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2001 Reports

December 15

I've obviously fallen behind on my reports.  This is a result of one major factor, school.  Though I have been busy trying to acquire an education in the law, I have still come across some information that could be useful to some.  As everyone is well aware, the wild temperatures of our mild fall have resulted in very confused fishing.  Just a few weeks ago, kings could still be found within ten miles of the beach, amazing.  Though I have not been able to personally experience the benefits of such warm water so late in the fall, I have helped some of my friends find the fish using the Bluewater Fishfinder.  I want to mention this because those people who fished where I suggested have had outstanding results, just based on my guesses from Columbia, looking at the computer screen.  I had debated about purchasing this software for several months, but just couldn't decide if it was worth the cost.  I am now convinced.  Not wanting to sound like and advertisement, I will just say that I am very much looking forward to next year armed with a little more information.

That being said, let me move on to an actual report.  Stopped through Holden Beach on Friday and spent about an hour and a half looking for trout with my buddy Steve.  He had been having good luck in the past week in the Lockwood Folly River, but when I was there, the recent rain had changed the conditions and we had only one strike.

Saturday I fished out of Harkers Island with Crawford and Big Crawford for Bluefin.  Unfortunately, it sounded as if we missed the morning bite by about fifteen minutes.  We worked between the West Slough Buoy and the Trawler Wreck with only one knockdown.  Oh well.

Crawford and I then spent the evening fighting of the bluefish while looking for trout.

Though the fishing wasn't excellent, a great vacation.

Fall Brawl

October 19-20, 2001

I must say that Captain Brant's tournaments are always well presented.  After an hour and a half of hopelessly looking for bait, it was nice to eat a good meal before preparing for the next day.

The Captain's Meeting held no surprises, but one good home cooked meal.  I must also thank the ladies for letting me take a little extra ham home to make sandwiches for the next day.

Friday October 19

I hurried down to the beach from Columbia to hopefully find some bait and pen it up overnight.  Reed and I had perfect timing, reaching Holden Beach at the same time.  We put the boat in the water and headed down Oak Island looking for bait.  I had been told that bait had been scarce all week, but some had been found off of Bald Head.  We checked a few spots before reaching the Cape Fear, but before we could get behind Bald Head, we had to leave to make it to Registration and before it was too late.  This process put 40 miles on my full tank of gas, so I thought it might be best to top off the tank to ensure that all our options would be open tomorrow, not limited by fuel.  To my delight, I put only 12 gallons in. WOW!  We put the boat back in the water and loaded it up for tomorrow.

Saturday October 20

We left the dock a little later than planned, but at least we had a good breakfast.  After heading out of Lockwood Folly Inlet, we began the run down the beach towards Bald Head.  We hoped to stumble across bait before reaching Bald Head, but were not that fortunate.  It was odd not to see any tournament boats looking for bait off the hump, condos, or hot hole, but we saw no one.  We thought that maybe the tournament had been cancelled and no one had told us.  That was, until we reached the Cape Fear and saw all of the tournament boats off of Bald Head.

We joined the pack and anticipated a long wait to get bait, but just as Reed go the net ready, they flipped right beside the boat.  One throw and we netted plenty of bait; flounder bait.  These were the smallest pogies I've seen all year, so we threw them back and moved to another spot.  An hour and a half later, with no other luck, we decided that trying to catch the end of the morning bite with dead bait would be more productive than hopelessly waiting for bait, so off we went.  We jumped to shoals and arrived at the Cabbage Patch.

We quickly deployed our baits on a nice temperature break with only a couple of other boats in site.  After an hour with no strikes, we need to move.  We debated about pushing our to the Horseshoe, or crossing back to the Lighthouse.  We chose the latter, since the Horseshoe was dead into the four-foot chop.  (This decision might have been our worst of the day, because I received reports later that there was a good bite of decent fish at the Horseshoe.)

As we cleared the lines, we had our only strike, and we missed it.  We considered staying, but decided to leave anyway.

We started about four miles all the Cape Fear Sea Buoy and worked an area with a couple of other boats in near perfect sea conditions.  After coming back across the shoals, the seas had become flat calm.  Another forty-five unproductive minutes and we have to move again.

Now our choices were from one extreme to another.  We could run further offshore to the Sharkhole, work close in towards the sea buoy, or go back to the beach to search for more bait.

After debating on whether or not to run offshore another 12 miles, or to go back in and look for the bait and finish the day inshore, we made the mistake of returning to the beach.

We stopped near the Lighthouse, and still no bait.  Radio talk had implied that boats had been re-baiting near the Pfizer plant, so off we were.  When we arrived, there were a couple of other boats that were searching for bait, without success.

Back to the beach.  We have now wasted valuable fishing time, and still haven't found bait.  Finally, we find some flips off of the Condos on Oak Island.  A perfect throw; and nothing.  Several attempts later, and still no luck.  These must be Houdini Pogies, because they have managed to disappear from underneath our nets.

So we give up on fresh bait and make the short trip to Yaupon Reef.  After 10 minutes, we decide that our winning fish won't come from this over fished area, so we head to the sea buoy, an extremely over fished area.  We end the day with no luck, and head home in calm seas.

October 17

I've been working on our plans for the Fall Brawl.  We are off to the Flemish Cap!  I've decided that we will either cross the shoals to the Cucumber or Fairway, or run out to the Jungle.  If the weather is too ruff for my boat, I will turn around and head for my couch.  I don't plan on spending another day at the Shipping Channel.

October 15

Didn't fish over the last couple of days of my Fall Break, but have listened to the radio in the morning, and it sounds like bait will be a problem for the Fall Brawl.  I hope things change by Saturday.

October 13

Left the dock at 6:30 a.m. on the Grouper Nancy's with Mark Stacy to do a little fun fishing before next weekend.  There had been a good bite at the Sharkhole, so that's where we were headed.  Mark already had the boat ready when I got to the dock, loaded up with everything including bait.  I just wanted to go ahead and thank Mark, and Nesbit (sp?) Noble off the Wide Spred, for not only letting me fish with them, but most importantly, having some extra beer at the house.  Its not the beer is the most essential element for fishing, you have to have a boat and gas first, but on the few occasions that I'm not the responsible driver, I like to kick back a couple of beverages.  Unfortunately, I did not know that North Carolina has this tricky law that prevents you from buying alcohol before 7 a.m.  I knew that they cut off the sales at 2 a.m., I've tried to buy beer to late, but I didn't know they didn't sell until 7 a.m., I guess I've never tried to purchase it that early.  Regardless, rest assured that there are plenty of law-abiding citizens in the Shallotte and Ocean Isle area, because I tried 5 different convenient stores before giving up the cause.

Anyway, back to fishing.  We arrived at the Sharkhole just after dawn and set our spread.  It didn't take long before Mark became impatient with the silence of the reels.  There were several boats that had come to the Sharkhole after hearing the same report, but nobody was having any luck.  The water was dirty, and from the radio talk, it sounded like it had changed overnight.

There is one thing that Mark isn't scared to do, and that's move.  Fifteen minutes later, and we were off to the 24-mile rock.  Ten minutes later, and we were of to the nineties.  Nine minutes later, we were off to the 65-foot hole.  Thirteen minutes and twenty-five seconds later, we were off to the couch.

On the way in we made a last ditch effort at the Shallotte Inlet.  We spent about two hours listening to the Carolina game, but doing little fishing.

Overall, it was a slow day of fishing, but I enjoyed fishing with some of my brother's old friends, and hopefully next time it will be more productive.

October 12

Heard of a large bite at the Sharkhole today.  I plan to go with a buddy of mine tomorrow, and hopefully will find some fish.

U.S. Open

October 4-6

This tournament became a family event since my parents filled in as team members.  The original plan had my mom and dad fishing solo on Friday, but since they lack experience, I decided that it would be better for me to skip school on Friday and fish.

The Captain's Meeting was held Thursday night.  I registered around 4:30 p.m. and received boat number 271.  It looked like the tournament was on a pace to be quite large.  In total, 551 boats fished this tournament.  After the 5:00 p.m. meeting, I left to launch the boat and get everything ready for tomorrow.  I had planned to catch bait tonight, but by the time I got to the inlet, it was dark.  Although I saw a few pelicans diving, I did not want to deal with navigating the inlet in the dark, so I figured that I would get bait tomorrow.

I took the boat to the dock and got all of the gear ready for the upcoming days of fishing; for once, there was no great ordeal to overcome before fishing.  (Don't get me wrong, there was a problem, there always is a problem, but this one was relatively minor.  The boat trailer had a flat tire.)

Day 1

The reports that I had heard were typical for this time of year, action at Yaupon Reef and the Shipping Channel.  Bait had been reported to be thick along the beaches, but on Friday morning, this was far from true.  I don't know if the report was just wrong, or if the pogies had gotten a hold of the tournament schedule, but the bait didn't cooperate.  I searched along Oak Island for any signs of bait, and saw a few scattered flips, but no large concentration.  After several worthless attempts, I was beginning to get discouraged as my mother harped on how idiotic she felt the bait effort was, and continued to poke fun at all of the fishermen (including myself), perched on the front of the boat trying to capture the elusive pogy.  Finally, around 8:30, I managed to capture a few large pogies.  It looked as if we would have enough bait for the day.  Though I would have liked to have more, I was ready to fish.

We were off to Yaupon.  Only a few boats had begun working the reef, so we put out our spread and began the waiting process.  After 45 minutes with no action for us, or anyone around us, we packed up and headed to the Shipping Channel.

You know how I feel about the Shipping Channel; well imagine my hatred for it multiplied by the presence of 200 other boats.  It was a C.F.!!!  We started at the sea buoy and tried to work our magic.  There were many boats hooked up, and my anxiety was getting high.  I thought that today was the day the Shipping Channel curse would end.  My dad kept an eye on the pack, watching to see what other teams boated, and noticed that most of the fish seemed to be in the low teens.  I talked to some friends, On Edge, who already had a 25# on board, so I remained optimistic.  Several hours later, our number still hadn't been called.  Again, I was becoming discouraged, plus my mom was quickly loosing interest in fishing.

The weather was beautiful and the seas were calm, so I decided that since Saturday was predicted to be rough, today was the day to run offshore.  Finally at 12:45 p.m., we left the Shipping Channel and headed to the Southport Ledge.  Minutes after putting out our spread, we had our first strike.  The fish made several nice runs, but I knew that it was no smoker.  As my mom battled the fish, I learned first hand how efficient our team is.  Not to underscore how well my parents did, they did great, but they just don't fish with me often.  They quickly learned that when you don't read my mind well, I get angry.  It's not that they did anything wrong, but I hadn't set the boat up for a strike yet, and when the fish hit, all hell broke loose.  Mom fought the fish well, as I cleared the lines, but then another fish hit and it was all over for organization.  One pogy got into the prop, so now we are dead in the water.  As we danced around the boat, we somehow managed to land both fish.  Though they were not large, they were well worth the fight to lighten our spirits.  After we cleaned up, and unwound the prop, we finally got back to fishing after 10 minutes.  Bait was everywhere, but we didn't have any other strikes.  We finally headed in with plenty of time to make the weigh in.

551 boats makes for quite a spectacular weigh in.  Although we were in line by 4:30 p.m., we were a long way from the dock.  I would estimate that the line extended almost a mile from the dock out the Cape Fear River.  After a rough landing, dad isn't used to how the boat handles, I joined a long line of anglers.  A lot of fish were weighed, some teams had a box full of fish, trying to acquire on of the special weight prizes.  This was the only problem I had with the tournament; they allowed too many fish to be weighed.  Also, I heard that people were weighing in fish, and then going back out and fishing more, I had never heard of such.

Day 2

Since the bait was uncooperative yesterday, I decided to run south to begin looking for bait.  I headed out of Shallotte Inlet and ran down Ocean Isle Beach finding nothing.  I turned around and ran the beach all the way up to Oak Island before I saw any signs of bait, in the same area we got it yesterday.  The difference today was that it was thicker, but the pogies were smaller.  Regardless, I did not want to waste any more time looking for larger bait, so off we went.

The seas had built overnight to a steep 3-4', so running offshore was looking impossible.  Hoping to avoid the Shipping Channel, we began our hunt at the Yaupon Relief.  A couple of other boats were anchored here kite fishing, and releasing a tremendous chum line.  We worked the area with no signs of bait, and gave up after an hour.

So again, we are off to the Shipping Channel.  Today is the day; today has to be the day that the curse ends.  Again, there were reports of numerous small kings being caught, but not as many as yesterday.  We worked the sea buoy, the middle of the channel, outside the channel, everywhere, but nothing.  We had a couple of small strikes, but no kings.  Again, we were skunked in the Shipping Channel.

To top the day off, I fell asleep for an hour or so, and by the time I awoke, my dad had trolled halfway to the ICW.  I guess he was tired of fishing.  So was I.  We packed it up a few minutes early and hoped to beat the rush.

Oh well, one last tourney for the year.  See you at the Fall Brawl.

Week before the U.S. Open

The changing of the weather with the cooler nights signals the changing into fall fishing.  With the lower evening temperatures, the big kings will definitely be moving on the beach.  Although I personally haven't fished in the last week, several reports of large kings have come from the Shipping Channel and Yaupon.  I can't wait to see the parking lot.  See you at the U.S. Open.

Oh yeah, look for a new team on the water Friday, as my parents try their luck at their first tournament.  The team thanks them for picking up our slack, since we cannot fish that Friday.  I wish them the best of luck, and if they do well, I may just become the manager of my own team.

Wrightsville Beach KMT

September 21-22

Another Friday and Saturday format presents difficulties for the team.  Luckily, Ryan has not begun his new job, so he can fish Friday.  Brandon and Brian would join him on Saturday.

We had not planned to fish this tournament, focusing on division 2 only.  That was until we learned that they had set up the prize schedule in a way that favored 21 foot and under boats.  We rationalized that this distinction greatly reduced the competition, and a decent fish could bring some decent cash.

Ryan fished Friday with two friends, Crawford and Barclay.  Thursday night they loaded the bait pen with large mullet, and hoped that these guys would prove to be "king candy."  The team checked out of Masonboro Inlet at 7:00 and headed to the Fairway Ledge.  Although there was plenty of bait, with False Albacore everywhere, there were no kings.  So off they were to our special numbers, but nothing.  They again found plenty of bait, but only a couple of sharks.  Then they moved to the Ten Mile Rock.  There they picked up there only king of the day, under 10#.  They finished the day at the Dallas Rocks, and headed in with not much to show but 110 miles on the odometer.

Day two and we have regrouped.  We decided to still depart from Wrightsville Beach, but planned to check out of either the Carolina Beach or Southport checkout.  Though I heard that some fog might roll in overnight, I never expected what faced us the next morning.  The thickest fog bank I can remember had covered the area, and made any headway very slow.  Just making it to the Wrightsville Beach checkout took half an hour, and the run to Southport was over three hours.  Luckily, my chart plotter gave me some idea where I was, and we were able to follow a couple of boats down the waterway without too much trouble.  From the middle of the waterway, you could not see both banks, so we moved in a line zigzagging down the waterway, literally bouncing off the sides.  When we got to Snow's Cut, I ran behind the largest boat I've seen fish a king mackerel tournament, a 41' Hatteras.  I figured that this guy would get us where we needed to go, with his radar and electronics, but he had no clue either.  Several boats turned circles as everyone was looking for the cut to the river.  Finally, I gave up on depending on others, and we went forward on our own.  This strategy proved to be much more beneficial.  We were now running down the Cape Fear at a pretty good clip, when out of the fog, a huge pod of pogies began to flip.  Wow, what a convenience.  We had been worried that finding bait was going to be nearly impossible, and out of the blue, there it was.  Now things were starting to look up.  We were way behind in our schedule, but so were many other teams, the big difference was that we now had bait.  We continue the journey all the way through the Cape Fear and head out towards our first destination.

Wanting to avoid the parking lot at the Shipping Channel, we decided to start fishing off the Lighthouse Rock area.  We hoped that the bigger kings had moved in, but might have a more aggressive bite away from the cluster of boats associated with the tournament.  Whether or not this theory was true will never be known, because we left within fifteen minutes after arriving.  Scattered weed drove us crazy; it was everywhere.  Where did we go?  Where we always go, the Shipping Channel.

I must say it is quite amazing that we always end up here.  We all hate it, and for a good reason too.  WE HAVE NEVER CAUGHT A KING AT THE SHIPPING CHANNEL.  Though we have hopes of landing the big one there, the only proof that I have that kings even reside there are stories from other fisherman.  Granted, we don't fish there often, only when forced to because of poor conditions and usually related to the hopes of a miracle during a tournament, but come on.  Can we please get a break!  I don't know, we always say we don't want to end up there again, but that is where the big kings are, right?

Anyway, when we pulled up to the sea buoy we found the area eerily deserted.  This is because it is noon and the fog is still very thick.  There were plenty of boats, but we just couldn't see them.  We fished hard for hours with no luck.  Finally, the silent reels awaken with a slow clicking.  Great, our first shark of the day.  Fearing that it might be our only strike, we fight him carefully, hoping it was a lazy king committing suicide.  No such luck, but a nice shark about 5'.  Two swift whacks on the head, and he is released.  There was little excitement from the fight, and depression is beginning to set rather deep.  And then, the fastest, loudest, longest, most exuberating, greatest sound of all; but it was caused by another damn boat.  What the hell people, do we have a sign that asks for our long line to be clipped every tournament?  I hate crowds.  This was by far our best catch though, a 31' Fountain.  Three tournaments out of five that we've caught a nice boat, but I don't think there is a tournament circuit for that, oh well.  It is bad to say, but the boat actually cheered us up, because it at least gave us some hope.  The day ends, with no other changes.  The winner came a couple hundred yards offshore from where we were, in our buddies chum slick.  At least we didn't have to watch the winning fish get caught behind our boat.

Next up, the U.S. Open.

South Brunswick Island KMT

September 1-2

Though this tournament was a convenient Saturday and Sunday format, we still didn't have the whole team together.  The visiting of a lady friend hindered Brian, and Reed was facing the reality of limited financial flow as he was outfitting a new house.  So it was just Brandon and Ryan.

Ryan had spent the previous week trying to get the welds fixed on the T-Top.  On Friday morning, Ryan went to pick up the boat only to find that the shop is closed, and the work unfinished.  Ryan was quite upset by this time, but I told him that I would call the guy, and hopefully he would have it ready for me by the time I came through his Podunk town on my way from Columbia.  I called and left a message, assuming he would finish the 10-minute job and have it ready for me by five o'clock that afternoon.  Well, my assumption was wrong.  When I got to his home/shop, there was no life to be found.  I even found myself worried for his safety since I found his expensive tools dispersed throughout the yard lying in the mud and rain; thinking that maybe someone had robbed him.  After repeatedly calling and knocking with no prevail, I finally began the process of stealing my boat from him.  After about ten minutes of beating the trailer lock with a hammer, it comes off.  Then, I hook the boat up to my Explorer and am off, right.  No, the boat has been sitting in a mud bog, and with the extra weight of a boat and trailer, my two-wheel drive vehicle stands no chance.  So now I'm stuck.  In the meantime, a nice kid comes to the house.  It turns out that he assists the welder, and tries to help me remove my truck from the mud, unsuccessfully.  Finally, I call Ryan and inform him that his presence is required to pull me out of my predicament.  By the way, it is from this kid that I learn that the welder is asleep inside.  I forgot to include the fact that this welder was a drug addict, or had a severe mental deficiency, or both, and was asleep all day. 

So, a couple of hours later, we are back on the road.  It feels like a three-day weekend has already gone by, and it's just Friday afternoon.  Ryan takes the boat to the house, and I go to the tournament registration, wet from the rain and mud.  Unhappy from my prior experience, I register and leave.  When I got to my car, my rage reached the limit when a voicemail from the welder threatens me.  He stated that if I have a problem, to come and say it to his face and that I knew where he lived.  I immediately returned the call to explain that of course I knew where he lived, I had just spent the last two hours there.  I also wanted to include the fact that if his lazy ass had have gotten out of bed, I would have been more than glad to tell it to his face, but he didn't answer; don't you hate caller id.  Anyway, after that, I let it go.

Back to fishing, wait; first there is work to be done to the boat.  Wouldn't you know it, the bilge pump wasn't working.  To make a long story short, we were up until two a.m. working on the wiring for several different things, making the live well switch the bilge pump switch, etc.

Finally, 5:30 a.m. and we are ready to fish, tired but ready.  The only problem, the engine doesn't work.  Go figure, if you think that more than one thing can't go wrong during a tournament, think again.  By now, I am becoming convinced that the fish gods hate us.  They must enjoy seeing us struggle.  We quickly work out a switch of boats with the tournament headquarters, assuming that the mechanic didn't have a quick fix for the boat.  There was no quick repair, so it's one o'clock, and we are back on the Whaler.  Outfitted with only dead bait, we head to 390/390, literally hoping for a miracle.  After a couple of hours of fishing, we head in, needing to do a lot of work to reconfigure the Whaler from a ski boat into a fishing machine.

Day two, and we are set.  We reinstalled the live well, added our coolers, and are prepared to fish.  Determined to catch an early bite at the Jungle, we leave early and bait up.  Headway is made slowly, as we truck on through the rollers.  The horizon appeared threatening, but it looked as if the storms were moving away.  We finally reach the Jungle, and quickly deploy our baits over our spot.  Within minutes, we have our first strike.  Things are finally looking up as we release our first king, although it was small.  The bite slowed during the mid-morning, until we finally got into some more fish around 12:30.  We hooked up with several kings, but they were all in the 17# range.  During the morning, the seas had calmed and the weather was gorgeous.  Although we expected a calm ride in, we decide that in was necessary for us to leave early to insure that we make the weigh in.  This was probably the best decision we made all weekend.  About 15 miles from the inlet, we run into a nasty storm.  For once, we were glad to be on the Whaler, with curtains in full affect.  The best thing was, as the seas built into a steady 3-foot chop, we were able to walk down a 27 foot Island Runner.  I bet those guys were a little embarrassed when a 20-foot Whaler passed them.

We eventually weigh a 17.75# fish, which managed to place us in 30th in a tournament that paid through 30 places.  After the weekend we had, we felt like we deserved some sort of reward; this will have to go down as the best last place finish I've had.

August 30

Ryan went out with Coker Metcalf on the Top Contender to do a little pre-fishing for the SBIKMT.  They had some success locating some kings in the 25# class, and hopefully we will be able to locate them again this weekend.

Shallotte Inlet KMT

August 16-18

Coming off a decent start to Division 2, The Reel Estate arrived at the Shallotte Inlet KMT with high hopes.

August 17

Today found the team without their interim captain, Ryan Boone.  Ryan and Reed were the only ones to fish the first day of the tournament, Brandon hindered by school, and Brian by work.  They focused today's efforts on the bite that was supposedly to be found at the Yaupon Reef and the Cape Fear River Channel.  Finding plenty of bait, and working the reefs all day, they produced nothing but anger.  They bounced around all the structure near shore, but could only capture a couple of small sharks.

August 18

Day two held higher hopes, as Brandon and Brian were again able to join the team.  Our plan, stay away from the shipping channel.  We decided that there was a legitimate early morning bite at Yaupon, and wanted to be the first ones on it as daybreak.  We left early with our penned up bait, and promptly as the fishing time began, we put out our spread with only one other boat.  After about thirty minutes, more boats started to trickle in.  Finally, the strike we were waiting for.  We quickly maneuvered around other gracious boats and brought up a small king.  Disappointed with his size, a low teenager, we decided to stick it out another half hour, and then move.  With no more strikes, we decided to make the short run to the beach to get fresh bait and move somewhere else.  We quickly got bait, but were indecisive about where to go.  The seas had begun to build and running offshore was looking bumpy and wet.  We knew that the north side of the Cape Fear would be calmer, and after talking to a buddy fishing the Carolina Beach Inlet, we decided to move there.

When we arrived at Carolina Beach, we found the water to be much calmer and stacked full of bait.  We began working the area and found a beautiful tide line.  We spent the rest of the day in perfect conditions for a big king, but no strike.  Then, as we were beginning to lose all hope, the long line screams.  We quickly grab the rod and begin our chase, of an 18' Bayliner.  Two tournaments in a row, and the biggest thing we catch is another boat.

Oh well, we are defeated at Shallotte, and to make matters worse, running back to Holden through the Cape Fear, we break two welds on the T-Top.

Hopefully, South Brunswick will be better.

August 5

Finally got a chance to get back out on the water after a couple weeks of waiting out the gale force winds.  Headed out a little late this morning and baited up after an hour of looking between the Yaupon Pier and the Lighthouse.  Started just offshore at the Yaupon Reef.  There were several boats anchored up over the reef and many more working the area.  There had been several good reports from the day earlier and we hoped to find some decent fish amidst all of the boats.  The area held plenty of bait, and after about 30 minutes we got our first strike.  It was a small king, about 12#, but a start.  Unfortunately, we decided to leave the area that produced the most fish over the weekend, and headed out to the Lighthouse Rock.  We fished almost an hour before leaving, with only three sharks to show for our efforts.  We finished the day at 390/390 with only one strike as we were pulling in the lines.  Overall, a poor day of fishing for us.

July 11

A couple of friends that are novice king-fishermen headed out to the Liberty Ship today to try their luck at landing the big one.  I want to congratulate Crawford McKeithan of Intracoastal Angler on his first big king, a whopping 12#.  Keep trying.

July 9

Put the boat in the shop for the week to get everything in perfect order, including a few problems that from the factory.  Unfortunately, we will miss the Got-Em-On KMT, but may make up for it by fishing the following weekend.

July 8

The "Scott-Free" went out today and loaded up on good-sized Wahoo.  Fished the break inside of the Same Ole and loaded up with six Wahoo from 30# to 50# with mixed dolphin and several kings in the 25# to 30# range.  They pulled small ballyhoo way back from the boat with a few Pakula lures to mix up their spread.

Jolly Mon KMT

July 7

As the Jolly Mon KMT approached, there was great anticipation for the Reel Estate Fishing Team.  Most of the team members had cleared their schedule to pre-fish a couple of days before the tournament, but it turned out that this week would not be conducive for fishing.  Between the festivities of the July 4 holiday and the rains associated with two passing cold fronts, pre-fishing was not an option for The Reel Estate.  In fact, just getting the boat ready for the tournament turned into a chore that would not be finished until just before the 7 o'clock captain's meeting.

We awoke early and launched the boat at 5 a.m., with plenty of time to quickly search for bait and start fishing.  The only problem, bait would not cooperate with us today.  We started looking off or Long Beach for any signs of bait and found none.  Listening to the radio was no help either.  It sounded as if many people were having the same problems that we faced.  We worked our way to the north along Oak Island, hoping that the rumors of bait near Bald Head were true.  All we found were a couple hundred boats, scattered pelicans diving, and one small, very small pogy.  I stood at the front of the boat holding the net waiting for some flips near the boat, but there were none.  Although there were birds diving around us, and an occasional flip here and there, they were too scattered to net.  After about a half hour, I decided that they were not worth waiting for; the one bait we had was too small anyway.  We decided to run south along the beach and hope to run into some bait, and if all else failed, jig some cigar minnows at one of the artificial reefs.  Our plan paid off as we came up to the Holden Beach pier we spotted some birds and with one throw had more than enough bait for one day of fishing, plus, these were jumbo pogies.

Off we go in a smooth sea headed out to the 65-foot hole.  Unfortunately, the smooth sea gradually built into a 2-3 and then 4-6 foot sea the further offshore we went.  The seas were following seas driven by the northeast wind that allowed for smoother ride than expected, but extremely wet.  We finally arrived at the destination around 9:30 and quickly deployed our baits.

Fifteen minutes after beginning to fish our first king hits the ribbonfish on the downrigger.  It was a snake, but at least it was a start.  We again deployed our baits and the next fish peeled off line from the naked shotgun.  Our excitement built as it made short work of a hundred yards of line as it quickly headed offshore.  We pulled in all but one line and began the chase.  After a fifteen minute fight, we boated our first decent king, about 18#.

Action remained steady as a small dolphin, about 10#, jumped onto one of our naked riggers.  We released 5 more teenagers until our next surprise came.  A Cobia, about 20# tugged on the shotgun.  Thinking that he was a shark at first we were not excited, but when we saw him we thought about the $500 prize for largest Cobia.  After about a 30-minute battle, we stuck the gaff in him and brought him in the boat.  Though we hoped for the biggest Cobia prize, we expected he would most likely be outdone, but would still make a nice dinner.

Our next fish was about 20#, but my gaffing job drained every ounce of blood, the most blood I've ever seen.  He must have lost 3# on the deck of the boat.  It is a little disappointing to ruin a decent fish with a shot that should have landed a little to the right.

After good action, but no outstanding fish, we decide to move inshore to ensure that we will make the weigh in.  We ran to the Little River Inlet to allow for a smoother ride and spent the last hour and a half wasting away on a beautiful tide line, but no fish.  At 3:15we pack it up and head towards Shallotte Point, feeling better about having fish on board, but not thrilled about their size.  As we weighed the fish we learn that our Cobia holds 1st place, at least temporarily, and our king is short a couple of pounds from some money.  Oh well, at least it was a good day fishing.

June 26

Headed offshore to the steeples today.  Rode the trough for the most part until the last twenty miles in which we faced the waves dead ahead.  Hooked up immediately with a decent wahoo and then boated a nice king.  After that it was all dolphin.  Mainly stayed inshore of the break in cooler water. 

Two dolphins pushed 25#, while the rest were smaller peanuts.

June 24

Fished the Tangle Oaks Open against an elite group of friends for a small cash prize and a large reward of pride to the winner.  We checked out of Masonboro Inlet at 6 a.m. and left most of the fleet and headed south.  While most of the other boats fished off of Wrightsville and Carolina beach, we made the run south toward the Jungle.  As we left through the Cape Fear River Channel, we decided to run along the beach in search for some good bait.  When we finally crossed the Lockwood Folly inlet we spotted a large pod of bait, but we were disappointed in their size.  Regardless, we decided that they would have to do and headed out toward the Jungle.  The ride wasn't too bad, with seas running 2-3 feet, and we had lines in the water by 8:30.  There were several other boats fishing this area, and the radio talked seemed rather bleak with only a few reports of a small dolphin and kings around.  The first couple of hours we spent bailing small dolphin, which quickly depleted our bait.  We decided that we wouldn't find our big king here so we moved a few miles inshore to the 65-foot hole.  We had three strikes in the first hour.  One dolphin about 15#, a shark, and then our payday, a 25# king.  Not a huge king, but decent size for a slow day of fishing.  We headed in to the weigh station pulling in our lines at 1:30.

June 21

Went out for some fun fishing with a couple of first-timers.  Headed out of the inlet around 8 o'clock with plans to bait up and head out towards the 390/390 area.  We couldn't ask for better weather, the seas were 2 inches to a foot max!  We looked for bait and found pogies off Holden, but they were too scattered to net.  Since we were just looking to have a good time, we quickly gave up on getting bait and headed off with our cigar minnows and planned to jig up bait we reached the fishing grounds.  We quickly boated a couple of kings in the low teens.  Fished with one more fish and a couple of strikes and headed in early for lunch.  Overall, one of the calmest days I've seen in a while.

Greater Wilmington KMT

June 15-16

The excitement for the tournament is very high after a great week of pre-fishing.  We attended the captain's meeting Thursday night after jigging up plenty of bait in Masonboro Inlet.  There was plenty of bait to be found, but it was in the rain.  As we dropped the boat in at the ramp, the captain of another tournament boat looked at me and asked, "what the hell are we doing?"  I didn't have an answer.  That was the situation for the entire weekend.  Whatever the problem was, it seemed we didn't have the answer.  The curse of the Greater Wilmington KMT continues.

June 15

We checked out of the Masonboro checkout promptly at 6 ready to head off to our honey hole where we had recently boated some nice kings earlier in the week.  Off we go into a building sea.  Two miles before reaching our destination, we find all sorts of bait on the surface so we decide to put in our lines and work this area.  After a couple of sharks we bail and are off to where we had intended to fish.

As we moved through the steady chop I noticed that the boat was much more sluggish than usual.  Two miles later, I reluctantly asked Ryan to open the hatch to the bilge, and my suspicions were correct, it was full of water.  Anxiety for the tournament was soon overwhelmed with fear as I tried to locate the problem.  Fortunately, I found that the bilge pump was still in working order, but just clogged with trash.  We pump away the ocean we had carried with us for the last two miles and we are off again to fishing.

The lines go in and they are not silent long.  The first king of the day hits the right rigger with a green skirt.  A few pumps of the rod and reel later, I realize that we have a low teenager on the line.  Not the big fish we were looking for, but at least it was a start.  As we reached out to gaff our small prize, the curse of the GWKMT reared its ugly head as a felt the gaff hit my line, and the hooks pull accordingly one by one.

So we missed the first fish, but there will be plenty more.  The second strike results in a knot coming untied.  I don't know what we had done to make the GWKMT Gods so angry, but it must have been serious.  The next strike resulted in our fluorocarbon leader breaking.  Finally we put a couple of fish in the boat, but they were both around 10#, so we released them not wanting to weigh such a small fish.

We picked up and headed back in to Masonboro Inlet to jig up some fresh bait.  We loaded up and finished the day at Carolina Beach Inlet.  As we arrived we joined about 30 other boats that had the same idea as we did.  We caught one shark and we were growing more concerned about our chances of catching a good fish as the day wound down.  Finally, with about one hour of fishing time left, the right rigger took of screaming.  We knew we had a good fish.  The team reacted with quickness and within the blink of an eye all the lines were cleared and we were after this monster.  He headed straight offshore stripping a hundred yards of line off at a time.  As we battled the fish everything seemed to be going right until we got a look at him; a six foot hammerhead.  Screwed by another hammerhead.  We cut the line and finish the day thinking how those quick sharks had fooled us again.

June 16

We checked out again at 6 a.m. from the Masonboro checkout and started our run towards the Cape Fear Shipping Channel.  We made good time to the channel, and the plan was to head out toward the Shark Hole, about 18 miles off the beach.  As we started the journey through the inlet, we quickly realized that the Shark Hole would not be fished by us today.  The wind had kicked up a pretty steady chop that would surely destroy our precious baits, so we changed our plans and started fishing the channel, hoping that a smoker would soon lighten our hearts.

After fifteen minutes of fishing the first reel sounds the unforgettable sound of another shark.  Two and a half hours later, the reels still remain quiet with the exception of one more shark.  We did however have a good laugh when I noticed that the boat beside us, a 26' Island Runner, had tied a shark down to their engine bracket.  Occasionally they would walk to the transom and poke it, it would flop around, and they would go about their business.  I don't really know what they were doing, but I imagined that it had something to do with being fed up with catching sharks during a king tournament.

Throughout the morning the seas had begun to lay down a little, so we picked up and moved a few more miles offshore to the Lighthouse Rock.  Before we could really get underway, we lost our live well, with all the baits, and the VHF died.  Could anything else go wrong?  We finally arrived at Lighthouse Rock with a couple of baits that survived the trip and fished this area for about 3 hours. We had marked plenty of bait, but there were no fish to be found until the ribbonfish on our downrigger was crushed.  Again, the curse of the GWKMT showed as the wire broke just after the strike.  We leave the Lighthouse Rock, wondering what we might have missed.

So off we go again to the Shipping Channel, waiting for that last second king that would send us running to the scales.  We waited, and waited, and waited until there was no hope for us left.  We stowed our gear, very tired, very defeated, and feeling very unlucky.  Two years in a row, we failed to weigh a fish, and the Greater Wilmington King Mackerel gods have still cast their curse.

June 12

Took my brother and Chef James Bain from the Harvest Moon Food and Spirits in Wilmington out for a little fun fishing a couple miles off of Wrightsville beach.  We left the dock about 9:45 and had lines in the water by 10:20.  Before we could get the third line out the downrigger rigged with a ribbonfish took of screaming.  Twenty minutes later a 30# king rolled up beside our boat.  What a great start to the day and a great boost of enthusiasm for the upcoming Greater Wilmington KMT.  A couple of teenagers later and dinner ate a chub on the downrigger.  The first cobia of the year was about 20# and damn tasty.  It's real convenient when you take a couple a chefs out fishing to come home to a good meal.  We are excited about the day, which was short since the chefs had to be back ashore by 12 to go to work, but a great day of pre-fishing for the upcoming tournament.

May 29- June 11

Took the boat to the shop for a little work.  Finally getting the electronics box and electronics installed.  More reports to come as soon as I get the boat back.

May 27

Left the dock a little earlier today headed back to the same area as yesterday.  Fished the 10-mile rock and boated a 22lbs king in the first 15 minutes.  Good king for this time of year, and a little upset we didn't fish the Swansboro Tournament.  Picked up a couple of smaller kings in the 10lbs range and then moved to the 12-mile rock.  All of the kings were caught on the surface with a black and purple skirt.  Saw a lot of flying fish, which was a little surprising for this time of year, and missed a school of about 5 cobia.  Overall a good weekend.  We are really happy with the boat and are looking forward to the upcoming season.  Seas ran about 2-3 in the morning, but a stiff wind increased the chop during the afternoon.

Other reports that I heard over the weekend are that the pogies have begun to move into the Cape Fear.  Had a friend that fished off Ocean Isle load up on Spanish mackerel.

Pictures and videos will be coming soon.

May 26

Went on the maiden fishing voyage of the new "Reel Estate" and did rather well.  Left Masonboro Inlet around 8:00 a.m. and started heading towards the 10 mile rock.  Without electronics, we decided to fish a nice slick around the "Walk don't Run" area about 8.5 miles out.  Picked up six small kings, the largest around 12lbs.  Released most, but did keep two for dinner.  We used cigar minnows for bait and found that our naked rigs did better than any color.  Seas ran about 4-6 feet.

May 24

Fished the Gulf Stream today on the "Scot-Free," a 31-foot Cabo captained by Joe McLeod.  Left the dock in a thick fog bank but managed to have our lines in the water by 8:30.  Started just off the Same Ole area and picked up a couple of wahoo and yellowfin tuna.  The wahoo didn't have much size to them, but the yellowfin pushed about 45lbs.  Moved to the Same Ole area and found schools of tuna busting the surface, but couldn't manage to get any strikes.  Ended up catching seven dolphin including a couple of gaffers.  Had one billfish in our baits, but missed the strike.  Overall a good day, one of the calmest I've seen in a while.

May 11

Fished with Crawford out of Harker's Island.  What a perfect day for fishing! We got the lines in at around 8:30 and got our first hook up at 9:00, which turned out to be a peanut dolphin.  It stayed that way pretty much all day.  We had steady hook ups about every hour.  Not a really busy day fishing, but steady.  We fished all around "Big Rock" area and worked north.  We found the prettiest weed line in 60 fathoms that I have ever seen.  I have would have bet my life that it was holding some nice fish...I'm glad I didn't bet!  We pulled nothing out of there but a bunch of weed on our 'hoo.  However, there were four blue marlin in some guy's baits and two blues got hooked.  Ended up the day with 7 small dolphin and a very small yellowfin, they were small but they sure tasted good!  Pics will be posted as soon a Brandon gets them.  Also, Tony and Mike fished Saturday and though they got beat to death they managed to get 11 Spanish between Little River up to Shallotte Inlet. 

Posted by:  Ryan