First lines in the water at 7:00 sharp. We were joined by 17 other boats over the first hour. At 7:23 we had a short strike. At 7:27 we had a hook up but he tail whipped the line above the wire leader and cut it off.

At 7:43 we hooked up what was to be our only fish of the day. A 15.50 pound fish caught on one of our flat lines using a blue fish. We had one other strike later, slow afternoon.

We finished 39th out of 109 entries overall, 4th in the 23' boat and under class. But we had a great time and enjoyed the sunny weather.

Column - October 9, 2006

I’ve been scuba diving for over 25 years. I’ve been fishing for more than … well, a long time by any account. Some days I do both -- that really puts a smile on my face.

While scuba diving, I really have a chance to explore the environment that supports the fish. Oh sure, when someone first starts diving all they notice is that there are some really big fish, and "Hey this air tastes pretty good, think I’ll have another."

After a few dives, the diver begins to notice more and more about the wonderful world under the sea. First the novice begins to notice some of the smaller fish within their hiding places. Later, the diver takes note of the fish’s habits and preferences -- like where they hide, what direction they swim in relation to currents, structure and bottom types. The experienced diver will even note what species seem to hang out together.

Armed with all this information, a diver begins to understand how to be a better fisherman.

Many fish love structure. Hang around a fisherman long enough and you’ll here them talk about structure. By structure, they mean anything that breaks up the bottom. Ledges, reefs, sloughs, rock piles, oyster bars, and points of land all are structure.

Small fish use these structures to hide. Bigger fish are attracted to such places in search of a meal, compliments of the smaller fish. And you correctly guessed by now, the angler is attracted to structure by the bigger fish they find there.

The first time I dove on an artificial reef, I soon realized I had been fishing all wrong. This particular reef was made from an old barge. The top of the barge was there, but had been mangled, as was part of the hull. Diving on it helped me see how it was laid out and, more importantly, where the flounder lay.

I had always fished the middle sections and had some luck, but nothing spectacular. I noticed on my dive that the flounder where all stacked up around the ends of the barge. They were in the sand and facing the wreck, just waiting for a smaller fish to round the end of the wreck and get within grasp. Next time I fished there, armed with this new information, I caught my limit of eight flounder.

Scuba has helped me with ledges and rock piles as well. I enjoy scuba diving on its own merits; however, using it to enhance my fishing catch is just plain SWEET.

Catching report

With the water temperatures hovering near 70, the fall bite is really picking up! Inshore, speckled trout, red and black drum, flounder and spots are biting well. The trout are feeding on top water baits early and late in the day. Flounder and drum are making the most of the finger mullet bounty, so use them for bait.

The king bite has been hot. The fish are moving closer and closer to shore. Hopefully the smokers will be near the beach this weekend for the King Mackerel Tournament sponsored by the Topsail Offshore Fishing Club. They are feeding on live pogies and will bite cigar minnows and other natural baits as well. Some very nice size Spanish are being caught on the ledges and reefs 3 to 5 miles off shore. The false albacore seem to have disappeared, though.

Further out in the 15 to 30 mile range, grouper and black sea bass have been a staple these past few weeks. Squid and Spanish sardines are working well; live pogies and pin fish will get the grouper bite sizzling. too.

Wish me well in the tournament this weekend.

Tight lines to all!

Column - October 2, 2006

The crisp, cool nights and sunny, warm days of autumn are here. And so is the best saltwater fishing of the year!

If you ask just about any avid angler about fall fishing in North Carolina, their eyes light up. That’s because the fishing from late September into mid-November offers some of the best variety and largest catches of the year.

The trade winds blow from the southeast or southwest most of the summer, keeping the warm water on our coast. This time of year, the trade winds shift to come from the north and northeast. This brings cooler air and cooler water to our coast. It also brings bait and game fish from the north as they make way for their warm-water winter homes.

Perfect! The wind direction blows the bait right up to our inland waters and beaches. Trout, flounder, puppy drum, blues, king mackerel and other local fish have a smorgasbord to feast on, becoming very active feeders. Summer resident fish load up on the buffet brought to them. East-west migratory fish like kings move in close to take advantage of all the bait fish brought near the shore.

It also brings that other migratory creature, the Saltwater Angler, to the beaches. Fishers from all over the east coast make the trip to the N.C. coast this time of year. The epicenter of this activity is the outer banks, but we get our share of activity here, too.

Surf casting for big bull red drum occupies local anglers all summer long. However, in the fall, their ranks soar as other anglers look to get in on the busiest action of the surf season. Just about any spot that might hold trout or flounder will have at least one boat over it, and often a crowd of boats can be seen at some of the more popular spots.

The piers see the best action of the year, too. Often anglers will line the entire length of the pier from end to end, taking advantage of the bounty of fish chasing bait right below them.

Look off to the east from our beaches on a weekend this time of year, and you likely will spot a number of boats trolling the waters for king mackerel, blues and Spanish.

It’s a great time to fish! Grab a pole and get in on the action.

Catching report

Trout, flounder, drum, spots, croakers and mullet and being caught near shore. Kings are close to the beach as well as Spanish, blues and false albacore. Offshore, the grouper and snappers are biting hard.

Tight lines to all!