Hey George and Anna,

We had a great time as always and the fishing was amazing.  The North Carolina fishery never ceases to amaze me.   I will be in touch soon to book for next year and maybe get crew for another boat.  I threw in a few pics though most of mine suck.  Wish I lived closer so I could fish there more often.

Thanks again
Mike

Pics look pretty good to me Mike.....the below is for professionals only, nice shot. 

Anna and George

I just wanted to drop you guys a line.  As always we had an awesome trip yesterday with Ray.  The fishing was on fire!!!!!  The weather was a concern but everything worked out perfect.  Thanks again for putting us on the fish another year.

Courtney

 

Anna and George,

  I want to thank you for our recent two trips on August 26^th and 27^th with Brian and George. Mike and Rick  and I had a trip of a lifetime catching those big red drum! ("double digits" for 2 days)

I am very grateful and impressed with Down East charters, both you and Brian went above our expectations. I have been with many charter captains along the east coast for the past 30 years and

you two are the best and Brian is a machine! ( I joked with him that he was a stepford… he never ate! Lol)  George that I got my first cobia , 45 lbs with you this past Memorial day with Derek   and now on Monday, Aug 27 I caught my two biggest red drum of my life with you on a 7’6” Loomis L905 GL3 rod that I made! Anyway thanks again and already looking to book with you guys next year!

Sincerely,

Dennis  

 Newark, DE 

Email: drchid@verizon.net

Thanks for the pics Todd.

pics from this week

The gathering continues

I hope it lasts......

Fished this morning and this evening, 1 for 2 on the tarpons in the morning, 2 for 2 in the afternoon, throw in a couple handfuls of the drum.  Who says they don't like a full moon?

Newsletter, tarpons and Capt. Charlie Brown

As the newsletter goes out, it mentions that I hope to be tarpon fishing into September.  Looks like I was right on target.   The gathering is upon us.  It probably won't last long, but it's pretty good right now.  We were 2 for 3, today, Greg was 2 for 6 and Brian also put silver in the air.  

Special thoughts and prayers for Capt. Charlie Brown.  He's going through some pretty tough health issues right now.  I'll update you on his condition later, but just keep him in your prayers.

shark bites

If you are a fish that lives to be 60 years old, you're going to run into sharks.  Looks like this drum on the left caught by Capt. Brian's charter had a recent encounter.   We catch a lot of drum with old wounds.   Many times when a drum or tarpon gets bit by a shark, the shark's teeth stick in the scales and the drum or tarpon swims right through their mouth, leaving jaws with a mouth full of scales, but no meat.

Grand Prize Winners of the "Quiet Game"

Fishing w/Capt. Ray

George/Anna,

Wanted to let you guys know that although it was overcast and rainy most of the day on Friday, August 24, we had a great day fishing! Capt. Ray put us on the fish. The kids really enjoyed spending the day fishing with Capt. Ray. All four of us caught citation size fish - Josh (age 7), Bryce  (age 9), Christina  and Warren Here are a few of the pictures. Thanks again to Down East Guide Service from the whole family!  Warren 

fishing with Greg

"Greg was wonderful....Great guy and fun to fish with...just making sure that you have our addresses for the citation red drum that we caught over forty inches."   ---- William  William and William 

2 hour tour

Had time for a two out tour with dad yesterday, glad that they were biting...

It's still fishing

Here are some pics from Capt. Justin Haddock's trip with us this weekend.

We had 6 guides fishing the last couple of days and every trip went great....... except for one half day trip.  It happens sometimes, you zig when you should zag.  You get there as they quit biting or leave before they start biting.

No matter where you go in the world, to the best locations at the best times to be there, it's still fishing. I'm sorry those guys didn't get what they were looking for, but sometimes it happens, no matter who you fish with or how hard they work for you.    I hope that these customers were satisfied with the effort that they received and will give us another shot to show them what we have to offer.    For what it's worth, the guide who had the bad afternoon has rebounded with a double digit morning......and it's only 9 am.

All smiling

 Some pics from Capt. Justin Haddock's crowd yesterday afternoon.  Capt. Ray had an excellent day with the big 'uns and the puppy drum, catching at least 30 of those little guys.  I picked at the big 'uns all day, making it into double digits as did Brian on his afternoon trip.  Capt. Greg got what he needed in the rain.  All in all the morning was better than the afternoon, but still good fishing all day. 

a good nor'easter

is just what we needed.  Greg, Brian and I didn't have to add our fish together in order to have a double digit day, we got there just fine on our own.......although it was a little "damp" out there today.  Bring rain gear, we're fishing.

Aug. 20

Afternoon Anna & George,

Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed fishing with Capt. Brian Monday for the big drum. He worked really hard to get us a fish. The bite was slow, but the weather was great!

He was very patient with my nephews age 9 & 7 and he made their day when they each caught the big drum. A 46” and 43” very nice fish, tremendous fight for those two, their very first big drum ever....and biggest fish they ever caught.... Love his boat and tackles...very easy to fish from.

I appreciate you guys helping me with these trips this year...really have done me a great job and I’m slowly creating two young fishing fanatics!!

Be safe on the water, and keep up the good work with the Marine Fisheries front...

Warmest regards,

Terry, Markus, William 

Got a little moon back....

....and the bite has improved, nearly a double digit afternoon for me and there was a steady pick all afternoon.  Pics and customer comments on the way.

Tough Fishing

Greg got his, a double digit day.  Gary got his, a double digit day.  Brian fished this afternoon and he got what he needed, a double, one for each of his youth anglers.  I got a double also.....but they were 6 hours apart, in the middle of a 14 hour day.  We thought that we had a third citation for our third and final angler, but it turned out to be a skate.  It was good to be around some silver and one of our drum was 50 inches to the fork of the tail. That's a nice 'un.

From an e mail that I just sent Brian sums it up:

"Brian, 

Thanks for your hard work and superman efforts.  I'm sure the kids had a great time.

Shame of it is, I fished 14 hours, caught 2 big drum and had 3 tarpon bites.  My customers are a little bit disappointed, but I’m pretty stoked about those 3 tarpon bites.  Makes me want to do it again tomorrow.  It’s a sickness.

George"

Grand Slam for Brian

I'm sure that they got the flat leg of the slam.....          

New Moon Blues?

Pretty good morning drum bite, but we've had to work for them over the last couple of evenings.  Spawning only occurs at night, usually starting about sunset and lasting late into the night.  From Anna's drum research there seemed to be a correlation with spawning activity and the big moon phases, both full and new moons.   Maybe the last couple of days the drum were more interested in spawning than eating.

Not sure what the excuse is with the tarpon, we saw a lot of fish yesterday morning and caught several drum and plenty of sting rays, then conditions got perfect and I really expected to start seeing the tarpon roll.   The calmer it got, the quieter it got.  Nothing was going on, the only constant was an occasional sting ray bite.  I stood up in the tower for an hour scanning a greasy calm Pamlico Sound and saw nothing.  Nor did Capt. Ray or Capt. Brian.....they didn't even get an afternoon drum bite.......and that doesn't happen often.

Ata boy

Thanks to Mark with Team Tom Cat for tuning us into the meat today, although we did get a bite where we were fishing, Mark really put us in the meat.    Congrats to you on your fish Mark.  Also to Capt. Extreme who got his at the bottom of the ninth.  Wish that I could have been there, but my guys had to hit the road and I was out of bait. .
Good to see some silver......and some gold in the water.

Last minute cancellations

Seems to be a rash of those, some openings during peak of the drum season for some of our regular tarpon/drum guides.  Aug. 26, 27, 29, 30, 31  Give us a ring to get on the boat during these prime time dates. 252-671-3474

Storm Chasing

Actually, the storms were chasing us today.  Fortunately scattered, but plenty of them.  I set up 5 different times and ran about 100 miles, including two tours of the Neuse River with very little fishing time.  I don't like electricity on the water.  Of the 5 spots that I did fish in between the lightning shows worked out, we caught at least one double header in 3 of them.

Capt. Chris Kimrey was with me for the afternoon storm chasing and he got his licks in on the drum, catching all 4 of his guests a big 'un.

Where are the drum?

They're everywhere.  People look at me with a blank stare when they ask me where a good place might be to set up for a big drum and I tell them anywhere.   If you don't get a bite within an hour and a half, then move.

For 3 summers we tagged drum with radiotransmitters and followed them around the river/sound.  We NEVER found the same fish in the same place two days in a row.   We saw that they would sometimes "lay up" and rest for 8 hours at a time, but when they went on the feed, usually a couple hours before sunset, they were really moving, 3-4 miles/hour.....that's 16 miles in 3 hours.   So it doesn't matter where I caught them last night, I rarely fish in the same place twice.

For whatever reason, there seem to be a few more bull sharks around this year.  I saw an 8 footer cruising our chum slick two days ago and another one was hooked near us yesterday.  The below is a pic of a drum that had an encounter with a bull shark in the last two days.   This has never happened to me, but I hear about it about once/year.

Back in the meat

Jumped one off today, saw a good number today and yesterday afternoon.....before Capt. Brian took me to school on the drum fishing, got what I needed, but not much more.   Guess he was in the school........

Now booking 2013

"George and Anna,

 I just wanted to drop you a line to thank you again for a fantastic fishing experience last week.  My experience fishing with George exceeded all expectations that I brought to Oriental with me...and they were pretty high.

 George worked extremely hard the whole time and was willing to put up with all of the questions that were thrown at him.  It is so cool to see him get just as excited as we were when we were getting on the fish.

 We are definitely wanting to book two days next year with George right around the same time time of year.

----Todd" 

3 hour tour

Got a few hours in between squalls today......and nearly made double digits.  Few pics from today and this past week.....

 Check out my new Shimano Terez drum rods waiting on the bite.....

 Rossi so far is in the lead for the best sandwich award......authentic country ham and home grown tomatoes, Duke mayo on very fresh bread.   Although very simple, the quality ingredients give him 9 out of 10 stars.