Nice break in the weather allowed for a day of bottom fishing and spearfishing with myself, Alan and his Dad onboard. We started the morning out bouncing lead on the bottom looking for Gags. Found a few undersized one in the 13 mile range. We kept pushing offshore and around 18 miles Alan puts us on a good mark. Couldnt get the baits to the bottom because of the ARS's biting.
American Reds, biting like today was the last day to eat for awhile. 15" to 17". Everydrop. Finally after a dozen or more releases a 22 incher comes aboard for a "chill" on ice. A few more throw backs and a twin 22 incher is thrown in the box followed quickly by a 21". And just like that, the bite was gone. We start contemplating a move offshore when the Gags come out to play. We haul 4 aboard only to release 2 due to being undersize.
With 1 Gag short of our 3 man limit we took advantage of the calm ocean and ran offshore hoping to find some Red's or Scamp's along with a plan to drop down on the bottom for some Hog's and Loabster.
40 miles offshore Alan and I drop down in 105' of beautiful gin clear water. For a moment I thought I was in the Carribean. We quickly go to work and bagging the largest Gag of the day and 3 Hogfish. We searched hard for a Red or Scamp but they were nowhere to be found. A few lobsters around but we werent fast enough for them today. I'm guessing being the middle of the day and the sun high overhead along with the water being so clear they decided to stay holed up in the reef for protection from predators like us.
After the dive and with a plenty of fish for the 3 of us we made for the hill.
Today, 9/16, we ventured out to some inshore hard bottom in 40' and could see the bottom from the surface. We bagged 3 flounder quickly. With the water still gin clear we decided to make a run 10 miles out to the Topsail Barge (aka Landing craft). Sitting in 65' of water we had another spectacular dive in viewing the whole reff from the surface before descending down to it. We only managed 1 Scamp as it was hard to get close to the many grouper covering the wreck. The BIGGEST SURPRISE of the two days was the 100 POUND plus GOLIATH GROUPER that swam up to my dive buddy and me. Appearing from my right it filled my field of vision. Beautiful, beady eyes, large round pec fins with a strong contrast in colors od rust brown and black blotches it was a sight to behold. Apparently he didn't like us stalking his smaller cousins and moved in to mark it's territory. This is the first time ever (since 1985) that I have ever seen a Goliath (fka Jewfish) in N.C. I know they are here because I have heard reports of them accidently getting caught. All I can say is WOW. This fish was easily 4' long (2/3's long compared to my body length) so I am probably conservative in my wieght guestimation. We slowly slid back out of its way and watched it establish it's dominance over the structure it call's home.
No pic's today and I wish I had an underwater camera to share the moment.
Looking foward to our next adventure and hoping the weather and water clarity stays like it is throughout the fall
Hey bro,
Great job on those Gags and ARS, not to mention the Hogs (I still need to catch one of those critters).Wish I could have made the trip, maybe next time.
Lines tight
Bottom feeder
Oh yeah, to all you guys that think you can get mr. jewfish out of his house, (SLIP,BISCUIT), he used the braid from the guys before to decorate his house. (i think im gonna need a bigger gun...)
Great report and nice to hear about so many snapaz... Then a Goliath!!! A little more global warming and NC will become the new Florida!
Thanks for sharing another awesome day on the water.
MM
Great report and pics Keith. Glad you all found some ARS's. Seem to be a few around. Damn fine catch and a few speared hogs to top it off. Congratulations to all. Was the Goliath trying to size you up?
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(i think im gonna need a bigger gun...
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