if you haven't heard already.....

......the trout have showed up at the rock jetty. It's not red hot, but getting there. We caught 15 3 pounders in a couple of hours this morning, also a couple of sheepshead and flounder. The guys were banging away at the albies really good and there was also a big school of the giant drum in the surf at Atlantic Beach.

just what we needed

This cold snap is just what we needed. The trout fired off at the rock jetty today, drum in the surf and the albies were chewing from the Cape to Atlantic Beach. Get ready.

good fall fishing

Anna and I made it back from the tropics last week and we have things caught up in the office. She sent me out of the house on Friday for my first trip of the season on the Crystal Coast. We found the albies and got the skunk out of the boat before we threw in the towel due to some pretty rough seas. I'll be getting back out on the water tomorrow, kicking off a couple of weeks of flyfishing.....but not just for the albies.

I got a call from Capt. Joe Shute who busted the 15-50 pound amberjacks on the fly, getting them fired up with live bait, then switching to poppers. Meanwhile, Capt. Ray was not far away, catching plenty of kings. He also did a little bottom fishing and caught some small grouper, grunts and sea bass. The highlight of the day was a 58 pound cobia. Capt. Brian is fishing a little further offshore and has been having great trips for the wahoo and sailfish.

Back in the river, Capt. Gary has had some great days with the pups and he seems to be the only one catching the trout, BIG trout. The warm temps have got the trout spread out, but the ones that he is catching are "nice uns". Capt. Fred is hammering the stripers up the river around the bridges of New Bern and Capt. Mark is doing great fishing both ends of the river.

Although the schedule of the Down East Guides is getting pretty full, we are developing relationships with some additional great guides who still have some openings. We are proud to be booking for Capt. Bryan Goodwin and Capt. Charles Brown.

Capt. Bryan is a super nice guy and guide who has seen it all....through the lens of a camera. He was a camera man for Bill Hitchcock and currently films the NC Waterman television show. He is a speckled trout specialist, not only back in the marshes, but he is also offering surf trips for speks and pups.

Capt. Charles Brown is a true Down East waterman with Down East hospitality. He is super knowledgeable of Core Sound and offers some great Crystal Coast mixed bag trips.

The fishing is pretty good right now, but as soon as the water temps cool down, everything is going to fire off. Be sure to give Anna a ring and reserve your day on the water NOW.

I'll be on the water all week, Anna will be holding down the fort, finalizing reservations for Costa Rica, putting together the next newsletter and taking reservations for the next few weeks.

Drop Anna a line at 252-671-3474

final count

In 4 days of fishing, with 18 of us on the trip, we ended up landing 100 out of 217 tarpon that we put in the air over the 4 day trip.

The ride home was very interesting, the weather in San Jose prevented us from flying out, so we took an hour long boat ride up the river to a small landing where 4 wheel drive taxis carried us 3 hours out of the jungle. It was good to see Mauricio's crew and comfortable vans for the last 2 hours to San Jose. The delayed travel plans resulted in me staying over in Costa Rica for a few more days. We should be getting things cranked back up in NC on Monday.

The weather was fantastic on the Pacific side before we went to Silver King, now there is a lot of rain, but the offshore fishing is still good. There are some pretty strong tide lines that are loaded up wtih dolphin and a little further offshore, a decent marlin bite in the tuna schools.

The day before yesterday The Spanish Fly had a load of dolphins, some 20 pound tunas and a 300 pound marlin.

Hey man, your fish is over there......

...more pics....

Everyone has caught fish and the bite is good, but not red hot. Well sometimes it's red hot. Gary Graham hooked 4 tarpon on 3 consecutive casts today. They're pretty thick when you jump one off, then hook another one before you retrieve your lure to the boat.

16 anglers, 50 releases, 2 days

sushi anyone?

Just got to CR and haven't had a chance to fish, but we did enjoy some of the tuna that were caught on the Spanish Fly yesterday, 24 tuna and a 300 pound marlin. Not a bad day for the "green" season. Everything is beautiful here, a little rain and a lot of sunshine and the fishing is good.

The Dragin Fly is coming along and should be ready by Dec. 1.

The tarpon reports are good from the Carribbean side, we'll have a first hand report in a few days.

Fishing Reports Archives