Now booking for May Striper fishing on the Roanoke River North Carolina 910-540-2464
Join Date
Apr 2006
Location
Wrightsville Beach, NC
Posts
9,898
Boat
2 many
Home Port
Bridge Tender Marina & Motts Channel Seafood
Best Catch
My family
Occupation
Charter Capt.
The Silver Lining
In all my years on the water, I have never seen a cloud with a silver lining, gold but not silver...till yesterday on our way out to the stream. I took it as a sign of good things to come...
Monday as I put the "gottafly" back in her slip after the storm hall out, saw my friend Keith who wanted to go to the stream on Wednesday and ask if I would run his boat (31 Contender) so he and his friend Paul could fish and run the pit in his boat, well "Duh Huh", so plans were made. Around 4 pm Monday afternoon my phone rang and Keith said that the rain forecast for Wednesday was not looking good and could I do it on Tuesday and we set it up to go.
We loaded up the boat at headed out the inlet at 5:30 thinking that it would only be a 2 hour run only to find that the swell had just enough steepness into the sea that we could make 18 to 19 kts with out pounding, ok now 3 hour ride out to the grounds. Keith and Paul settle into the bean bags as I skirt around the scattered rain storm and around 40 miles we are on the backside of the line with seas settling down, sun is out and shining and the throttles are pushed up till we are making 28 kts, seeing the occasional fly fish sail out off the bow of the Contender.
With 2 miles to go on the 200 line, I mark a huge stack of fish in 140' and pull off of pane and circle back to check it out. Keith and Paul start getting out the lines and we get the first bite of the day but no love. After circling the bait again, I head the boat to the area we were heading to and we have another bite on the shotgun but does not come tight. When the lure comes in, I notice that it is balled up and I'm thinking Tuna bite and about that time the planer goes off and is screaming and on the way in I see the tail- tail sign of a nice a Wahoo. With out and no fault of the angler, the Hoo shakes its head and the hook pops out and were are 0 for 3...crap! I turn the boat back to the area where the bites came from. As we get the baits back out when the planer goes off again, this time with a King that I would love to have in a King tournament and this time I spot that little black and white furry thing fly out of the boat as the king comes over the side.
Getting the planer back out I turn the boat once again and head through the area where we were bit and as I mark fish and get "we ought to get bit right here" out of my mouth, lines start popping and planers start hopping as all 7 lines go down...yehaaa was the cry from the boat as a "Chinese Fire Drill" is in effect. Shortest rods come in first and the planer with wire has a nice 20+ pound Black Fin Tuna on it. I wire and gaff it and into the box it goes. Next fish to the boat is...what Cuda, crap and off the hook it goes...no Cudas in the boat. Ok 2 more and another BlackFinnbox. Paul goes to get the other rod and with all that has gone on, that fish is no longer with us. Oh well, time to regroup.
As we all work at getting the lines back out, Keith suggest that we head to the deep and see if there are some Wahoos out there as we are still in 155' of water so out in that direction we head. I watch the water temperature rise as we move further out and by the time we reach 250' water temperature is 1& 1/2 degrees hotter than where we were first bit so back in we go to the bait piles only to find that the temp break we had moved but the bait was still there so we looked around for a while and pulled out another nice King.
After discussing it we decided to run north and see if we can find the temp break again so we picked up the lines and ran. Soon I spy a large Sargasso mat and pull back and we scramble to get the lined out and start trolling the edges only to find Dolphin the size of flying fish following our spread when the planer screams and the first Wahoo comes to the boat...
Looking around I find the mat that I am looking for...lots of debris and a couple of wooden pallets and a big slick on the end and for the next 5 passes it was Wahoo's and nice Dolphin to splatter the back on the boat with blood...
After a few more passes with and no bites, we head off looking for other ground and the temp break again. I decide to move into deeper water again and head that way. Shortly, there it is, one of the nicest rips that I have seen this year and we bust through scattered grass to get there. You could smell it, feel it, you just knew that life was there in the ruff water and as soon as we cleared the grass off the lines, the first Dolphin was jumping behind the boat and another Wahoo was also on. For the next 30 minuets, it was as hard as we could go with Dolphin and Hoos till the only thing that we could get out was a Pluka plug on the short rigger. I turn the boat on the main part of the rip and there he was...dirty white boy hopping on the plug and giving it what for before finely throwing it...another circle, another white, another loss. I pull off the area so we can regroup and settle down when we are slammed again, this time a nice Dolphin and a 70+ pound Wahoo...
We get ourselves back together and head back to the rip only to miss another billfish before the rip fell apart. I move us out to the edge and pick up another rip but found only a big Cuda for the next 30 minuets of trolling and by now it was time to head to the hill with the pleasant memories of the day in our heads. I turn the boat for the hill power up as the crew settled in for the 2 hour trip back at 30 kts.
As we headed in I was wondering...wondering what if I had done this or that, also feeling how blessed that I have been over the years to see what I have seen, spend it doing what I have loved to do and with the friends that I have had the pleasure to spend it with...and I count my blessing every day.
Once again, Poseidon has once again been good to me with the sign that he offered me today..."The Silver Lining" and as always, I fed the fish Gods... Ah yes, life has been good to me, very good and I am blessed to have spent it with these 2 friends today...
And we are blessed to have you share such a great day on the water with us Lee. Thank you for taking the time to always post up such inspiring experiences as this one.
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