Job Site Weekend Fishing Report---Wrightsville Beach, NC

[Squid]

This weekend myself, Miss Squid, and Jason (the owner of the boat) decided play the bluefin game for a couple of days. Little did we know, we were doomed from the beginning......

Saturday

Friday night we realized that we had 2 batteries dead beyond belief. After a trip to Wal-Mart , we had two brand new ones and were ready to go. Get to the ramp before dawn and the starboard motor doesn't crank. Mess with it for a while and realize that we need to take it back to the house. Finally figured out that it was a bad connection on the battery (guess that's what we get for trying to connect it in the dark) and we were going again.
Back to the ramp at 8:30am and by now it was time to scratch the bluefin idea and go grouper fishing. On our way to the ramp the fog rolled in and made for terrible visibility.





Once we cleared the inlet the fog lifted and we worked our way offshore. Stopped to catch some bait in 85 feet on some good marks. Miss Squid and Jason dropped the zambooki's and I dropped the jig. It only took two "jigs" of the rod before I was rewarded with this tasty surprise...



Made enough bait pretty quick between the sharks cutting them off on the way up. Head offshore a few more miles and make a stop on a spot that I haven't fished since the spring. Found some very nice seabass, large (2 lb.) beeliners and this piglet who took a ride home with us...



Sharks were REALLY bad at all of our stops and we started to wonder why they were on the "protected species" list. Made our way to the southwest a few miles stopping here and there along the way. Ended up on a spot we found over the summer which didn't produce much at the time but had some very good bottom.

The first drop for Jason on this spot resulted in...



His first ever ARS (although it was quite small). Not to be outdone, Miss Squid showed us both how it was done with these two critters on back to back drops.



The one in her right hand was her first ever keeper ARS (the other of course was a throwback). In the next few drops, she caught 4 more and ended with 6 of the 7 ARS's for the day!

Ended up with a respectable looking box....




Sunday

Since we didn't get to bluefin on Saturday, we were going to give it a go this morning. Our good friend, Kelly joined us today as we made the trek this morning down to Frying Pan Shoals. Pretty boring day today for us but there were quite a few fish killed all around us (probably the best bite of the year today). Had everything going for us and were in the right areas, at the right time....just didn't get our number called. That's just part of the game. Plenty of bait, dolphins, whales, and bluefin down here.



Did I mention that it was slick?

While we were trolling, Kelly mentioned that he had never caught an American Red and had always wanted to. Well, at 2pm, we had finally had enough boredom and went to see if we could find a few snappers for Kelly.

Back to where we left them yesterday and they were even hungrier. Kelly's first drop resulted in a 17 incher which was released.



Didn't take long before he found his first keeper though...



And a lizardfish that would even make Seabiscuit proud!



All in all a great weekend on the pond. We'll be back at the bluefin thing when the weather lays out. Congratulations to those who caught one (or two) today!

[cravertosu]

Well done!! While you weren't able to hook a giant, looks like you had some great success on the water!!

[reelreturn]

Excellent report. Those ARS seem to be making a strong comeback down there, I'm sure you have Biscuit's full attention. Great pictures too !!

[BYRD]

Nice report. Glad to see that you still get out from time to time.

[gottaflylee]

Yum...
Oh the Trout...

[Robja]

Squid,

Looks like Miss Squid is the ARS queen. You should carry her out everytime.

[SeaBiscuit]

Nice report and pictures brother Squid! Well done on the ARSs!
Biscuit

[Jesse Lockowitz]

nice pics/report.

thats one helluva lizardo'

[quackkilla76]

good job their squid.... yea the bluefin game was slow for us as well.

[slip slidin]

Flounder, gags, and ARS's. Which one do you eat first? Mighty fine vittles there Squid. Congratulations to you and the crew. Great report and pics.