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North Carolina Returnee...

2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  doogue 
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#1 ·
Just got back from fishing North Carolina and I can sum up the trip in 3 words OH MY GOD!!! Fished with Nat from First Light Anglers in Manchester, MA and for the first time in my life the fishing actually picked up when I arrived. (I usually get the "You should've been here yesterday") Arrived thursday night and while checking in to our hotel, met up with a rather large contingent from Massachusetts, who gave us the usual, "oh the fishing has been kinda slow" That was a little ominous I thought. Well, we're here, and we're gonna fish. If it's slow, so be it. Woke up Friday AM and met up with Nat, we motored out of Beaufort Inlet and out to about the 4 to 6 mile mark where we started seeing birds, cut the motors and noticed a large amount of bait, but no real breaking fish. Threw a few casts, and started picking up small bluefish, and horse eyed jacks. All of a sudden the water all around us literally erupted. We had acres of breaking false albacore that would rival any bluefish blitz that I have seen. Casted feverishly, and for some crazy reason, they wouldn't even look at our flies, after about 10 fly changes, my friend Don finally hooks up. He says I don't think its the fly I think it's the presentation. We figured, the best way to hook up was to literally start stripping before the cast even lands. If they get a chance to eyeball the fly, they won't eat it, but if it's moving when it lands it's like rolling a wine bottle through a jail cell. Caught fish consistently for the better part of two hours, and WE WERE ALONE!!?? That's right the rest of the boats were in a little cluster about a mile away, but we had all of these fish to ourselves. Finally a few of the people started chatting about all of the birds, on the radio and before we knew it, it was like all the photos that you see. We drifted off the fleet and still managed to catch fish until around 2:30 when I could cast no more...

Saturday, Once again, we motored out to the same spot, and to our surprise...The bait and fish from the first day were gone, spent the morning picking up a few fis in much smaller pods, but something wasn't right. Nat noticed that there were a few guides absent from radio chatter, and that meant one thing... They were in to fish. On a hunch he decided to head east past Lookout point through the "Slough" (which is a sight to be seen, picture the chatham light inlet on serious steroids. Not a good place to be unless you absolutely know what you are doing) and another 10-15 miles north up the beach. Bingo we found birds right off the beach, but no breaking fish. On our first casts, A double hmm that's weird. I don't know why, but the fish were ther in about 30 feet of water, but the only way to catch them was to blind cast and let it sink. The fishing was consistent, but not visual.

Sunday, we fished in a 20-25 knot wind and I was glad to be in a 24 foot boat verses one of the smaller jones Brother's that are so prevalent down there. It got NASTY. We were able to pick up some fish outside, but then heard someone on the radio tell another one of the guides to "come home" Nat, knowing which guide it was instantly drove towards harker's Island where the fish had the bait trapped in "The Hook" Caught fish fairly consistently there and we all decided we would rather find our own fish. Headed back towards Beaufort Inlet and saw a few breaks here and there in the Rip in the inlet, Then like on Friday. IT ERUPTED! Caught fish right on the beach and all the way out into the inlet until I had to leave at 2:00 to catch my flight back to reality. Arrived safely home around 10:00 that night.

All in all the trip was a huge success. Flew down, Stayed in a Nice Hotel (The Showboat), fished 3 days guided, And Ate like a champ for just under One thousand dollars. A few observations from the trip. I would HIGHLY reccomend the guys from First Light as guides, Nat was very professional, and the boat we were in was BY FAR the best suited boat for that type of fishing. It was small enough to fish right in the shore break, but when the wind came up we had no problem getting offshore, where the smaller bay boats just can't handle it. The weather can be somewhat inconsistent, My friend has gone down for the last 6 years, and this is the first time he has not had a trip cancelled by weather. You need to be somewhat flexible, or book at least 3 days, then you are pretty much assured to get out. There were no shrimp boats out until our last day. I guess the water was too warm. From what I hear November is the best month to come down, but in years past October has produced as well. This year the fishing didn't really turn on until Halloween. Here are a few pictures from the trip...



That fish weighed eighteen and a half pounds on the Boga Grip...



This fish weighed fifteen and a half pounds on the Boga Grip...



Here is what they are eating...

-John
 
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#2 ·
> it's like rolling a wine bottle through a jail cell

JOHN!

Let's just say that if web browsers were microphones, you'd be hearing a chorus of "OH MY GOD's" from around cyberspace right now! AMAZING.

All this talk about calling it a season... NAY! WHEN ARE WE GOING? ! ? ! ?
 
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