Mulligan

I had a group of 3 from Massachusetts on board with me this morning.   We departed the dock around 0700 and made it to the fishing grounds after a 15 minute (slightly bumpy) boat ride.  The air temp was hovering around 50 degrees and the flags were stretched out again.   I am ready for spring to get here…….

The fishing started off slow. We bounced around from spot to spot, looking for the packs of puppy drum that have been hanging around.  Almost 2 hours went by with nothing to show.
We had to make it pit stop at the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center for a bathroom break.  As we were leaving the dock, we all jokingly talked about how we got that taken care of and now it was time to catch some fish.  And that’s exactly what we did.

We set back up on the spot that we actually originally started and we were getting bites right away.  We put our limit in the box and continued to catch and release some nice slot size drum.  After a rough start, we ended with a bang – and smiles all around.  Great crew, thanks for fishing hard I am glad it paid off. See you guys next year!

All or Nothing

The puppy drum fishing is still on fire . . . or ice cold.   I am still calling it “all or nothing” fishing.  That was the case today.   My AM trip got started off right with a triple up and 3 pups in the box shortly after I took it off plane.   We hung around the area and caught a few more here and there.  We watched the dolpins for a bit then closed out the trip with another two fish before we headed to the dock.  Fun trip and great company, thanks!

The PM trip was a totally different story.   The wind came up another 10-15 knots, the tide bottomed out, and the fish just simply left the building.   We bounced around a few different spots that have all been producing lately – including exactly where we had success this morning,  and never found a strike.   This is the part of my job that is very tough!   Sometimes you just can’t make it happen.  So today was a prime example of the “all or nothing” type of fishing that we are having right now.   We are going out for redemption for a couple hours when this wind dies out.

Lastly, Patrick and I headed out for an hour before sunset last night and fished in the wind.   We found some fish and put a few in the boat.  Here is Patrick holding up a pretty one.

Chasing Schools

Had John and Jim with me this morning.  I told them it was going to be all or nothing….. The drum have been schooled up – so if you find them its game on, but if you don’t , well…… So we got to the first flat and started looking around, but we didn’t see any fish.  So I fired up the big motor and spooked a monster school of them on the way out.   Jim pitched over and managed to pull one out of the bunch.

We hung around the same area chasing big schools around.  If I had to guess how many drum we saw today it would be in the hundreds!   Everytime we came up on them we would get bit or pluck one out of the school.   It took a little while to get back on them once we caught one though.  All in all it was a great trip with absolutely perfect conditions.  Thanks for joining me guys, I really enjoyed your company.

Upgrades!

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of fishing reports – haven’t been fishing much!  My buddy Patrick and I ran the boat around Kitty Hawk Bay last night for a scouting mission to see if we could find some fish.   Seems to be plenty of drum closer to the inlet, but didn’t have any bites. We did see some dolphins feeding on some kind of fish.  We were too far away to tell what it was but they were throwing fish out of the water that appeared to be 18-20″ long.  My guess would be puppy drum, but maybe trout or mullet.  Who knows?!

Upgrades!
I got my bracket in for my 8ft Power Pole to be installed.   My good buddy Marc over at Rock On Charters is going to help me install it when he gets back from Florida sometime next week.   Also, I am getting a removable sight casting tower for the front of my boat.   I am looking forward to sight casting cobia as well as puppy drum in the flats.   The inspiration came from Capt. Blair Wiggins bay boat seen on the video linked below. Thanks for checking Salt Minded Charters, it is time to book a trip so give me a call 252-455-9790

Looks promising

Puppy drum fishing is setting up to be ridiculous in the sound this year. They seem to be pretty thick everywhere! Looking forward to putting some charters on some drag screaming puppy drum on light tackle. These fish are loads of fun and they will explode on a topwater plug as well. Spent some more time on the water in my Hobie kayak with my brother recently. We found a big school of pups backed up in a shallow creek. Sight casted them for a while then took out the fly rods and wore them out. Call me – its time to book a trip!

Photo by Matt Lusk