stripers on Cape Lookout Shoals

I'm off to CR tomorrow, but for those who may want to try them.....or would like to try them when I get back Jan. 9-15......there are definitly some HUGE stripers on Cape Lookout Shoals. I saw 2 singles and a pair of 30+ pounders on the east side of Shark Island today. Couldn't get them to eat, maybe with some eels or menhaden.

I rode to Drum Inlet looking, but never saw much bait or a single diving bird. As we were cruising the shoals looking for more stripers, the gannets briefly came together but fell apart by the time we got there.

They're catching them really good at Hatteras and things are moving this direction, it could fire off at Cape Lookout anytime.

Small trout and pups at the jetty. Widespread major cold stun reports are coming from a number of creeks. This past snow was not good for the specks......

Next report hopefully will be from the tropics.

cold stripers

"Way cool! Thanks for pulling that off. Gary is a great guy 2 fish with too. Have a great New Year!" Jeff

Prior to Christmas, the striper bite on the Trent was really good, with catches of 20-30 stripers in a half day, many of them in the slot, approaching 10 pounds. Then the snow......it slowed them down, but fishing is still decent. We caught a few yesterday, as did Capt. Greg, but Capt. Gary showed us how it was done, landing close to 20 with his half day trip.

The snow did no favors for the specks, lots of reports of dead trout in most creeks of the Neuse and Pamlico.

The cold and snow is pushing down some big stripers, I'm heading out to Cape Lookout Shoals in a couple hours to check it out. There are good numbers of big ocean stripers as far south as Hatteras.

At the least, we should get into the pups at the rock jetty. Will let you know.

Tomorrow the forecast is to warm up, for me anyway, got a short trip planned to Costa Rica.

Cold boat ride

It was a cold boat ride today. Anna wanted to see a whale and I needed to put some hours on the new 250 Yamaha that Gene just hung on the tower boat. We found the whales, several humpbacks feeding in bait balls on the East side. Anna got a little cold......well, a lot cold, so she didn't let me do much jigging for stripers or big drum, nor did I get the green light to stop at the rock jetty on the way home.

Meanwhile, Capt. Ray is shooting a few ducks up the river, Capt. Gary had a great day with the schoolie stripers on the Trent/Neuse.

Hunting with Capt. Ray

Very ducky day today, overcast and cold, spitting rain. I enjoyed spending the time with Capt. Ray and his party. I brought the old tennis ball dog, Shamrock. He's no spring chicken at 11 years old, one of Ruby's puppies, she's now 16 1/2 and still doing well, but not in shape enough for more than 1 or 2 retrieves.......very short retrieves.

Capt. Lee said that he hunted him a for a season and he did well, I've never seen him retrieve more than a tennis ball. He's just one of those goofy labs with the funny look on his face, when I look at him, a tried and true water dog that has had a bunch of birds shot over him is not what I see.

Will be looking at him a bit differently from here on out. Shot 7 birds and he made 7 great retrieves, couldn't have asked for anything more.

It was good to see some birds pitch into the decoys and see a good dog work.

The steak sandwiches......over charcoal....were right on time......followed by steamed oysters......cooked on the gas burner. Capt. Ray knows how to do it right.

Waiting to get out on the ocean this week. Pretty decent trout bite up in the creeks, guys are getting 4-8 fish in the 2-5 pound range on most trips, mixed in with a handful of stripers, makes for an entertaining half day trip.

Quick trip to the tropics

Anna and I are on the way home from a quick trip to the tropics to get some things ready for this season and slip out on the boat for a couple of days and check out some new places. We spent a couple of days at a new lodge up in the mountains. This place had it all for the animal lover, we watched butterflies come out of the pupae, fed hummingbirds by hand, played with jaguars, snuck a kiss under a huge waterfall and even caught rainbow trout out of the swimming pool. .....yep, out of the swimming pool.

Back in Jaco, I got to hand feed some 100+ pound yellowfin tuna....... lots of sushi. Also got to play with striped marlin each day and dozens of big dolphin. At the end of the rainy season, there are some big logs out there loaded with fish of all shapes and sizes: jacks, triple tail, triggerfish, several species of bonito, tuna, wahoo, dorado, sails and marlin and hundreds of aggrivating 20-30 pound sharks. Catch something on a little hook, then put it on a bigger hook and hold on, something good is going to eat it.

How's the weather been while I was gone?

Cold

I told our capt James in CR that it was cold up here and I was going down for a week, he asked if it was cold, like 50 F cold? I told him no, it was cold like when you go fishing the line freezes in the rod guides.

Grand Slam turn around

Capt. James took a chance and went on a big ride, encountering plenty of tuna on day 1......PLENTY of tuna. On Day 2 he found the big bite, tuna, dolphin and billfish, including 5 marlin bites and several sails. After so many days of not seeing billfish, I guess the guys were a little rusty, but they still ended up with a blue marlin, 1 striped marlin and 2 sails......plus all the meat fish.

the week in review.....

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, good times by all with family. For us it was good times and good Cuban food in Miami.

In the last week, Capt. Brian H. has crushed the grouper and even hooked a bluefin tuna, just a few have been caught, but not many people have been fishing for them.

Capt. Ray and Capt. Gary have had great fishing for the specks and pups in the river and creeks......I went with Capt. Lee yesterday and we saw no ducks and caught no trout, mostly exploring, but humbled from Gary's report of fishing yesterday, 30 trout and a dozen pups.

On Sunday, I did have a great guide who put me in the fish, Capt. Tag A Long Dan's son Merritt, gave us a lesson on trout fishing. We caught about 30 trout, 2 pups and 3 flounder compared to the father/father team of Dan and my dad, they may have had 10 between the two of them.....a nice day on the water.

Capt. Joe Shute and Capt. Brian Horsley report of albies hitting the beach this week on three different days....which is about what the fishing and the weather has given us. You get 3-4 days/week where the fishing and the weather cooperate and give you a great day of catching, otherwise, it's trying to stay out of the wind and enjoying a day of fishing.

Plenty of openings in case anyone wants to get out of the cabin and into some fresh air. Drop us a line.