Topsail Angler's Fishing Blog
King Fishing 8-1-2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
Gery and I headed out this morning to determine where we want to fish in the tournament tomorrow. We jigged up some live bait and headed to some favorite spots.
The wind settled down around 9am and it turned into a very pleasant day on the water after a bit of a sloppy start. Soon we had our baits in the water and after a while we boated our first king. We caught 5 more for a total of six but all of them where small so we decided that those areas will not be visited tomorrow. We’ll try another direction in hopes of a BIG king.
Oh yeah, Gery did get one good fight today, that was from a 20 plus pound reef donkey (see picture below).
Fish hunting
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Some days fishing is a lot like hunting. Friday was one of those days. The previous week’s storm seemed to have changed the water quite a bit and as result we had no clue where the kings might be. So my friend Gery from Hunter’s Haven Taxidermy and I went on a hunt 
The menhaden have been slim up this ways so far so we skipped even looking for them and headed right out to the first set of box cars (AR362). The buoy is missing by the way, in fact we saw it latter in the day about 3 miles closer to shore than it should have been. We used our sibiki rigs and caught some very nice greenies and cigar minnows for bait. Then the hunt began.
We tried all the usually places in the 8-15 miles range first heading east of the box cars then north. We finally caught one king but also caught a few sharks. Not seeing much bait we moved on. Then we headed south. Hooked up and lost a huge AJ. Finally called it a day about 1pm and headed home. It was a pretty day but slow fishing for us. Talked to a friend who we had seen at the box cars. They headed north and had much better luck, they caught several kings, 2 mahi and a cobia! You just never know.
Went Drum fishing but…............
Friday, July 18, 2008
...............I caught a slew of Spanish Mackerel! About a dozen that is. What’s unusual about it is that I was fishing in a marsh creek off the ICW near Scotts Hill! I think this school of Spanish took a wrong turn at the inlet and got LOST!
I couldn’t believe my eyes. they were busting bait all over. Guess the full moon affects fish too….
After the Spanish frenzy I did manage to get on a nice school of reds in the 22 - 26 inch class, caught 3 of those.
Sorry I forgot my camera today so all I have is a picture of the Spanish I invited home for dinner.
Catching report 7-15-08
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
As much as I enjoy fishing the Topsail area, occasionally I like to try other areas. This past week-end I had the opportunity to visit Oriental, NC and fish the Neuse River.
While it is very nice up there, the fishing is quite different. No tides, no sand shoals and no oyster bars. Other than a few obvious spots (bridges and some rickrack) I wasn’t sure where to fish. I did manage a few small puppy drum and I’m sure if I put the time in I’d learn the spots. But like they say, there’s no place like home! I’m glad to be back fishing the familiar waters of Topsail!
Anglers have been hooking up Blue Marlin and a few White Marlins this past week with plenty of sailfish also being caught. One captain told me it was the best bite of the season so far and that he expected it would continue on into next week. So if you are looking for a billfish, this might be the week. You’ll have to travel to the 100 fathom line to fine the Marlins but if you want to save some gas, sailfish are being caught in as close as 5 miles.
The grouper bite has been good in the 20 – 40 mile range with gags, scamps and red grouper being caught. I’ve seen some nice reports of Wahoo in that range as well as some mahi. Closer in the kings and some mahi continue to chew. The king bite is moving closer and closer to the beach as the bait along the shoreline increases. A few citation kings were caught last week in the 12 miles range with the closer areas producing smaller fish.
Near the inlets the Spanish bite continues to be there one day and gone the next. However if you want a shot at a citation size Spanish (6 pounds and up) try live bait around Diver’s Rock and other structure a few miles from New River Inlet. A few have been caught there this past week.
Vinita at Surf City Pier reports a mixed bag of fish. While the bite has been slow some spots and mullets have been caught and an occasionally black drum or sheepshead has made it over the rail. Jolly Roger and Sea View pier report similar action.
The sounds and waterway are producing some nice flounder and drum. Live bait is working best on the flounder right now with small menhaden and finger mullet being the best choices. The drum are hitting topwater lures as well as natural baits. The speckled trout bite on live shrimp in the New River area has been strong.
Summertime fishing is often a hurry and wait game but there fish are there so be patient and be willing to go on the hunt
Tight lines to all!
Kings and Mahi
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Gery of Hunter’s Haven Taxidermy and I headed out this morning about 7 on the hunt for some kings & Mahi. We headed first for the first set of boxcars to jig up some bait. We found bait there but it wasn’t very big and it took over an hour to get enough to fish for the day.
We tried several spots in the morning, stopping where we saw bait balls figuring kings would be nearby. we even saw a couple of kings sky but couldn’t get any takers. We talked to another boat that had caught 5 kings on cigar minnows. All we had so far was about 8 sharks. So finally we ditched the live bait rigs put on the hank brown rigs and some dead cigar minnows I had brought along.
Bingo! King on! We boated a few, lost a few then hooked up with a 10 pound mahi! Sweet! The boat fishing next to us hooked up and released a very nice sailfish!
We were about 12 miles offshore when we caught the kings and mahi. Oh yeah we caught one small barracuda along with all them sharks - all the sharks came on the downrigger - no kings on it so we finally stowed the downrigger and stuck to surface baits.
It was a beautiful day on the water and I always enjoy fishing with Gery!