Fishing report

Fishing remains hot and the marine weather has been pretty good overall this year! I hope you have had plenty of opportunities to wet a line!

This past week-end I fished in a small King Mackerel tournament in Southport. It was friendly tournament with most of the proceeds going to charity. In this case it was the Cameron Boys camp run by the Baptist children’s homes. The Baptist Children’s Home is a great cause that helps families and children in distress.

Several of the boys from the camp came to the awards banquet and told us how the camp had changed their lives. They also had the chance to unload a 65 pound Wahoo that was caught by one of the boats in the tournament. The fish was caught less than 20 miles from shore on a dead cigar minnow. Catching a Wahoo that way is very unusual but what a nice experience for those guys!

Catching Report

Inshore and offshore fishing has been hot lately. Drum, trout, flounder and sheepshead are being caught in the waterway, creeks and marshes. Look for the drum near the marsh banks or on the nearby flats. Flounder are being caught near docks and pier pilings. There have been some nice Spanish caught but only a few here and there. The blues are biting near the inlets and along the tide line just off the beaches.

Red drum, a few pompano and some croakers are being caught in the surf. The piers are reporting a mixed bag of bottom fish. They also are seeing some big sheephead taken early in the morning and late afternoon on sand fleas near the pilings. Small blues and mullet round out the catching.

The Kings seem to be everywhere. Some are closer to shore with some being caught around the near shore reefs and ledges as well as off the piers. Mahi are being taken from 10 miles and out -- look for a good weed line to work. Some nice sailfish, marlins and Wahoo are being caught out near the Gulf Stream.

Tight lines to all!

Surf City Pier tournament & a catching report

Saltwater tournament fishing has become very popular on our coast. There is a tournament of some sort just about every week-end and sometimes several. Many of them have huge cash prizes and big entry fees. Some are smaller and designed more for fun than for winning money.

But almost all of them are based on fishing from a boat. There are a few exceptions including the Mike Martin Memorial tournament. This annual event is held at Surf City Ocean Pier in memory of their former manager, Mike Martin.

This event was actually the brainchild of Martin. His idea was to promote the fun of fishing and some bragging rights during the hot weather time of the season.

Tragically he passed away suddenly while still planning the first tournament. Later the pier management team picked up the ball and ran with it. Fittingly they decided to name the tournament for Martin.

This year’s tournament will be the third annual event and will be held August 18th and 19th at the pier. Fishing starts at 6am on Saturday and continues through noon on Sunday. The award presentations will be made at 2pm on Sunday.

There are ten categories of fish ranging from flounder to king mackerel. An angler can choose one or more categories to compete. The entry fee is very reasonable at $5 per category or $35 if you wish to enter all 10.

Each category except speckled trout has a payout of $100 for first place and $50 for second place. The grand prize of $500 goes to the angler that catches the heaviest Speckled trout. They also have a special category for children. For further details visit their web site at www.surfcityoceanpier.com or call them at 910.328.3521

Catching report

The piers are reporting many, many catches of king mackerel with many of them over 20 pounds. Regulars on the pier are saying this is the best year for king fishing they have seen in years. Bottom fishing is yielding a few mullet and an occasional flounder.

The puppy drum continue their usual summer pattern of feeding near the marsh grass on the high tide half of the cycle and around the docks and other structure at low tide. Flounder are being caught on live finger mullets, fin-s lures and Gulp as well as other soft baits. There have been some big red drum caught on cut mullet in the surf with the best bite being at the north end of Lea island.

Offshore the kings and mahi continue to chew and can be caught on a variety of natural bait or on lures. A few sailfish continue to be caught in the 5 – 25 mile range.

Tight lines to all!

King fishing from a Pier

We are fortunate to have three ocean fishing piers on Topsail Island. Like many boys in the area, it is where I learned to saltwater fish growing up. I still have fond memories of fishing all day and half the night, filling coolers, and eating burgers in the pier house among others.

While bottom fishing is the mainstay of the pier fishing crowd, targeting king mackerel from the end of the pier has always been very popular too. It does require more equipment and preparation however.

Here’s a quick overview of one of the most popular techniques for catching kings from a pier.

You will need two rods and reels for live bait king fishing. One rod is used to cast your anchor line. The anchor rod is typically a 10-15 foot surf type rod, using 20 pound test to sling a 4-8 ounce anchor.

The bait is attached to the end of the fighting rod which is a medium to heavy action, 6-7’ foot with 4/0-9/0 reel and using on average 30 pound test.

Make the leader for the fighting/bait rod out of 6-foot of 100 pound mono attached to two feet of 90 pound seven strand wire and two #4 treble.

Take your anchor rod and sling the anchor out and secure it to the bottom. Then you will attach your baited fighting line to the anchor line. This rig consists of a loop clip, a weight and clothes pen. The loop clip, usually something like a shower curtain clip with weight goes on your anchor line and the clothes pen attaches to the bait line. An alternative is store bought release clip.

Now lower your bait down to the water on the anchor line. You can adjust the depth of your bait in the water by how far up the bait line you attach the clothes pen. Most fishermen keep the baits down about 3-4 feet, but it’s not uncommon to see baits on top or as far deep as 6 feet.

The force of a strike will release the bait line from the clothes pen. Take multiple clothespin/release clips – that way you don’t need to pull up the anchor line every time the fighting line releases from the clip.

Live baits of choice vary-but almost always consist of what is available from the pier at the time. Bluefish, pogies, spots, pinfish and even lizard fish are used as baits.

You will need a grapnel type gaff that is lowered by rope to gaff the fish and then hauled on deck. It looks very similar to the anchor weight, except bigger and heavier.

Now you are ready to catch kings from the pier!

Catching report

The puppy drum can be found under the docks in the waterway around low tide. Try fishing for them around the marsh grass during high tide using top water lures. The flounder bite has been somewhat slow with many undersize fish being caught. Around the inlets seem to be producing some keepers size fish.

There have been some nice pompano caught from the surf and piers. Large red drum have started to show up in the surf, especially around the north end of Lea Island. There also have been some reports the tarpon have arrived. Try live baits around the inlets for this hard hitting, fun to catch fish. Remember to release that tarpon alive, they aren’t good to eat but are fun to catch.

The king mackerel bite near shore has slowed down some these past few weeks but plenty of kings are being caught near the ledges in the 8-15 mile range. Lots of dolphin and a few sail fish too. Keeper size grouper are being caught in the 20 mile range with some other nice bottom fish in the mix as well.

Tight lines to all!

King fishing - 07-07-2007

Left the dock at 5:45 this morning - gathered some nice pogies very close to home and headed out of Rich's inlet with high hopes for a spectacular day of catching. First stop was Dallas Rocks. We had the baits in the water by 6:40 - fished there till after 8. Nothing but a Barracuda to show for it.

We moved further out to a place called 9 mile rock, just before we got there we found a huge patchy weed line. I saw a huge fish jump a few hundred yards ahead of us (can't be sure but I think it was a sailfish), then we spot a dolphin off our starboard side but couldn't get him to come play in our spread. Sight casted to him but no go there either. No further action at this spot, save one shark on the down rigger line.

Tried a couple of other spots and then we hit pay dirt near 18 mile rock. We found large schools of bait and worked around them. We boated some nice kings and parted ways with some toothy sharks before we spotted the dark clouds to the southwest of us (headed northeast - toward us).

So we raced for the hill, just beating the thunderstorm and rain to the dock.

Total for the day:
Invited into the boat - 4 kings (biggest was 12 pounds).
Denied permission to board: 1 big stinky, 4 sharks
Declined invitation to play - one gaffer dolphin

Topsail King Mackerel Tournament results

Topsail Offshore Fishing Club held its annual King Mackerel tournament this past week-end. The 23rd annual tournament was once again a Southern Kingfish Association (SKA) sanctioned event.

SKA teams fishing in the event received points based on how they performed in the tournament. These points and the ones they earn in the other three qualifying tournaments in the division are used to determine who goes to the national championship at the end of the season.

Of course many other local boats fished in the tournament as well. This year the town of Surf City was a co-sponsor and provided the facilities at Soundside Park for the club to use during the tournament. Club President Wayne Batson said that the club was very appreciative to have use of the park for the tournament headquarters, weigh in and awards ceremony.

While the marine forecast held back some teams that would normally enter this annual event, almost 100 teams fished in this year’s tournament. Teams from all over the state entered the event in hopes of capturing the grand prize of $15,000.

Captain Henry Moore fishing on the boat, Bobcat, took first place with a fish weighing in at 32.70 pounds. During the weigh-in of the fish, Moore said “we needed this, the team has been working real hard all season and it’s great to have a big fish to weigh-in today”.

Close behind in second place with a fish weighing 32.15 pounds was the Liquid Fire team captained by Mark Henderson. Third place went to Allen Kinney’s team on the Gambler with a 31.85 pound king.
First place for boats 23’ and under went to Phillip Cottrell on the boat Long Overdue. The top lady angler prize went to Porshe Johnson fishing on the Squeeze play with her fish tipping the scales at 26.90 pounds. The junior angler award was captured by Crockett Henderson on the Liquid Fire team.
The tournament paid the top 30 boats, complete results can be found on the club’s web site at www.tofc.com. Congratulations to all the teams and the club for another successful tournament!

Catching Report

The king bite has been strong with fish being caught everywhere from the beaches out to the 30 miles. Fishermen are saying this is one of the best years for King mackerel they have seen in years. Same goes for Mahi Mahi with fish being caught as close as 5 miles offshore.

The piers are reporting catches of kings, blues a few Spanish and a variety of bottom fish. The red drum bite has been strong inshore and some nice flounder are also being caught. Live bait is plentiful and the choice of many anglers right now.

Offshore a few wahoo are still being caught and their have been reports of a number of nice sailfish being caught and released. A few marlin have also been reported. The grouper bite is still strong in the 35 mile and out range.

Tight Lines to all!