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Post by fishnfool on Jul 26, 2023 18:19:01 GMT -5
How'd you make out today Fritz? We didn't even get a sniff HS'ing or slow trolling. From the chatter on the radio with the exception of a couple boats that found some YF and billfish, it was slow for the fleet. I think we saw you? We tried to bottom fish with some jigs but the current was to fast. My boys moved to high speed jigging and got to wrestle with some jacks.
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Post by Fritz on Jul 26, 2023 20:55:08 GMT -5
Haha, that was us. Thanks for the pic. We trolled for a few hours, we picked up some nice Blackfin. Tuna came on 9" bird with CH Rattle Jet(Green/Foil skirt & Pearl/ Silver Mylar skirt). I rerig them and put better hooks on. Had a Wahoo bite off (good bye Black/purple Joe Shute ). We also rose a Sail, It played ping pong with the long rigger for awhile on blue/white Iland Seastar, dropped on him a couple times and even threw a pitch bait (no go). We bottom fished the rest of the late morning. Got a nice batch of bucket lid Triggers and a couple nice Red Porgy's (yum). No groupers around for us today. Fun day and you will never get nicer weather than that. Glad you got on some reef Donkeys, they have saved many a day!
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Post by fishnfool on Jul 27, 2023 6:28:47 GMT -5
Great day for you guys, you did better than most! We didn't get out there until late, probably after 8am. Did your bites come earlier in the morning? I pulled mostly small blue/white islIander trackers w/meat, had a Bomber CD which i run close to the boat and has produced for me in the past, and to make some more noise a spreader bar on a flatline and sterling zucchini bird chain way way back. While jigging late afternoon and after everyone else seemed to have left we saw a big school of what looked like small tuna (blackfin, bonita??) busting and jumping out of the water chasing bait. We tried a few times to chase them down but they were moving fast. My son hooked into one with a spinning rod but it got off so not sure what they were. Saw either a big king or hoo smash the school and came out of the water but it was so fast we couldn't get a good look. I am curious where Free Ranger out of Ocracoke keeps catching these nice YF. That capt'n has been on fire over the last couple of weeks with some consistent catches. You don't see that out of other boats right now. Looking at thr SST shot, I saw some small pockets of cool water in middle of the hot water way east. Maybe there? This was 4 days ago and he crushed them yesterday too.
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Post by Fritz on Jul 27, 2023 7:45:27 GMT -5
Almost all of our action was before 9am. We left the Marina at 5:30am. Those were probably small Blackfins, tons around this time of year. I would bet you saw a Wahoo, they love those little Blackfin as a snack for sure. The CH Rattle Jets I mentioned are killer on the Blackfins, that what all our tunas came on yesterday. We have two weeks left for this trip, hope we can get out at least a couple more times, looks pretty sketchy for this weekend. The ocean was so nice yesterday, just about as good as it gets. Chill day for us today, gonna get our Carolina skiff uncovered & ready and go play around for some trout and reds this evening.
I heard them on the radio a few times, I believe they were deep. Just an educated guess , maybe around tip Pamlico Canyon. They are definitely putting some meat on the deck.
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Post by fishnfool on Jul 27, 2023 8:25:46 GMT -5
Getting my boys out of bed is a chore. Thanks for the tip on the CH lure. Wish we could've gotten into those BF schools yesterday.
We're here for another week and half so hopefully the weather cooperates so we can at least get out inshore again, I'm on a mission to get some triggers. From a couple guys I talked to, seems like the dolphin are in close, 120' and shallower. Heard on the radio that one of the charters found themselves a big gaffer under a weed patch which led to a 45 min fight for a lucky angler, assuming that was where all that Eel grass I found with some smaller mahi under it.
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Post by nickbhw on Jul 27, 2023 8:32:10 GMT -5
Great reports! Keep them coming.
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Post by Fritz on Jul 27, 2023 9:35:07 GMT -5
Lol, the never ending task of getting a teenager moving in the morning. We saw some nice weeds patches on the way in yesterday in 80/90 feet. I betcha they had some bailers on them, but we had a boat to scrub and fish to clean. We love catching big triggers. Like I mentioned before, we usually fish deeper to get the slob size. The fish from yesterday came from 210' to 230'. If you can find some hard bottom or ledges in 120' or so you should find some triggers there. You can get the numbers but they tend to be smaller from my experience. These are the hooks we use. A little pricey, but I think they are the best trigger hook on the market. Corner of the mouth every time. I think my evening trout/redfish trip just turned into a clamming expedition. Somebody has a taste for some fried clams Attachments:
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Post by fishnfool on Jul 27, 2023 13:25:05 GMT -5
Lol, the never ending task of getting a teenager moving in the morning. We saw some nice weeds patches on the way in yesterday in 80/90 feet. I betcha they had some bailers on them, but we had a boat to scrub and fish to clean. We love catching big triggers. Like I mentioned before, we usually fish deeper to get the slob size. The fish from yesterday came from 210' to 230'. If you can find some hard bottom or ledges in 120' or so you should find some triggers there. You can get the numbers but they tend to be smaller from my experience. These are the hooks we use. A little pricey, but I think they are the best trigger hook on the market. Corner of the mouth every time. I think my evening trout/redfish trip just turned into a clamming expedition. Somebody has a taste for some fried clams I think we trolled past you while you were bottom fishing. What size lead did you use to get it to the bottom? 16 oz? I didn't have any rods rigged for that unfortunately. Is thr bait of choice squid or cut mullet?
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Post by Fritz on Jul 27, 2023 19:22:19 GMT -5
I thought that might be you. I had my regular sunglasses on (can't see as far with those, but I sure can tie some mean Knots). When I looked up, I asked my wife if that boat was a Sailfish. She thought it was, we wondered if that was you. Weight wise, 8 oz was just fine. Not much current and it slacked off even more by the time we left. I carry everything from 6 oz up to 24 oz, but 8oz to 12oz usually gets it done on that spot. Bait wise, a little chunk of tuna belly the size of your thumbnail or so is #1 in my book. Squid is favorite too. Those little buggers can pick you clean quick. Mullet, fatback & shrimp are to soft, you'll be cleaned off and won't even know it. Catch a Fat Albert and use the belly, cut them in little chunks before you go. Did good on the trout today on popping corks and Zman shrimp. Kept a few for dinner. My wife made an excellent dinner of Cajun trout, steamed shrimp and fresh coleslaw , life is good Attachments:
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jerryk
Captain
When not online I'm likely on Knot Online
Posts: 604
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Post by jerryk on Jul 27, 2023 19:36:25 GMT -5
Ah Fritz, now I'm hungry again and I just had dinner!
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Post by fishnfool on Jul 27, 2023 19:58:24 GMT -5
I thought that might be you. I had my regular sunglasses on (can't see as far with those, but I sure can tie some mean Knots). When I looked up, I asked my wife if that boat was a Sailfish. She thought it was, we wondered if that was you. Weight wise, 8 oz was just fine. Not much current and it slacked off even more by the time we left. I carry everything from 6 oz up to 24 oz, but 8oz to 12oz usually gets it done on that spot. Bait wise, a little chunk of tuna belly the size of your thumbnail or so is #1 in my book. Squid is favorite too. Those little buggers can pick you clean quick. Mullet, fatback & shrimp are to soft, you'll be cleaned off and won't even know it. Catch a Fat Albert and use the belly, cut them in little chunks before you go. Did good on the trout today on popping corks and Zman shrimp. Kept a few for dinner. My wife made an excellent dinner of Cajun trout, steamed shrimp and fresh coleslaw , life is good And now i know where we'll be hosting the next Sailfish owners fishing tournament! Dibs on riding with Fritz! I waved at your ass but now I know why you didn't see me! LMAO
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Post by Fritz on Aug 4, 2023 11:11:05 GMT -5
Hope your trip went well! We haven't been offshore anymore since last week. We have been using the skiff pretty regularly with good results. The trout bite has been solid. We have also been catching some really nice reds as well. The only problem is we haven't caught one in the slot, everything we have caught has been over ( I know tough problem to have). Had incidental catch of some really nice flounder too, it just kills you to have to throw them back. Hope to hit offshore 1 or 2 more times , as we are here for another 6 days. We will be back on 09/12 for a month or so (watch out flounder, season will be in ). Have a safe drive !
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Post by fishnfool on Aug 4, 2023 12:23:01 GMT -5
Good looking red fritz! And thanks, Its been a great trip and all things considering we had great weather. We did a quick inshore trip yesterday afternoon (1-430) before I hauled the boat and let the kids wrestle with some donkeys at a reef, then we trolled around for a bit in +/-80' of water. Had 3 run offs in pretty short order, one came undone, Bonita on one and my little man's first dolphin. Found some breaking fish at the reef while we were jigging, one of my older boys hooked up on light tackle, turned out to be a school of Bonita, we were hoping for blackfin. Still didn't get my triggers this year. There's always next year! Good luck over the next week, I'll keep an eye out for the report.
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Post by finatic on Aug 4, 2023 15:55:17 GMT -5
Great job Capt. Dad put the boy's on the meat. Their smiles say it all.
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Post by Fritz on Aug 4, 2023 18:20:02 GMT -5
Glad you had fun trip. Awesome grin on your youngest boys face. I see some fish taco action in your future. Luv seeing the future of our sport in action!
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