Carolina flare book

[craigwill201]

BOX
I reckon you being the oldest person on SF board help me out with this one. Why aren't their any tunas caught in the early yeas of Oregon inlet/Hatteras charter fishing? All the pictures show dolphin, channel bass, sail fish and white marlin.
Craig

[WAHOONBOX]

SORRY DUDE.....I'M CLUELESS

MAYBE THERE WEREN'T ANY TO BE FOUND THEN.....THE EARLY EARLY DAYS.....

[frankypettolina]

I like that- Box- no comment on you being the "oldest" guy on here.

[BiteMeJeremy]

If you talk to any old salt around Hatteras, they will tell you that until around the 80's, no one from the area ate tuna. They were released or thrown in the creek. Not fit to eat. Tried not to catch them. That may also be in part to the fact that they carried only a block of ice, and it was mostly used for drinks, food, etc...

I had the same question until I asked my father in law, who ran a boat in the 70' and 80's. Atleast this is his opinion, not sure if many others thought the same or not.

Hope this helps out!

[WAHOONBOX]

If you talk to any old salt around Hatteras, they will tell you that until around the 80's, no one from the area ate tuna. They were released or thrown in the creek. Not fit to eat. Tried not to catch them. That may also be in part to the fact that they carried only a block of ice, and it was mostly used for drinks, food, etc...

I had the same question until I asked my father in law, who ran a boat in the 70' and 80's. Atleast this is his opinion, not sure if many others thought the same or not.

Hope this helps out!

I HAVE HEARD THIS TOO.....THANKS FOR THE INPUT!

[captnemo]

They probably ate a skipjack and said tuna tastes like shit, until someone tried a yellow

[Glenn W]

I've been fishing the Northern and Central OBX ( OI & HI) since the mid '70's ( '74 I believe). I can assure you that YFT were a welcome, prized and targeted catch through out this period in both OI and HI. I have several photo's of trips from this time period with very fine catches of tuners and clearly recall the excitement that occured when the YFT were biting good. As for the period before the mid '70's I can't say, but April meant Tuna fishing offshore OBX.

A few BIG changes have occured since the '70's/ early 80's however. It used to be that Charter season started in Late March at the earliest and a charter boat would not even consider running a trip after October 31. The charter boats either ran to Fla for the winter ( a few), or most loaded their boat w/ a net wheel and commercial fished throughout the winter ( or Mackeral fished).
This was a period of single engine boats that ran @ 17- 18 kts.--- If someone in Hatteras mentioned running up to the 450 line for a Charter, they would be looked at like they were insane. Point is, ranges were significantly more limited back then, so boats didn't chase the Tuners as far from home.
This notion of running offshore with a single block of Ice is Hog wash. The Ice house at OI has been there as long as I can remember, and every boat loaded there fish box full every day (at least since the mid 70's).
I will speculate that the lack of Tuna photo's from the '60's is because: trips were rarely run during Tuna season back then; as I recall, the tuner came through earlier in the spring back then ( March and April and over by May); most boat's didn't sail in the weather they do today; and they didn't have the range of today's fleet. Perhap's most important for the 1960's time period is that boats sldom got out to the 100 fathom line--- we are talking about 8 kt boats back then.
I have a group of photo's somewhere from '77 or '78 selling 3 or 4 nice YFT I caught on a private boat to a Jap buyer in HI (I think he was from the DC area and bought for resturants). I also have several photos from the early '80's with YFT stacked like cord wood on the OI docks. My hunting buddy from high school was Chuck Mosley that owned/ran the Hooker out of OI for many years beginning in the early 80's. The phone would ring in March when the Tuna's started showing up good letting me know it was 'Time".

[BiteMeJeremy]

Well, we have some old pictures around the house of catches from the 70s and 80s, and if a skippy gets as big as those yellowfins, he'd be a huge one. Citation. I don't think they caught football yellowfins back then.....

And, if you have never tried skippy sashmi, do your self a favor and save his 2 top loins. I had heard alot about it and refused to try one. That is, until a fellow mate at Hatteras Harbor gave me a loin of skipjack and a loin of blackfin and talked me into it. I kept them as cold as possible (deep in ice)for the next few hours, and then enjoyed an excellent plate of skippy and blackfin with one of our tournament charters.

Not as good as yellowfin, but I think you would be surprised......


PS- Glenn W- before you go piping off at the mouth about things you don't know, talk to those who did. Like Capt Ernie Foster and the ones around Hatteras. I wasnt talking about Oregon Inlet. Read my post again. Any old salt around here will tell you that tuna were not fit to eat back in the "Carolina Flare" book times. And yes, they carried one block of ice. My father in law ran private boats back then, and his father ran one of the original Albatross' with Capt. Ernal. I know what I was passing along, mister. Wasnt speaking for Oregon Inlet. Them boys musta done something differently. But from the early 30's until the either late 70's or early 80's, that was the deal around here. I am not sure of the turn around time when tunas became acceptable table fare, but that was the deal before that, according to the old salts in Hatteras.

[Glenn W]

PS- Glenn W- before you go piping off at the mouth about things you don't know, talk to those who did. Like Capt Ernie Foster and the ones around Hatteras. I wasnt talking about Oregon Inlet. Read my post again. Any old salt around here will tell you that tuna were not fit to eat back in the "Carolina Flare" book times. And yes, they carried one block of ice. My father in law ran private boats back then, and his father ran one of the original Albatross' with Capt. Ernal. I know what I was passing along, mister. Wasnt speaking for Oregon Inlet.

Hey punk watch your juvinille school boy mouth--my first trip offshore was Hatteras April 1974--- edit, I stand corrected--- April 1972--- I'd venture to say that over the years, and even as a rec fisherman, I've run Hatteras inlet more times than you as a full time mate.---- My family has owned property in Hatteras for years and began my fishing with Elmo Harrison. Go back to reading the adventure stories son.

[BiteMeJeremy]

A few key points and I am done with this thread. All I was doing was passing along information that was passed down to me.

1- I wasn't being smart.

2- I am not a juvenile. (Spell Check, please)

3- When the old timers around here talk, I listen. And I listen well. Those stories are priceless to me, and I take heed of what is being told. And I ask questions when they are done speaking.

4- I don't care who you fish with or how many times you have fished. Means nothing to me. Asolutely nothing to me. Or how much land you have wherever you have it. Does not affect me in any way.
What I do not like, is how you try to discredit the information that was passed on to me from fisherman in Hatteras who were apart of those stories you only read about. Real life accounts. The good Lord created us with 2 ears and 1 mouth. Which means ( I ) listen twice as much as ( I ) talk. Cant speak for others. I have listened to your stories of Oregon Inlet in the mid 70's, and I have consumed the information well. Now, listen to the stories that have been passed down about Hatteras from the 30's to, well, now. Take it in. Did I ever once say anything you said was Hogwash? No. All I did was read your post, and believe what you had to say. Why? Because I do not know of Oregon Inlet in the era you are talking of.

Thinking before we speak, especially on SFC.com would have not eluded to the many post(s) that just turn out to be personal attacks. If everytime someone spoke their mind, or told a story or even told a real life account, someone attacked them, calling them names, and cussing them. Well, I do not know that I would share too much information anymore if that happens too many more times.