It's not like a restaurant out there....

I had the pleasure to get invited along on an offshore trip on The General yesterday in search of billfish.    We had another group on The Bill Collector in hopes of loading the boat with dolphin, which is normally a pretty consistent fishery this time of year.

Although we did have a blue marlin take a look at one of our teasers and I got some really good sushi off of an oceanic bonito, we never saw another fish or got another bite anywhere in our travels except from the one loan wooden pallet that was "covered up" with dolphin.   We landed 16 bailers and gaffers, including my citation 45 pounder before turning it over to a nearby boat and continuing on our fruitless search for billfish.

Meanwhile, the guys on the Bill Collector hooked up to a blue marlin and landed a sailfish, EXACTLY what we were looking for, but they only had a handful of shots at dolphin.   Anytime you catch a billfish and hook a blue marlin off the NC coast that's a great day, so both boats had great days, just with the wrong customers.   If it were only like a restaurant and you could order up what you want.

Other than a few morning squals, I have seen very few NC offshore days prettier than yesterday