http://www.topsailangler.com/site/blog en mike@topsailangler.com Copyright 2010 2010-08-31T22:07:47+00:00 http://www.topsailangler.com/site/topsail_spanish/ http://www.topsailangler.com/site/topsail_spanish/#When:21:07:47Z Gery (hunters haven) and I left the dock about 6:15 this morning to do some trolling. Our first stop was at the hard bottom and ledges about a mile of the beach in front of the Jolly Roger hotel. We caught a couple of nice Spanish Mackerel, one weighed over 4 pounds, and a small bluefish. After an hour or so we decided to head further out as we really had hoped to find a king or two. We went to four or 5 different locations over the next few hours with not so much as a sniff. We came back to the Jolly Roger reef and tried a few more passes then headed home about 1:00. The seas were very calm and very little wind. Gery and I commented on how different that patch of ocean is likely to be two days from now…........ 2010-08-31T21:07:47+00:00 http://www.topsailangler.com/site/cobia-a-king/ http://www.topsailangler.com/site/cobia-a-king/#When:20:32:43Z The marine forecast took a turn for the better today so Gery and I decided to do some king fishing. We had passed on entering the Wild King Classic at Wrightsville Beach cause the forecast seemed a little iffy yesterday morning for a 19’ boat. But this is the Saturday for my fishing club’s monthly inner-club tournament so we fished in it. Finding bait was no easy task, at least not decent sized menhaden. We did manage to finally get some, not as many as we would have liked but it was closing in on 8am and we wanted to fish. We had some ballyhoo for back-up anyway. There were four - five footer rolling in to New Topsail inlet and across the shoals but we made it out with no problem. It was smooth sailing from there with 4-5 foot swell on a 10 -12 seconds and almost no wind. We fished near shore for an hour or so with nothing to show for it. So we headed out about 12 miles offshore and started trolling. After about 20 minutes the downrigger line goes off - not a big run and not out and away from the boat. But what ever it was felt big. We were thinking it acted like a shark but weren’t giving up on it just yet. Gery was on the rod and couldn’t gain any ground but yet it wasn’t running, he said it felt like dead weight. So I cleared the rest of the lines and put the boat over the top of it. That worked as Gery started gaining some line. Finally after 30 or more minutes we get a look at it - COBIA! We landed it and passed high fives all around - nice fish. The fish was foul hooked in the belly and that was why it was like a dead weight pulling it in.  We hooked up again shortly after but what ever it was went straight down and SHREDDED my fluorocarbon leader on the rocks. We didn’t have any more hits there so we moved to another spot, then another. Finally at that last spot we caught a decent king. We’ll take it to weigh in tonight at the club tonight and eat some of the cobia for dinner tomorrow. The club is having boiled shrimp and boiled corn for dinner - Yummy!   2010-08-07T20:32:43+00:00 http://www.topsailangler.com/site/mackerel/ http://www.topsailangler.com/site/mackerel/#When:20:28:06Z The marine forecast was looking great for today and my friend Mark from Sanford was down.  So we decided to go out for a half day of fishing.  We didn’t find any decent sized menhaden close by and didn’t want to spend all morning looking, so we headed out of the inlet around 7:30 with some nice ballyhoo. Our first stop was the rocks off of South Topsail Beach.  We hadn’t been trolling long when the starboard long line goes to singing, nice sized Spanish - about 5 pounds worth.  Then a king takes the other long line.  After a pause, we boated another Spanish, this one just under 6 pounds and then another king.  Low tide was at 9am and about 8:30 or so the bite just died - nothing between then and 9:45.  So we decided to head offshore and fish for an hour or so - tried a couple of spots about 8 miles out with no luck.  We needed to be finished around noon so we headed back for a few more trips around the South Topsail rocks.  Nothing except one small shark (the only one for the day).  We ended up with 2 Spanish and 2 kings - not stellar but we had a very enjoyable morning and are having fresh fish for dinner so no complaints here! Catching Reports, Trip Reports 2010-08-04T20:28:06+00:00 http://www.topsailangler.com/site/slow-day-for-catching/ http://www.topsailangler.com/site/slow-day-for-catching/#When:00:51:40Z 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. 2010-07-06T00:51:40+00:00 http://www.topsailangler.com/site/boat-update/ http://www.topsailangler.com/site/boat-update/#When:11:04:01Z 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. 2010-06-24T11:04:01+00:00 http://www.topsailangler.com/site/first-kings/ http://www.topsailangler.com/site/first-kings/#When:20:23:25Z 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!  2010-05-21T20:23:25+00:00 http://www.topsailangler.com/site/fog-wahoo-dolphin/ http://www.topsailangler.com/site/fog-wahoo-dolphin/#When:11:04:06Z 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! 2010-05-08T11:04:06+00:00 http://www.topsailangler.com/site/bonito-here/ http://www.topsailangler.com/site/bonito-here/#When:00:40:31Z 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! 2010-04-22T00:40:31+00:00 http://www.topsailangler.com/site/wahoo-tuna-cobia-and-more/ http://www.topsailangler.com/site/wahoo-tuna-cobia-and-more/#When:12:41:40Z All week I have been watching the marine forecast and itching, planning, and anticipating an offshore fishing trip.  It was a long, cold winter and I was out of the country most of the month of March, so I really wanted to get in an offshore fishing trip.  Finally, Friday got here and the marine forecast was dead on, a gorgeous day!  Taylor, Scott and I left from Surf City on Taylor’s boat, the Reel Return.  We went through New Topsail Inlet about 5:30, well before sunrise.  The ride was smooth, so we made good time on our way out to the Gulf Stream.  Our plan was to go to an area just north of a place called the Steeples and look for a nice temperature break and troll for a few hours.  Then we would head to some nice bottom area in that vicinity and bottom fish for some cobia and African Pompanos. We got to our spot just before 8 o’clock and deployed our spread.  Within minutes we had our first fish on, a nice size blackfin tuna!  The lines were quite for a while after that so I decided to deploy a planer and run a ballyhoo down deep.  I put on a Bluewater Candy mini-jag in purple and black with a ballyhoo as bait and sent it down on a #24 planer.  Boom!  It got bit within minutes and it was fish fighting time!  After a screaming run, the line went slack and I thought I had lost the fish, but experience told me not to give up and reel in line like crazy.  Soon the line went tight again, the fish was still there and must have been swimming straight at the boat.  Sounded like the tactics of a Wahoo, now I’m really pumped up!  According to the video camera I fought the fish for 12 minutes and then we saw it, a nice sized Wahoo!  Scott stuck him with the gaff and we boated one of the best eating fish on the planet! We had two short strikes and then a hook-up on our way, way back line.  It was Taylor’s turn to fight a fish so we got the reel off the T-top and handed it to him. The fish screamed off line for what seemed like a minute or more then stopped for a second.  I saw a fish splash, it was huge and silver but I couldn’t tell what it was.  Right after that Taylor says the fish is off.  When he reeled the line back in we discovered the fish had bit through the mono leader.  That was out last bite of the day on the troll. We headed to a spot where I had caught some nice cobia and other fish this time last year and switched over to jigging about 11 O’clock or so.  There were a number of boats there but we found a nice spot with lots of activity showing on the sonar and started jigging.  Soon Scott had a nice cobia in the boat and a little later Taylor put a 38 pound cobia on ice as well.  The bite continued for a few hours, not a fast paced frenzy but a steady bite.  African pompano, grouper (which went back of course as the season is closed), amber jacks and of course cobia where among the fish we jigged up. At 2 O’clock we decided to troll some more in hopes of another wahoo or two.  We trolled until 3 with no bites.  The water was so calm, not even a ripple on the surface, too calm for trolling really.  So we headed home with a box full of fish and smiles on our faces!  2010-04-03T12:41:40+00:00 http://www.topsailangler.com/site/invited-a-red-drum-to-come-home-today/ http://www.topsailangler.com/site/invited-a-red-drum-to-come-home-today/#When:23:19:45Z I had a chance to go fishing with Breadman and Breadman Jr. today. We fished on his end of Topsail Island in some skinny water . It was pretty windy, his famous last words when he called to invite me were “I’ll get us out of the wind, don’t worry”. Ha! I’m happy to report he put us on some decent fish. I quit counting after 15 reds. All three of us boated a fair share of reds and few small flounder. I caught the big one of the day, measured 26 1/4 inches. I also caught a nice 24 inch fish that had a NCDMF tag. Thanks for the invite Breadman! Catching Reports, Trip Reports 2010-03-28T23:19:45+00:00