Cape Lookout Albacore

[Dave Sikorski]

It's been WAY too long since I'e had a fly rod in my hand, or made a report on this forum.

I finally took some time away from work and hunting to head down to Morehead City and hop on the "Extreme" boat w/ Brian Harrington.

When the waters cool and the bait congregates along the shores of Cape Lookout, the predators follow.

The speedy False Albacore can be great opponents on the fly.

We drove down Saturday night and were waiting at the town docks when Brian pulled up Sunday morning. That extra hour we gained led to a nice nap in the truck!

We headed out under cloudless and sunny skies with a north wind and the threat of an increasing blow as the day went on.

We made it to the fishing grounds in no time in Brian's Contender 25. Drew and Phill joined me on the trip.

I had my 10 wt loaded with an intermediate line and a small super hair fly w/ and epoxy head.

On one of the first drifts I hooked up and pulled one off. Actually my loop knot failed

Brian tied on a new fly and we began chasing more schools.

I finally worked out the kinks of my cast(well sorta) and Drew and Phil wore them out on spinning rods and jigs.

By the end of the day we had caught our share of the speedy little suckers, and were ready for a nap.

Monday found us right back on the boat at 6:30 am but the weather had definitely changed. There were ominous clouds to the south and east as we cleared the Beaufort inlet, and the ground swell was impressive to say the least.

As we neared the Cape we found a number of boats already searching to the schools of fish, and unable to cross the shoals for good reason. It was nasty over there!!

We aimlessly searched for quite a while and finally caught what was the first, and might have been the only Albacore caught on the fly by the fleet that day.

We stuck it out as long as possible, but the density of boats stuck in the few calm spots had the fish acting frantic, and we were facing a 400 mile drive home. We called it around noon and headed north.

I was happy to make my first Albacore trip and to say that I didn't catch one on a spinning rod. Brian did a great job of getting us on the fish, and I made it home without any broken knuckles!!

I'm definitely looking forward to my next Extreme Measures adventure.

Thank you Capt. Brian.

-D

[Tenacious]

Nice report Dave!!! Looks like ya'll had a great trip. Can you eat albacore?

[clt_capt]

Nice report Dave. They were all over on Saturday

[CapeMayRay]

Nice trip and great pictures. Looks like a great time even with the second day being a little tough.

[Dave Sikorski]

Thanks guys.

As tough as the second day was, it was still a great day on the water.

I always get to watch the radar as a low makes its way on land in NC, but to be there and see the rain bands and the intensity of it all was pretty cool.

There something about those shoals out there that just peak my interest.

We got to watch some STUD albies attack bait in about 2' of water inside of the cape. Their speed is impressive to say the least.

-D

[Chris Lillehoff]

Dave, it looks like a great time and i would kill to tie into one of those buggers on the fly. The bubbling bait looks amazing! Great pics!



P.s. I would get beat up on the dock in AK if i was spotted wearing those hideous white grundens.

[Dave Sikorski]

Look what the cat drug in!

Welcome Chris.

We had a long discussion somewhere on here about grunden colors.

When it's hot and the boat is covered in Tuna blood, the white grundens work out just fine.

Let's see some Alaska pics already.

-D

[Fishfinder]

Dave, sorry I missed you when you were down, or at least I don't think you stopped by the shop while I was there. It looks like yo had a good trip with Brian. Just wanted you to know that the core bite is really starting to heat up. This Wednesday before the winds and rain showed up the albie bite was just about as good as it gets. Bait balls and busting cores all over in 40 ft. of water. Next week's temps will be dropping into the mid 30's, it should be a real kill'n.

Capt. Joe Shute

[livetofishnj]

Nice work Dave! Glad you got the camera back in one piece so you could shoot some sweet pics. Those albies are fun light tackle action, great bait and and old captain I worked for said it was actually good as sushi, just not cooked.

[gottaflylee]

And to think that you were only 15 mins. from Harkers Island and a Trout & Shrimp stuffed potato...I mean a hot home cooked meal away from home...you mad at me???
Glad to see you had a good trip.