Made a trip offshore today looking for sea conditions matching yesterdays calm ocen. Pulled away from the docks at 0730 and headed east. We were hoping to run south but the forecast for a NE wind prevented that. The first 25 miles was nice, but the wind started increasing and when we stopped 34 miles out in 110' of water the wind blowing a steady 15kts. We dropped the hook and rolled off the boat to the blue-est water I've seen in awhile. Easily 100'+ visibilty. The ledge was holding lots of undersized groupers (Gags,Scamps and reds). All I could think about was these fish won't stand a chance when they grow up with Slip and Biscuit plowing these waters. My partner managed to put a shaft in one nice sized curious Red to start the day off then picked up a nice lobster trying to molt. Once back on the boat with the seas building we decide to move towards the hill. Our plan was to make another drop around 27-28 miles where we've shot some nice fish many times. But with the seas building we decided to make our next drop futher in. Running in I thought we were the only crazy boaters out today when we crossed paths with a nice 60'-ish Carolina boat heading south and then came up on a Hatteras motoryacht with a Coast Gaurd helicopter circling overhead???? We didnt hear any chatter on the VHF so we kept on running. We made our second stop 23 miles out ( the Wrightsville Beach people know where) and it turned out to be a good call. Dropped over the side only to find poor visibilty in the 30' range. Once we settled on the ledge I see the usual AJ's bombard down on us then a large ray off the high side of the ledge. Before I could blink my eyes a school of 8-10 cobia swarmed us. I put a shaft in one and as you could imagine all hell broke loose. I wrapped my line around part of the ledge and let the cobia wear himself down. We then put a second shaft in him and he was done. Put a fish stringer through him, reloaded the gun and fired off 2 more shots into the school missing 2 nice sized fish.By that time I think they figured out they were under attack and swam off. Running low on air and this being our second dive we called it a day and fought the stinkys off as we brought our prize to the surface.
Looks like the Cobia are making their southerly fall migration so it may be a good time to put some baits on the bottom and pull up some "ling cod"! Temp was 77 degrees at 23 miles bumping up to 78 degrees 34 miles out.
Cheers-
Hey Box, Yellow is Yellow. Red is Green (and draws sharks ) Blue,Black ,Purple,Silver,White and Green hold there own. But red, pink or orange? Practicaly invisable, hard to see with the human eye much below 30'. Makes me wonder how a pink/white,red or orange skirt/lure draws a strike at depth because those colors cant be seen. At least by me! Something about the "wave spectrum" of light they tell me. Anyway if you ever get the chance to scuba dive give it a try. Then you'll want a speargun in hand before ya know it. I must say the ledges off the Carolina coast are some of the most beautiful places on earth!
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