SeaBiscuit Fishing Report----October 31, 2009

[Squid]

An evening discussion last night with Nick led to a 6am decision after we looked at the weather to decide if we could go this morning. When a 3:30am phone call came in from a wrong number I went ahead and looked at the Frying Pan Tower buoy reports only to find that the wind was SE at 15kts gusting to 19kts. Knowing we wouldn't be going early, we slept in a bit.

At 10am my phone rings and its Nick---"it's not blowing on the beach....buoys are showing less than 10kts and a 4 ft. swell. Wanna try it?"

After waiting on the Wrightsville Beach drawbridge for what seemed like an eternity, we conveened at the ramp around 11:15. Putted around in the waterway looking for some mullet minnows just in case it was too rough to get offshore and grouper fish. Didn't find any in the short time we looked so it was off to the inlet around high noon. Seas were just as reported on the buoys---4 foot swell from the East and South which was very fishable.

First stop was a mere 5 miles off the beach ......after jigging some bait, we anchored on a promising looking ledge. My first drop produced this 34" fatty:



We put her on the scales back home and weighed 20.4 lbs......not bad for 5 miles offshore!

Miss Squid was next up with a 26" fish which was put on the deck briefly until her next drop produced this guy:



Nick wasn't far behind with a nice fish of his own as well:



If you look closely in the picture, you can see land in the background.

Since it would be almost unfair to the Biscuit boat to go home so early, we decided to head 5 more miles offshore to do a little catch a release gag fishing on a spot he had marked before but never fished. The fish here were definitely hungry as we caught 6 or so shorts and another 6 or so keepers to be released to see another day. Every live bait in the livewell was eaten in short manner and once we ran out, decided to then make our way back to the inlet. Miss Squid managed to add 2 mercury missles to the final catch---one which came off her bottom rig and the other off the light line (not pictured).



Looked at our watch coming back through and it was 4:30pm.

Enjoyed it as always Nick and especially glad we decided to try it today!

[juicyhook]

Nice report guys, boy thats a nice fishery so close to shore.

Good eaten there.

[clt_capt]

Can't beat that with a big stick. Nice work. Great eats.

[gottaflylee]

Nice report, was looking to see this when I got up this morning after the phone call while I was in the marsh...

[Ponce]

Nice report, you guys kill me with your abilty to catch grouper. Amazing.

[Capt_John]

You gotta keep going offshore when you report Squid. It was nice when all the people just knew you had to go atleast 20 miles to catch a grouper. You STAY OUT of my Fall grouper bottom now!

[reelreturn]

Nice to se some quality grouper so close to the beach. Get your grouper fishing in now because the closure is coming fast. Great report and pix !!

[merry marlin]

Glad you made it out and found such healthy brown fish in the shallow... What does Biscoto prepare for lunch when a lady is around?
MM

[Squid]

Glad you made it out and found such healthy brown fish in the shallow... What does Biscoto prepare for lunch when a lady is around?
MM

Actually we were in charge of lunch----Smithfield's fried chicken, hushpuppies, fries, and cole slaw. One knows better than to take kitchen/lunch duties away from Miss Squid.

[BOTTOM DWELLER]

TOURNAMENT WINNER!!!!!! Or could have been if the FryingPanTower.Com Grouper Slam wasn't canceled due to weather.
Great job Nick and crew.