Glad I'm not docked next to Capt. Ray.....

.....just when you think that you're doing good, Capt. Ray shows what a "dock shot" is supposed to look like.

pics, back on the water

Here are a couple of pics from some recent bottom trips. Flounder fishing tomorrow, tarpon? fishing on Friday, "nearshore" bottom/king fishing on Saturday. Lots of variety and lots going on. If I can't take you, I'll make sure that you go with someone good. 252-671-3474

Yes, even you can catch grouper.....

.....after a couple of lessons with Capt. Ray, I had to get a pair of new Daiwa electric reels from Donald Jr. at Custom Marine in New Bern. We put them to good use several days this week. On Thursday we ended up with a limit of groupers, some kings, spansih, dolphin a nice cobia and the world's supply of AJ's.

Meanwhile, Capt. Gary has been spanking the speks and pups. I also got a call from Capt. Brian Harrington this morning and he just released the first NC tarpon of the year.

Still plenty of openings throughout the end of the month and into July. August and September is getting VERY booked up. If you want to get in on the big drum, book now. Still 3 openings at Silver King Lodge in early October.

offshore/inshore

Went with Capt. Ray bottom fishing today. We cobia fished for a couple of hours...no bites, then the wind laid down enough for us to get off of the beach. We didn't go that far, but did catch 2 very nice groupers, a 15 pound king, few sea bass and AJ's. Meanwhile, Capt. Gary was beating the banks in the Neuse River, catching plenty of pups and this citation trout....amoung many other trout.

fishing report and stuff

The cobia aren't all gone. We caught a little guy yesterday and pulled a big one off the hook. Saw a nice one this afternoon, but I couldn't get the aggrivating thing to bite.

Ray's gigging a few flounder, Gary is catching the pups and trout in the river.

Finalizing boat schedules for Costa Rica 2008, the "Fly" boats are getting full, if you want on one of the best boats in Los Suenos, you need to put your group together and contact me ASAP.

Same for Silver King Lodge on our fall trip Oct. 4-9, we have only room for 3 or 4 more people.

Last chance at Argentina this year, July 5-12. We have expanded the trip to duck hunt 3 days and dove hunt 2 1/2 days. All air fare is included, hunting, licenses, accommodations, meals, etc. for $5000. This is a $1000 savings/person. If you are going to put it off until next year, I'm going to set dates when I get down there, so contact me about the trip that you want and we'll make it happen.

Fishing with Capt. Ray tomorrow, if the wind lays down we're going bottom fishing, otherwise chasing the cobia. Heading to the mountains for the weekend and will be back on the water next week......all for now.

slow go on the cobia, puppies are heating up

Although Capt. Ray did catch one on Saturday, I've been 3 days in a row with no sightings or landings of the cobia. It looks like things winded down before they got cranked up. Fortunately, the fishing around Oriental is heating up nicely, Capt. Gary has been whacking the pups and trout pretty good. Still some good fishing out of Morhead, plenty of Spanish, blues and small kings. The shark fishing is pretty cool also. The nearshore wrecks are covered up with kings, AJ's, few cobia and dolphin and some decent bottom fishing, you just need a pretty day to get out there.

Jaws

I was inspired by the Shark Hunter on the VS channel last night. We caught several of these guys, sight casting crippled menhaden on the surface. Very, very cool. 5-8 footers with some bigger ones swimming around.

We also caught a 45 pound cobia, but not like the great day yesterday.

My camera died :(

The battery in my camera died before I could get some good pictures and before we caught the biggest one. In less than 2 hours, we caught a 32, 49, 59 and 77 pounder. With the fish box lid tied shut we went looking for some sight casting action and pulled the hook on a 20 pounder, then A LOT of fish cleaning. Battery is on charge, hope to get 'em again tomorrow. I am open on Sunday and next Thursday.

It ain't always about the catching

Although we did catch a bunch of little pups, couple of trout and flounder, the highlights for the day were catching the menhaden in the livewell, watching dolphins and looking at Osprey chicks from the tower.

more pics

The Grouper Godfather

Trigger fish and Ty Conti with the NC Sportsman with a nice grouper.

I got a great lesson on bottom fishing from Capt. Ray. I think that I'll be investing in some electric reels. That is really cool fishing. We ended up with several triggers and sea bass and a dozen keeper groupers, all in less than 2 hours. We also caught a nice cobia that followed a grouper up from the depths and succombed to a squid-laden bucktail.

On the way home we ran the shoals and all the buoys, finding only one 30 inch cobia that we caught on light tackle. From the sounds of the reports out of Oregon Inlet, the cobia have passed us by for this year. There are still some fish around and hopefully more to come, but it never got cranked up the way we were hoping. The good news is that the wrecks are alive with bottom life and PLENTY of small kings that are a blast on light spinning tackle.

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