"Plan B" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/09/10

The crew of "The Law" couldn't make the Nationals due to lower unit issues on their off shore boat. Still needing a fishing fix they opted for Plan B. They took Michelle Drake's 17 ft. skiff in shore fishing.

Michelle nailed some bait in Calabash, displaying her skills with a cast net and they headed for the soon-to-be tourist attraction, the old Sunset Beach bridge. The primarily off shore anglers anchored up and within a few minutes Stephen Welborne started moving around the boat, obviously with a strike. He began calling for the net. Being more used to gaffing fish with an 8 ft. gaff as opposed to netting them Michelle was struggling getting what they could see was a big flounder in the landing net. Jeff took the net and brought a 5.8 lb. flounder aboard. Jeff also caught and carefully released an undersized red a little later.

Michelle claims to be a lousy in shore angler, but she did her part catching bait and posing with the flounder. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

-Capt. Rickey Beck
OIFC fishing report 11-9-20law.jpg


"Thanksgiving Inshore Classic " | Speckulator - 22' | 11/09/10

Well folks, it is that time of year again and Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which means our annual Thanksgivinig Inshore Classic is right around the corner as well. The tournament will be held the Saturday after Thanksgiving as always, November 27th. Registration will be on November 26th at the OIFC. More info on the tournament can be found on the tournaments page, at http://www.oifc.com/tournaments.cfm.

The trout fishing has been exceptional the last few days, and we are starting to see more and larger fish all the time. The fishing should only improve over the next couple of weeks, and we should have hot fishing, as usual, for the tournament.

-Capt. Kyle Hughes

"Conditions report" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/09/10

Rode down beach today to Southport. Water still full of pogies along beach, however they are doing their flip and run deal. Didn't try to catch any, but difficult this time of year. Water temp on beach is 62 degrees. Going out tomorrow to check out how close kings are still in; will report back.
-Rube McMullan



"SKA Nationals Cont. " | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/08/10

I know that it seems that is all you are reading about on the reports this week but the reality is, that's where we all were so we have to report on where we fished. I also had the opportunity to fish down in Ft. Pierce last week aboard the Toes Up with Richard Boles and Doug Robson. I had not had the opportunity to fish with these two guys before the trip down but have gotten to know them very well over the past year as customer's here at the OIFC and as friends. Anyway, we headed down bright and early Monday morning and arrived in Ft. Pierce just in time to get the boat in the water just prior to sunset Monday. Tuesday was an exciting day and a truly great learning experience as Capt. Brant, Capt. Barrett and Capt. Rube allowed me to tag along with them for the first day of the Pro Tournament. It was truly incredible to have the opportunity to fish with these guys. Their tactics and techniques are a bit humbling to say the least. We managed to catch a few fish but the big one eluded us. Wednesday, I had an opportunity to do a little pre-fishing for the tournament aboard the "Toes Up", a 23t Contender owned by Richard. While we called it pre fishing, the real agenda for the day was to venture 8-12 miles offshore to the gulf stream to do a little sportfishing. Yes, I said 8-12 miles to the gulf stream.... It was incredible to catch 24+ lb dolphin's within sight of land. Ended up with a handful of Dolphins and steady action all day. Then the Wind really started blowing.... The story of the week was ROUGH conditions and it was. Thursday was a no fish day as it galed all day and rained cats and dogs. What is a fisherman to do when he cant fish? Hit the local tackle shops for info. We developed a plan for Friday based on the info we had and what we were looking at with the weather forecast, and what a plan it was. The tournament was in a Bimini Start format which means that all boats take off from the inlet at the same time when the tournament commitee says go. They said go and the whole fleet took off as fast as they could go in 4-6 ft seas with occassional 8 footers mixed in. Instead of taking off, we put lines out right at the inlet. Within 30 minutes we had 3 fish in the boat, including what would have been a stud fish had it not had a rig from another fisherman in its throat and been on the verge of starving to death. We ended up catching 6 or 7 fish and never left the area around Ft. Pierce inlet. Alas, the big fish eluded us and we ended up with a combined total of 31lbs+ which was good enough for 19th place in the 23 and under class. All in all, it was a great week but would have loved to have had better conditions. Looking forward to this week, looks like the wind is going to force us to fish on the beach but I hear there are fish to be caught. I am going to go out there tomorrow and see if I can find the fish to let you know where they are hiding. See you out there.
-Capt. Steele



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"Plan B" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/09/10

The crew of "The Law" couldn't make the Nationals due to lower unit issues on their off shore boat. Still needing a fishing fix they opted for Plan B. They took Michelle Drake's 17 ft. skiff in shore fishing.

Michelle nailed some bait in Calabash, displaying her skills with a cast net and they headed for the soon-to-be tourist attraction, the old Sunset Beach bridge. The primarily off shore anglers anchored up and within a few minutes Stephen Welborne started moving around the boat, obviously with a strike. He began calling for the net. Being more used to gaffing fish with an 8 ft. gaff as opposed to netting them Michelle was struggling getting what they could see was a big flounder in the landing net. Jeff took the net and brought a 5.8 lb. flounder aboard. Jeff also caught and carefully released an undersized red a little later.

Michelle claims to be a lousy in shore angler, but she did her part catching bait and posing with the flounder. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

-Capt. Rickey Beck



"Thanksgiving Inshore Classic " | Speckulator - 22' | 11/09/10

Well folks, it is that time of year again and Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which means our annual Thanksgivinig Inshore Classic is right around the corner as well. The tournament will be held the Saturday after Thanksgiving as always, November 27th. Registration will be on November 26th at the OIFC. More info on the tournament can be found on the tournaments page, at http://www.oifc.com/tournaments.cfm.

The trout fishing has been exceptional the last few days, and we are starting to see more and larger fish all the time. The fishing should only improve over the next couple of weeks, and we should have hot fishing, as usual, for the tournament.

-Capt. Kyle Hughes



"Galapagos Opening" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/09/10

We've had an opening come available for the Galapagos trip scheduled for January 30th - February 6th. This trip has been full for a couple months with 16 fishermen and fisherwomen but one spot has now opened up. If anyone out there is interested in joining our group for what is sure to be a trip one of the most incredible fishing destinations on earth contact me immediately. We'll need to get travel arrangements handled quickly. This is a great once in a lifetime fishing trip that you don't want to miss. Contact me at captbarrett@oifc.com. Thanks.
-Capt. Barrett McMullan



"Conditions report" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/09/10

Rode down beach today to Southport. Water still full of pogies along beach, however they are doing their flip and run deal. Didn't try to catch any, but difficult this time of year. Water temp on beach is 62 degrees. Going out tomorrow to check out how close kings are still in; will report back.
-Rube McMullan



"Catch and Release" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/08/10

Most of us practice catch and release. I ran across this article on Earth Sports and found it interesting.
-Capt. Rickey Beck



"SKA Nationals Cont. " | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/08/10

I know that it seems that is all you are reading about on the reports this week but the reality is, that's where we all were so we have to report on where we fished. I also had the opportunity to fish down in Ft. Pierce last week aboard the Toes Up with Richard Boles and Doug Robson. I had not had the opportunity to fish with these two guys before the trip down but have gotten to know them very well over the past year as customer's here at the OIFC and as friends. Anyway, we headed down bright and early Monday morning and arrived in Ft. Pierce just in time to get the boat in the water just prior to sunset Monday. Tuesday was an exciting day and a truly great learning experience as Capt. Brant, Capt. Barrett and Capt. Rube allowed me to tag along with them for the first day of the Pro Tournament. It was truly incredible to have the opportunity to fish with these guys. Their tactics and techniques are a bit humbling to say the least. We managed to catch a few fish but the big one eluded us. Wednesday, I had an opportunity to do a little pre-fishing for the tournament aboard the "Toes Up", a 23t Contender owned by Richard. While we called it pre fishing, the real agenda for the day was to venture 8-12 miles offshore to the gulf stream to do a little sportfishing. Yes, I said 8-12 miles to the gulf stream.... It was incredible to catch 24+ lb dolphin's within sight of land. Ended up with a handful of Dolphins and steady action all day. Then the Wind really started blowing.... The story of the week was ROUGH conditions and it was. Thursday was a no fish day as it galed all day and rained cats and dogs. What is a fisherman to do when he cant fish? Hit the local tackle shops for info. We developed a plan for Friday based on the info we had and what we were looking at with the weather forecast, and what a plan it was. The tournament was in a Bimini Start format which means that all boats take off from the inlet at the same time when the tournament commitee says go. They said go and the whole fleet took off as fast as they could go in 4-6 ft seas with occassional 8 footers mixed in. Instead of taking off, we put lines out right at the inlet. Within 30 minutes we had 3 fish in the boat, including what would have been a stud fish had it not had a rig from another fisherman in its throat and been on the verge of starving to death. We ended up catching 6 or 7 fish and never left the area around Ft. Pierce inlet. Alas, the big fish eluded us and we ended up with a combined total of 31lbs+ which was good enough for 19th place in the 23 and under class. All in all, it was a great week but would have loved to have had better conditions. Looking forward to this week, looks like the wind is going to force us to fish on the beach but I hear there are fish to be caught. I am going to go out there tomorrow and see if I can find the fish to let you know where they are hiding. See you out there.
-Capt. Steele



"Cassie Dawson's "Rumble In The Jungle" Video" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/07/10

If you're checking this Fishing Report, then I know you enjoy salt water fishing. That being the case, take time to link to Casie'svideo of Brant, Amy, Caroline, Chris Eckert and Cassie's Rumble In The Jungle trip. She did a great job abd I think you'll like it.

-Capt. Rickey Beck



"Photo Update" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/07/10

Just got this picture of a red caught on Jeff Williamson's (Get Busy/OIFC) recent charter for the "Ellen Fights Like A Girl" Charity.
-Capt. Rickey Beck



"Checkers or Wreckers" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/07/10

Well, it was wreckers for Team OIFC in this year's SKA National Championship held in Ft. Pierce, FL. It was a tough event for all teams competing for the National Title this year due to the perfectly timed arrival of the first big cold front of the year on the morning of tournament day one (Friday). While the forecast was for strong winds, it was expected the direction would have some west in it making the beach calm and very fishable. Unfortunately the part the weather man got right was the strong winds, he missed the direction as it was mostly from the north which meant a steep and tight 4 to 6 ft sea with nowhere to hide. We had planned to return to the same area to the south of Ft. Pierce in 25 feet of water just off the beach where we had fished a couple days prior during the pro tournament. There was a good bite of big fish there and we were hoping to find the same condition. It seemed most other boats in the tournament had the same plan as the 200+ boats fishing scattered out along the beach with more than 100 in the one small area. The beach water had changed color due to the heavy winds and seas but surprisingly some fish still hung around in the silty water. However, the main bite of fish was not to be in our chosen area and instead about 10 miles down the beach from us around schools of spanish mackerel. Note to self: find the bait, find the fish- kingfish 101. Oh well, we fished very hard all day but if you aren't around the fish you aren't going to catch them. It was a disappointing event for Team OIFC but truthfully we were accepting of the outcome as we simply weren't where the fish were. We learned a lot about south Florida style kite fishing from some local gurus and are excited to bring that technique back to Ocean Isle. In the past we have dabbled in the kite fishing for kingfish but we found there is a whole new level out there that can be a deadly technique when around the fish. This would be considered kingfish 202. Despite the horrific weather there is always going to be a winner and some really nice fish ended up being caught. It just goes to show that kingfish can be anywhere at anytime and just when you think you've got them figured out, they change. Ft. Pierce can be a tough place to figure out but I guess if you caught a good fish you might not think so. Next year the championship is headed back to Biloxi, MS and I know I can speak for Team OIFC when I say BRING IT ON! We will be extremely excited to travel back to the Gulf next year to experience a truly amazing king mackerel fishery and once again compete for the honor of being the kingfish National Champion. We're all back here at home now and patiently waiting for the weather to give us a break so we can take revenge on the kingfish after they embarrassed us so badly last weekend!
-Capt. Barrett McMullan

Ocean Isle Fishing Center- Ocean Isle Beach, NC – for more reports and upcoming fishing news visit www.OIFC.com ---
910-575-FISH