Succession Tuna & Marlin Oregon Inlet, NC Fishing Charters

Well summer time means tournament fishing on the Warrior. We are rigged to make things happen this year and with new wheels that raise fish; we are stoked. Headed out day one and foundour selves around 20 miles from the bite. Finally get there and start seeing fish. I hooked the first, second and third fish which the third one came unglued after 5 mintues of fighting for some reason. We have two more bites that were mistery, but tell tale signs of what we wanted. Glad I did not miss them.

Day two we start a half hour late and lines in after a short flurry which end as soon as we got there. Finally around 11 AM Steve upstairs sees a small white or sail on teaser. Steve misses him twice than it gets on the left long before I can get to it while holding the flat. Drop back and the line starts pulling off and hand the rod to only have it come unglued. Dam! Then we get a nice 60# YFT on a tld for 30 minute fight. Then all hell beaks loose with a couple of 200# class big eyes attacking two TLD's. 3 hours of fighting and getting one to see the how big it was only to finally have the line part. Oh well.

Headed out in some serious rain out of PC. Made our way to the warm water outside the 800 line for some more Blue Marlin fishing. Started 150 fathoms in some real blue water and trolled to the deep. Hook up instantly with some 10 to 12 pound gaffers. Heading to the deep I saw a pocket of rip line and Joe went for it. After we crossed it we hook up on nice 15 to 20 pounders and the we see a monster bull go airborn. Clear lines and the fight is on. Get four gaffers to the baot and then see the Bull. Man what a stud. Sink the gaff in it and bring it over the side with everyone High Fiving. We all guessed between 39 and 45 pounds. Turns out to be a 58.8# Gaffer for little Frank' Third citation fishing with me this year and all three were stud fish shatering the citation size or wieght. Then we have a Blue Marlin whack at the lure in the long when the chaos was happening which did not come tight. Later had another make a quick pass on the mackeral and disappear. Also Had anice Blue jump right next to the boat 25' on port side. Cool stuff. Then we run a few miles and setback out. Joe did not tell me we were running to where Big Eyes and Giant Blue Fins were being caught. See the explosions going off and have to change out the tld's for something bigger. We never made it into the tight circles they were doing so no joy and we were at the tail end of the bite. Headed home in calm seas. Great day with a nice catch of dolphin and sightings of Blue Marlin.

Back down next weekend for the journey back to VB.

Sat

Flat seas and a nice change up on the 780 line overboard. Lines in and we start catching nice size gaffers immediately up to 22#'s. Constant pick. Around noon all hells breaks loose when I see a REAL NICE Blue come in on my short rigger mackeral. It looked like a submarine coming up behind the mackeral. This was a moster. She piles in on her and GAME ON! She starts ripping up the water and is to big to comeout of the water. She makes a mad dash for the boat like she wants to join us and then b-lines away. In the chair we go and disappears. She was in the mid 800 if not bigger.  Several times we had shots at bailing some gaffers, but we were marlin fishing. Great day with 12 gaffers and 7 baffers.

Sun

Pretty much the same with Gaffers and baffers. This day had a surprise for any tempted blue ones. Had a nice Dolphin collored Joe Ye out guess what she piled in on? Left Long, Blue marlin!!! She came in gun the boat and set the hook solid! Little Frank in the chair and she is a 112 to 115 inchers. Real nice Blue. Ended the day with 8 Gaffers and 14 baffers.

Tue

Joe let me run the boat to take some customers on Tuesday. Started out in the deep on the 580, but nothing but a bonita bites getting three to the boat. Was a nice Flat spot of them which I worked for an hour to no avail. Slow pickn's so I ran to where I saw a temp break. Get there and 79.2 to 77.7 break. Start catching Gaffers, Baffers and bailers. Then a 200# Blue one comes in on several baits and finally hits the 80 wiht a Pink Express/Horse combo. Lock her up and game on! A minute later she spits the bait. She had it side ways in her mouth just holding it. Dam Three trips three Blue Marlin ones raised. Total of 150#'s of dolphin meat for the crew and two small tunas.

Well we had plans of taking the 50' 2001 Hatteras named the Warrior to the Big Rock tournament Saturday and fishing all this week, but the plans fell thru. So Joe (Owner) decided we should leave the boat in Pirates Cove Marina in Oregon Inlet, NC for month. I have been fishing with Joe for the last four seasons doing the tournament circuit. I am excited to do it again this year with a great owner. Ok now back to the report:

Saturday:

Headed out in flat calm conditions around 6:30 AM. Arrived to a nice weed line where hundreds of boats were already working the line hard. We steadily picked at 5 to 8 pound dolphin all day. Were really looking for some billfish, but no joy. Ended the day with 20 or so and many bites. Had a great time with a really good group of guys.

Sunday:

Joe had three of his employess down for some R & R on the Warrior. Headed out in some sloppy 4 to 5 footers once offshore. Man it was bumpy out there and was hard to stay dry. We went deep to find the big temp break and found it with a scattered weedline. We started picking at 15 to 18 pound dolphin most of the day and then a monster comes on the left long and then hits the shotgun as well. Well Joe is the only one up top and fighting a fish and Charles is below fighting the same fish, but no driver. So I start runing up and down the latter to drive the boat and clear lines knowing this is a nice fish. Remember it is short 4 to 5 footers. So finally get the fish close and run down and stick it. Man what a nice dolphin at 41#. Get set back out and catch a couple 8 pounders and then out of a group of pilot whales comes another real nice dolphin. Hits the long and misses, I drop back hook up and then the fish spits the hook (You could see it come out of his mouth) then Joe says "I Haveit"! and this times passes the rod down. Fight the fish and right at the transome the leader breaks with the fish about 2 foot down. Everyone is bumbed to see this nice fish start swimming away. Hold on there fish. I have a 6 foot gaff and reach out and grab that sucker for a nice 33#er. That ended our day. After getting to the cooler water the seas layed out for a slick ride home, but man was it hot. We ended with a dozen real nice 8 to 20 pounders with two more at 41 and 33 pounds for one citation for Charles!

Headed out with Chad Bradshaw and friends for a day of offshore fishing. Headed out to some real bumpy seas which caused us to change our course from 65 mile run to the change to a water finger 42 miles out. Man these long runs out of OI are killing me. Chad friend says he would much rather catch one Tuna than several Mahi. Lines in and we get our first bite which is a nice 40# YFT. Then things slowed for about an hour or so when a real nice Blue Marlin comes on the long rigger. She starts getting it and see her go airborn twice. Went backwards in 4 to 5 footers for over two miles. We finally get Chad's first Blue Marlin to the leader and it makes a run. Get her again and she makes a run under the boat while Frank holds the leader trying to keep her from doing that. Released Blue Marlin. She was real nice. We continue to troll to hook up on a couple more small tuna. Then Chad says he wants to jump in the water to cool off. Next thing I know they come out with bathing suits ready to go. So we reel everything in and they go for a swim. Man I kind of wished I would had to.

We went over to a tilefish hole I know of and we begin catching nice tiles to 8 pounds to finish off our day with 17 for the table. Actually had a couple of nice triples on instant drops.

Oh yeah they had several banana's on board, but that did not stop us!

Headed out with Woody and some of his friends for a day of action. Winds looked like they would stay under 15 knots making for a decent day (Not). Headed out in the dark to catch a couple crab pots in my wheels. Back off hard thinking I got them off. Seem to be running good so off we go. Head out to the 700 where fish were caught the day before only to get out there and run 10 miles head sea to a small bite which died as soon s it started. Everyone trolled around for hours with nothing SO I tell folks I will head North and take a look. By the time we get there things start looking up down South on the cooler side. Turn around and have to run head see to the grounds. Get there and troll around with no success and can hear something hitting my rudder after a while. Well deploy the Kite and we go over a mark and watch fish blow up on it with success. Finally get over the good mark and watch as 10 large BFT site under it and try and try and try and finally hooked up!! FISH ON!! Fight it for a little while and get a nice 68" 187#er in the boat for our NO SKUNKY! Back out and can hear that darn noise. Get over a great mark and watch them blow up again and HOOKED UP. Fight the fish for a while only to pull off. It is getting late so pull in lines and go to head home and there is a terrible vibration due to something on my port motor. So it is time to go swimming. In I go and spend the next hour fighting 3 to 4 foot 5 second chop bouncing us up and down trying to clear several lines from the wheel. Finally get most of it off and run home in rough short chop. Not our best day but the guys were stoked with this monster BFT! Also does not help having 20ft of 2 different nylon ropes smacking the rudder all day and dragging behind the boat.

I was going to fish Saturday but need to clear my wheels and work on some pumps and clear the pooper pump out line (YUKKKKKKK). It sounded like it was a banner day Saturday, but glad I got things fixed.

Till next time.

What a day of missed opportunities and surprises. Headed out to slick rolling seas till we hit the warm water where it bumped up. Lines in at the 590 and after getting lines out get a mark and call down when 6 of the 8 lines out go down. We hold on to three nice 40# class YFT. Circle around a couple of times to get 5 bites and hold on to one more nice one. Most bites are just behind the hook, dam! There was a great bite about 5 miles North of us with the Fleet on Big Eyes, BFT, YFT, Mako’s… Next thing I hear the flat pop from the tower and Lee (Mate) jigs the flat and hooked up! Put Melvin in the chair and the fish comes quickly to the boat LIT UP! First Lee calls a Wahoo, but it has a fin and I think it is a lit up Mako, then look and see it I see it is a MARLIN! Lee gets it and we have an Atlantic Spearfish in the 50# class, which is a nice one. If you are not familiar with this fish it is because they are rare and even more rare this time of year for any billfish.

We get 4 bites a third time hold on to one on the spreader bar, which gets broken as we get the fish in. Man that is my B/W Wanchese bar! So we drop our spread to 5 lines due to the BFT opportunity. We troll around hooked up boats and with all the kite bites think about breaking mine out, when we go over a nice mark and we drop the jigs. Miss one bite then Little Frank hooks up with a fish that before we know it has us down to the mono backing in no time flat. All we can do is charge backwards as fast as possible to gain line and try to keep from other cutting us off. This fish stayed on top of the water doing what ever it wanted. We backed down for a mile in a half before getting it up and down with half a spool. This was at 11:30 AM. We go thru everyone twice and Big John was on the rod for 2 and a half hours. Finally at 3:45PM and 6 miles of chasing a fish that we could not budge from its pattern going up and down from 130 to 80 feet up and down. I tell the guys it is late and the wind and time are against us. It is time to get this fish up or break it off so Lee gets on the rod and we get the fish up finally to see a true SEA MONSTER. Lee hands the rod off and starts the leadering process and he gets it on top of the water on its side just behind the boat. Everyone looks and says HOLY $hit. Frank, Little Frank, Big John and Norman (Who Booked the Boat) all have seen and caught Giants on my boat this year and the class of fish we have been getting and Yell “This is a MONSTER”! and it was. It was well over the size of the 93" incher we released in size and legth and would not have fit threw my transom door. I would guess low to maybe mid 500's. While getting it to the door it makes one more run and breaks the leader as the knot grabs Lees gloves as he tries to hold on, for Successions 6th Giant and I mean GIANT for the year. We had to release it anyway and it did it healthy. I really hate letting these monsters go and swim free for some Japanese table someday. Battle ends at 4:05 PM and everyone is stoked and ready to head home.

Man what a great day of action and surprises!

Weather looked iffy with a hard NE wind blowing, but many forecasts showed it dieing out dramatically. Headed out at first light to find a little bumpy inlet and put her in a good direction to the fishing grounds made a very comfortable 23 knots. Started at the 480 in the deep at 9:30 AM lines in and with in 10 minutes found the fish tearing up the surface. Next came Left long, right long, left short, right short... We have two stay tight. Wayne Enroughty (Owns the 40 Cabo Bandit I run for him in the Summer) and his Son and Friend from ECU on board who were first up. Game on for these your whipper snappers. Wayne’s son was doing battle in full harness with a chair rod 80 and his friend relaxed (Yeah right) in the chair. After an hour and a half we get both fish to the boat. We keep Wayne’s sons’ fish which was dressed out at 150# and release his friends which was good amount bigger. By now the fish have settle down and not seeing them when we get a great mark and drop the jigs. Triple-header and break one off getting two nice 64 to 66 inchers. We see many schools of fish rolling lazily and surfing the waves, but not biting. We tried jigging on many marks, but no joy. Push out side a little and hook up on a BEAST! Craig is in the chair and this fish is not stopping and goes to the backing twice. We work this fish for a good hour and put the tape to it. It is one big fat 71"er. Man close to another Giant! We work hard for a couple hours for one more bite to get Wayne a fish. We get one bite on the troll but does not come tight. Finally get one more mark and it is the one we were looking for and drop to hook up on two. Wayne and Brett go to battle for about an hour. We get Wayne’s fish nice 120#er and then have Brett’s to the boat several times and finally makes a run under the boat and breaks off. An awesome day and the seas laid out at around 11:00AM with no wind.

We had several jigs get bent in half on the bite. Man these fish have strong mouths.

Had 3 fish on the troll and missed 4 bites. 4 on the jig with 6 or 7 missed bites and two break offs. One real nice 71"er which was really really fat for 7 fish.

 

 One proud Dad there!!!!!

What a great day and man fishing out of OI is still going OFF! Land on the 600 to find nothing that looked good so headed South a little and found some marks and fish rolling. Trolled around and did every trick to get them ot bite then went jigging on a mark and had a Triple headed of 170# to and get two to the boat after an hour and a half. John gets a 170#er and release a nice fat 69# 190# plus class fish. John wanted to fight a fish like this and he did. He never gave up and was half soaked in sweat while being refreshed by the crew. Troll till another mark and hook a double and get one to the boat after an hour. Troll to another mark and while jigging Little Frank comes up with some braid line and Lee (Mate) says there is a fish on it. So I back down to keep slack on the line so Lee can tie it to a reel. Frank fights it till his reel fills up. I get them to loosen the drag as I pull a 100 feet away. Then back down to get slack and tie it to another reel. Lee ties it off and back in business. 4 anglers, three different reels and we get the fish. It had a Red and White popper in its mouth. Real nice 170 to 200 pounder. Troll around and get a double hookup again and while fighting this fish Big John's Calastar rod breaks at 3rd eye. Little Frank continues to fight the fish for another 45 minutes with a broken rod to get another release of a 64". Man he did a good job on this fish. We get a couple more and we get ready to call the day when I see a huge scholl pop up about a 1/4 mile away with no one on it. Drive over it and drop again. Miss one bite and then John (Who fished on Fin Galley the day before and cuaght a 335#) hooks up with a SEA Monster. This fish had me backing down for over 2 and a half miles. At times when it would come to the top to catch some sun had us going 7 knots just to keep from spooling us. John had max drag on htis fish which brought it to the top several times. We had eyes on this fish just swimming on top catching sun not 20' form the boat 3 times. I came by the transome and almost filled up the 14' 10" beam length. The crew feed Jim water. Lee broke out the first aide kit to bandade and tape his blisters. This was the largest fish I had seen all year by far. Lee and I estimated in the mid 400'# at 90 plus inches easily. We made the leader once and then after 2 plus hours the braid gave out. We had to release this one anyway and she was full of life when it swam away. It was 4:45PM and we headed in after a great day of fishing. I saw several folks out there and heard you all on the radio, but my upper helm radio is on the fritz.

Ended with 6 real nice 170# to 200# pounders and ONE HUGE SEA MONSTER

We spent over 7 and a half hours in nuetral or going backwards yesterday fighting fish. AWESOME!!!

What was real awesome was watching these fish SKY and roll on bait all day.

 

Another awesome March day of fishing. We had several bites on YFT getting two right off the bat and then went 4 for 7. After that we spent the rest of the day fighting BFT one was a triple-header with a two-hour battle by Big John on a 71" fish. We ended up releasing 8 BFT. We pulled three fish off and jigged 3 that came to the boat. We had one triple-header which we were able to get all three to the boat with the smallest being 67". We kept one that Brad dressed out to make sure the meat was SUSHI quality at 166# and was 69" long. Fish had two 10+ pound bluefish with some bunker in them. Real nice fish that would have pushed 190 or so.

We had two fathers who had fished with me before on these BFT over the last couple of years who wanted their sons to experience this awesome fishery. Frank's son Frank caught the 69" dressed #166 and Chris's son brought in a 30# YFT and a 68" BFT. Really awesome to see Fathers spending quality time with their sons!

You would be amazed how different these BFT are when they are dressed and packed with ice. I have had the pleasure of having some really great mates work with me who take the time to make sure the meat of these BFT are prime quality.

Saturday

Had a buddy who had some friends who were dieing to get out and catch one of these monsters. So played hookie and took a couple of my customers out as well for a day of PULLAGE. Setup outside the 100fathom curve on the 460 and nothign. Did smell where soemthing was eating near by. Picked up and ran three miles and foudn the mother load. one bait in two baits and POW!!! Hooked up and time to do battle. Dave was onthe rod for 45 minutes and the fish broke off. back to troling and POW!! Again and again and again for the next few hours. Had them rolling everwhere and the fish are so big they kept missing the baits left and right. We hooked into a 30# YFT (Surprise) and then two 80# class BigEye tuna. Then came the Monster 84.5" 304.5 pound BFT for my Giant Bluefin for 2010. We released 12 fish and had bites all day. Eberyone received citations with one other BFT being 110#. Great job Dave on your fish of a lifetime.

Had a group of folks come from Maryland to do some jigging for these nice BFT. One gentleman had written several books about jigging and made his own jigs. These guys came ready for battle. We trolled till we found the fish wiht a multiple hookup. As we were fighting the trolled fish these guys dropped jigs but did not have luck. Spoke with anther buddy boat who was jigging and stated we need to slow our jig retreive down. Our guys did and found fish down at 300ft mark. TRIPLE Hook-up with nice class of BFT withone on the rod for 2 hours. We had three double header jig bites. We released 7 on the jig that day and 4 on the troll keeping a #177 pounder.

The fishing for Bluefin tuna has been real good off of Hatteras and moving up towards Oregon Inlet. I had a group of guys who wanted to get in on the Tackle Busting 120 to 225 pound BFT action. We headed out in reel nice conditions head down the coastline to the 250 line. Arrived in to find the tuna marks and slicks. It was game on from that point forward we had over 20 bites with several break offs, pull offs and releases. We had a real nice surprise when Big John hooked up on a real nice 166# Big Eye Tuna. Everyone on board received release citations for releasing several fish from 60 to 70 inches long. We also kept a 133# BFT for our BFT for the day.

Well fishing has been tough for us lately with many blow days and rough waters when we can get out. I am hoping 2010 will be a make up year.

Headed out on Wednesday with a make trip of folks due to a good weather window. Well that is what we thought. Turned out to be ROUGH and Rainy. Set lines out on a body of water that produced real well Tuesday and found NOTHING. Picked up and ran South to another body of water where some boats were catching fish just as we get there the bite slows. We picked at them all day and manage 4 YFT and a 50 Mako Shark. We had several other bites that disappeared after hooking up.

Well I am of to Florida with the WARRIOR for some Winter Time Sailfishing and to look for Joe’s New Ride! I think we will return with a 52 to 61 foot sportfisherman.

Headed out on Sunday with a walk on crew for some offshore fishing. Started out on the 320 line in 100 Fathoms and found life everywhere. Fish rolling and GRASS everywhere. Man it was tough with fish airing out, but hard to keep the grass off the lines for the fish to eat. Finally get a couple YFT and a few False Albacore tuna. Then a nice gaffer of 21#’s. Then a 250# Blue Marlin comes in for some excitement. She put on a show before breaking off on a tuna rig. We hooked up with another boat for some Blackfin jigging for 5 more tuna for the day. We also had two Wahoo bites which we lost on mono.

Well after not fishing the overnighter this year because the Warrior's owner commited to a Myrtle Beach golf trip. I sat at the dock working frantically to putting Succession back together to try our hand on Sunday for some Marlin fishing. The bite was not like it had been unless you were the first one on them. Best action was 6 whites. Capt Ben and some friends jumped on board for the trip and the weather held. Started out on the 490 in 50 fathoms and pushed to the 480 and 100 fathoms and a couple whites comes in on the teaser after several shots we get one hooked up for Jason's first White. Then a Skippy and then the bite died. Ran South to another bite in the deep. Have several shots, hook three more and pull one off in a tangle with another angler. Jason, Rudy and Capt Ben come home with laundry and smiles.

Great day on the water and Succession ran like the girl I remember and the new cutains by Mike's Marine Canvas are AWESOME and leak proof.

4 for 7 on Whites
1 Skippy

Well after finally dialing in this boat and our pretty good showing at the Pirates Cove Tournment. We thought we had a crew to do battle and get back in a leading position. We decided to fish the first day and headed out to the 750 line off of NC. Lines in and seem to have landed a little North of the bite. Finally get our shot and go 2 for 6 on a combination of White Marlin and Sailfish. Funny story was when i was making lunch for the owner and his crew one of the anglers opens the salon door and says, "Kevin we had a bite". Well it was not one but 3 sailfish in the spread. I ran out with 3 plates of KFC with Mashed potatoes and Coleslaw to find out I have to rerig the spread and teasers. Dam the luck.

Day two:

Start where we left off and immediately I hook a Sailfish and we miss a second. This fish took off and got 300 yards on us before pulling the hook. DAM! Lines back in and we continue to have solid shots on fish all day. I was lucky enough to go 3 for 3 on the shots I had. We needed only 2 more fish to win the daily prize ofr that day. We went 3 for 9 and jumped two off of sails and whites. Oh well next year.

Ended in 21 out of 51 boats.

Virginia Beach Tuna Tournament 2009 on Warrior!

Ran the pit for Joe on the “Warrior” for the VBTT out of Rudee Inlet. We had our crew of great folks and rigged for the monster Blue Fin Tuna. As we are heading to the 26 mile Hill we hit something which caused the 50’ Hatteras to make a huge thunk sound twice. I look up at Joe and tell him we hit something. Then see no steam from the Port side motor and Joe shuts it down. We find out we have lost a wheel completely. Joe and I look at each and decide to head to the fishing ground anyway. We get there around 10:30 AM after most have caught a fish or two. Well we fished for 3 hours and Joe decided to head for the barn due to it being 5 hours away. So we headed home on one engine. Zero bites for our accomplishment. We are now trying to find a set of wheels and pulling the boat.

Dave and some of family went out with us for the day offshore fishing. Dave who fishes with me several times a year wanted to try tile fishing because I had given him some and loved the taste. With Tuna biting we headed out below the Point and lines in. Did not take long to find the bonito flipping and get hooked dup with a single bosco TUNA and one pull off! Line back in and get a nice double with another bosco and a 20 pounder. The sea conditions were slick calm which made easy spotting of skying tuna and flipping tunas. Trolling on the tip we get a Wahoo on the flat which slips to the planer rod. It did not trip the #12 planer but I noticed the rod tip was not acting right. Chip (OI Mate) thinks I am crazy and brings in the planer trips it and there is a 32# Wahoo! Dave wanted to catch his first Wahoo and we got for him! Troll around and get another 20 pounder and then get a double bosco with one not coming tight but get a 63# er! Dave's son Ben was on the rod and did a great job getting this fish in. At 11:45 AM Dave says he wants to go bottom fishing. We were in the game with tuna all around us and we were getting bites on the troll with no problem, but hey conditions were great so off we go looking. We stopped at several spots with no joy running as far as 9 miles before finding the honey hole. We start catching real nice tiles and sea bass hand over foot. Had our limit of tiles and 16 sea bass by just after 2 and headed for the barn. Dave’s brother and sister in-law with their son from Denmark had a ball and she was catching big tile and sea bass 3 and 4 at a time!

5 for 7 on YFT

1 for 2 Wahoo

25 tilefish

16 Sea Bass

 Ron (Owner Southern Belle) asked me to run the boat for him on Saturday the Fourth of July! He wanted to fish the 100 and 100 line. We ran out in great conditions and land in what looks to be the Mother Load! I see a huge pod of Two Tones with Frigate birds hovering all over them. Get lines out and work them for two hours with Bill Richardson to get one nice 40# YFT and a drifter bite that does not come tight. No one got a bite out of these guys and I cannot believe it. I found them from 300 fathoms to 40 fathoms in big pods! We pick up a few free range gaffers and one that was under a clean styro foam plate. Pays to check every piece of trash out there when it is slow. After listening to little success for most out where we were I pick up and run to the Hot Dog for a chance at a Bluefin. Well I can here on the radio that there was a good BFT bite somewhere up North from us but stayed on the Hot Dog and picked up a nice 35# BFT which Ron's son reeled in. What was nice is it was his Birth Day, yep 4th of July, and he catches a nice BFT!

Well off for a day and then back to OI for a charter on Succession!

Joe (Warrior Owner) talked on Thursday that Friday might be a great day to head offshore. So he put some friends together for some VB Offshore fishing. We head out to the 21 Fathom Fingers to check out the grounds where bait has been and some marlin were seen and caught earlier in the week. Well to say the grounds were dead is an understatement. We troll across Wayne’s World and towards the deep. We did get a couple gaffers off a buoy, but things were really slow. I switched out the spread a little just in case we found some billed creatures. Well around 2:00 we have our first encounter. A mystery fish crashes the Black/Purple Sea Star on the flat then Tim gets the rod as I ask him to hold it high to see what it was. Sure enough I see a white come behind it and move the naked flat over and get Tim to bring in the sea star. She comes in and I get her hooked up for Joe (Guest) and "Game on". This was a real nice white and after a good fight she comes to the boat. She was a good 60 to 65# class White. Lines back in and I notice the sea has come to life with frigates and turns all around us. Joe stays in the area and 15 minutes later a second White comes in on the Express on the Short as try to move the naked over the White goes to the Blue/White sea star in the short shot gun. Joe drops back and it looks like we have our second White when it comes unglued. Get another gaffer and head home. Great day on the water with some real great folks.

Had a full walk on crew but only 3 showed up. So instead of cancelling the trip I went anyway! We left about 45 minutes later than expected and decided with all the boat traffic and the seas to head North to check out a temp break. Well we land up near the 900 line on a nice slick with several tuna birds pecking at it. We work it for an hour to get one small tuna bite. Troll around looking for some life and get a couple gaffer bites and in the box. After finding nothing I decide to run 15 miles to where the fish have been and fight the traffic. We put lines in thunderstorms and rain, but there is tuna marks on the fish finder. I drill the area for and hour and get our first bite which is a nice 50# tuna. We circle around and get a couple gaffers and then with seas building we get 4 on and get three to the boat. A long day and everyone is happy with our catch and we head in with 4 nice 50 to 64 pound tuna and 4 Gaffers!

Mac and some friends were down from up north with their families for a vacation in Corolla and wanted to go catch some fish offshore. AS one said, “We want something Big”. We headed out first thing ahead of the fleet to a nasty 5 to 6 foot slop in the Inlet and made it threw with little issues. Once outside the inlet we ran in a nice swell and smooth seas. Get to our spot on the 630 line where there was a slight line and before lines out we have our first Tuna on! Comes to the boat and it is a BOSCO 55 pounder! Then we get a skippy tuna with the fleet pilling in on us by now things slow down. We trolled around with 40 to 50 boats in this area all day and had several multiple hook ups with nice 16 to 25 pound gaffers and 45 to 60 pound tunas. The green stick boats seemed to be doing well and same with us. I saw 8 schools of nice yellow fin tuna schools but there was tons of pressure on them with all the boats. We had plenty of shots at fish and made the best of it. My fish box and deck box was full becuase of these nice size fish.

We had 14 tuna bites pulling off 3 at the side of the boat, pulled off a couple and missed a couple.  Ended the day with getting 3 out of 4 tuna bites all 55 to 60 pounders! We caught 7 nice fat Yellowfin Tuna, 3 Skipjack tuna with several nic Gaffer Dolphin to 25 pounds!

Mac thanks for a great day and I hope Bill gets his back massaged after getting his wish for big fish!

I had the pleasure of fishing with Mr Godwin and his best friend. These two guys are in the retried prime of their lives and just wanted to spend some time together on the water. So we headed out a little later than expected and I asked them what kind of music they wanted to listen to. Mr Godwin says channel, 50’ music. When I turned it on they lit up and started having a great time singing and tapping their feet to the Oldies, but Goodies. Shoot I even knew some of the songs and started singing with them. We made it out to the stream and found some schools of skippies and thought it would be game on, but only managed a couple YFT bites out of it. Then things slowed and the fleet spread out up and down the chain. We picked away at nice gaffers and missed another tuna bite. These guys had a ball and at 1:00 PM said “let’s go home so we can cook up some of our catch.” We headed in with a couple nice tuna and real nice catch of gaffers. Can’t wait to head back out again.

Joe (Owner of the Warrior) asked me to bring his 50’ Hatteras around to Rudee Inlet to start our 2009 offshore season out of Rudee Inlet, Virginia. There has been an awesome tuna bite for the last week when the fish were found off of VA, but the run is about 70 miles. After Joe meets us at the dock after bringing the boat around and cleaning it up, we head to grab some dinner. A couple of boats are heading out and the condition look to be perfect. Joe says, “Lets Go”! We head out in perfect conditions to find life everywhere: Porpoises, Whales, Turtles, Sunfish… Woow! Troll around and get our first bite a 12# Gaffer Dolphin, NICE! Then Joe puts us on the fish and GAME ON. We are catching YFT 1, 2, 3 & 4 at a time. They were all over the teasers and I started bringing line sin and putting them in front of the teasers and catching them off the teasers while they were there. I at one time pulled 6 fish off the teaser during one hook up. Man it was awesome!!! At 1:00 PM we had caught our limit of 18 fish, released 7, pulled off 6 or 7 fish and missed 8 bites. Ran home in gorgeous flat calm seas looking at more life and even saw a school of Redfish the size of a football field.

Now that is Catching!

Headed out in gorgeous seas with a customer and some friends for a day offshore fishing. We put lines in over some real nice marks in 50 fathoms and can see some boats just outside of us working an area inside the change. A buddy of mine on the Point Runner finds the skippies busting water which are holding Yellow Fin Tuna. We are a mile away and troll out to work with him and Skilligal. We get covered up several times making for chaos and fish in the box. Things slow as we get more of a crowd. We work to the South getting consistent bites of YFT and Skippies. Then we have a sailfish come in and get Jim’s brother his first Saifish of his life. We had a great day with 14 YFT, dozens of Skippies and a real nice Sailfish release. Awesome day with great results for Succession!

Rough day in an Aquarium 6/6!

Had Rusty and his friends out for a day of offshore fishing. Well as you would know it the weather saw not what they said it would be and the wind never backed off. We headed south of the Point and put lines in to find scattered grass and bumpy seas. Lines in and shagged grass for a couple hours with no success and moved back inside and started getting some marks. Worked the marks real hard and get a couple gaffers and miss a few bites. Next we get a double header of nice YFT and Rusty gets his nice 45# class YFT while the other pulls off behind the boat. Poor Danny who did not feel well got worked hard by these feisty YFT. We troll towards the North in marks and see Pilot & Finnor Whales and Porpoises all over the place. Get a few Dolphins and then a huge bite on the planer which eats the planer not the bait. Darn. Get up North where there was a nice bite in the AM and find Acres and Acres of Pilot Whales and Porpoises and a slow pick. We trolled around hoping for a bite in the crowd. Rusty wanted to try deep dropping so we picked up and deep dropped and had no real success even after trying 3 different spots. Did get two nice tiles to end our day.

Had Doug and some of his friends book us for a day of fishing and I found some fill-ins. We headed out first thing heading for a nice break down South on the 400 line. We hit it with only two other boats working it and find that there is really nothing on it but a couple of gaffers and other boats are having the same results. So we move out deeper for another break and find a scattered weed line and picked at a couple more gaffers. We move back in on the other line and mention we are close to a grouper, tile and sea bass hole. So we go deep dropping for an hour and a half and wax some since tiles, groupers and sea bass. Had a large jewfish or wreckfish on for 25 minutes which eat an 8 pound tilefish before letting go just below the boat. Get back to trolling on the original line and pick at some more gaffers. Troll by a line grass and Keegan says he saw something boil on the left long. There were a couple boats in line behind us so I could not turn on them right away. I finally was able to turn back on it I slowed up in the tower to see some gaffers. Break out the bailing gear and start bailing 12 to 20 pounders and pulling the hooks and breaking them off. We hooked 14 fish but only got 6 before they disappeared. Troll back inside and get another gaffer and miss a Wahoo on a short bite. Ended the day with a great catch and a box full of meat.

-                      7 Snowy Grouper to 24 lbs

-                      21 Real nice Tilefish

-                      7 Real Nice Sea Bass

-                      0 for 1 on Big Jewfish/Wreckfish

-                      12 for 24 on Gaffers to 26 lbs

-                      0 for 1 Wahoo bites

Headed out with a great crew of folks Billy, Jim, Chris and friends. We ran about 15 miles further North to check out some water I saw n the temp shot. We left 30 minutes later than we were supposed to, but still passed the fleet on our way out at 28 knots. Seems we were not alone with several OI and PC fleet boats headed the same direction. We hit the water and the guys kept running. It looked to fishy to pass up and put lines in. We start getting bites right away with nice gaffer dolphin all day. We had doubles, triples, quads-riples… all day long with over 30 gaffers caught with just as many bites. We saw fish all day long with only 15 minutes on no action at a time. Really great crew and good to have Billy back on board.

I later heard this water had been worked over for two days straight and it was blending back in and as of today is GONE! Darn.

Can you say Dolphin!

Headed out with a great crew of folks for a day of offshore fishing in NC. Headed out a little early to beat the fleet out and managed to get lines out on the 550. The seas were 3 to 4 but had no backs on them making us slow down to 17 knots for the last 15 miles. Lines in on a rip and start getting bites. The fish have been worked over pretty good and are short biting. Get a couple gaffer bites and then a nice 30# Wahoo, YEAH! Kept working this line for several more miles back and forth till there were over 65 targets in a 3 mile radar sweep on the same line. Pick up and run to another batch of water and find some two tone dolphin but nothing in them and head to wards the water and get a more dolphin bites and see Green stickers catching tuna here and there. We did get a double header tuna bite, but never came tight. So after talking with a couple buddy boats who were not getting bites we moved inside for a limit of nice portly tilefish! Had a full box and a half of fish.

Day 1

Headed out to a body of water just North of the Inlet. The weather was half way decent and was not Raining and Rough! Lines in and we start seeing fliers (Flying Fish) and blue water. Then came the Dolphin in on big Marlin Plugs. We saw dozens of them attacking plugs all day and had a small Blue Marlin come in and whack at our left long to no avail. Caught 8 dolphin all over 20#'s.

Day 2

Headed out in condition not even suited for a fish. ROUGH AND RAINING which means an A$$ kicken. Head out an hour late due to everyone did not think it would be fishable, but luckily I was already up and raised everyone to fish. Lines in an hour late and fished about 5 miles North of same area we fished the day before. After hearing several fish hooked up we run to the spot and lines in and start catching 20 to 25 gaffers and they start eating my mackerals and horse ballyhoo. Went threw half a case of Horse Ballyhoo and 7 Mackerals becuase of dolphin. Never had a sniff, but I will tell you a circle hook mackeral is a swimming machine.

Day 3

Rough, Rough, Rough is all I can say and oh yeah DOWN Pours from storms all day. We had several boats follow us and watched there shafts turning on some waves and they were 48 footers. Lines in 35 minutes late in fliers and grass. We had a great spread of Horse Ballyhoo, Mackerals and a couple Marlin Plugs. had another Dolphin day and actually had a HUGE Dolphin come screaming in from about 50' from our spread and looked to hit left long when one of his harum beets him to the plug. So instead of a 40# dolphin we get a 24# female gaffer, DAM! That could have put us in some money. Man it was rough all week and I was beat.

Trip Home

Well we had a weather window and hoped to get under way early, but could not. We left 2 hours late and later paid for it. We ran inside to OI and came out into gorgous conditions until we got 10 miles from the VA border where we hit the cold front we hoped to beat. From there on we made 13 knots in rainy and rough conditions. Man that just topped of a week of A$$ Kicken. Thank God I am home and ready to get ready to fish this Memorial Day weekend on my boat. Should have some reports for you of catching some Tunas. They are here in OI and book your dates before they head North.

Had a great crew of friends and fellow Tidalfish anglers out for some Offshore Action. Well the weather man did as usual call the winds wrong. Head out in somewhat breezy conditions toward the Southern. As we get near the stream it BLOWS UP on us! 5 to 6 footers and 20 to 25 knot winds. Lines in and we start trolling to find slow conditions. We are close to a great Deep Drop whole. Lines in and we start catching Tile fish, Sea bass, Amberjack and real nice Snowy Grouper. We get a Over Heating alarm on the Portside Engine which causes me to start figuring it out, but I want the guys to continue fishing while I get it resolved. They do and catch more fish. We try trolling for YFT on our way in, but they have sounded.

30 + Tilefish

5 Nice Sea Bass

4 SNOWY GROUPER

2 Amberjack

What a Beautiful Day on the water with the Beck Family. I received a late call on Friday to see if I would take Rebecca and her family out for a day offshore. They could not find a boat in Hatteras due to the one they booked broke down. So I said I would take them. So we head out in really great calm seas, but a couple of the little ones did not feel good. So we hit the Gulf Stream and put lines in and it starts getting bumpy. With in minutes we have 5 gaffer bites and get 2 to the boat. One being a nice 22# Gaffer caught by the children’s Dad. Then I turned back to the spot and get a couple more. Rebecca was happy with the fish and wanted to get the kids back on land. So we headed back rather early, but everyone was happy. Even Ben her 8 year old son caught a real nice 12# dolphin. Man Ben was so stocked and so was his Dad.

Had Ben Reece and some of his budies come down for a bachelor charter. Ben has chartered with me several time and the last trip produced a 49# Striper for his secretary and many other large striper! So Ben told his guys be ready for some large fish. Just a little pressure and with the wind looking to blow up in the afternoon we new we needed to get it done. Headed out to the 525 on the edge due to Brad who was mating for me had commercial fished up on the 600 to 700 line the day before and said it was lifeless. The ride out was gorgeous till we hit the temp changes and it blew up as usual to a short 3 to 5 ft with 20 knot wind. No life so trolled North to look for BFT. Switched the gear to heavier leader and 80's. Get up North and find the BFT. Make a pass on the two tones with 5 rods out 5 rods down in some real sporty 5' breakers. Get all but two to the boat. Keep Johns fish which was a nice 145# BFT at 61". Man these fish were mean in deep warm water. Lines back in and get another double header immediately. With one staying tight for a release. Then up in the tower you can see nice schools of fish swimming in the waves. The crew is looking on and waiting for the next bite. Well after several schools on the move and not eating we move to another one and get a double with two short bites. Two more to the boat for releases and while fighting them we get marks like we had been looking for. We try jigging but with the waves pushing us and the fish trying to get under the boat, could not stay up and down for jigging. After that the guys were done and ready to start their night off. It was a great day and once again had a successful catch of nice 110 to 145 pound fish.

12 bites
6 to the boat
3 came unglued

Well it was time to take the boat South for the summer and had some partners who want to do some BFT fishing if we could find them. So headed out of VB with Garret on "Parley" at 3:30 Am and he was headed to the 500 line and we to the 400 line. Well the ride was great till we got of OI and then started hitting some nice swells and wind chop. It was on out side so we still made 25 knots without a bump. Put lines outside in 60 fathoms with some marks and get Tom to take the wheel while Rob (Play-nHooky) helps get us rigged up. Well after 15 minutes of trolling we only trolled for around 15 minutes after that. We got covered up with 8 rods down and then as we broke one off or released one we put lines back out. They were everywhere in the waves which were 6 to 8 with some bigger ones. Rob had never caught a tuna and he got one to release in the 120 pound class. All fish were in the 115 to 150 pound class. It was really cool when I saw a couple coming down the waves and told Rob to jig the naked flat and guess what! A 150 pound class BFT came screaming on top of the water from 30 ft away to snatch it. GAME ON. Rob caught 3 and fought several others. Everyone Tom, Frank, Anthony (Thank you for what you do for our country), Bobby (Good to see you since High School) and Rob had at least 5 fish to fight. We also missed 6 drifter bites.

These fish were mean in 72 degree water and the guys were on these fish an average of around 45 minutes. Back at Pirates Cove at 4:30 PM

Great day and was an awesome ride in outside of the stream. Oh yeah the inlet was pretty shallow and waves were breaking across it.

Caught/Released 11 fish. Broke/Pulled off 9. Kept a 117#er

What a day! We headed out in great seas and found some striper biting after catching & Releasing 25 fish we headed out to the Deep for some Extreme Deep Droppin! We got to my favorite hole and began nailing Black Belly Rose fish 3 and 4 at a time! Caught 40 of them we moved to a Blueline Tile hole and waxed 28 of them with 3 going for citations for the crew of Ryan, Eric and Brent. We did hook up on a Golden but lost it when the hook broke. Came back in and found some stripers as well for a nice limit as well. Awesome day and cannot wait to go again.

Great Day and thank you Weather Man for being wrong again! Headed out up the coast about 22 miles and found some nice class of fish. Man they were snappen with several times having 3, 4 and even a 7 rod spread go down. We even pulled out the light tackle spinning rods and wore them out.  Great day and back at Big Sam’s for lunch and drinks by 1:00PM. Awesome the wind staying down for use and the 60 degree weather was making the layers shed off real quick.

Caught a limit plus!

Headed out in blustery conditions around 45 minutes later than we wanted due to one of the crew having a brother in the hospital (Prayers goes out to him and his family) and made our way North. Just outside Little Inlet we found a cluster of pecking birds and began working it in 4 to 6 foot seas. Bite did not last long (Been there earlier would have waxed them) with use getting several nice fish (6 Total). Moved to Hog Inlet and found nothing. Did hear of a bite 40 miles North but I knew we had to head back head long in to these 4 to 6 footers so made the call and headed back. Talked with several other boats who had already gone in because of the weather and slow fishing. Back at the dock we find out we had the best catch of the day out of the entire fleet. Woow we are spoiled with having great catches everyday for weeks. Well hope the fish come back for us soon.

Total of 6 nice fish 4 going 30 Pounds and other two at 25 Pounds all 38 to 42 inchers!

Received a call from a gentleman named Darren a month ago about booking a trip for stripers. He had taken one last season and was highly disappointed when all they did was run around and only had lines in for only an hour. They caught nothing that day and hoped I would find them some fish. Well we found them and the guys had a ball catching a nice class of striper sometimes two at a time. One lucky angler Michael caught the fish of a lifetime. A Whopping 48.6 Pound Striper!! Man wait a nice fish and had it been full would have been in the 60# range easy.

This trip was a bachelor party trip and the gentleman who was getting married told his fiancé that if he did not catch any fish they were not getting married. Well she was happy to hear we whacked them. Michael and Darren took out all the tools out of a toolbox in the back of his truck to put the fish in and ice it down for the trip home.

12 real nice striper and some huge smiles made for another great day!

Had a trip today with Jim, Norman and Tim. Headed up North in solid 4 footers. Pretty dead till we got about 30 miles North for Rudee and found them on the radar. Man were they thick. We whacked them for a couple hours and headed home to calmer seas. These fish were headed North at a blistering pace. We moved 5 miles keeping up with them.

Fishing was real good and was a mixed bag of some nice ones and several small ones! Limited out with nice fish and let many swim for another day.

Headed out with some customers today in the FOG from Rudee. You could barely see 100FT and saw many boats "Without Radar" heading out, yikes. Even passed one trolling in the Fog, in the shipping lane as a Container Ship just missed them. I bet they did not even know it was there.

Back to our story. Headed North to the Eastern Shore having a hunch there would be less fog and I was right. Made it half way across the bay to find sunny skies. Then we see them on the radar and lines in. GAME on for the next hour and a half with somewhere around 30 fish cuaght and released. It was a weird bunch of fish with mid 30#er's and 15 #er's in the mix. Managed a great catch of several fish in the mid 30's and in the mid 20's. Shout our two biggest fish spit out 2 to 4 big bunker when they hit the deck. Oh yeah Dave who counted the fish is now known as 11 due to swearing we had 12 fish on board.

Nice thing was being at Big Sam's for Wings and Cold Ones by 1:30PM. Man I love those things, but my gut really does not.

Mid Atlantic Rockfish Shootout

Had a great crew of past customers to fish with me in the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout on Friday. Wayne, Tim, Mike, Ron and my good luck charm KenY. KenY has always caught a citation fish when he fishes with me and he did it again this trip 48 Pounder. To bad we only had around 96 pounds for the tournament weigh in, so we fished a couple hours after the tournament and WAXED BIG FISH!! We found them up the Eastern Shore and was able to catch several citation fish with one being 48.5 pounds! We had one rod go down with two fish that broke my rod (38 & 35 pounder). Had a great crew and thank you all for the day on the water.

Sam Dunn from Tidalfish booked me for a trip today on Succession. Brought the boat around from Lynnhaven today to Rudee at 6:00AM. Seas were great but could not believe how many small boats without radar were headed out in the pitch dark. Get around to Rudee and pick up Sam and his friends for a Full Day. Well we had our limit by around 10:00 AM down South. We would have been done sooner but our hooks were made of rubber. We had at least 12 fish hooked up that disappeared. Look back after going over marks and see four lines go down and catch only 1 fish. Crazy! Things died and we ran to Cape Henry for some bigger action. We did with a 42" 30+ pounder by Sam!!! Yea Ha! We also had 4 fish come unglued while we were there as well. CRAZY x2!!!

Really enjoyed the Sam and his crew!

Ron who owns the Southern Belle gave me a ring yesterday while I was fishing and asked if I would run his boat for him today. Weather looked great and he wanted to leave at 9:00 AM. Little late for me but hey I can sleep in. Needed to because my family and I went over to a friend’s house and well my head felt pretty big this morning.

Left Rudee at 9:00 AM and head to the 3 mile line in the fog to look for some bait and fish. Figured to be the safest route due to the fog moving in, boats near shore without radar and most boats would be at the Green Can to Cape Henry. Ran down and found nothing, but had called a buddy boat (Thanks Steve) and he had found some bait. So we made our way to the spot and set in around 10:00 AM. Start catching within a few minutes of lines in and picked at them for the next few hours. We had several doubles and a triple with one rod holding two nice 36” fish. I found that trolling into the current just grassed up our baits so we made a troll and then jogged back slowly in the fog to start another which worked well. I tell you had to watch the radar because folks were trolling every which way but straight.

We ended the day catching 26 fish total. Three just over 30 pounds. We had a ball with Ron’s Family and friends just catching fish like crazy till 1:15 when we called it. We also had several bites and 5 fish that disappeared while fighting them. It was great and the sky parted and the fog cleared as we decided to head in. Ron thought we only had 16 fish total. So when we made it to the dock to take pictures we actually had 19 and luckily one was still kicking, which swam away alive & free.

Nice working with a bunch of boats out there and hope everyone waxed them.

Headed out with a full day trip with some employees of the City of Virginia Beach. Talked with a couple of boats who were headed South looking and we put lines in just east of Cape Henry. Lines in and we begin hooking up immediately. We catch 5 then a couple 30 inch fish and the charter says we do not want those small fish. Oh well throw them back, we have a full day. Man that put the pressure on me, cause after that we went cold for two hours with only 7 fish in the boat. We watched others hook up around us and I guess I was not holding my jaw the right way. Switched the spread up and get a couple bites. Had one monster bite which after 3 minutes of fighting the fish broke the 65# wire, Dam. There was no current and I told the crew "watch what happens when the current starts." Well it did and game on. In 35 minutes 9 fish and several missed bites. Once we started hooking up the boats collapsed on us making it hard to stay on the bait ball. Headed back to the dock at 1:00 pm after catching 17 fish and keeping 12 real nice fish from 36 to 40 inches. These fish were all full of Bunker!!!!!

Headed out with Jim, Dave and his crew of 4 Teenage boys. These boys were full of energy and ready to catch a couple monster fish. I had been hearing all morning about the awesome bite going off in front of Rudee but my trip was not scheduled till the afternoon. So I called the crew and asked them to get there as soon as they could so we did not miss this bite. We pull away from the dock and I run around at 29 knots to try and get to it before it ends. Well it ended just before we got there. Darn! You could see the carnage left over with fish scales floating and Acres of Gannets sitting on the water. There were several packs of boat which I cruised threw looking for some marks but did not find anything till I got a little South of the fleet. Lines in and we begin picking at a real nice class of fish and get 1 shy of a limit of 12 stripers. We did have 4 real nice hook ups on deep baits, but the boys tried to hoist the fish into the boat. Fast drop in the rod tip caused the 48 oz mojo to pull the hook out. They real learned the technique after a couple of tries.

Another limit in short order of nice Rockfish

Took the NB Handy corporation third group out for some Rock fishing this afternoon and caught them up in short time. The fish were in the 30 to 40 inch range with full bellies of eels. Tons of bait out there and hard to get them to bite when the real thing is out there. I am so grateful to have a company willing to take their customers out for a day of fishing.

Oh yeah we caught a limit PLUS!!!!!

Had a few customers of mine out for some nighttime rock fishing. We head out around 6:00 PM for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel high-rise in dead calm seas and no wind, but the current was moving like we needed it to be. Looked around for 30 minutes for bait and fish marks with limited luck, but found a spot with some. Lines out and we got a couple dog fish then the striper started biting. We had 4 nice Striper with the biggest at 41.75# Pounds for Julian of the City of Norfolk Public Schools. Missed a couple of runs, but still had a great night compared to what some fellow fisherman had.

Same Day Afternoon trip 12/14

Had the Deputy City Manager of Virginia Beach and a couple of his friends out for some afternoon Striper fishing. Well we left the dock and head back to where we caught fish earlier. The bite had shut off, but I found a bait ball and we began crushing them right off the bat. They were a nice class of fish from 33 to 41 inches up to 32#lbs. We had a limit in 2 ½ hours of fishing even though fishing was slow for most.

Sunday Big Rockfish 12/12

Took the NB Handy corporation customers out for a morning of Striper fishing and boy did we rock it. We headed out in great conditions and set out to find some bait and fish. For the next few ours we caught doubles, quadriples…. We caught fish till they said uncle. They were a nice class of fish from 35 to 42 inches up to 35#lbs.

Well it was time to bring Succession back for charters starting this Thursday and Saturday turned out Awesome. Had a past charter who wanted to ride up with me with and bring his son and son’s friend. So sure company is always good and hopefully we could get into some Stripers. Left the dock at 8:45 AM and headed North. Looked, and Looked and Looked finally see a few boats at Dock Research Pier and run over a mark. Talk with a couple boats to find out Dogfish central. Tried our luck and found the same. So on we go. Get to Cape Henry and find a fleet trolling with little success.

I really wanted to get Dave’s son and friend some stripers so I tell them we will go get some eels and we will setup for a couple drifts and then hit the high-rise for a finally. I spoke with Hooinfinger and he said Toni was out there and gave him a call. Toni told me there was a bite of small slot fish off the 1st island. So eels loaded we head out and sure enough the fish were rolling. Get the boys up front on the bow and they start catching slot fish with Atomics on spinning gear. Catch our limit of slot fish plus. Next we are off to the #10. Well setup after talking with C-Note and get two run offs but the boy’s grag the rod and snatched the hook. Catch two Dogs and two more short runs!

Next we setup in the mayhem now called the high-rise. Woow! Get anchor set and eels out. Catch a dog, then a nice run off that never came tight. For the next couple hours I tried everything when finally Dave son gets a nice 41" 34# in the boat. This was his first big striper and Dad was stoked. Then it became certain we were going to crush them like I have all week. Billy, Jack Ass was next to me and we proceeded to watch as others on the North side of me catch fish. Billy had two when we left. With so many boats you picked a spot and had to stay there. It was nice being able to sit in the heat and make hot soup and Mac & Cheese during the wait.

We did help one of the boats next to me catch a fish after they got tangled lines. The boys thought we had a nice fish, but it was theirs so I untangled it and had them reel it tight before letting their line go. They had a young girl on the rod and I was glad that she got her first big fish.

We headed in after a long day, but did catch 5 for the frying pan.

Had Mike and his crew of guys fishing with Lee and I out of OI. Heading out of the inlet was hairy with low tides and shallow waters. We bumped several times in the crack but luckly we were idleing threw it.

Made it out just ahead of the fleet and listened most of the morning of boats running a ground. Good news is they are going to work on the crack this week. We put lines in and the action starts! We go 2 for 5 on the first bite, then 2 for 4 then single and double here and there. The crew was great after the first couple multiples by jigging the lines after a bite. Then with the planer down a Shark eats my planer. We had 9 tuna on the troll and was hearing others had the same marks we had but were not getting the bites. Talked with Bill on Reel Fancy and only had a couple on the troll and was going jigging. Well after a few hours Bill says he done. Had one diamond jig and asked Bill if I could barrow some since they were done. He sold me two of his used jigs for $20. So we back up to him and Game on. We find the marks and the action starts. We caught 5 on the jig and had 9 bites. Sucked one jumped out of the box and lost another next to the boat. great day on the water.

14 Tuna (One jumped out of the box) (9 for 16 on troll) (5 for 9 on the jig)

Thank you Mike and Other TF memebrs for the trip! Hope to do it again real soon. http://sea-duction.net/sea-duction/OI%20Succession%20Tuna.wmv 

Decided that after some hard times at work. I needed a day out on the water with some friends for a relaxing day of fishing for some Tuna. We headed out into some calm conditions for this time of year and found some commercial boats working an area. Well let my boys work the pit and after not getting some bites in a fishy area I check the baits and see why. We re-rig and start getting some bites. First a nice Black Fin and a 8# dolphin on a slick. Then the bite was done until we ran South 7 miles and put the planer down. Right away we start picking up Blackfin and nice Yellowfin Tuna. Then the bite slows, we move out side and get a double header 40# YFT then another when the fleet comes in on us. Later a boat near us gets 5 on and we get a bite and have a quad getting one to the boat. The boys we having fun. We headed in around 4:00 PM to a perfectly calm sea with 3 ft rollers

Tally:

8 YFT with 2 Blackfin

1 dolpin

4 missed planers bites

10 missed short bites

Well after several weather reschedules we head out to fish the BMO (Local overnighter Tournament) out of Virginia Beach.

We headed out in what was supposed to be 5 to 10 knot winds, but was 15 to 20 knots. Lines in on the South side of the Norfolk and within 10 minutes Whitey shows up on the right teaser. Move the squid bait (Owner wanted me to put this out on the flat) over to the teaser and the fish goes for the Sea Star in the middle. Hooked up White Marlin. Pulls off after a minute. Then Dolphin and grass everywhere. Then get whammed by BIG Bonita and then setup for night fishing. Setup and have life everywhere with Tinker Mackerel, Squid, baby sailfish, flying fish… you name it but no swords. The squid eat the mess out of all of our baits.

Setup for morning troll and catch dolphin out the was-zooo and shag grass. Then we find a clear spot where we see 6 Wahoo in the last hour of the tournament and catch two.

What great tournament with excellent food and festivities. Man they really take care of you each year from the tournament bags to the excellent food and adult beverages.

Day 1

Headed out near the cigar and lines out. 9:43 a white comes in on the bridge rod and Mark hooks it up to pass down to Paul. Get the leader for the release. We troll around the area and have another encounter to no avail. Did end up going threw 36 baits due to peanut dolphin on the weed line. YIKES!!!

Day 2

Rough as snot. Get out to lines in 15 minutes late. Just as we put lines in Swordfish hooks up. Troll around to no avail for several hours. Work a little North and get a little nibble from a billed one to no avail. With 30 minutes left I head up to the bridge for some air and see if I can see anything. I see a sulfur line in the distance. Joe trolls thru it and down it. I see a buoy and with limited time left ask if we can put a rigger on it for some action and who knows. Well about 50 yards from it a HUGE BULL DOLPHIN comes in on the Mackerel and almost swallows it whole. That is how big it was. Then Paul misses it on the short out of the chair and Mark hooks up in the bridge. I see it jump and yell "Money fish, clear lines". Clear lines and Joe does a great job backing down quickly on this fish. I tell everyone NOT TO TOUCH THE LEADER. I have a 6' gaff out of the engine room and we will take our time. This was a good 45 to 50 pound class fish. We were fighting it from the bridge due to several bites in the pit and you must pass a rod immediately or that person must fight it. So no need to leader the fish I can get it with the gaff. Well sure enough someone reaches over out of know where and puts a wrap on the leader and pop! Gone was a fish that would have been worth $10,666.00 for the Warrior and put Joe on the podium.

Lesson: leader will break so you must respect the power of these fish and only use a little bit of pressure (Unless you have the big stuff) or you may loose a fish of a life time. Wait for your shot. If the angler keeps the line tight and pressure on the fish it will come, just give it time.

Also I ran the Eye Catcher Zingers (Blue/Crystal) on my ballyhoo dredge and it looked awesome and helped baits last. http://eyecatcherlures.com/zingers.html 

Well what a trip we had. Way to much work for me.

Went to head down with Joe (Owner of the Warrior) on Saturday after getting some things tightened up during the week. Fire up the generator and no water flowing out. Dam, we had some folks come down to replace the AC pump and impeller on the generator. So opened the impeller up to see the impeller key was missing. So we think we are screwed and I tear the system a part to find it in the heat exchanger. Get it put back together and she runs with water, but leaking at the hose. Tighten the hose clamps and it stops working. So after having spent several hours call Sean with Marine Diesel & Power Generation for help. He runs down and after a little while finds a small leak in the hose which is causing the problems and we are off by 4:00 PM instead of 10:00 AM.

Get down to Pirates Cove to see our new home, the fuel dock. Man what a great slip and Jim (PC Marina Owner) has put us a power pole in for us as well. Well now we have an AC problem after getting a new pump and recharging the Salon AC. So we get an AC guy down there to help us out. He thinks there is a leak in the line down stream somewhere so we start tearing it a part. He fills it with nitrogen and leaves gauges to find out it is still loosing pressure. So finally Joe asks me to climb down there and find out what is going on. Well after Charlie got out of the engine room with the system charged. I find the leak and tighten it up. Charged up and works like a champ.

Day 1

Head out on Tuesday around the 950 line 55 fathoms. Right off the bat bridge rod gets whacked by a billfish, Miss! Then later we have another encounter on the teaser. This fish then comes on the short rigger and the angler says he has it. Well we missed fish number two. Never saw another bill. Had dolphin eat thru my 30 + dink rigs. Tried telling the guys to reel in the baits before they got eaten, but no joy. Oh Well.

Day 2

Trolled to no avail and never saw a fish. Started in the deep and picked up and ran inside to 55 fathoms.

Day 3

Went High Speed trolling with lures and had a wahoo bite several times to no avail.

Also I ran the Eye Catcher Zingers (Blue/Crystal) on my ballyhoo dredge and it looked awesome and helped baits last. http://eyecatcherlures.com/zingers.html 

Ran the Bandit for Wayne and friends. We headed out to the South wall of the Canyon and put lines in 50 Fathoms. Right off we get 3 nice gaffers and as we are cleaning things up one of the guys say "What is That". Look back to see a pissed off Blue Marlin. It is going between the Mackerel and Sea Star in the short shotgun. Pickup the Sea Star that is in the bridge with me and chug it. She lights up and piles in. Hooked Up and she starts gray hounding and then comes unglued. DAM! I told Wayne to be ready for his first blue on the boat. So we start heading up the wall and Frog Pile gets a Double header white at the tip of the Canyon and we are only 3 miles away. Troll that way and since we had some of Wayne’s customers on board we caught some dolphin on the balls. Then we hear about the bite going on down south.

We did not want to run to it since it was only 12 miles away. We troll thru tons of bait and hard sulfur line but nothing. Get to the area at 2:00PM where the bite is and see the cutters in slick seas. Pretty sight. We work around the area and the first fish comes in on the short rigger, miss and then another comes in later on the flat and Wayne hooks a nice White one. Scratch one white for Wayne. After releasing the white I see a huge Gaffer come in and eat the long rigger. Wayne’s customer catches a 35# Gaffer for a citation. He was stoked. Then one small bait ball pops up in front of us and I see a white working it. Troll by it and the fish takes the long rigger and does not come tight. We headed in shortly after that.

Gorgeous day out on the water with good friends.

1 for 3 Whites
0 for 1 Blue Marlin
8 Dolphin and One 35# Citation

I have been running and mating on the 50' Hatteras 2002 Warrior which fished the Virginia Beach Invitational Marlin tournament July 25 thru 27th, fishing 2 out of 3 days. Off course this year the rules are different with you having to use circle hooks on "ANY" dead baits not matter what and j-hooks for artificials.

Day one

We are ready to head out on Friday and are missing one crew member and after firing up the generator I notice can hear that there is no water coming from the generator exhaust port. Shut it down and try and figure out what is up. Finally see it is a priming problem. So figure a way to get it primed and we are still waiting. Finally 45 minutes late we head out. We run out for a while and the Starboard side motor is over heating when going over 2000 RPM so we are stuck running 22 knots. Lines in 45 minutes after lines in. DAM!

We troll around and really see nothing. The Sea Start up on the bridge gets a quick bite, but does not come tight. Nothing for a while till I see something coming in on the right short and hook it. 10# dolphin which Wayne reels in. Then we watch as some other boats hook up, but not us. Finally I am eating a famous Dagwood Hank sandwich and I see a shadow on the Mackerel. Drop the left flat back to it and get Wayne to reel in the mackerel slowly. Then on the Left Teaser. Real in the flat and the fish is looking at the teaser then the Eel. Finally I tell the bridge to get rid of the teaser before the fish leaves. Sure enough they pull the teaser and the white comes in on the eel. Hooked up and pass to Wayne for the fight. Scratch one white for Warrior. That was our day.

Day two

Head out towards the South where some intel from down South said they burned them up. Start heading out and Wayne and I smell rubber. Ask if we are getting any alarms and when I open the hatch see the red light. Climb down into the Sauna and know we burned out an impeller. Sure enough. So I get to work putting in a new one and getting the items I removed put back on. Fire it up and see water coming out of the Exhaust knuckle. The heat from the exhaust busted the bottom two hose clamps. Rob one from up top and back in business. Get to the Cigar and line in a little early. Troll around and nothing. Pick up and run to 050 and find a sulfur line. We pass by ZEKE and not 200 yards past us on the other side they hook a small Blue Marlin. Great show for us. We make it back to where we started in the right depth and I see a white swimming next to the mackerel. The fish hits the Sea Star but does not come tight. Looks at the rest of the spread one by one. Then I see it coming for the left long and I dump it to see if I can get it to stop window shopping us. 20 seconds later! Hooked UP White marlin. Rich gets his first white marlin release. Then at 30 minutes left in the tournament 2:30PM White just come out of know where to sun themselves. I mean we saw 15 in 40 minutes. When they are sunning themselves it is almost impossible to get them to bite. Did have one come into the Mullet dredge, which I did not see, but tried chugging bait and dropping back, but no takers.

Warrior went 2 for 2 whites on (Circle Hooks)

1 for 1 on Dolphin (Circle Hooks)

0 for 1 mystery bite

Finished in 7th Place overall!!!!

Had Wayne, Hank and Rich from Tidalfish and Captain Joe Woodington and his late brother Eric! Oh and congrats to Rich for his first White Marlin!!!

Next stop Pirates Cove Tournament in two weeks!!!!!! Wish us luck!

Ron asked me to run his 36 Jersey Cape on Saturday with his family. I will tell you this 36' boat acts, rides and has the room of a 40'er all day long. Great boat.

Our plan was to head to the Cigar and fish the Marlin bite on circle hooks that has occurred down there the last few days, but there was a report of fish in the Canyon as well. We headed out in great conditions and arrive on scene where I found bait balls and slicks right off the bat. Lines are in and I start working the bait balls hard. We get a gaffer bite right off the bat, but catching dolphin on circle hooks is a challenge. We get two nice ones. Then we have white come in on the teaser real quick after going over a Bait Ball and in turn jumps on the L-long. SAC Cocho:wacko:!! Lines back in and work these bait balls hard. I could see them on top of the water at times but nothing under them or cutters. Several boats were here by now and now one was getting any marlin bites just some Gaffers. So we all spread out and go looking. We get about 10 gaffer bites with non staying tight. A couple of them were monsters!

Finally a couple boats say they see some fish and I tell Ron I think we should run up there. We do and the bite was short. We zigged and Zagged in Huge sulfur lines and nothing. One boat hooked after we got there. Made it to the 300 line and started hearing of Whites all over the canyon on the radio, but it was too late to make the run. Then we have a marlin bait out and have 5 Big Gaffers try and eat it. Get one out four bites on it then call it a day. It was a great day and more turtles then I have seen in ages. Not to mention they were putting on an XXX rated show.

Enjoyed the day and look forward to fishing the VB Invitational later this week.

Virginia Beach Tuna Tournament on Warrior 7/12

Mated for Joe Woodington on the Warrior for the VBTT on Saturday. While running out we saw slicks and bird just past the 26 mile hill but did not stop on our way to the 20 fathom line where fish had been the last few days. Lines in and really did not see much. After a couple hours a decision had to be made where to go. All of a sudden we get a HUGE bite on the down rigger bait and the main line breaks on the bite. Then get a King. We pick up and run into the 26 mile hill where there was tons of bait but no fish. So we pick up and run to where I had caught BFT on Thur on Bandit and others had as well on Friday. Lines in and Bam BFT on during the fight a nice red sportfisherman run across or fish. We get it to the side of the boat on the leader. I am hand walking it up and snap. You could see a small cut in the line from the boat encounter. Dam! Lines back in get a short bite. That was our tournament. So I talk with Joe about trolling back in for an hour or so which would save him some money on fuel and maybe we get lucky. So at about 3:50 PM The WAY BACK Longrigger and Shotgun go off. Three nice fish on. 1 hour battle to get all three in and we get 3 nice BFT one which weighed 97 # and released the others in the same class.

Oh well would have been nice to have earlier in the day but oh well. Took a little while to find them.

Virginia Beach Tuna Tournament on BANDIT 7/10

Wayne Enroughty hired me to run his 40’ Cabo for the VB Tuna Tournament on 7/10. We headed out in pretty good seas and the weather looked to really clear up by noon. We landed at the Crouch and put lines in. We trolled around and get a 10# Dolphin. Visibility was bad and hard to see the birds and slicks. We moved inside of the crouch a little and hook-up on a nice fish. We get it to the boat and the guys say it is a 54” fish. I say we should put it in the box. Well later we find out it is 51” (Darn)! We then get another fish on and the battle ensues. This time it is a 54” and back it goes. We get a king mackerel bite here and there. A short bite and then we get crushed by a big fish. 45 minute fight and incomes a 60”er! To bad we had to let it go, but we had killed our fish by mistake.

Oh well everyone had a great day and had some action.

Worked the Warrior for Joe Woodington out of Rudee for and Overnighter. The weather man had called for nighttime calm seas, NOT!!!!!. Well we get out to the Cigar and I talk with Trax and He said he had seen a few Whites and a blue, some dolphin, but no tuna. So after setting things up tuna have 20 minutes to change the spread to marlin, dolphin fishing. Put line out at the 180 in 50 fathoms and start trolling to the 150 where I bet Joe we would get bit due to the water shot review. Sure thing, 152 51 fathoms, White marlin comes in on the seastar short shotgun (mis). Then on the left long where Chase drops back, locks it up, rods bends, he raises the rod up and hook pulls. Then over to the Boone bird chain with Bl/White Ilander trailer shot gun. I am telling Joe to real it in slow cause I have a dink bait dropped back there waiting. Well Joe with a smile did everything he could to hook this fish. Well this fish was after the Birds not the bait which it destroyed the bird chain. Still in the area get an 8# gaffer which Courtney (Chase's Girlfriend) makes short work of. Then trolled out into the deep and find tons of life, but no fish. Just a couple gaffers, one of which was 18#. Later talk Joe into heading back to the break. No hard break just gradual with some scattered weeds. Pick up a couple more nice gaffers and then I see Mr Whitey come in on the flat, another cut the spread and Game On. Call Kurt to take the rod from me so I can see about getting a second. No joy except for Kurt getting his first White Marlin. We had one more encounter with a billfish just before setting up for the night on a Black/Purple Ilander Horse with no joy.

We setup for a grilled Filet Mignon, baked potato, and fresh salad dinner. Seas were close and around 3 + foot when we setup for swordfishing. Well the long liners were setup about 3 miles into the change and the current was sucking us at 1.6 knots towards the sets. So after a couple drifts and resets. I move us into the shallows to make for a nice ride while everyone sleeps.

In the AM most are not feeling well so Joe and I start trolling by our selves. Lines in and the water has moved somewhere. We troll and troll picking up a gaffer dolphin here and there. Then another boat with in a mile sees three whites real quick like and we get in the area and nothing. Head back into the mud where we another White on the Sea Star and a couple more dolphin.

Great trip, but the weather man and his 5 to 10 overnight forecast was like 15 to 20 and short span.

Off to do it again next weekend with the Warrior and trips on Succession inbetween running the WARRIOR!

Thursday

Took GE Lighting and some of Rexel Electrical Distributors customers out for a day of offshore fishing. Also had Alby Man (Kevin) mating for me which was great to fish with Kevin again. It was a little bumpy in the AM and made for tough fishing. Find a small line of grass and start picking away a nice Gaffer dolphin. Then find a nice stump in the water and lines start popping. Gaffers jumping everywhere. We get 5 out of 8. Troll around the area and pick up a few more. Keep working the area before moving inside to some calmer waters. Seas slicked out and we catch some more for about 250#'s of Gaffer dolphin Meat.

Friday

Had the Wayne Enroughty and customers out for their annual excursion. Headed out to look for the edge on the 650 area and found some temp breaks and scattered grass. Lines out and start trolling looking for something more organized.

As we are trolling the Left long pops and starts taking line consistently. Did not see the bite, but had a feeling due to the way it was swimming away and staying high on the water. Lines cleared start backing down. Get to about 100 feet to see a Blue Marlin. Back we go in a hurry. Crank swivel hits the tip and the fish sees us and starts moving out fast. Gets two jumps and snap. About 400# and the guys got a picture for Ross first Blue Marlin. As we are trolling to the 650 area where there was a tuna bite. We have a White Marlin come and nail the left short rigger. Missed and after several circles continue South. Get to the 650 area and see 6 Green Stickers and a couple boats hooked up. We troll around the slicks to get one nice 35# YFT. Move back North and work some of the rips for more action. Well we find it. Gaffers popping pins consistently. Then near the end of the day trolling down a nice line see a pallet out of the corner of my eye while talking with Wayne and tell Kevin (Alby Man) to be ready on the right side. Well here it comes, a huge Bull on the Sea Star down the middle and his harem. He comes out of the water and everyone freezes. It was big and we have 20#er's jumping around on other lines. Setup for 30 minutes of chaos to get 5 fish to the boat and a 52# gaffer by Ross. Find the pallet and get a couple more to finish the day. Had 14 gaffers, 1 YFT and a Blue Release which Ross went swimming.

Still have openings for later this month.

Friday

Had Jay and a couple of his friends out for some offshore action. Saw some water on the temp shot that no one had fished. So decided to head to the 900 line and check it out. Ran out in slick calm seas and found what we were looking for. A nice little weed line with some action. Up in the tower I go and start spotting tailing Gaffer dolphin and the rest is history. Gaffer Dolphin after Gaffer after Gaffer, smallest around 6# biggest in the low 30's. Jumped several off in the high 30's with one that was a monster. With all the action Scott (Mate) taught them how to do some of the cockpit rigging and such. Even had them gaffing some fish as well.

Total over 30+ gaffers kept and 6 Bags of mediums and one Horse.

Saturday

Had Bill from the Great Bridge Fishing Club and some of his friends. Head back to the water we fished the day before to find nothing. Shoot so with a good head see and another break 6 miles away we start trolling for it. Get about 3 miles up when we get three gaffers attack. Well during the fight a Blue Marlin comes and decides to grab hold of the dolphin and swim away. For 15 minutes we do battle before the poor dolphins lips give out. Troll to the break and find ugly water and scattered grass. Find Pilot Whales, nothing, Two Tones feeding on flying fish, nothing! High Flyer long line set, nothing! Huge pod of Two Tones eating fling fish out of the air and nothing. Worked them for over and hour and never saw the fish tuna in them. Finally try and deep drop in some 3 to4 foots slop. Get a couple in the boat and then SHARK Attacks start. DAM! Head in just as the wind jumps to 30 Plus Knots!

Sunday

Had Tom DiBouno and crew down from VB for the day. Well thought so. Wake up to HOLLOWING winds 25.6 Knots gusting to 31 Knots at Diamond Shoals Buoy with 7.9 foot seas. Needless to say we stayed at the dock and I got on my boat “To do list”.

Still have openings for later this month.

Happy Memorial Day!

5-24-08

Another great day on the water with Kevin Marler and a couple friends. Well we head out in perfect conditions until we hit the Gulf Stream. Then it got a little bumpy, but very manageable. Set lines and begin trolling and come across a mark of fish. Just as I start making a circle on them another charter boat sees my circles and comes across the mark and gets bit, Darn. Circle a couple more times then move North. Get another great mark and 9 lines go down. Had 3 anglers and with rough conditions it was tough to keep them all tight, but ended up with 4 Tuna. Had moved mile from our spot and saw some clustered boats just ahead. Well we got there to find 60 boats all trying to work a small section. We get in line and finally get a nice 50# in the boat. Needless to say we were a little late to the bite, but decide on another Tile fish expedition and loaded up with another limit. Slow for most, but we had a good catch.

5-24-08

Had a great crew of folks in the Matt Richard and friends. After hanging out with some friends on boats down at the OI Fishing Center. I decided to call Matt and see if they could make it there early for some fish bite action. He agreed and we headed out at 4:15 AM for the 650 line. Arrive on sight and see a couple Green Stick commercial boats and think we are going to get hit. Well after hours and hours of trolling with no action and others saying the same thing. We change our spread over and over looking for a bite. Not luck, so move inside a little and get a 10# Gaffer. Talk to the guys and tell them we can load up on some tile fish and have some fun. So off we go at 3:00 PM. Yes 3:00 PM! I try to please and did. We catch a limit of nice class of Tile fish and finally head in for the two hour ride at 4:00PM.

5-3-08

Had Jeff and his family for our first trip of the year out of Oregon Inlet, NC. The fishing has been a little inconsistant lately but we had high hopes. Headed down the 300 line by Diamond Shoals light to hopefully find our own nice piece of water. Well we found it but there was little life on it and heard others up the road saying the same thing. So we worked out into the deep and started picking away at gaffer dolphin from 8 to 15 pounds. Then later in the afternoon a 450# Blue marlin piles in on the Shotgun and GAME ONE!!!! She takes off running and never looks back. She breakes the leader soon after hooking up. Dam!!! Oh well fished till 2:45PM trolling and decide to go do some deep droppin for Tile Fish. I had marked them earlier in the morning and saved the spot just in case it did not turn on. We ended with 7 Gaffers and a dozen or so Nice Tile Fish! Stayed out an hour longer to try and get soem meat for Jeff and his family.

4-25-08

Well the fishing has been slow for tuna down in OI and I have been telling folks to wait until I get word they have showed up. Well they have started and should only get better. I ran a boat for Billy today out of Hatteras Inlet, NC today. We had a late start due to some issues with the boat got underway by 7:30AM. Headed out to the 230 Rocks area to see about getting some tuna. We trolled up to the 280 rocks when I see a board and turn on it so we get it to run down the middle of the spread. Sure enough we get two nice gaffer dolphins out of it. Tried to get back on it, but it was 3 to 5 foot and we were in a 2.5 knot current. So we troll around some more and see marks but no one is getting bites. Then we get a small explosion on the small green spreader bar. Albacore Tuna. Troll with out a bite for several hours before finding a weed line. Pull up to it and start picking at gaffers and small dolphin. Went 5 for 11 on them and then we get a nice 25# Wahoo to end the day. Pickup to head home around 3:00 PM. Long day, made it back to VB by 1:00AM. Man am I beat!

Have dates open so give me shout for some awesome times on the water.

4-8-08

Well it is the second week in Aprild I am up on the hill. Was suppossed to start running charters last weekend but the weather BLEW!!!! and BLEW!!!. I am hoping to get down there this next weekend or week weather permiting.

I sure hope this weather breaks so we can go get some MEAT FOR OUR CUSTOMERS!!!!!!!

Still have dates available in April, May and June!!!!

Had Tom Langley and his friends out for one more striper trip. We headed out and the wind was blowing a little more than expected. We went just off of Cape Henry in the channel to see if there was any striper willing to bite. Well after the wind increased to 25knots+ and waves grew to 3 to 4 foot. We moved back closer to shore and no bites. Well I believe in working with my guests and stated the fish had moved up into the Bay and if we went out to the 3 mile line it would be real rough. So I gave them the option of going trolling down the beach out of the wind or stay out. Well with a reduced price for the charter and no fish around; we trolled down the beach. Everyone really liked the shelter of land and out came some chicken for lunch and even the two young boys came alive as well in the calmer waters.

Well this is the first SKUNK of the Year, but it is real late for us to get a striper bite. We got into the week before real good, but not this week.

Well I wil be hauling the boat this week and getting ready to head to Oregon Inlet, NC for the Spring Tuna Bite. We will be down in OI from April to November 2008 for Tuna, Wahoo, Dolphin, King Mackeral, Sailfish and of course MARLIN!!!!!!!!

3-15-08

Well another great day on the water. Chad Lesley and his boys from Atlanta, GA came for fun and fishing and we delivered. Even though it was a little slow we had some fun. Started off in the AM with a call from the Fishing Center with a single wanting to jump on with my party. Chad was nice enough to let Jim come on for the day. We headed out and looked around for a while before finding some fish over by the 4A buoy area. We drilled all day and pickup 7 nice fat fish. One being around 39 pounds. Chad is going to fish with us in May for TUNA TUNA TUNA!!!!

Had a great crew of customers today and Johnny Oatman in the pit. Headed out just off of the Ramada and found bait and some fish. First fish was 15 pounds and 32 inchs. Well it was a fish and cannot be to stingy with a crew of customers. So after a while find some fish and start picking at them. These fish were real nice and doing it on a regular basis you forget how big big is. So we are catching what turns out to be 35+ pounders. Then we got a double header which we lost the first fish and the second turned out to be a 47 pounder for Robert Claunch. Man what a nice fish. Then we kept picking and after missing 3 fish and catching 6 we moved to another spot. There we put lines in off of Rudee and catch a 48 pounder and hook another which gets away. We have a limit for our crew and headed in. What a great day with great fish after what the other boats did yesterday, multiple 50 pounders and a lot of 40's. Good job Rudee Fleet and NC fleet.  Back at the dock at 1:00 PM for refreshments and food.

End the day with: 48, 47, 38.5, 37, 36, 36, 35 & 15 Pounders no not inches!

Great Bridge Fishing Association Seminar

Was invited by Butch to give a talk on Springtime Tuna seminar at their March meeting. What a great turn out with about 50 folk. It was great seeing such an enthusiastic and attentive group. I put together a 2 page sheet on tips and thing s to look for and then a basic spread as well.

Thanks for the invite and a Great Cookbook.

2-29-2007

 Wayne Enroughty and crew came down from Richmond for a day of Striper fishing out of Virginia Beach. Wayne is a great guy and I run his 40’ Cabo during the summer when they go Offshore. We headed out in the AM to a slow bite off of Cape Henry. We all picked up and ran around trying to find some fish. We ran over to the Eastern Shore and picked at them then went into the bay for some real fun Catch & Release action. Man it was fun. We had 35” to 42” Rockfish rolling all around us for hours. We broke out the light tackle and went to town.

Biggest being 35 Pounds and that was a double with a 25 pounder on it as well.

Great day with a limit of 14 fish and dozens of catch and release stripers on LIGHT TACKLE!

2-24-2008

Had the Mark White Crew for a half day of Rock Fishing out of VB. Well we had out hands full due to high expectations on us due to Mark stopping by seeing our catch from Saturday. Well headed out into some rough conditions (Weather man was wrong again) and found some bait. Started trolling when I got a call from a friend on another charter who said come quick. Headed across the bay towards the eastern shore and found the mother load of fish. We caught 30 Plus pounders two at a time on Tandem rigs (60 to 70 pounds of fish on one rod). We caught our limit in about 40 minutes and when it was all said and done our fish box was over flowing and fish on the deck. We headed back to the dock with soar arms and happy campers.

Thanks for booking us Mark and hope to see you again reel soon.

2-23-2008

Had a make charter with some friends and customers. Headed out to go looking and was having a hard time finding the fish like most. Finally found them off of Cape Henry and started catching. After a quick flurry things slowed down which gave us time to regroup. During this time we get the bite of a lifetime. Keny gets on the rod for what was a 20 minute fight. When it comes over the side it is a monster which would later be a 55 Pounder! Man what a fish. Keny fished with me last year and caught a 43.5 pounder.

We finished the day with a limit after taking 4 hours to get the last two fish.

55 Pounder                                                                                                  Julians Fatty

2-20-2008

Headed out for an afternoon trip with a couple customers and friends due to hearing about to good bite in the AM and the afternoons have been hot! Headed straight out 3 miles to see if the fish were there, nope. Then up the beach to find some scattered fish by the channel. Start picking away at them pretty good and then they stopped. Well after a short lull in the action and the seas picking up to around 4+ feet. John sees a huge bee hive of bird which are working tight to the water. We head over there and GAME ON!! Fish after fish after fish 6 fish on, 7 fish on, 4 fish on… action no-stop for 2 hours with our 14 fish limit and dozens more let go to swim again. Dennis (AKA Hook-in-Finger) caught a 41 pounder with several release size citation fish and most were 30 pounds plus!

Back at the dock by 4:30PM to clean fish and talk about a great day. My first mate Billy was busier than a beaver in a large forest and was great.

2/17/2008

Well the weather man was wrong in our favor and thank you after having so many trips canceled this year due to weather. Had SLYIII (Tidalfish member) his son (Sly), a friend of his son (T) and two of SLYIII friends. Oh Yeah Billy (Team Jack A$$ - AKA Striper_On) mating for me. Headed outside of the inlet to see the birds diving everywhere and bait. No fish. Trolled around for a few hours and worked with some great boats to find the fish. Well we found them, but we must have had rubber hooooooookkkksss. The boys caught everything they reeled on, now the MEN had fish disappear on them left and right. It was crazy. I have heard of folks loosing fish before, but today I saw it. But those boys were a 100%!!. SLYIII had to bust on you guys, but you did catch the biggest one.:clap::clap: Plus you all ended the day strong catching everything that was hooked.

We ended the day with a limit by 1:50PM but went 11 for 20 and was able to see the race.

SLYIII thank you for fishing with us on Succession!

Had setup a trip with some friends (Team Jack$$, Pat, Ben, Brook, Melissa & Mike) for this afternoon. Game Plan: Head out for some late afternoon (4:00) trolling action, then go to Long Bay Point for eels and pump out, then high rise. Well headed out and got the call on the fish. We waxed them real good from 5:00 to dusk. 6 on, 3 on, 5, started using light tackle fish on! Had a limit (PLUS) kept 14 nice 36" to 40" fish. It was great seeing Brook hook up on the biggest fish he had ever caught. Melissa & Mike came back down from Charlotte after coming down and fishing with me last week. Mike is a big time Bass guide up there and he had fun with real light spinning tackle with Melissa getting fish on two at a time on parachute rigs. Billy was in the pit dancing around like he was a young mate and my thanks to him for taking charge back there.

2-3-2008

Well two real good days of fishing with limits each day early. It was real good fishing with a lot of you all.

Today had Ben off of Tidalfish and half his crew. We headed out looking and made a couple of stops picking up a fish here then a couple there and then got it going on!!! Off of Fisherman's Island we had a path we kept going back and forth on and slayed them. We had the monster on for about 10 minutes and somehow the hook came off of the Mojo. Ben's friend kept saying the reel was broken cause he could not reel and line was going out. Its was reel nice and my guys were ready to head home after fight more than a dozen fish and lost 3 or so. Great crew Ben two years in a row we waxed them. Can't wait to take you Tuna fishing in the Spring.

2-2-2008

Had Chris Chenoworth and his brother in-law out for a day on the water striper fishing. These guys are great. We have done this for the past couple of years where they stop drinking after New Years until they come on this trip in the first week of February. Last year we caught 12 fish in a matter of 1 hour in the 38 to 42 inch range. After reeling those fatty’s in they wanted to head in for some Big Sam’s wings and cold beers.  So we did. This year we had the same luck. Right off the bat we hook up on a fat 38” 28#’er. Then nothing until I caught wind of a bite and game on. Got to the bite and had 10 fish and missed 3 others in about an hour. The guys were stoked. After catching they were ready for the barn and cold beers.

Kathleen Chenoworth I thank you for booking another day with Succession. The boys said they want to try some offshore in the spring so let me know.

1/26/2008 My Birthday on the water!

Had Charlie Napier and his cousins, friends and Uncles on board for a full day Striper trip. Well after getting heads up from down south and others from up here we headed south. Get down to Corolla light and just miss a great bite. Put lines in and mark fish & bait but having trouble getting bites. Finally we get them to start biting after switching things up. Everyone got a chance at reeling in fish and caught 10 up to 40" with 3 knockdowns. After hearing and talking with other boats we had a really good day. Everyone had a good time and it was Charlie's biggest fish he has ever caught.

Still have some dates available! Will be doing some nighttime Bay Bridge tunnel catch and release eeling for Trophy Stripers.

1-19-08

Well due to the bad weather moving up from the South I let my charter cancel even though we could have fished. So instead of canceling I decided to try and take my twin 13 year daughters out before the weather came. Got calls from (Denis) Hookinfinger and (Billy) Striper_On and we jumped on Succession. Headed out for a couple of hours and my daughter started feeling quzzy. So Called my beautiful wife and she came and met us at the dock to pick them up. Sucked we missed the morning bite by a hour waiting for crew. So with little hesitation I asked the guys if they wanted to head back out, YES. Went back out where we marked the bait, and I mean MARKED. It was dead with a fish every once in a while out of 100+ boats. It was a nice 3 to 4 foot chop and raining. After pulling thru bait and marks for Hours knowing it will go off soon it did in a big way. We caught fish after fish after fish... All nice fat 32 to 41 inchers. Billy looked at me after several fish caught and said I need a break. I jumped in for a few (I never get to reel in fish) and Dennis was a maniac reeling fish after fish. Get 2 one start reeling, another on and another, we drilled the same area for an hour and a half with great results. Best was five on.

Finally after it was all said and done we were straight off Rudee just inside of the 3 mile line.

I would like to thank Sean with Marine Diesel & Power Generation for a great job on getting me back up and running. The mess of oil is all gone and the new engine runs like a top.

Denis and Billy thanks for fishing with me.

1-17-08           

Yeah the boat is done and was brought back up the coast today in some reel rough stuff. She is running great and I cannot wait to take my Daughter out fishing today since I had a charter reschedule do to a Big Snow storm coming from the South. The live in Raleigh area and it is supposed to get 3 to 5 inches which we are not used to and will shut down traffic going home for them.

1-11-2008

Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout kick-off party was a great success as usual. Great time seeing a lot of folks I have not seen in a while.

Headed out to the South towards Sandbridge and maybe further South. Lines in and the fish were on. Caught fish after fish, but nothing big. The crew sure had fun catching and releasing nice 25 pounders. We had a plan to go eeling but did what Joe wanted to.

1-12-08

Headed out with a plan to go eeling again, but ended up trolling threw bait all day with no success. Had several fish on but crew had a hard time keeping them glued. Did manage some meat for the table and everyone had a great day.

1-9-2008

Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout is here and I will be running Joe Woodington’s 50’ Hatteras “WARRIOR”. We will be fishing two out of three days, so wish us luck.

1-05-2008

Well been busy working getting my engines redone and ready for the striper season. She should be ready by Jan 17^th.

Merry Christmas

And a

Happy New Year

From the

Succession Family

12-24-07

Fishing was a little slow today with only a few knock downs and had one real nice fish on that broke the main line of the guys rod I was fishing with. Darn. Well 1 more week and I will be back up and running on Succession. New motor and she will  good to go.

12-13-07

Headed out to do some night time eeling for stripers at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Headed out around 5:30 PM for the High Rise section of the tunnel to anchor up and put out a spread. When we arrived the current had slowed and was looking to turn. We setout a spread and caught a shark right off the bat. Then came a nice 38” striper just as the current died. We stayed put until we started to see the current swing the boat around. So we pulled and I went looking for the right spot to re-anchor. Well after 30 minutes I found a spot and we set out. After 15 minutes we get our first fish, a 40” striper down about 15’. Then we get another and another. I drop two eels back free swimming and Game on we proceed to get 9 fish, break 3 off and miss 4 bites in 2 hours. Biggest was a release citation for Dennis. Fish were between 36” and 44 ½”s.

9 Stripers between 36 & 44 1/2 Inches

12/8/07

Was hired to run the Special D 45’ Viking out of Virginia Beach for some Blue Fin Tuna Fishing and Striper fishing. Headed out to the Triangle wrecks and started our troll. Several other boats out there but no hook ups. We tried till 12:30 PM when the owner decided he wanted to go striper fishing. Headed into the 3^rd island and caught our limit plus in fish within an hour and a half.

12/2/07

Talked Joe Woodington to go out looking for BFT at 3:00PM on Saturday. I come by his house and pick up his 2004 50’ Hatteras named Warrior to take down the creek for fuel and dock for the night. Get us all rigged up for the next day and stay on the boat. We head out to the Fingers with Capt Reese Bowles (Local Captain who does a Saturday morning radio show) and some of his guys. Lines in 15 minutes of trolling a 80# BFT then lines back out and hour later a Mako Shark. Little while later we mark a large school of fish and Wham we get a 90# BFT. Work the marks hard and get one other knock down, but never came tight. Headed back in at 1:30PM watching the Indy-Panthers game on the Northstar on the bridge. Great day on the water. Saw several schools of Striper and Bluefish working bait out deep. They will be coming inshore soon. So book a trip for winter striper fishing with us on Succession.

11-21-07

Well have been kind of out of the loop and passing off some of my charters due to having blown an engine. I am looking to be back up and running here in the 2^nd week of December. So I have been working on other boats during this time and thought I would post a picture of one of the trips I did just before Thanksgiving.

October 8, 2007

Kevin Bremer

Succession Charters

Dear Kevin,

            Anthony and I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank you for the wonderful job you did for our family this summer running our 2006 45' Viking "Special D". We all thoroughly enjoyed all the times we went fishing with you. You were hard working, knowledgeable, focused and well organized; and we learned a great deal from you.

9-25-07

Went out today with a friend on his 23’ Grady White for some Cobia hunting. Well knowing that the Jack Reveilles were biting at the Chesapeake Light Tower, I convinced Billy we should be prepared to try for them. So after an hour of searching he decides to give it a shot. Lines in and get a bite. Break it off and try again. Hooked up and I pass the rod to Billy who gets a 46 1/2“ citation Jack Reveille. Head back in after only 2 ½ hours of fishing.

9-21-22 Overnighter

Headed out on the Warrior for the BMO (Big Money Open) Invitational Overnighter tournament. Setup in the middle of the Norfolk Canyon at noon to catch some Marlin. Real slow for us to start and then get a runt blue to come in and is hooked up. Boat slows and the angler who is def cannot hear me saying, “CRANK CRANK” to keep the line tight. Oh Well. Next a 72# YFT comes in and takes a spreader bar. Then we setup for the evening drift and nothing. Move at 3AM and nothing. Setup the troll and run threw grass for about an hour and a half. Then get on a nice weed line which produces a double header white marlin bite. Jump one off. Get mauled by Gaffers Dolphin several times, Catch another big YFT and then later see another white. End up taking 4^th in the tournament.

9-8-07

Mated for Joe Woodington on his 55' Hatteras "Warrior" this weekend for some billfishing. The White Marlin bite has been on so even though Joe's crew cancelled he wanted to go. I was able to get another angler Greg Middleton to come along. Headed out late at 6:20AM for the fishing grounds. As we got closer to the area we were going to fish; we could hear hook ups coming one after another. Lines in at 10:15AM and within 30 minutes the first fish comes in and hits the Left Long rigger (Blue/White Islander w/Horse). Get Greg to real it in slowly as I move a dink bait over to switch it over. Fish comes in and Greg gets a release. Next another white comes in long shotgun and I hook it up and give to Joe for a white hook up. Next another left long bite and Greg drops it back, but bait is to big. Next another comes in on left short and Greg hooks it up. Things slow down and at 4:00PM another fish coems and plays with us. Whitey comes in and cleans a couple. I was giving them a shot at it and then I moved in, pass the rod to Joe and we get another White for the day. Get home late, but had a great day with Joe and Greg.

Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament Report 8/23 thru 8/25

Was hired on as a mate for the VBBT on a 55’ Hatteras named the Warrior out of Virginia Beach, VA.

Day one:

We ran east of the Cigar and fished in some serious grass. Within an hour we see some cutters (White Marlin cutting threw bait). Pull threw it and get hit by a couple of fish. I hook one and pass it to Page and try to see if I can get another. Couple others miss a fish. Troll around the area for a while when something hit the Mackerel in the left short. I can tell it is not a white and put the heat on with 25#’s of drag. Blue Marlin on and I hand the rod to Greg. He does a great job on the fish and I get a hold of the leader. This fish did not jump, so she was green when I grabbed the leader. She wore me out for 15 minutes behind the boat. Get her to measurement and find her to be 113”, two inches short of the 115” kill length for this tournament. See a couple other fish to no avail.

Day two:

Head out to the Norfolk Canyon where a good bite was the day before. Lines in and nothing for a good while. Pickup and start to run inside a little and we have engine problems. Lines back in and see a great Rip Line. White marlin comes into the spread and I hook it up and pass the rod to Ted. Later we loose and engine and hook up another white and on 1 engine we are having a problem getting to the fish. Pull the hook. Have a couple other shots to no avail until I hook up another with minutes left and pass it to Ted.

Saw around 11 fish. I went 4 for 5 on Bites which felt good since that is what I was getting paid to do.

Warrior was a great boat and the owner and crew were fantastic.

8-22-07

Had Kevin Perkinson and friends aboard for a day offshore. Headed out to the 850 line in 40 fathoms. Get on a great sulfur and find nothing. Move deeper and find bait balls down deep. Troll several of them when we see a school of two tone porpoises. Change spread to Tuna and troll with them for an hour with no bites. Darn. Move out to the deep and Marlin spread out. Finally at 2 PM get a white and release it and then a second bite which was missed. Tried both towers on the way in for some meat, but joy.

8-17-07

Mating for Joe Woodington on his 55’ 2001 Hatteras for the Pirates Cove Marlin Tournament. Ran both my boat and he followed me in threw Oregon Inlet on Monday. Started rigging on and went out on Tuesday.

8-18-07

Headed out with a plan and it worked for the most part. This is an angler tournament, which means all I can do is drive and rig baits. With in first hour I see a White come in on the short shot gun. Joe (Capt/Owner) has long shot gun in hand. Take the Long out of his hand from the left and hand him the short up in his right hand. Hooked up. I put the boa tin a turn and look and see a second fish hooked up and jumping. We start clearing lines and see 2^nd fish come unglued. Get Joe’s to the boat. No bites until later that day when a white hits an Islander Express with a Horse hoo. Get one angler too real it in real slow and another to pop the left long dink and move it over. Fish runs with it and the rod tip gets pulled up and the fish is gone.

8-19- 07

No fish seen.

8-20-07

August 5^th

Fished out of Virginia Beach with Chris Ripley and crew. Headed out to the Cigar area and lines go out. As I am setting out a dink bait for some dolphin an eruption comes on the left long rigger. Drop back and get a 33# Wahoo on a TLD 25. Troll in weeds most of the day and Gordy (Fill in Mate) is busy all day. Later a White comes in on the Mackerel and we try and switch it off. No joy and goes to long rigger big bait. Missed shot. Then get Wahoo bites all day and cut offs. Get another Wahoo later and then a White comes in. Gordy tries to hook the fish and a miss. Later when lines coming in I see a large wee patch and we bail 25 dolphin off of it.

August 3^rd and 4^th  on the Bandit

Wayne and crew hire me to run there 40 Cabo for a couple of days out of VB. We have had great success with catching citation class fish and these two days were no exception.

August 3^rd

Head out to the Cigar area off VB and lines in. We head and catch some dolphin and then setup for the troll. Next thing you know we have a 55# Wahoo on the boat. Then a nice YFT. Try for Marlin most of the day and none show up.

August 4^th

 Same area we are trying to get a marlin for the boat since some have been there. Out of 3 trips we have raised 4 White Marlin. First we want Dolphin and get a pad that has some gaffers. Get 5 of them and then bail dolphin until they shut off (40 Qty). Back to the troll for a Marlin and later that morning a white comes in on the teaser on the right side. Tim goes to setup for a shot and Wayne moves in with a Mackerel. Pull teaser away and fish turns on Mackerel. Wayne’s drops back perfectly and he is hooked up. Get out and back down. Tim leaders the fish and Picture time. Miss another marlin in the afternoon when I drop back and the drag freezes up on a 50 wide real and breaks the main line.

Virginia Beach Invitation Marlin Tournament

Had Rick Muskovac and some of his friends hire me to come up from Oregon Inlet, NC to Virginia Beach, VA. Had Kenny McLeskey run the boat and I was in the pit. We raised a small Blue Marlin on day one which took the mackerel and disappeared. Then a White came in and I was able to sink some steel.

Day two

Went outside of our plan and cost us. Get back to out area and a white attacks the short rigger and Rick grabs to rod and misses the fish, shoot. We did not see any other marlin for the tournament but did catch a YF Tuna and some dolphin.

Was hired to run a 40' Cabo for Wayne out of Richmond, VA. Headed out to a nice patch of water we saw on a water temp shot. Get out lines in and a 30# Wahoo. Took a little long to get the lines out due to first time this boat has fished offshore. Finally see what I was looking for. The YELLOW BRICK ROAD of a weedline. We are not getting as many bites as I would like due to white water behind the boat. Drop down to one engine and the bites start coming and we finally find the mother load of Dolphin. Bail till we are tired and put out a Marlin Spread. 15 minutes later White comes in on the Right teaser. Give my guys a shot at it but missed twice. Lines back out and have another white come in on a B/W Ilander sea star. Pulled the hook on the bite and disappeared.

Total:

30# Wahoo/ Box full of 4 to 8 pounder Dolphin/ 0 for 2 on White Marlin

Had Bob from Connecticut setup two days to fish with me this week. Headed out and had found some fill in guys for the charter. Headed out in some stormy conditions and rough seas. Lines in and Get a nice YFT. Lines back out in a down pour. Get lines out and get a coupel dolphin bites and on gaffer to the boat. Get out to were some birds are working. I climb into the Tuna (Not the smartest thing) Tower and see 60 Plus Pounders airing out.  Troll by them and get whacked by a nice one. They really where not interested in our stuff even though we put everything out but the kitchen sink.

Had a good catch of Gaffers and a nice 45# YFT.

6-30-2007

Headed out with a Great crew of guys: Paul Van Auken, Bill Gooch and Mark Wamner. We headed out for Wayne's world and trolled around for a little bit to see marks, but no bites. Seemed to be a little slow for most. Moved inside to 19 fathoms and headed south. While trolling a rather LARGE BFT Airs out on a B/W Soft Head Chugger and missed it. I start chugging it and the darn thing missed it 2 more times and disappeared. Worked the area for several minutes to no avail. Start heading more SE due to hearing of a bite. As we are turning on some marks I see something looking at the long rigger. Go to grab the pole and it pops out and I hand the rod off to Mark. I see on the surface and see it is a Mako. We get it ready and Paul Leaders and Bill drives the Boat perfectly. I look to see if it is a keeper and she is well over 54" and looks like a 80 to 90 fish. Stick her in the lower jaw up threw the nose. Iced in the Coffin. Troll out a little deeper and see a couple boats hooked up. Change some things up and wait. Next thing you know I see boil on the Left flat. Start jigging it and it gets taken out of my hand. MAN I LOVE THAT! Mark start following suit and hooked up as well. Then another and another drifter bit and another. Hold on to 3 fish. I take the wheel as Bill Mark and Paul fight Bosco Tunas. During the fight a nice Hammer head comes cruises across our spread and decided Bill's fish is going to be lunch. Well get two in the boat in the high 50 to low 60 pound range. Continue to work the area and have a couple short bites and then a White comes in on the left flat and then piles on the Seas Star. Paul gets a pretty white to the boat. Troll some more and get another white coming in on the Blue and White Islander in the flat. Let’s go and bill drops the Blue and White bar back on it and gets a White hooked up. Clear lines and see this is a real nice white. Get the bill and release it after some picks. Also saw two whites fining as well in the afternoon and several bait balls coming to the surface.

Total:

1 Mako 92#
2 for 6 on Tuna
2 for 3 Whites
1 for 2 Dolphin

Took Dr Pascal and crew out for some offshore fishing and had the pleasure of Capt Reese Bowles as my mate. I had called Dr Pascal at 11:00PM the night before to tell him it was going to be SNOTTY! He said WE ARE COMING! So headed out and decided to run South along the coast and make a left at the shoals for a better ride. Get out to the 340 line in 50 fathoms on a weed line and begin dolphin chaos. We bailed dolphin for the next few hours. Then went looking for a billfish. Just off the line. Around 12:30 sailfish cam in on a Black and Purple Seastar. Reese drops back for a few secs and locks up fish is there and disappears. Then shows up for a look at a Pukala Luma sprocket in the left long and gone. It was sporty all day at 3 to 5 blowing 15 to 25 all day. Saw some real big storms brewing on the Sirrus Marine Weather and headed in at 1:30. Had to run threw some serious T-Storms which gave us a great washdown.

Total:

Limit of Dolphin with 4 gaffers
Missed a sailfish

Was hired to run a 33 Grady White out for Virginia Beach, VA for a friend. Went out to the Norfolk Canyon and the water break that had been out there had disappeared. Saw some BFT on the move and had two Spreader Bar bites on the squids, but not on the hook bait. Moving to fast to keep up with them. Get a call from a partner boat and run to where there has been some action. Lines in and see a hug Blue Marlin air out 3 times chasing YFT. Lines in get 2 bites and 1 to the gaff. Then another bite missed and then 1 for 2 on nice YFT - 1 to the gaff. Troll some more with a bite on the Left flat(Missed) then walk Pat on dropping back to a white on the Right flat and hooked up!! Clear lines and back down slowly. Get the fish and a picture. NICE!!! troll for several more hours with nothing. Long day and slow for most out there. Fished SE wall of the Norfolk Canyon.

6-16-2007

Had the weekend off but was talked into fishing on a buddies 36 Yellow Fin Center Console with Triple 300 Suzuki outboards. Man this thing “FLEW”. We ran at speeds of 64 MPH and felt safe. Went out to the 22 Fathom Fingers off of Virginia Beach to see if there was anything. Not!!! Found some birds, but no fish except one 12# Bluefish.

Had a great family trip with Dave Hansen his wife, son and daughter from VB. We had bites all day and fish boiling on teasers and baits. Just had rubber hooks, blind fish and only on eangler most of the day due to sicknes or sleepiness. We had 29 Bites and 20+ hooked and running. It was a little rough and some were not fealing well so had limited anglers. We had 4 Big Eys jump on us and we got a 90# Big Eye out of the four. One of the nice things was a Gaffer Dolphin got int he spread and hooked up. We were able to get the duaghter in the chair and she caught it. I was able to get them on video as I drove with there camera. We did not get as many as we could have, but we were able to get 4 YFT, 1 Big Eye and a Gafffer.

What a great day on the water.  Headed out into what felt like was calm seas but was still 3 to 4 foot chop, but way better than what we had been fishing in 5 to 10 footers. Point South and lane at the 430 line on the change. Lines in Gaffers on. We proceed to catch Gaffers hand over fist and miss as many. I had Spud back in the pit and Capt Reese from the local TV and Radio show on board. By 9:15 we had a dozen gaffers, but the bite slowed down due to a lot of pressure on the fish. Later in the day we went 1 for 2 on YFT and then came a surprise. At 2:00 while myself and mate Spud are in the tower a very large Blue Marlin comes in and gets hooked up. We had limited time with her because she just took off like a bat out of hell! Good 600+ pounder.

18 Gaffers – 4 over 25# the rest 15#’s and Bigger

1 YFT – 25#’s

1 Missed Blue Marlin

5/16/07

Headed out in really rough seas which made for a long day at the helm. Could not run South due to rough conditions, but made it out to the stream. Lines in and started catching big gaffer dolphin. Next thing a Sailfish comes in on a Mackerel Blue Marlin bait then we hook it on the long rigger. Fight it for about 3 minutes before it jumps of.  Out in the deep and a Wahoo comes in and Greg (owner of the Glitz Lady) get a 55# Wahoo, which was good for 1^st place Wahoo Division. Then a White comes in on the R short and we miss it.

5/17/07

Headed out to even rougher seas. Make a long run South to where the Blue Marlin have been and Gaffers eat out baits alive. Did see one Blue chasing gaffers, but no luck.

5/19/07

Last day and the seas are a little less bumpy, but still big rollers. Try to go deep, but after the 100 fathom line it got really rough and 12+ foot seas. Lines in and get covered up with gaffers again. Could not run away from them. No billfish raised.

Tournament was good overall and the owners ended up getting a check for $2,606!

I will start including reports for a 42' Hatteras Private Boat "Glitz Lady" out of Hatteras for now. We took her down for her maiden fishing trip. This boat was run out of Lake Michigan and did not even have Out Riggers on it as of 3 weeks ago. I took her threw the Intercoastal Waterway from Hampton to Hatteras due to rough seas and Oregon Inlet was a mess the day before. Arrived to see a small weather window and the owner Greg siad let's fish! Woke up and headed out into big o'll 4 to 6 footers. We managed 13 knots out due to very steep faces and backs.

Set out and found the marks. Worked them all day and ended up with:

1 White Marlin Release

3 Yellowfin Tuna

1 Wahoo (25 Pound)

5-3-07

Well after postponing for a day, my charter talked me into trying it between storms. Headed out to some nice seas out in the deep, but it got real bad fast. We found some fish near the end and ended up catching 5 Yellowfin Tuna, #90 Mako and 6 Gaffer Dolphin. Fished the 500 to the 608 in 120 to 200+ fathoms.

4-14

Sorry for not having any reports for a while. Been working on a boat I will be running in some tournaments this year for a family.

Woke this morning and the wind was blowing pretty good at the boat, but the Bouy reports said something different. Ryan, his dad and brother said the same thing. Showed them what the bouys said and told them we were going. We run down the channel and the winds stops!! Yeah. Get out to the stream and start trolling in 4 to 6 foot seas. We get to the bite and start getting bites. We ened the day with 6 nice Yellow Fin Tuna, had a Big Eye bite and missed abotu 4 others. It was a slow day and we ended with a good catch. Oh yeah the seas laid down for a nice ride in.

4-2-07

Took Bill McCawley group out for a day of fishing. We headed out to some bumpy seas, but we waxed them pretty good on a slow day. 10 YFT, 1 Mako!!!

3-31-07

We were supposed to leave the around 4:30 AM, but was held up due to one of the party ran out of gas 20 miles form the marina. Luckly I had a gas can on board with back-up Diesel to help them out. Get underway around 6:00 and make a run to the 400 line and start fishing. Soon the lines go off. Two out of five Yellow Fin come too the boat. Then whammm again 1 out of three. Then again.... We are trolling around and get the Long Shot Gun going off. It turns out to be a 90# Mako Shark!! Yeah!!

Total:

8 Tuna and a 90# Mako

3-28-2007

Well the weather broke and allowed us a day of fishing. Headed out with a great group of guys Kenny, Toni & Dad, Bill and Clay. Started on the 50 fathom line on the 490 and was in 74 degree water looking for life. Trolled around and WHAMM! 4 bites get two nice Yellow Fins to the boat. Troll around again and 7 bites get 4 nice Yellow Fins to the boat. Hard current working so hard to get back on the fish. Troll up the line a little and get a coupel more bites and another couple YFT. Wind started picking up and get WHAMMMED by False Albacore tunas 7 and 8 at a time. Guys had fun reeling them in. Headed back due to it getting a little rough.

Well took the boat back South for the spring tuna bite out of Oregon Inlet, NC. This time of year you have to pick your days and you will have success!

Dates still available for 2007 offshore trips! Call for dates.

3-13-07

Another great day on the water. Ran North up by Ship Shoal Inlet and found a Gold Mine of nice size stripers. In four hours we had over 30 Stripers up to 38". Several times we had doubles on the same rig. Even had a triple on an umbrella rig. Water temp was 44.6 and white Mojo and Umbrella rigs worked best. Here is the triple header after one came off.

3-10-07

Well went out for a 3 hour tour with a crew of David & Buzzy Sims and Dennis Hack. Headed North out of Rudee Inlet to Ship Shoal Inlet and found "A Lot of Fish" Put lines in and started catching nice fish for about an hour and a half before the guys arms were to tired. Caught about 20 plus fish and missed several others because we had two or three other fish on at a time.

Man I am Stoked!! I went to the Virginia Beach Billfish Foundation Annual Awards Banquet a couple of weeks ago and was surprised to find out I won the Top Billfish Charter Boat of the year!! Can you believe that? Man all the hard work had paid off and thank you to all of my crews who help me win this award.

Top Charter Fishing Boat - Billfish Release Category

3-1-07

Well things have slowed a little and I have put my Mechanic on hold for a little while, but finally I had to gave him the boat to pull the injectors for there 1500 hour service on the motors last two weeks of Feb. Thankfully all they needed was a little cleaning and resetting and had exhaust manifold gaskets replaced as well. We took her for a test run yesterday and man did she move. At 2650 RPMs (Cruise on the engines) we were doing 28.2 knots! Topped out at 31.8 knots. Now that is moving out!!

Well I have a couple more things to do and down South we go for TUNA TUNA TUNA out of Oregon Inlet, NC!!! Spots are filling up so book your trip for a great price $1150!!!

2-17-07

Had the Cary Hall crew His Dad (71 and moves like he is 50) Carter (5 Year old son) and friends. Went out with high hopes of catching, but it was not to happen. Ran 22 miles South and birds diving and bait all over no fish. The radio chatter was bleek with no one hooking up. I mean hundreds and hundreds of boats not catching up and down the coast. It was a half day trip and we were out to get Cary's dad s striper. So the bite has been in the afternoon so I tell them we should go get something to eat and try again after lunch. We did I took them for a catch and release session and we SLAYED THEM! 15 fish in about and hour and a half.

2-9-07

Had a crew of guys for a company trip from Smith & Keene HVAC Company. Pulled out of the inlet and ran 2.5 miles SE of Rudee Inlet and put lines in "Fish ON" right away. A double on an Umbrella Rig 24 and 25 pounder! Kept catching as I stayed on the fish mark for hours. Others were struggling as we caught 23 fish biggest was 34 pounds other s in the mid to high 20 pound class.

2-7-07

Headed out of Rudde Inlet a couple miles NE and put lines in on a pod of bait with the rest of the fleet. Caught a couple 29 to 32 inch fish thta we FAT, but it was slow. Decided to head South with several other boats and paid a big price. Wind picked up and had a long trip back in 4 to 5 foot seas head on. Made it back to the Inlet and had only 3 fish. Most of the fleet headed in but we decided to check out some birds working outside again. It paid off. Found a pod of fish and started catching HOGS. One was 43 Pounds caught by Kenny and his friend had a 36 pounder.

2-3-07

Had a great crew of guys from Richmond whose Wife had bought the trip for them for Christmas. They were running a little behind so we left at 7:40Am for a half day Striper Charter. Thankfully the fish were just 4 miles NE of Rudee Inlet. Marked fish dropped baits and started catching 20 to 36 Pound stripers one after another. After catching 8 in about 40 minutes. We get surrounded by other boats. See some birds on the radar down the beach with no boats around and make a 2 ½ mile run. Birds dissipate but I am marking fish. Lines in Get a 36# striper right away. Turn into the current tell John my mate good marks get ready. Four lines are out 3 go down with 28 to 32 pounders. 12 fish in an hour and the guys are ready to head home. I asked them twice “Are you Sure”? Back we went at 9:10AM back at the dock by 9:40AM.

1-30-07

Day started off cold but warmed up nicely. Had a great trip with Handy Corp who was taking out BAKER Roofing for a day of fun. Well we ran South and found some birds working and the boats pounced. We got in there and caught some nice fish before it slowed down. Everyone had a great trip and enjoyed the nice slabs of meat. Ended with a limit 17 miles down South. White was the color of choice.

1-24-2007

Well the weather man was a little off on the wind and seas, but we headed out for a day of fishing on a friends new boat. We spent the day before getting him rigged up and ready. Spoke to a friend who was fishing up North and catching big fish, but we headed South. After a slow start a friend called us in on the fish. We started catching 36” to 42 ½” Striper doubles and triples. Man what a great day catching over 24 fish!

1-14-07

Well they bite slowed DOWN BIG TIME! Had a Half day and made a run like I had a Full Day (30 Miles) to put these folks on some fish. Caught a couple stopping on some diving birds, but nothing like I was hoping. My folks were getting depressed when it was time to head, back with only a couple fish. So I run to Cape Henry where they began biting all of a sudden. We catch 26 fish in an hour and stayed out for 2 ½ hours longer. They were so stoked!!! They said I cannot you believe you stayed out to get us fish, Thanks!

1-13-07

Hear we go again, Man the Striper are biting! We started off around Cape Henry looking for the bite that has been going on. Well we found it! Started picking at them and then they erupted with in ¾ of a mile form Cape Henry Light House. We casted to them for 3 hours and had one fish on light tackle at 36 pounds.  Lost some others due to they were just big!

1-11-07

Man the Striper were biting! Down Deep on Top you name it! Casting to the Trolling they were everywhere even when there were 300 boats trying to catch the same school. We rocked it with over 45 fish caught in 5 hours of fishing. My Crew was so tired they wanted to head home early. Biggest fish was 28 pounds on light tackle Spinning Gear.

1-5-06

Took Jason and some of his customers out for a Half Day of Striper fishing. The fishing had slowed down tremendously and all the other Charter Captians were crying the blues out there with us. Well we did end up catching 10 Stripers and I decided to stay out an additonal Hour and a Half, which made them really happy. Jason enjoyed the trip so much he has booked me for three more trips this month, YE HA!!!

Month of December

Well headed down to Morehead City, NC to do some "Commercial" Giant Blue Fin Tuna fishing. Man it was slow fishing down there. Was able to get several hooked up but none of them stayed on the hook. Shoot!!! Fished 16 days and was in the area where fish were hooked up, but with 6 to 15 bites a day and 150 to 200 boats out there, made for slim pickens. Did how ever become known as the "SHARK HUNTER"! Yep caught several species of sharks on the troll. High light was catching a 250# Thresher Shark in the tail. Man thought we finally had our BFT when we saw the tail.

Well Back in Virginia Beach for Rockfish season, hope to have you all on board real soon!

11-29-2006

Another great day on the water with some fellow Tidalfish members. Left the dock an 1 1/2 late due to some late arrivals from Northern VA. Able to get the lines in at 8:20AM in the same area we fished the day before. Lines in and fish on!!! Picked away in a crowd all day making it hard to turn on the fish when hooked up. Went off by our selves in an area where a couple bpats had hooked up. 1,2,3 ,5,6,8 lines go down!!!! Get 6 of them. Slow for most boats and we missed several fish.

Total:

13 YFT and missed 8 or 9!

11-28-06

What a great day on the water with Jimmie and his friends from Virginia Beach! Headed out in slick seas and a beautiful sunrise which gave us hope of an awesome day. Well it did. We started pulling around in a fleet of boats on the 540 line in 100 Fathoms. Started getting bites right away! Had as many as 7 fish on at a time. These were not footballs but 40lbs plus class fish. All the guys were tired of realing in fish after catching our limit of 15 in a short period of time. Greg (Mate) and decided to stay and let them catch a couple more to achieve a boat limit. We did with 20 nice YFT. Missed a Wahoo bite as well.

Total:

20 Yellow Fin Tuna and had 7 other bites

11-14-06

Another great day with TUNA JUMPING ALL OVER EVERYTHING!!! Yes, I mean eating the teasers and dangling baits in the riggers. We had our limit in short order by 10:20AM and back at the dock by 12:30PM. Fished the 878 in 85 Fathoms.

Total:

15 Yellow Fin Tuna 

11-11-06

Great day fishing with John, Jonathan and Clay out of Oregon Inlet, NC. Put lines in around 7:15 AM in a great temperature break and had some good marks of fish down deep. Troll around awhile and see tons of life, Dolphins some Pilot Whales scattered birds flying around, but no fish. Heard there was some action a little North of us so since it was flat calm we reeled in the lines and headed North. Pull up to see a small fleet of boats and some catching fish. Lines go back in the water and 9 of them get hit all at once. Yes 9 fish on, Chaos ensues. Get 6 to the boat and as one bait comes in rerig and back out they go and get eaten. Fished for 2 hours until we had our LIMIT of Yellow Fin Tuna and the guys said they QUIT! Rolled back to the dock at 9:50AM.

Total

12+ Yellow Fin Tuna

10-30-06

What and AWESOME DAY! Fished for 3 hours and had a limit of 18 x 40 to 50 pound Yellow Fin Tuna. The guys were busy fight ing fish the entire time. We had another 10 fish lost during the fight. Made it back to the dock by 1:00PM.

Total:

18 for 30 Yellow Fin Tuna

10-15-06

Went out with the Richard Galle group for a day of Yellow Fin Tuna fishing. Man these guys were great! They had a ball and broke out the stogies early do to some success right off the bat. Fished out in 150 Fathoms to 30 Fathoms and had actions most of the day. Ended the day with a great MEAT SLAM (Tuna Wahoo & Dolphin). Had many bite offs because of the Wahoo’s and saw plenty of Porpoises, Whales and Hammerhead Sharks.

Totals:

5 for 9 YFT

2 for 10 Dolphin

1 for 4 Wahoo

9-30-06

Great day on the water with Robert, Dave, Greg, Dicky, Kevin and his 12-year old son. Left the marina at 4:00 and headed due East to the Northern side of the Norfolk Canyon. Found some nice warm 72 degree water and lines in. Shortly there after we miss three White Marlin and then another. Get a couple Yellow Fin bites and then near the end of the day we get 6 fish on. These are not your 25 to 30 pounders, but 50 to 70 pounders. Manage to get 3 fish ot the boat 68, 62, 47 Pounders. Plenty of meat.

Total for the Day:

0 for 4 White Marlin                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              3 for 8 Yellow Fin Tuna

9-23-06

SUCCESSION gets a Swordfish, two White Marlins, Yellowfins and dolphin!!!  Went and fished the Big Money Open "Overnighter" tournament from Friday at 12:00 PM to Saturday 12:00 PM.  Ran out 58 miles to the 412 line in 44 Fathoms to a Pretty Temp break and weed line. Saw a couple fish hooked up and immediately hooked up a White Marlin. While fighting him we get two others biting "Missed" them. Set back out and two Whites fight over the little bird chain and green machine. See 5 total and get a some Dolphin. Setup for overnighter and within 2 hours Swordfish on. Get him to the boat twice leader twice see and ID fish. Pulls the hook. I have tried several years and finally get one. Next day waves pickup to 4 to 5 foot. Troll in the same area as we started the day before. get two YFT and go 1 for 2 on White Marlin.

9-18-2006

Had a great day on the water with Bill (Real Fancy), Rob & Girl Friend, Joey and Jason. Put out on a nice weed line and with in 30 minutes YFT in the box, then another. Continue working the area and a Wahoo bites us off but heads to the long riggger, Hooked up. Then have one come in on the teaser switch him off with flat, miss and then goes to the Red/Black tracker on wire. Bill is hooked up. We first thought it may be a marlin due to how it came up on the teaser then when hooked up stuck it's head out and started thrashing around. Another boat just had one not more than a 1/2 mile from us. Back to trolling and get a third Hoo in the box. Then we had a hoo that was going nuts on the Green Machine behind a little bird chain. Hit it 8 times and finally the weeds got us before he could hook himself. 

Trolled along this line for another hour and a half with no more hits and headed out deeper. Reports of 77 degree water and a nice weed line in 100 fathomes. Head out there and shag weeds for hours. Dolphin everywhere. We could have bailed for hours. We did catch a gaffer and decided to bail for a bit. get about 6 in the box and Bill (up in the tower) says look at those wahoos. There were 4 wahoos swimming under the boat and spooked the dolphin. Tried to get the but no luck.  Nice 26.5 knot cruise home.

Total for the day:
3 for 5 on Wahoo Bites (Jason had a Citation Wahoo)
6 Peanuts and 1 small gaffer
2 YFT (30#er's)

9/16/06

What a great day of fishing in some rough water. Had a great crew and new mate to break in on fish and we did that for sure. Left a little earlier than everyone and headed to the Cigar area in 20 to 50 fathoms looking for warm water and fish. We found it and started getting bites from Yellow Fin Tuna like crazy. We ended the day with 8 x 50# class YFT one was 58#'s and a gaffer dolphin. We had a total of 17 YFT bites, 4 Wahoo bite offs and missed a White Marlin.

I would like to thank my crew out together by Allen Clore and friends for sharing in such a great day.

Labor Day

I have been slacking on the reports due to getting SUCCESS ready for sale.

Left the Marina at 4:30AM and headed EAST for a day of fishing. Had a great crew and are expectations were high due to a big storm had churned everything up. Well it was a DOLPHIN day. We bailed a limit of Dolphin and caught several Little Tuners (7 to be exact). Man everyone thaought the bite would be on, but it was not. Oh Well.

Signing off to get some FAMILY TIME in.

Friday

Head out towards the 900 line and start in 50 fathoms and work out from there. Well the further we ran out the nastier it got. We are talking 4 to 6 Wind blown sharp faced waves. New ride handled it just fine at 19 knots. Put lines in on some really blue warm water. Trolled out to the 100 and back in heading South. No bites. Get down to the 808 and get weeded up. Head out to 130 fathoms and more weeds. Finally get to the 840 and the weeds end and turn in shore. make a turn at the end of them and get multiple Dolphin knock downs and manage 2 x 17# dolphin and a Baffer. That was our day. I think there was 12 billfish caught on Friday

Sunday

I stayed up late Saturday night making sure we had three rigged Mac's. Serveal large teasers and an arsenal of baits ready to do battle. Lines in and we are off. We had turned out before my waypoint which was 8 mile South. I had a feeling where the warm water was we had been fishing and trolled South. Get to the 819 on in 50 Fathoms and find a small bait ball on the FFinder. Circle it once and Alan says "Hey" it is a White Marlin on the Flat line. Alan locks it in shortly after the strike and the fish starts throwing its head around out of the water and the hook pulls. Within in a couple seconds the R-Short pops out of the rigger (Gone) the Short Shotgun pops (Gone), Left Flat pops (Gone), Left Long "Producer" pops (Gone) Shotgun pops (gone). Other baits were larger B-Marlin Baits. How many fish do you think molested us? Spread back out and get about a quarter of a mile East. Something wacks the Mackeral hard and then the Right short pops (Nobody by the rod)) I jump out of the helm and drop it back. feel it run with it and look for it to come tight, nothing. Shotgun pops (Gone) and then the left flat gets dropped back by Greg and it takes the bait. Locks it in and pulls back. out of the mouth it comes.

We missed 9 shots and maybe three fish or more. Nobody will know. I move inside and we get bit by wahoo and Chaos54 does a great drop back and gets a citation 34# wahoo to come tight. Tough tournament with a good shot at some fish.

Fished this tournament with three girls Susan, Vicki & Lynn and had a ball in 5 to 8 foot seas. Ran out to the Cigar in some nasty stuff and put lines in and first thing have a White Marlin come and look at the spread. No bitty though. Troll threw some Porpoises and HOOKED UP with something that jumped and acted like a Blue Marlin. Finally after 45 minutes of Vicki in the chair we get a 52# Yellow Fin Tuna to the gaff. Nothing for several hours of getting soaked by ran squals and get a another bite on the flat line was able to hook up a Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi) for Susan to reel in. That was our day. It was real slow out there a couple boats found some Billfish.

We did Place 2nd In the Meat fish Division and Won the WACKY CREW contest!! This is for the best dressed up and Funniest Crew.

Friday

Well had a great crew for the Virginia Beach TunaTournament which we fished on Friday. Ran North to the 20 fathom finger and trolled along the edge towards the crotch. Put lines in at 7:30 AM and ran a long spread. In about 30 minutes the left long rigger goes off on the 80 and does not want to stop with 20#pnds drag on her. Get lines in and begin a 35 mintues battle. I am slowly backing down on about 600 yards of line and get her close she makes a run. Then we get her stright up and down. By this time we have it at strike with around 30# of drag. She all of a sudden starts to come up and then turns violenty back down on a run and the 80# test SNAPPS! It was brand new line. Had two one more Nice BFT bites. Settled with 3 x YFT, 12#Gaffer and missed a couple more bites. We had our Shot at winning it if that one we missed was 85# or bigger we would be in there.

VB Tuna Tournament Results 9th Place out of 90 boats! Not to bad!

Saturday

Had Ash and some of his Church friends fis with us. These folks were great and really got to see some red hot dolphin fishing action. 

We pulled away and decided to run to the Cigar!! Ran to just short of the 10 fathom hump and started catching King Mackeral on the Planer. Trolled out a little further and had a mystery bite that pulled hard on the planer but came off during the fight. About a mile before the Weather Bouy we get mauled by Baffers (5 to 8 pound Dolphin). We bailed a limit of them and called in some other boats due to there being a couple hundred under the boat. Big Woody came in and took over and we left to troll some more. Went out to 100 fathoms and marked bait everywhere! Managed to catch several more Dolphin. Started clearing lines when I see the Left Long get boiled on BIG Time! Hooked Up and the fifty is screaming and screaming as I passed it to Chase. He is holding the rod as we clear the last three lines. We get down to about 20 wraps when the fish just disappears! Well off we go and on the way Home we See Bait balls all over the top of the water. Great day and saw alot of fish!

It is amazing what a couple of days can make. We left the VB Fishing Center at around 4:45 Am and headed off to the Triple 000's area. After running for about 20 minutes of running into a 3 to 5 foot head sea that had no backs we decided to head to the Fingers. Was able to make better time and setout half way up the 22 Fathom Finger. Not to long later Gaffers. There was alot of grass that had moved out from inside and now covered everything out to the 60 fathoms line. Spent most of the day clearing lines of grass. Made it hard to fish. Trolled around and picked up another gaffer and a nice 40# tuna. Find some porpoises and troll around them for a little while and get a nice 40#'er again. Move back inside and work around when at about 1:20 PM the front comes in and it is time to run home. I got real snotty out there with a 3 to 5 foot SE swell and 3 foot Wind blown Chop meeting and parting. Great day on the water with Chase, Joe and Bill.

Total:

2 x YFT 45#er’s

4 x Gaffers

Had a couple short bites as well

Took some great guys fishing today out of VB (Russ, Chase, Adam, Jacob, Greg & Steve). We left the dock around 4:00 AM and headed to the 22 Fathom Finger. Just before we got there I smelled carnage from big fish eating little ones. So decided 2 mile sbefore our destination to put lines in. WAMMM 35" Blue Fin Tuna released (Cannot keep them until July 1st), then another and missed another. Decide to head out to the deep for their big brother. Well all we ended up with was 2 more Blue Fin Tuna releases and a couple dozen Chomper Blue Fish!!! Pick up and run to the South Wall of Norfolk Canyon started at the tip of the Canyon and troll around for hours. Get covered up twice with Yellow Fin Tuna and peanut dolphin. Cruised back as some slept in the salon at 26.5 knots

Total:

4 x Yellow Fin Tuna for 11 & a Throw Back

4 x Blue Fin Tuna released (35 to 39 inches)

0 for 1 on White Marlin

Missed some Peanut dolphin and a Nice Gaffer (20 +) jumped off during the fight

Great day!

Took out a friend of mines charter after his boat lost a Turbo and left the dock a little bit later (7:00 AM) due me getting the call at 5:30 AM for help. His clients had never caught any real big fish and we were looking to go to an area called the Hot Dog (36 miles SE of Rudee Inlet, VB). Typically this is shallower water and Blue Fin Tuna & Bluefish are in order. So I gave the helm over to my buddy Charter Captain after discussing with him where I think we should go and put together a nice Blue Fin Tuna spread. The BFT regs are strict and only let you keep 1 BFT over 47” and/or one over 72” per day. I was not sure we would see them in this size range, but incase we did we were ready. We started trolling in a spot that looked fishy. Right off the bat a 14 pound Bluefish. I decide then we should move out a little deeper. We do and the gods shined above us.

Had a great day on the water yesterday with Steve, Bill, Chris, Chase and Dan! left around 4:15 AM to head out to an area named the Cigar and portions South Eat of there. I had seen some warm water out in the 100 Plus Fathom area so off we went. Put lines in around a Weather Bouy and started catching Mahi-Mahi right away. Trolled SE for the next few hours and consistantly picked away at nice 8 to 15 Pound Mahi-Mahi. Foudn the Warm water only to find NOTHING IN IT! So headed back into 50 fathoms and found more Mahi-Mahi and two real nice 40 Pound Class Yellowfin Tuna!

Catch for the day was:

2 x 40# Class YFT, 12 Gaffer Mahi-Mahi and 2 Bailer Mahi-Mahi.

What a great day out fishing with some awesome guys (Jay, Rick, Pat, Stinky...) from DC Area. Ran down below the Triple 000 area to find some water we had found in a sat shot. We found it and had a great day of catching Nice Tuna's, Dolphin and had the first White Marlin caught out of VB in 2006. Thanks for a great trip and tight lines!!

Sincerely,

Capt Kevin

Had a great day with some of my regulers Kenny, Kenny's friend Tim, Greg & a couple other TidalFish members! Started out heading out to our own little area and low and behold the rest oth e world ended up there. trolled around watching the Tuna's eat my Green Squid teaser so changed the spread to a green spreader bar in the middle and surround it with baits and for the next four hours caught 18 Yellow Fin Tuna a 99 Pound Big Eye Tuna. Had one YFT weigh in at 65#'s. Back at the dock because we had limit and full off fish by 12:15 PM.