still picking away at them

Last couple of trips we've caught several cobia. A lot of the ones that we're seeing are smaller, but we're still daily landing fish in excess of 50 pounds. The sea bass are going to have a bad day when the season opens on June 1, good sign of groupers on the nearshore wrecks and reefs....and......drum roll please.........ALL THE AMBERJACKS YOU COULD EVER WANT!! They're really cool on poppers.

Kyle's first trout

Fishing with Capt. Dave Stewart

From Capt. Gary out of Oreintal

We put a couple handfuls of slot drum in the boat this AM with anglers from Alaska. Their first "redfishing" experience worked out very well! Our best bites came on cut mullet and the folks went home with a nice batch of fish for dinner. From Capt. Gary Dubiel

The Great Cicada hatch

Every 13 years there is a cicada hatch, maybe you've heard them, especially if you live in Piedmont North Carolina. The last time this happened, we were fishing the Roanoke, helping Joe Albae film a show for Carolina Outdoor Journal and the noise was so loud, they couldn't film.

After living for 13 years as grubs in the ground, the cicadas emerge from the soil, hatch from their shells, dry much as a butterfly does, then fly to the canopy where they breed. At the base of trees, their "husks" can be several inches thick.

Two cicada hatches ago, I never knew how good I had it. Wet feet and dirty hands. I was a teenager, fishing on the Cowpasture River in Virginia. The topwater fishing that summer was incredible. As the cicadas fell from trees, they are quickly devoured by fish of all sorts, taking advantage from this mana from heaven.

These pics were passed along to me by Joe Josie. He and his father (87) have been taking advantage of the 13 year cicada hatch on the Roanoke River all of their lives. For his father, that would be only 5 or 6 times. They are sight casting to large carp cruising the surface and munching on cicadas with popping bugs and fly rods.

In Joe's words:
"they saw alot but Danny was trying to get Dad close enough to make a cast. At 87 Dad has a bit of trouble making long casts to spooky fish. More later in the week"
These are some pics from later in the week:



Thanks for passing this along Joe. I hope that I get a chance to experience it this year and that I'm paddling you around in 13 years.

Crossover lures

From Glenn Hudson regarding an upcoming article in the North Carolina Sportsman regarding using freshwater lures for saltwater fish. Looks like it goes both ways with this largemouth on a MR 17.

I was able to return the favor.

Charles Brown got the call today. I found the big drum, with some cobia mixed in and called Charles before we made the first cast. When two tower boats get together, it draws a crowd and it didn't take long for things to fall apart, but we did beat down a handful of red ones and through the day a handful of the brown ones, including a 50 pounder.

A series of pics from what the other guides have been doing this week.....

Thank you Charlie Brown!

We got lucky and found a few cobia this morning, including a 60 pounder, then we got "the call". Fortunately, I was only about 5 miles away and made the run. Epic sight casting giant red drum for about 2 hours. Capt. Greg arrived on the scene and between the 3 of us, we landed over 60 big drum. Here are some pics and some others from this past week.

All drum:

just enough

Getting just enough to make it happen. Few aj's and a few cobia. Did catch a cobia on the fly yesterday and a nice cobia saved the day today after a couple of aj's and lots of looking for cobia.

Got some serious fishermen the next few days that are into maximul pulledge. Gonna make it happen.

waiting for another wave

Seems like much of our bait got sucked into the sounds......after a little recon, it looks like we may have another wave coming, hopefully a few cobia will be with it. We were strikeless yesterday and today, although the wind blew us off of the water a little early. Maybe all this wind is what we need to shake things up. It doesn't take much to turn things around.

I feel better

after icing a 83 pounder today.

Memorial Service

Yes, we are having a memorial service for the streak that died today. Had to bring part of my crowd in by noon, just as the fish started showing. Instead of going back to the meat, I headed off "in search of" and it didn't work out. Won't make that mistake tomorrow. Sounds like everyone that I left behind did real good.

Thusfar I've cobia fished 15 days (the last 14 in a row), caught fish every day BUT today and landed 51 out of the 150 that I've seen.

I'll get mine tomorrow......

The streak

continues.......

Got 'em late in the day today

After over 100 miles of looking, we found little more than this moa moa or ocean sunfish.
Capt. Charles Brown finally got us going in the right direction. We beat down a 62 pounder and this 75 pounder......and a few of their friends.

Check out these cool hats and website from my guys today:

www.RealDealBrazil.com

and

www.thebrackishlife.com

The streak continues......barely

Yesterday I was with Randy from www.ncangler.com

Here's the link to his report:

http://www.ncangler.com/forums/entries/425-Never-Give-Up!-47lb.-Cobia-in-the-boat

Check it out!

From yesterday.

Dear George,

Thanks for another great Cobia Trip. Better than last year and also David’s first ever Cobia.

Phil

Offshore trip?

From Capt. Brian on the Run Off:

"WE ARE OPEN THIS COMING FRIDAY, MAY 20 for OFFSHORE. 3 wahoo, 8
mahi, 2 kings, 56 blackfin tuna and a white marlin yesterday."

Capt. Brian is also availabe for the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament

The streak is alive

Despite crowded conditions on Saturday and a blustery ride today, the streak is alive. Some say that the cobia fishing is not as good as last year, but we've been fortunate to have a 100% success rate and have landed more than last year at this same date. Looks like the wind is laying down a bit, water is warming and fishing should continue to improve.

some pics from this week

Still getting them....

A 63 pounder will not be continuing her northerly migration....nor will several of her friends. Also caught a 4 1/2 pound flounder today. Capt. Greg didn't do as well with the cobes, but found the big red drum and got an early start with them.

Offshore fishing is good with Capt. Brian on the Run Off and our other offshore boat friends.

Capt. Gary is still getting the stripers up at New Bern, caught 4 of these on the fly yesterday.

tougher day

but we got 'em good, about like yesterday. A bit windy and things started slow, but they cranked up this afternoon. Never give up.

It's good

Kind of like drum fishing, don't want to start setting the bar too high by posting a bunch of numbers, but Greg had a double digit day on the cobes. Capt. Ray and I were close. Capt. Ray's guy even caught one on the fly.

Capt. Lee had over 100 stripers on the fly today on the Roanoke and Capt. Gary had 25+ on topwater on the Neuse.

Looks like Capt. Ray's Louisianna trip is coming together this year, June 8-11, 48 hour bottom fihsing trip. Drop us a line if you have an interst in that and we'll make it happen.

productive day in the office....

.....and caught 3 cobia. Anna and a Culley and I slipped out of the office at 4 pm, saw 20 and caught 3 in less than 2 hours. Things must be warming back up. Capt. Ray got his today also.

Capt. Ponytail

is still getting them ont he Roanoke

From last week on the Roanoke

water cooled

and so did the cobia fishing, but we are still seeing and catching a few fish. Yesterday was a mixed bag of spanish mackeral, bluefish, false albacore, a variety of sharks, amberjack, grouper and yes, we got our cobia.

Here's a report from Capt. Brian on the Run Off:

"Just an update, over the past three days offshore, plenty of gaffer
mahi, blackfins and 3-7 wahoo a day. Been a good strong mix of spring fishing. 49 mahi, 4 blackfins and 3 wahoo today."

This sums it up

After a 80 fish morning, I'm heading back to the coast for some cobia action. Reports are that this cold front has cooled things down a bit, I'll find out tomorrow. Action on the Roanoke remains good, with the best of it early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Fly rods rule with great top water action. As long as water levels remain stable, this good fishing will continue well into May. Some of the Down East Guides are still making trips up to the river and have openings in case you want to get into the action.

Forgot to mention......

........that the albacore were thick yesterday. I didn't bring any "little" rods or fly rods and we were regretting it. Albies had the bait balls pushed up and the sharks and cobia were crashing through the middle of them. We had problems pulling baits away from the sharks in order to tease and cast at the cobia. I also saw a tarpon on the shoals.

The albie fishing was as good as it gets.....and so was the cobia fishing. Today on the Roanoke, the striper fishing was as good as it gets. Over 150 on the fly this afternoon, 3 anglers. Here are a couple more pics from yesterday:
Black drum:
Do Not Cast at the Whale! This young humpback appeared out of nowhere as we were fishing a bait ball. When we first saw him/her it was drifting with the boat about 10 feet below the surface, just watching us. It came up, took a breath and looked us eye to eye. We backed away and it ate the bait ball.

Yes, we got 'em

Saw 30, hooked a dozen, but only landed 7, including this 82 pounder.......also ran into mulitiple schools of black drum, hooked 4 and landed two between 20-30 pounds

.....heading back to the Roanoke for the afternoon bite.

stripers today, cobia tomorrow?

Definitly stripers today, 2 anglers with 100+ fish each on the fly by 11 am this morning.

Cobia tomorrow? Looks like I'm going to find out......

Good Stuff

Today was the first day of the big spawn………and they’re catching cobia at the coast. I’m torn between the two and making two round trips to MHC to get the best of both of them…….not sure if I’m coming or going, but we’re catching fish.


On the coast, Patrick and Rick Caton caught at least 8 cobia, Rick and Scott Austin even got into the big drum and another buddy caught black drum up to 70 pounds, plus the cobia. All site casting. It's killing me, but I can't complain about the day that we had on the Roanoke today. We hit triple digits on the fly AND on artificials and were half way there on topwater.

Today was epic on artificials, the bait guys had trouble getting them. The fish wanted it moving. Fly rod was best. Topwater bite was nothing less than EPIC this afternoon, but not with the spawning fish, the ones that we were getting were bigger females that wanted to eat.

And while we're talking about Good Stuff. Check this out:

www.reelinforresearch.org