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I just got back from my vacation to the outer banks and will be posting reports and videos over the next several days. Fishing was less than expected but we had a great time non the less.
I will start off with our charter trip for tile-fish on 8/4/2011. I booked the charter with promising weather reports but those reports changed on us mid week. On the departure day we were met with a offshore report of 15 to 20 knot winds and seas from 6ft to 8ft. Later in the day we found this report to be correct minus the occasional 10ft to 12ft rollers we encountered. The captain and mate did a great job of keeping us safe on the trip in and out but to be honest we dropped in several holes between swells that made me pucker up. We were on a 40ft custom Carolina and it handled the water beautifully but did pitch allot which is unavoidable in those conditions. We left with 6 happy and optimistic fisherman and returned with 3 tired ones and 3 sick ones. I don't think there was enough Dramamine to help them. I felt bad the whole trip watching them suffer with the conditions but to their credit they stuck it out the hole trip and never complained. If i felt like they did I don't know if i would have handled the situation the same.
We left the docks at 6:00am and made our way to the tile fish grounds 35 miles out of Oregon inlet. The area we were fishing lays in 240 feet of water. The ride out of the inlet was smooth and we thought we dogged a bullet but we met the beast about 10 mile out of the inlet. It was nasty and 3 of our party started feeling the effects. After 2.5 hrs we were on the tile-fish grounds and the mate started testing the current. With the conditions we were worried that 24oz of weight would not hold but luck shined on us and there was a lack of current and the 24oz held fine. The only problem was the swells that would pick your rig 8ft off the bottom every time they rolled under the boat which was every 30 seconds. A raise up high and bow down low with the occasional line feeding helped us hold bottom.
After several drifts the captain put us on the fish and we started catching. There was a mix of throw back black sea bass and small tile fish. This coupled with 240 feet of water and 24oz of lead made for a tiring start. The captain moved to a couple more spots and we found a better size of fish both tile-fish and sea bass. With only three of us fishing the mate stepped in and helped us make our limit for the morning. It was hard work but we managed our limit of 18 Tile-fish and a bonus 10 Sea bass with several nice knot heads. Those bigger black sea bass are very beautiful fish with iridescent blues on there knots. Luis had the hookup of the day. I was next to him when he set the hook and the rod just bowed down to the second guide. Anyone who has ever wreck fished knows what that means. He got 3 or 4 cranks up on the fish and it decide to quit playing games and made a beeline back to the depths and in the process straightened a 5/0 4x strong hook. Who knows what it was but i have a feeling it was a large grouper. Luis kept the hook for a keepsake.
After we bagged our limit we trolled back to the dock for a little while. Right away things got hectic. We had a 6 rod spread out for Mahi and Wahoo and the long line with a ballyhoo got nailed. Unfortunately the fish missed the hook but the mystery fish emerged again tracking the short lines in the prop wash. It was a sail fish according to everyone on the boat. I'm going by there accounts because i could not see the fish. Every time it slashed a bait i was looking the the wrong direction. And of course i had the POV cam so i missed it with that as well. The sail followed us for the next several mins grabbing baits but missing the hook. The mate was jocking rods trying to get hooked up but it was not to be. It was an exciting experience and my first with any sort of bill fish.
We continued trolling for around 30 mins with no other action and decided to call it a day and head back to port. Our 3 other party members were happy to hear that news after chumming the waters for the previous 4 hrs. On the way back into port we passed the Big Eye (the small fiberglass boat from the Discover series swords - Life on the line) The whole crew was on deck tending to repairs and getting ready for this seasons swordfish run.
It was a rough trip on the body. My fore arms were sore the next day as well as my legs and knees. Its hard work constantly reeling in 240 ft of line with heavy rods and 24oz of weight plus fish in rough seas. I have much respect for the die-hard deep drop fisherman that fish 600ft plus water with conventional (non electric reels) and much bigger fish.
On another note the rod we made for this trip worked great. The blank was one of Memory Makers Live bait blank deals he got me and after hitting with a saw on the butt and tip made a nice stick. The reels i had with me were another issue though. I had a old Penn GT45 on it at first, it had plenty of cranking power but the ratio was two slow and the reel weight was two high to fish comfortably. I put my two speed Tyrnos 10 on it and it felt much better at first with smaller fish. When i started getting doubles and larger fish the cranking power in high speed vanished and i was forced to pop it in low and crank for 2 mins to get the suckers to the surface. I also had issues with my thumb knocking the reel back into high speed when i was cranking the fish up. I'm not two worried about that though as that reel was purchased to pull cows from the kipto ships and not 10lbs of fish and 2lbs of lead from 240 feet of water. The high speed ratio was nice when reeling the rig back in to check and re-bait though.
At the end of the day it was a great trip. We got or six man limit and some good laughs and stories for the next several years. Well worth the money and if you are down in the northern outer banks give Fish 'N' Fitz Charters a call. The captain and mate were excellent and our second trip out with them was as memorable as our first.
Video Recap
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
I will start off with our charter trip for tile-fish on 8/4/2011. I booked the charter with promising weather reports but those reports changed on us mid week. On the departure day we were met with a offshore report of 15 to 20 knot winds and seas from 6ft to 8ft. Later in the day we found this report to be correct minus the occasional 10ft to 12ft rollers we encountered. The captain and mate did a great job of keeping us safe on the trip in and out but to be honest we dropped in several holes between swells that made me pucker up. We were on a 40ft custom Carolina and it handled the water beautifully but did pitch allot which is unavoidable in those conditions. We left with 6 happy and optimistic fisherman and returned with 3 tired ones and 3 sick ones. I don't think there was enough Dramamine to help them. I felt bad the whole trip watching them suffer with the conditions but to their credit they stuck it out the hole trip and never complained. If i felt like they did I don't know if i would have handled the situation the same.
We left the docks at 6:00am and made our way to the tile fish grounds 35 miles out of Oregon inlet. The area we were fishing lays in 240 feet of water. The ride out of the inlet was smooth and we thought we dogged a bullet but we met the beast about 10 mile out of the inlet. It was nasty and 3 of our party started feeling the effects. After 2.5 hrs we were on the tile-fish grounds and the mate started testing the current. With the conditions we were worried that 24oz of weight would not hold but luck shined on us and there was a lack of current and the 24oz held fine. The only problem was the swells that would pick your rig 8ft off the bottom every time they rolled under the boat which was every 30 seconds. A raise up high and bow down low with the occasional line feeding helped us hold bottom.
After several drifts the captain put us on the fish and we started catching. There was a mix of throw back black sea bass and small tile fish. This coupled with 240 feet of water and 24oz of lead made for a tiring start. The captain moved to a couple more spots and we found a better size of fish both tile-fish and sea bass. With only three of us fishing the mate stepped in and helped us make our limit for the morning. It was hard work but we managed our limit of 18 Tile-fish and a bonus 10 Sea bass with several nice knot heads. Those bigger black sea bass are very beautiful fish with iridescent blues on there knots. Luis had the hookup of the day. I was next to him when he set the hook and the rod just bowed down to the second guide. Anyone who has ever wreck fished knows what that means. He got 3 or 4 cranks up on the fish and it decide to quit playing games and made a beeline back to the depths and in the process straightened a 5/0 4x strong hook. Who knows what it was but i have a feeling it was a large grouper. Luis kept the hook for a keepsake.
After we bagged our limit we trolled back to the dock for a little while. Right away things got hectic. We had a 6 rod spread out for Mahi and Wahoo and the long line with a ballyhoo got nailed. Unfortunately the fish missed the hook but the mystery fish emerged again tracking the short lines in the prop wash. It was a sail fish according to everyone on the boat. I'm going by there accounts because i could not see the fish. Every time it slashed a bait i was looking the the wrong direction. And of course i had the POV cam so i missed it with that as well. The sail followed us for the next several mins grabbing baits but missing the hook. The mate was jocking rods trying to get hooked up but it was not to be. It was an exciting experience and my first with any sort of bill fish.
We continued trolling for around 30 mins with no other action and decided to call it a day and head back to port. Our 3 other party members were happy to hear that news after chumming the waters for the previous 4 hrs. On the way back into port we passed the Big Eye (the small fiberglass boat from the Discover series swords - Life on the line) The whole crew was on deck tending to repairs and getting ready for this seasons swordfish run.
It was a rough trip on the body. My fore arms were sore the next day as well as my legs and knees. Its hard work constantly reeling in 240 ft of line with heavy rods and 24oz of weight plus fish in rough seas. I have much respect for the die-hard deep drop fisherman that fish 600ft plus water with conventional (non electric reels) and much bigger fish.
On another note the rod we made for this trip worked great. The blank was one of Memory Makers Live bait blank deals he got me and after hitting with a saw on the butt and tip made a nice stick. The reels i had with me were another issue though. I had a old Penn GT45 on it at first, it had plenty of cranking power but the ratio was two slow and the reel weight was two high to fish comfortably. I put my two speed Tyrnos 10 on it and it felt much better at first with smaller fish. When i started getting doubles and larger fish the cranking power in high speed vanished and i was forced to pop it in low and crank for 2 mins to get the suckers to the surface. I also had issues with my thumb knocking the reel back into high speed when i was cranking the fish up. I'm not two worried about that though as that reel was purchased to pull cows from the kipto ships and not 10lbs of fish and 2lbs of lead from 240 feet of water. The high speed ratio was nice when reeling the rig back in to check and re-bait though.
At the end of the day it was a great trip. We got or six man limit and some good laughs and stories for the next several years. Well worth the money and if you are down in the northern outer banks give Fish 'N' Fitz Charters a call. The captain and mate were excellent and our second trip out with them was as memorable as our first.
Video Recap
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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