Fished with Matt this morning scouting out some new locations and checking up on some old honey holes. Both produced and we caught a variety of fish including trout, flounder, stripers, spot, croakers, and pinfish. We also tried a few different lures and techniques that paid off too. Sometimes you just gotta try some new stuff. Give me a call to book your trip – (252)455-9790!
It is a Fathers Day tradition for Matt and I to spend the day fishing with our ole man. We were shooting for Sunday, but the weather ended up looking much better for Saturday. We got up at 0300 and headed for Rudee Inlet to hop on the “Fresh & Salt” and head offshore. We were greeted with some 4 foot chop on our ride out which made our 85 mile run to the 750 line due east of Oregon Inlet a lengthy one. We arrived to fishing grounds and set out our spread. It didn’t take long for all six rods go down at once. The line broke on one of the rods, but we did manage to get five tuna in the box. We picked at the mahi and managed one more single hookup on a yellowfin a little later in the morning which ended up being the biggest of the day. We knew we had a long ride home so we put her in the wind and started making our way back around 1300. After getting back to the dock and cleaning the fish, we headed over to Rudee’s restaurant to cheers a cold beer to another great Fathers Day in the books. Threw together a little clip as well, Enjoy! Photos by Matt Lusk
I recently purchased myself a new (to me) boat. I have instantly fallin’ in love! It is a 22′ Cape Craft Bay with 150 Yamaha. It also has a wireless trolling motor which now, I don’t think I could ever fish without. Matt, Ken, and myself decided to run it out of the inlet on Wednesday to see if we could get in on the HOT cobia action. We saw our first pair of cobia about 5 minutes after I brought it off plane. The conditions on the ocean were absolutely as good as it gets with light and variable winds, a small rolling swell, and crystal clear skies. Matt is up on the front and he spots a cow about 50 yards away. With a perfect cast the fish turns on the bucktail and its game on! We get it to the boat and into the box. The first cobia on the new boat is a nice 60 pounder, and a great way to get the day started. While fighting that fish we had another one approx the same size swim right up to the boat. It turned on the lures but then turned away and down to the depths never to be seen again. Probably not the worst thing to happen as we needed to focus on getting the one we already had hooked into the box. We continue to see more fish throughout the morning sometimes 3 or 4 at a time. We caught a total of 7 cobia and we kept 5. Boat performed great and I can’t wait to get back out there!
Matt and I packed up the kayaks and headed south in hopes of finding a cobia. My expectations were pretty low because the conditions were far from ideal, but Matt insisted we give it a go. We paddled out about 2 miles east of the boiler on pea island and started looking around. Matt went about half mile past where I started looking and after about 45 minutes of paddling around he came up on a ray. He made a few casts and pulled a few small cobia up to his yak. Both of them wouldn’t hit and disappeared soon after. About 30 minutes later Matt intercepted a school of 5 cobia. Once again they wouldn’t hit. He thought for sure his chances were over. Luckily, after another 30 minutes of paddling covering another mile or 2, he turned to see a pair swimming up behind him, one of which seemed to be significantly longer than any of the cobia he’d seen. He turned and pitched the bucktail to the cobia and BAM the bigger one hit! Quite an adrenaline rush. It was a long battle I would guess around 30 minutes long. He finally got it up to the kayak and that is where the fun began. It was an intense moment. We’d never done this before so had no idea what to expect. Matt swung the fish around and I sunk the gaff into his side. He did what cobia do, went ape s#$t. He flopped over my kayak and onto the other side. In between Matt and I bashing his tail all over the place I managed to get a knife stuck in my leg which was a reminder of how things can go south very quickly in that situation. Luckily it wasn’t too bad. We got the cobia onto Matts kayak and began the long paddle back. We were about 6 miles from where we started. All in all it was such an awesome experience and I am stoked for Matt and was even more stoked to be there! Here are some pics and a short clip of the battle!
My 3 year old daughter is officially hooked on fishing. . . We had a great time this evening and she just didn’t want to leave. The only thing she needs to work on is her patience, she would get a little antsy when I didn’t catch one on every cast. We managed to hook some trout and puppy drum, and she reeled them all in. The only thing I love more then fishing is watching her smile when she catches one!
