Swansboro, NC

[Shoobs]

Greetings - Last week I did some fishing during a family vacation in Emerald Isle, NC. (thanks for the suggestions on car topping/packing for the drive.) I went out with a guide that John Veil (thanks John!) recommended - Tim "NCPierman" Taramelli. Tim was awesome - great knowledge of the area, patient, and a good teacher. I was excited about the trip - when I called Tim the week prior he was on the water and caught three reds while we spoke on the phone - all on topwater lures.

We fished my preference using mostly topwater lures without a hit for most of the two days. Tim used a cast net to catch some mullet and soon after he caught our first -red. Yep - I switched to cut bait. I caught my first fish from my kayak - a 12-14" "rat" size drum - and it chased off the skunk from my last two trips and broke the ice. As Tim predicted - at the tide change I landed a few larger slot-sized keepers about (23-24") on cut bait. I love fishing for reds - such a powerful and beautiful fish. The wind made things tough but the temps were comfortable. I learned a ton - from navigating the kayak, reading the water, using stick pins, stand-up fishing, and how to properly land a fish in the kayak - all new skills for me. It was a great trip. Now I need to get on some fish here at home.

[dsaavedra]

Nice work Nick! Slot reds are a lot of fun. I've caught rat reds before but never caught any slot fish till last year - really looking forward to doing it again this year! A lot of those skills you learned should translate nicely to fishing back at home.

[Mark]

Congrats on the reds.

Indeed, they are great fun to catch and very fortunately for us, they thrive in shallow water, succumb to sight-casting and will hit a variety of lures, flies and baits.

My only wish is that they were more prevalent here in mid-Chesapeake region.

[J.A. Veil]

Nice going Nick. Tim is a good fisherman and guide. Redfish are fairly common in his local area, and he catches them with regularity.