Posted by Fish wrapper here! We continued to fish as daunting as each cold front was. No rockfishing on the sound this year due to season and that did not keep us at the dock. This is the first Fall in a while where we had freight trains of fronts, small smaller windows to be in the ocean, but then a few species still migrating along.
NE winds pushed the last of the small blues around the shallows. You had 100 birds, fish in the box, and tacos on the table. Larger blues had made their way along the beaches all the way to Ocracoke of late. When the NE winds were too much, we were tied up. That is the resolution this time of year.
Ocean wise; our albies pushed and pushed South with each front. We circled the last pod with one of our most senior anglers-age 96! That man caught the first albie, first blue, and when we got to the schools; non stop smile. THAT is why I am still here after 41 years. Those moments are irreplaceable.
Blues remained moving and we were able to make short work of that. Off the beach we sought the last of the triggers and some black bass along the bottom! Our kings have been offshore gulfstream side prior to last blow. Normally , we can sneak out there on our all day trips but those fish kept choosing an outside path and as you can see on the reports; gulfstream boats had hit them last pretty day out. Fish migrate whether we can get out there at all so that does not change. Their patterns can be thermal, wind driven, bait driven-you name it.
We have had great water temps but no lie; there was water with absolutely not one baitfish, not one dolphin or turtle in it. That was for miles. So as fish moved, they moved. There were sharks in the sloughs late so that was a rig loser. Bottom fishing can be really rewarding on a good day and know that 2-4 is the ideal number most days as you have the capacity on drift with current when it can be challenging. If the conditions are rank-then it can be a no go so that is an option when pretty and the fish are positioned. Not always that way!
We saw more 6 hour trips this year and we welcome that for those wishing to stay out just a bit longer! Species change with the season and this year offered great drum when we got started, good Spanish fishing, and some of the best blues fishing we had seen in several years. Piers of late have seen some spot, mullet, blues and drum from the Point down overall.
We are looking forward to 2025 and the next summer already. This year we are off books overall and we did finish with our own groups. Right now it is 80F, we have one more day of that then a cold front again this weekend! So typical for this time of year and folks trying to leave work to fish the weekends!
Let us know if you have any questions for next year and for now, unless we get called and it is pretty , we are dockside!
Thank you!
Viv and Will McPherson
252.423.0039 cell boat