From the Crystal Coast

"Pics from this past week, Ocean flounder and bonito when you can to them, forced to fish inside two days caught some nice sheepshead. Yesterday went looking AJs found a hand full released some of the biggest bass yet this year and smoked the big triggers." ---- Capt. Chris Kimrey

From the Neuse...

the top water bite has been good in New Bern.  No 100 fish days, but good action, fish to 30 inches and all topwater 1/2 days!!!" ....Capt. Gary Dubiel 

Smiles

Roanoke hybrid

Probably an escape from a fish farm.  The below is a hybrid striped bass.  cross between a white bass and a striped bass.  It's more to it than the broken lines, many true blood stripers have a few broken lines, nobody is perfect.  They also have a taller profile than a striper, more like a white perch.  Different patches of tongue teeth if you really want to get technical.....I was pretty sure, but this fish was confirmed by Pete Kornegay, I'll take his word for it.

Encouraging signs

Seems like those fish that are scattered from here to the Albemarle are making a little shove to the westward.  This is a good thing.  Beat down 70 or 80 for the day, no problem with nice limits of keepers, but not like it should be.  I think that it's going to be a red hot May.

Roanoke Report

If you visited the Roanoke over the past week AND you have never been here before AND you fished with one of the tuned-in guides, you probably had what you thought was a good day, catching between 20-40 fish in a half day,  BUT, if you have been here before, you know the deal.  Things are a shadow of what they should be. Fishing is tough and frustrating.

Water has been low and temps have been widely fluctuating, the fish are scattered out from here to the mouth of the river.

Q and A

"Hi George, Hope you have been doing well. We are planing to go to the Roanoke. Do you think May 9th - 11th is to late? When do you think will be the best time? It seems like it is earlier this year because of the warm winter?   Good luck. Thanks Graeme"

It has been warm, so things have been earlier, but this cold snap should put things back where they should be.  The water is low and the fish are spread out from here to Plymouth, if they let loose a little more water, that will trigger some more to come all the way up, but thus far, it’s been tough. 

 I will be here until May 6, not because I think that the stripers will be gone, but because I think that the cobia will be at the coast.  I’m sure that there will fish here, but you know the deal with the fly fishing…..you'll pick at just a few fish or you crush them.   Daylight and dusk are going to be best, especially the afternoons before that May full moon. 

George

  

  

Roanoke pics

Fishing in the rain sucks

Man I had some real troopers today.  We started out in the rain, fished a good half day in the rain and cleaned fish in the rain.  We caught 20 fish.   They are a lot easier to count when you are not catching that many.  We had 4 that were in the slot, 8 very nice keepers and a dozen smaller guys.    Fortunately these folks had never been on the Roanoke and were not expecting a 100 fish morning.  They were happy with their catch and we opted for a nap in the afternoon.

Capt. Rod caught a nice 30 incher.

Offshore NC Report

Yesterday, 4 wahoo, 18 gaffers, 2 blackfin........today 13 wahoo, 12 

gaffers and 11 blackfin.    RUN OFF.

That's from Capt. Brian Harrington .....I don't imagine that he'll be fishing tomorrow.....a bit rainy and windy.....perfect for drum fishing.  Extreme Measures. 

Stripers on the Neuse

A slow day on the Roanoke is a great day on most rivers.....but sometimes it's nice to have a little room to breath.  Gary is getting what he needs from this report:

"striper fishing has been good and New Bern with plenty of top water action.  We're also catching a few specks and 2 to 3 pound bluefish on top there as well. "   --Capt. Gary Dubiel


Seems like the river is pretty salty, maybe the tarpon will be up at New Bern again this year.   


I just got a report about a guy catching 3 cobia in the 40 pound range.......but he was 30 miles off the beach.  Hope this cold snap will keep them out there until I finish up here on the river.   

 

Sorry to be so slack....

Actually, I feel like I've been slack.  Overweight and out of shape from 3 months in Costa Rica and eating junk food at boat shows.......back to the grind.  After 5 half day trips in a row, I'm feeling it. Anna is on a trip with her mom, so I'm running the show......I got up this morning at 5:30 this morning and looked at the calendar to see who I was fishing with......no one.  I had a cancellation last week that I didn't rebook, but didn't know it.   Couple more hours of sleep and catching up on some stuff in the "office".

Roanoke Report.....from Weldon anyway.  Fish are scattered from the dam to the sound.  Weather is hot, then cold, then hot again, but looks like we're going to get another cold snap this week.   Water was high and a lot of fish came up the river all the way to the dam, then got sucked back down with the ever-dropping water levels.  Changing temps and dropping water are kind of freaking out the fish.  We're catching about 50/half day with all of our keepers, but we're working for them.   If you're getting bit, don't move.

Arrived on the Roanoke

Just got here and just in time. Caught over 100 today between the morning and afternoon. Decent jig bite, many on the fly, but most on bait....

trout, snakes, campfires and the POlice

Some pics from the week, heading to the Roanoke to get geared up there tomorrow.

Kids and trout, me and snakes, camp fires and forest fires and the POlice informing us of the fire ban.

Roanoke shakedown cruise

Just had a last minute Ronaoke cancellation for Monday and Tuesday morning in case anyone wanted to join me on a shakedown cruise on the Roanoke.....

Trophies here and trophies there

Here are some trophy trout pics from a recent trip w/Capt. Joe Ward.
I hooked a trophy striped marlin yesterday here in Costa Rica, very cool on both fronts.

Clearing up in Costa Rica

Had a little red tide that was shoving us and the fish way offshore, things are clearing up. Caught 4 sails today.....but I wasn't on the boat. If you are interested in what's going on with the Dragin Fly, check out the fishing reports there at www.draginflycostarica.com

....and Capt. Joe Ward.....

.....is working on the trout in the river

Flounder fishing on the Crystal Coast

Looks like Capt. Chris is on a decent flounder bite.....

bad day 2 be a sardine

Capt. Roy

We started with a triple header, two baby roosters and a jack. We had so many shots that I took some time taking some shots......we ended up catching a couple dozen, including a few nice 'uns.

Crystal Coast Report

From Capt. Chris Kimrey:

"Hey man, Wahoo still chewing pretty good, few dolphin offshore. We had one sailfish last friday.
Ocean flounder showing up a touch early had a trip on Thurs caught some 16-20" flounder in 60-75" water out front.
Plenty of blues in the ocean and some gaint hatteras blues on the flats in the hook.
Had a nice school of Reds around Beaufort inlet Wend and thurs 16-23" fish and a couple of schools of old drum on shoals last week early.
Have not seen any Atlantic Bonito yet, but the albies have been around for several weeks.
Last of course are the sea mullets and they are showing up strong in front of shack with smaller fish in the turning basin."
Capt. Chris

I'll ad that the cobia are going to start popping up anytime.

Between the Roanoke River stripers, Capt. Gary and Joe with the specks/stripers in the Neuse and Capt. Chris, Joe and Charlie on the coast, spring fishing is getting underway in full swing.
Most of the guides calendars are getting very full, with only limited openings. Even forJune, many of us are already about 50% booked.

There is more availablity in July and early August, but Capt. Brian Harrington, Greg Voliva and myself have almost zero openings from mid-August through the end of September. All of the above and some other great guides like Capt. Dan Roberts, Capt. Justin Haddock and Capt. Gene Wooster will be helping with our overflow, If you want to get after the big drum with the guide who you have fished with in past years, you need to make your reservation NOW.

In Costa Rica, from May through August we have some great deals and discounts. But for the 2013 peak sesaon, the Dragin Fly is already 60% booked. Please don't wait too late to make your reservations for next year.