Topsail Angler's Fishing Blog
Slow day for catching
Monday, July 05, 2010
Took my good friend (he was the best man in my wedding many moons ago) and his grown son fishing today. We left at 6AM with a beautiful sunrise to greet us as we hit the waterway. The seas were calm and there was just light breeze.
We headed out of Topsail Inlet and went straight for the first set of box cars (AR362) and out out our spread. Nada after an hour so we moved over to 9 mile rock, nothing. then we headed for the second set of boxcars but on the way we saw some bait busting near 18 mile rock so we stopped and trolled.
We got a short strike but at least it was a start. Then we got a shark. Okay better but still not what we were looking for. Then finally as I was letting the starboard long line out, just as I put the clicker on, I feel a tug on the line and off to the races it was. I handing the singing reel to my buddy. His son and I cleared the lines while he fought the fish. We landed what turned out to be our only king of the day.
We tried several other places, emery’s, 3rd set of Box cars and even stopped at hotel ledge near the inlet on the way back in. No joy at any of those places. It was a slow catching day but we had a great time and enjoyed the nice weather, so no complaints here.
Boat update
Thursday, June 24, 2010
I’m happy to report that my boat is fixed….for the third time this year. They say thing come in threes so hopefully all will be well the rest of the season. First my fuel injectors were clogged up, that took three weeks to get repaired (wait time at the shop), then on the first day in the water after that repair, the steering went out.
Once I got the boat back from the shop after they replaced the steering cable and helm gearbox, I went to take it out for some king fishing with my buddy Mark. As we were going through to make sure everything was working before we left for the ramp, we found the GPS/Sounder would not come on. We had to scrap our planned trip. Found that the cable was bad up in the sealed (waterproof) section near the plug. Had to order a plug from Garmin. Now that is replaced and everything seems to be working fine (fingers crossed).
So I look forward to getting her out on the water, do some fishing and post some fishing reports!
If you are looking for fishing reports, don’t forget to check out my fishing reports forum. And if you have been fishing lately, I welcome you to post a report there, it is much appreciated by myself and others who visit this site.
First Kings & a big Spanish
Friday, May 21, 2010
I heard earlier this week that the king bite off Topsail Island had been heating up, so I have been looking forward to going today. Gery and I left around 6 am out of New Topsail Inlet . We had lines in the water by 6:30 and the first bite of the morning within minutes of putting out the spread. We were all smiles and sensed it was going to be a great morning. The first fish came unbuttoned and the second bite was a short strike. Speaking of strikes, we were 0 fer 2 so far….........
But then our luck changed and we had a good solid hook up and our first king of the day is in the boat. A few minutes later another lines goes off. Gery is fighting the fish and I’m clearing lines and driving. Then another reel goes to buzzing, we are doubled up! We managed to get both fish to the boat! Wow, we are really stoked now. It’s 7:30 and we have 3 kings in the boat! It is slow for a while, a shark gets on and then gets dispatched back into the deep blue. Things are quite for a half hour or so but just as we are thinking the bite has tapered off the long line starts singing, I take it out of the holder and hand to Gery to fight. As soon as I do that, the port medium long line goes to singing so I’m fighting that fish, now we are doubled up. Then the starboard long line goes to singing! We have a triple header going. We ended up getting two of the kings to the boat including our largest of the day, a nice 18 pounder Gery landed.
30 minutes before low tide, the bite just dies. It stayed dead for over an hour. just as we were about to move, we get a strike. This one turns out to be a 28” Spanish Mackerel, sweet! Once we get it in the box and get our spread out, another line goes off. Gery is fighting the fish and I’m positioning the boat when all of a sudden, the boat quits turning. The helm wheel turns but not the motor, feels like the cable is broke inside the steering box. We loose the king about then as well.
I called sea tow and with in 30 or 40 minutes Capt. Doug arrives and gives us a tow back home. He did a great job towing us through the inlet (which has a sand bar all the way across again), hats off to Capt. Doug! We are smiles though, we have 5 kings and a nice Spanish in the box and a very pleasant day morning of fishing and friendship!
Fog, Wahoo & Dolphin (5-7-10)
Saturday, May 08, 2010
It was a challenging day but also a rewarding one. We left the Surf City ramp at 3:30am headed for the Gulf Stream in a dense fog. The fog came in patches as we made our way south in the ICW. As we approached Topsail Creek and the inlet, the fog became VERY Dense. In fact we couldn’t see more than 25 yards and we were better off without the light as it was just reflected back at us. Of course the NTI buoys are NOT lit, so we had to “feel” our way through the inlet as we could not find the buoys, it took over an hour to get out.
On the way out we lost out sonar. We had planned to troll and bottom fish. We decided to continue on and just troll. Once we arrived at the gulf stream the seas were calm but with just enough breeze to put a ripple on the surface (perfect for trolling). Within 30 minutes we had our first fish on, turned out to be a nice fat 28 pound wahoo, we were stoked at this point! It was caught on a Bluewater Candy mini-jag in purple and black.
We had a couple of short strikes then boated a small dolphin. Then another. Next up was another Wahoo that hit one a large ballyhoo rigged with one of the new BWC Tweener skirts.
The ride back was fine for the first 35 miles but it was pretty wet and sloppy the last 30 miles or so. We were all smiles with a cooler full of fresh fillets and a few more stories to tell!
The Bonito are here!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The Atlantic Bonito finally arrived off of New River Inlet on Monday. My buddy Taylor, his wife and I headed out first thing in the morning looking for them. We found them!
We headed for the Diver’s Rock area. There were no birds were busting the water but there were a few boats already there. We trolled for a while with nothing but a bluefish to show for it. We saw an area where an occasional fish would break the surface so we headed there. We started jigging and after a while we finally hooked up. I caught the first one but the next one Debra (Taylor’s wife) caught and it was her very first Bonito. she really knows how to put the heat on a fish and brought him to the boat nicely!
We only caught a few and also caught some small bluefish. Blacked the Bonito for supper, yummy! Better go get you some, they are a blast to catch and very tasty to eat!