I hate that I'm going to miss the storm.....

......geeze, for a long time I had this business trip to Costa Rica scheduled....and stopping into Silver King Lodge for a tarpon fix, it was not my intention to abandon the coast in the face of this approaching storm, but it is very convenient.  I'll be back for the clean up which hopefully will be minimal and everyone will make it through with little impacts.

The few days we have had between the last unnamed storm (last week) and the oncoming of Joaquin, the guides who have made it out have had really good fishing.   Despite all the rain, it has been a fairly dry/salty year in the rivers, although that salt has been diluted, it hasn't flushed the system empty of bait or of fish.   Things are going to keep moving around, but it's going to be really, really good when you land on them.  

All this east wind and high water should make for a good drum spawn and yes, there are still catchable numbers of big ones.   The water temps are still well into the 70's and there are a lot of them still around.

Fishing on the coast, the water is looking a little like home, sweet tea and full of fish.   Capt. Chris Kimrey has been catching plenty of spanish and blues on those color changes with the albies just a little ways off the beach and the kings just offshore of them.

Hoping for a quick glancing blow and get things back to normal, good fall fishing.

While I'm gone, Capt. Mitchell Blake will be manning the phone at 252-671-3474 and booking trips for him or for Capt. Ken Kramer who is going to be running my Parker as soon as we get it splashed next week.    Between Greg, Jennings and Joe, we can get out on the water and it very well may be worth going.  Half days starting at $450 and most of these guys don't wear a watch.

Other options for fishing in the rain

When it's not raining so hard they can't see the lure, they'll eat it.   Real good top water striper bite up the Neuse with Capt. Mitch.....between the squalls.

Costa Rica

From the looks of this pic there is more sunshine in Costa Rica's Green Season than here in NC.   I'm outta here.   We will still be manning the phones, so drop us a line if you need to get out on the water and want to stay close to home. 

cool cobia video

from a cajun friend of mine in LA.

Drum Fisherman

The only thing missing with this storm.......

....is Dorothy, Toto and a name.

 Is the wind laying down?  Yeah, children and poorly built houses and poorly rooted trees.    Geeze, OK, I give in.   Cabin fever has brought out my grouchiness.

Yes, it is pretty sporty out there to say the least.  If you can stand up and take it, we'll give it to you, but all of the guides are giving customers the option to reschedule.   Those who have been going have been getting what they need but they have been earning it.

For those of you who are not wimps......

.....you are rewarded

NO TEXT MESSAGES

For crying out loud please do not send me any text and don't send me any questions via facebook.  Finally, don't get your feeling hurt if I ignore you.

For those of you who use this annoying tool of communication, consider this:

Do people who still have a land lines receive your text?
Are people who have dumb phones with numbers as keys able to easily respond?
Ever considered those who may turn off their phone for months at a time because they are working out of town or out of country?

DO NOT SEND ME TEXT.   Please pass this along.

From a 2013 blog post, the only thing that has changed is Skip Waters is not texting or putting up facebook messages anymore.

Social Media, Dumb phones, Text 

Social media sucks.   I don't do it.  No facebook, twitter, linked in, whatever.   Don't do it.   Yeah, we've got a facebook page, but Anna updates it from my posts here.  I have never looked at it and I probably never will.   I have no idea who likes me....and less of an idea of who dislikes me.  

I refuse to get one of those dumb phones...I'm not going to submit to whatever spell those phones put on people.....causing them to ignore the world around them or the people with whom they are having lunch.
A bunch of zombies walking around staring into that voo-doo device, poking and swatting at it with their pointer finger, it's just plain stupid.   Put the damn thing in your pocket and look around before you walk off the end of the dock.  And on the boat?   REally?   Might as well bring a frigging television to watch fishing shows.   Had a guy bring a newspaper tarpon fishing one time, with tarpon rolling all around the boat, he was reading a frigging paper.  I carried him back to the dock. 

   I don't give a damn how much more productive I would be if I were able to immediately answer someone's   question or give them a fishing report.  They can send me an e mail or look at this blog.   Anyone who doesn't have the patience to wait a day for me to call 'em back isn't someone that I would probably want to spend a day on the water with anyway.   Who wants a fishing guide that is waiting around to answer the phone instead of being out on the water fishing?   And for that matter, who wants a fishing guide who is on the water but on the phone all day?

Heck, I don't even read texts.  It annoys the heck out of me when the phone makes that little beep saying that I've got one.  Don't send me one, I ain't gonna read it or I'll reply several days later with my calloused, swollen, cut fingers trying to bang out " I domt do txt, cal me"

The only benefit to those smart phones is the live radar, that has been very helpful avoiding thunderstorms.   I mention something about the clouds and approaching storms and I've got a regular Skip Waters on the boat with his little gadget......"hey, lemme see that......naw, we're alright"     I hear that I can get the same thing with one of those fancy global positioning devices that tells you where you're at........I'll have to look into that.

Social Media, the only reason that I can see any use to it, other than telling people what you had for dinner and when you are going to the bathroom...... 

weather cancellations

Everyone wants to go fishing when the weather is perfect, but everyone's idea of perfect weather is different.   Any drum fishermen worth their salt knows that the perfect conditions are a nor'easter like we're having now.

Weather cancellations are at the sole discretion of the captain, whose responsibility it is to keep you out of dangerous conditions, but it is not his responsibility to keep you dry.   This is what a rain jacket is made for and if you don't bring one and you get wet, it's your fault.   Just like it's your fault if you don't wear sunscreen and you get sunburned.

Drum killa

I can't take credit for this shot, was passed along to me from a friend in Texas where they call e'm redfish.

Our bait catcher helper

Either we have him trained or he has us trained, always perched on top of a school of those big-drum bite-sized menhaden.   One throw with the net and we're done for the day and he's got breakfast as a reward.

How are those menhaden working out as drum bait?    10-20 of them have been working out pretty good each day. 

Fishing with Capt. Mitch

"These boys have caught Reds throughout the coastal U.S. and beyond, but this trip is going to leave a mark."   -----Capt. Mitch 

Late season this year.

The last few days have been truly spectacular with triple digit days between the several guides fishing.  This good fishing will continue for the next couple of weeks up until the next full moon.   On that big moon a lot of fish are going to migrate across the sound and into the ocean.    The water temps are higher than normal and if this trend continues there will still be plenty of fish around into October. 

The corkers are doing really good in the mornings, but the afternoons have been good also because of the beautiful weather and calm seas that we've been having.   I even caught one on a cork while bait fishing.   Look out, Capt. Justin Haddock went with me and witnessed a double header on the corks.   His eyes got as big as saucers.  

Back in 'em

Thankfully, I found my mojo again, thought that I had lost it.........

Once you think you've got 'em figured out.

Will, 

Wow, after all the below verbage, they threw my ass a loop today.   It’s got to be that they are gathered up somewhere and spawning on the new moon, but it SUCKED for me this afternoon.   Everyone did good in the morning, but it seemed better down river around Lighthouse.  

This afternoon the only big bite was around POM,  I would go straight there, they should be in the area.  

I fished 5 spots this afternoon and had one bite that the customer broke off on the boat as I was dehooking a very disappointed angler’s sting ray on the other side.

My humble pie smells like skunk.  Jennings had a piece of that pie, Greg landed on them with 9 at sunset plus a couple of pups, Justin had 5 big 'uns.  

George

From: info@downeastguideservice.com 

Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2015 11:02 AM
To: 'Will
Subject: RE: Old Drum Intel

Will

The drum fishing is MUCH better than last year with consistent fishing from Hampton Shoal to Ocracoke.  It’s kind of crazy, no area has been better than another and everyone is really spread out unlike last year where the best fishing was well below Oriental or in the sound. 

You’re probably going to do the best by drifting, corking and have someone on the boat also chunking some bait as you drift.  Not sure what kind of boat you will be in or if it is conducive to corking, a trolling motor is not necessary.   Greg is catching them out of his Contendor and I gave a “demo” yesterday in my Parker, we caught a double header on the corks about 15 minutes into it.

If you’ve got the wind, then the bait guys will do better than the corkers.  

The fish are going to  be  either  “laid up” and not moving much, an advantage to the corkers or to the bait guys who land in a nest of them…. or they are going to be moving.   If they are not moving and you set up close to them, you can usually get a couple of quick bites from what is there.   If they’re moving, then they will run across you within an hour or so.  Either way, if you don’t get a couple of bites within an hour, you need to move. 

Hate to be vague, but I have caught big drum on every single trip that I have fished this year and I have yet to fish the same place two days in a row.   Dang things are everywhere!

Hope this helps……

George

From: Will

Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2015 5:50 PM
To: info@downeastguideservice.com
Subject: Old Drum Intel

G,

Hope you and Anna are doing well!

I’m fishing with some good friends tomorrow. 

Any suggestions on locations .   Maw Point, etc?

Thanks!

Will

Let me introduce you to Capt. Wade.......

......who can introduce you to some big drum.   Capt. Wade you may know from his days on the Bill Collector.   He's still doing some offshore stuff, but if you find it blowing out there, you can find him anchored up in the Neuse chasing big drum like these:

Fishing with Capt. Greg

Here's one from Extreme Brian

We don't see many bonafide 50 inchers.....but maybe that's because we measure them to the middle of the tail and not the tip of the tail.   This one was 55 x 30 which comes out to be over 60 pounds

Keep an eye out for the kayakers

They're into the action also.......everyone be safe out there. 

Congrats Dan. 

Yes and yes

Yes, that's me and Yes, I was corking.  5 for 8 in a couple of hours this morning.  We have corking guides who are a lot better than I am and they have openings.....

Capt. George,

From our perspective, there is certainly no reason for an apology for the fish bite  during our charter with you. Although the bite was slow turning on, the activity at dusk more than compensated for the hours of slow bites and high, unrelenting heat.  As a matter of fact, my son son and I have been fishing together for over thirty years and we both feel that the trip was one of a lifetime!  Additionally, meeting you felt like reconnecting with an old pal.  

We have no hesitation in saying we thoroughly enjoyed the day and will vigorously recommend and endorse Down East Guide Service to fisherman friends.  (My current Striper fishing partner is very much interested in a Costa Rican trip in 2017/18.  If you have promotional material for such, I will gladly pass it along.)

In closing I would add that Brian is   the best prepared and hardest working guides with whom we have chartered..

Tight Lines

Jay Beckwith

more pics and comments on Brian

Hey George, another great trip on the 31st!   You and Brian have set the bar pretty high, the last 3 trips, 2 with you and 1 with Brian we have caught XX  drum!!  Thanks for the great fishing, my buddies really enjoyed Monday, especially my buddy in the green shirt he is waiting for a heart transplant !  I have attached a picture of each one of us holding a fish.  ----

Thanks  Frankie

Fishing with Capt. Justin

Some nice 'uns aren't they?   Not too late to get yours, Justin is open:  Sept. 8, 9, 12, 18 m, 19 pm, 20, 23, 24 

George,

 What a fun couple of days we had Drum fishing on the Sound!

 We all had a great time fishing with Brian & Justin and look forward to doing it again next year!

 Thanks again ----John

John

George and Brian trying to decide if it's raining

Fishing with Capt. Ray

Emily got her first big Red Puppyfish.She ended up getting two and let me catch two.  ---Capt. Ray

Fishing with Capt. Brian

"One hell of a day. Brian is a great guy and waterman. XX fish was beyond anything I had dreamed of. Thanks for setting us up on the past several trips. I have had 3 suppliers/customers that have had the best fishing trips of there lives in the past two weeks. Hope the bite stays strong for you all over the next few weeks. "   ----Ryan

Pamlico/Pungo Rivers Report

A group wanted to fish the Pamlico River in search of a Trophy Red Drum.  It was unbelievable.   We ran out of tags. -----Capt. Mitch 

flounder fishing with Capt. Greg

Puppy drum fishing has not been as good this year due to a poor spawn a couple of years ago, but with less unattended flounder net in the water this summer, these are the results: 

Wahoo anyone? These are the last available open dates with Capt. Brian and Marty on the Run Off

October 19..20..21..22..26.are open....and november..1..2..3...are open

This is what a 6 pound Neuse River flounder looks like

fishing and openings with Capt. Mitch

Mitch is one of our best corkers and is adding tricks with artificial lures to his bag that no one else is employing. 

.....and he has some openings:  Sept. 8, 12 am, 17, 18 pm, 20, 21pm, 23 am, 25, 28 am, 30 am  .   Shoot us an e mail and we'll get you out on the water with Capt. Mitch

Moving away from the moon

As we got away from that big moon fishing has been more consistent for more people which means that the drum are more scattered.   We're still getting double digit days, including the corkers who have been having great success the last several mornings.   This weekend we've got a little blow which will slow things down on the corks, but fire them off for the bait fishermen.

We're in the process of swapping computers, but will have some guide reports upcoming.

Things are peaking now and will continue through the next few weeks.  Still time to get out there.