My Oriental, NC Fishing Report

[Supafly]

I hope this is cool if I share a link from my blog. Just had another great trip in Oriental, NC. I can't wait to do it again. Please watch the video and let me know what you think

http://www.epicblitz.com/2011/09/red...ust-14-15.html

[gottaflylee]

Hope you don't mind but I did copy and past as I thought it will get more looks this way.

Red Drum and Tarpon Fishing in Oriental, NC on August 14 and 15


This post is way overdue. But I have been pretty busy so here it is. We were originally supposed to fish August 31 and September 1 but I had to change the date due to the fact that my wife is due with a little one any day now. We changed the date till August 14th and 15. I did not take moon phase into account when we booked this date. We were fishing with the Downeast Guide Service Crew. We fished with them last year and pretty much hit it perfect. I was not expecting the fishing to be as good as last year but was hoping for a shot at a Tarpon too. Day 1 we were fishing with Brian Harrington. I had heard that Brian was the man. He picked us up in his very nice Contender around 10am as the afternoon bite had been better lately. Oriental is on the Neuse River which feeds the Pamilico Sound. This time of year the majority of the large Red Drum that hang in coastal NC come into the Pamilico Sound and spawn in the Neuse or the Pamilco River. Since it was flat we headed for the Sound to look for Tarpon. For tarpon fishing you basically drive around and look for them on the surface then you anchor up and start chumming. Blind fishing for them is not very productive as there is a lot of water to cover. As soon as we got to the mouth of the Neuse we spotted a few tarpon but there was another boat fishing them so we headed out to the sound to look for our own pod. Well this never happened. We had hit a super slow day and it wasn't for not trying. Brian worked his butt off and I was blown away by his attention to detail. When setting up on a spot he would try and get in there as quietly as possible and then be as quiet as he could with the anchor. Luck was not on our side this day and we headed in around 9 pm and took the skunk. We later found out that this was Brian's first skunk in this area. Well I guess after our luck the first year it was balancing out. We still had high hopes for the next day. On day 2 we were fishing with George Beckwith. George is the founder of Downeast Guide Service and I had heard that he is the "Tarpon Whisperer". He actually had caught a 150 lb tarpon the night before when we took the skunk. We headed out around 6 am hoping we could find an early bite. Well we had a great early bite from Cow Nose Rays. While these were not what we were looking for they do pull pretty darn hard. Finally around noon I hooked up with a fish that was giving me head shakes. And we boated our first drum of the trip. This was probably a 30 pound fish.

After this fish we had a sense of relief. We had broken the skunk and things were looking up. Well that was our last drum for a while. Around 4:30 pm we headed in for a quick dinner and were gonna head out for the afternoon bite afterwards. We headed back out around 6. George brought his wife Anna with him. Anna is a Marine Biologist and sits on the Marine Fisheries Commission in the state of NC. She studied these big drum extensively in college. As soon as we got to a spot George had picked up river my Dad and his cousin Ralph had a double.

We thought maybe we found the motherload. But these two fish were the only bites at this spot. George made one more move just before dark and we found a couple more including a Speckled Trout.


Finally around 9pm George headed the boat across the river and back to the dock. George had us on the water from 6am until after 9pm with just a short break for dinner. These guys are the hardest working guides I have ever fished with. I blame the slow fishing on the full moon. I very rarely have good fishing during the full moon. And while we didn't hit the Epic Blitz we found the year before we had a blast and I can't wait to get back. I wish I lived closer. I highly reccommend this trip. Call Downeast Guide Service and book a trip today.
Oh yes I did catch one more fish and it was the largest Drum I have caught. I had some dumb luck and caught one from shore after we got off the boat. The fish weighed just about 50 pounds and can be seen in this video that I put together of our trip.



Your right about George (downeastguide on the board here) being one of the hardest working guides there, 110% every day and as nice of guy as you would ever meet. Thanks so much for sharing...

[Agitated88]

Damn...nice pic's!!!!!!!!

[Supafly]

Yup George is awesome. You guys have some amazing fisheries in NC. I wish I lived closer so I could hit it more often.

[Fishman]

Nice reds

[Supafly]

Nice reds

The one at the end of the video is the biggest I ever caught. It was 49.78 lbs . I hear the fishing is red hot right now

[Capt,Ray]

Glad you guys made it back,the day you guys were with me last year was epic,I havent got them on top that good since.