…the flip side to the windy July has been our excellent inshore, nearshore and backwater fishing. I’ve been so busy this summer I’ve really neglected the camera, but I still have more photos than I know what to do with.

When we can get out the inlet - the big spanish fishing is excellent on the nearshore wrecks and live bottoms chumming with live bait. The flounder fishing remains STRONG. I’ve also taken a lot of kids out for spanish and blues and then enjoyed some excellent fishing for big sharks - actually, probably the best big shark fishing in a couple of years as we’ve enjoyed some really nice conditions for it.

The real gem has been the excellent red drum and flounder fishing in both the shallow marshes and around the docks. The flounder fishing has been the real surprise - most days we’ve been landing 6-8 keepers with many smaller fish and reds in the same areas. The fishing in the marsh for reds, using topwaters and other artificials, is getting better every day - this week I’ve found many big schools of fish and we’ve caught many good fish between 20 and 32″. It’s only going to get better the later we get into august!

Found several nice schools of fish with Bo and Larry - he had a lot of blow ups and landed some really nice upper-slot fish. Dock fishing was slow today, unfortunately.

Typical dock drum - the over-slots are a bit hard to land in the structure….

Brian and Joe had a great day - we did a number on the flounder around the intercostal docks getting about 5 keepers (one close to 5lbs) and many smaller fish and a half-dozen nice drum - we also went looking for some bonnetheads and while we only had a couple of bites, Joe landed a really nice one that bottomed out my 15lb boga (BTW - look at his mouth, all those marks are from eating whole bluecrabs…talk about tough!) - not bad for a really windy day!

A great example of a nice nearshore day with the Scruggs group - they wanted me to talk a pic at the end of the day with a few of their fish. We had a great time with the big spanish (also lost a 20lb+ king) on light rods and boated several nice flounder. I also want to point out the 2nd gent on the left - Smitty has the energy of a man half his age (he’s 86) and a veteran of Iwo Jima and Siapan (and a hunter with some incredible stories). What an honor to meet a man who has given our country so much!

July 2010 has to be the windiest July of the last decade. In the 8 years I’ve been guiding full time, my records indicate that I can fish offshore (or be able to get out the inlet no problem) and average of over 5 days per week. After the first 8 days of the month, which were all slick calm, the wind has been blowing non-stop. While the inside fishing has been great, here is a report of what we’ve been doing when the wind isn’t HOWLING.

We’ve had a lot of fun with the jacks on topwater - fly and spin, excellent flounder fish and big spaniards on the wrecks….and offshore, amazing fishing for bailer dolphin. We’ve encountered some giant schools of bailers and played with them with topwater poppers for hours - easily keeping what we needed and releasing many more. When you catch a mahi-mahi on a lure on a light rod they are an entirely different gamefish. You barely want to catch them any other way.

7-8′ 150lb+ Tiger Shark that ate my chum bag (AWESOME!):

JACKS - all on poppers:

An example of a graet day with great people - Paul and his son Jacob fish with me a lot and this time we went first for jacks catching 4 or so on poppers before deciding to look for dolphin. We found the motherload - seemingly miles of them roaming temp breaks. Huge, HUGE schools - we caught and caught and caught and caught them probably boating over 80?? We kept about 15 releasing the rest - they were small with most being 3-6lbs but we had a couple nicer ones mixed in. What a day!

June was an extremely busy month for me…just incredibly windy. We found our days to go offshore but they were much less common than the last few years and we spent many a day near the beach. The good news is, for the most part, that the fishing was not only good offshore (jacks and mahi) but very good inshore with great redfishing in much of June and excellent sheepshead fishing to go along with it.

Sean has been fishing with me forever - with his mom, friends, sister - always brings great people with him. This trip he brought his buddy Corbin, who i haven’t seen for a couple of years, who was about to go off to boot camp. We wanted to catch mahi on spinning, drum on topwaters and jackson topwaters. We had good weather for all and we accomplished all three over 3 days. First day it was the dolphin - we picked away at them throwing poppers as trolling was so freaking easy it wasnt fun. Hits every 2-3 mins - but when they are scattered they can be tough to bring to the boat. Corbin also pulled a cobia out of the mix with his lightening reflexes. Day 2 - drum. It took a bit but we got on a great school and we wacked some upper slot fish with skitterwalks and 7″ bass assassins that sean walked across the surface - awesome fun. Day 3 - JAcks. We found ‘em and we got ‘em. We did loss a lot, hooked (and lost) a couple of dolphin in the fray - the only thing that ended our fun was a thunderstorm…but we cant have awesome conditions forever! Always great to see you guys!

Good day with regular Jason and his two bro-in-laws. He ended up heading out to look for a few jacks, among other stuff. The jack bite was on and we managed good numbers on jigs and poppers. We also boated some nice flounder, seabass and a couple gags. Not a bad bag. When the jacks were really fired up and his bros tired from fighting theirs, Jason grabbed the 12wt (he does a lot of fly fishing) and hooked up within seconds. The only problem was that his fish was big - almost too big. The fight was very long, too much for the rod and we finally boated the beast! We finished up the day trolling up a few small dolphin and big spanish on the way in! Always a pleasure!

Ken with his cobia - we caught several “rats” today while looking for a big one. We found the big one and hooked it (prolly went 60lbs?) and promptly pulled the hooks THREE TIMES. After we gave up on her we got into a great flounder bite.

HAd a great couple of WINDY days with two of my favorite clients - Dave and Beth and their crazy boys. I didnt take a lot of photos for some reason but we managed a good morning with the drum (Despite the insane heat) and also had a good time with the boys catching bonnethead sharks and a bunch of spanish and blues. I even let drew drive the boat - he was a very good captain.

Dave with a nice multi-spot drum.

Rich and I had a great morning - it was calm and we found a BIG school of reds pushing bait on the falling tide. We had a bunch of blow-ups on topwater and we finally cam tight, landing several really nice fish. After that we went and hit the sheepshead - landing several in the 2-5lb range and breaking off a couple of beasts. All catch and release today - always a good way to be! Great fishing with ya!

Had regulars Ed and John - unfortunately they did not have their regular luck with good weather and were being paid back for their amazing albie fishing last october and their 3 straight slick calms last august. We barely had a window to get out day 1 but we managed to find some jacks breaking of several before Ed landed his - spent the rest of the time inshroe dealing with extreme wind and extreme heat. Tough conditions but we made the best of what we were given.

Today was all about David - he wanted to catch something big and he really wanted to catch a dolphin. We stayed nearshore due to time restraints but we found a great Jack bite and he flat out outfished the entire boat catching and landing several jacks on poppers to his pop’s 0 (sorry dad!). Right before we were about to pull them in and a nice little bull dolphin streaked by - we wrapped him up in no time! Great day with great weather.

Jason and I ran out on a slick day looking to bust a few things on the fly - we found a nice gaffer dolphin just a couple miles from the inlet. Two casts - fish on and a great aerial battle! After that is was on to the jacks - it was a bit tougher today. We chummed them up no problem but had to work for our bites and lost a handful before….i hooked a nice cobia on the teaser popper. We lost him boat-side. Oh well - right after that J got his jack on the fly and it was a haus!

After the Bonito bite starts to slow and the water gets in the low 70s, some of the best and most diverse fishing of the year takes place. May is like October - everything is migrating by. This year we had the typical good King bite, good AJs on the wrecks, the best cobia fishing I have ever experienced, and bar none, the best flounder fishing I’ve seen in 6 or 7 years.

Other than the absurdly great cobia bite, the flounder bite was astonishing - we had several days of LIMITS fishing in the ocean. That’s been an extremely hard thing to accomplish for a long, long time!

Some pics from a few reports…

We had a tough day with east wind and the cobia and Jacks didn’t cooperate so Jason, Donnie and Roger decided to switch plan B - flounder. We absolutely crushed them - catching over 30 with 3 limits. Amazing.

Great afternoon trip with Brent and his lovely wife - we concentrated on flounder landing some serious quantity. We had 7 or 8 keepers with 3 easily being over 5lbs. During this time we also had a shot at a cobia (no bite) before we switched over to looking for some mackerel - we caught a bunch of nice spanish and managed a nice 10-15lb king that we released.

Great day with Philip, Hard and their boys. We wacked some kings and big spanish, caught some flounder and then moved on to the cobia - we had 3-4 shots, landing a good eating size one.

Jason with his first cobia - we lost a couple of big boys before he spotted a pod of 6 or so, threw his jig into the middle of it just to watch the smallest fish rush out and grab it immediately. Still, we got him (and he was a keeper)!

Great day with Maria and Amy - we did a lot of different things too. It was a bit too over-cast to look for cobia so we hit the wrecks. First fish we saw was a cobia that tried to eat one of our poppers - couldn’t get it buttoned up…but we hit the jacks hard. Amy also had 3-4 strikes from king mackerel on the poppers with the one picture skying three feet out of the water when he hit it. Absolutely incredible strike. We finished up the day on an incredible flounder bite - we left them biting and kept close to two limits, tossing back several keepers.

The Gibson crew did really well landing on an exceptional flounder bite - we landed a bunch and had several over 5lbs. Good job guys!

Jeff and his buddy (and their ladies) had a very good, though rough, day. We fought east wind and some rain and caught a few flounder and spanish before trying to get the girls on some big fish - we had to work a bit for them with the wind but we managed some nice jacks. Despite a little sea sickness in the chop, the girls did great and got their fish.

It’s been hard to get out this week but the good cobia fishing cruised straight on through monday. I have been without a camera for much of the time but I have got some pictures from clients and a friend who took a pic of me while I was fishing this past friday during the EPIC bite.

Not only did the Bonito chew the bottom off the boat yesterday and today, the cobia fishing has been nothing short of the best I have ever, ever experienced.

After an incredible day yesterday, I went SOLO this morning (until I procured an angler later in the morning to help me land a fish and was able to land 10 myself between 10 and 80lbs. I caught 7 and released 6, my friend caught 3 and released 2. Most of the fish were in the 30-40lb range. All sight casting to schools of cobia on the surface - we saw multiple groups of 10-20 fish. I have never seen anything like it - INCREDIBLE.

Pictures later.

Time to come fishing - multiple days open next week. Bonito first thing, cobia after the sun gets higher.

I tried to keep it secret for as long as possible, but the word is pretty much out (and I have a few open days) so it’s time to come clean and do a quick report. I do have dates available after May 6th (thurs), including Saturday May 8th and I would love to get a few sponsors out on the water! Give me a call if interested!

April has been a great month for the Bonito - I caught my first one on April 4rth (tied for the earliest I’ve ever landed one out of Beaufort Inlet) and I have found them steady for just about every single fishable day since. While April can be a windy month, I’ve been blessed with pretty good conditions - at least 3-4 workable days each week in between the blow days. Fish have been very agreeable to the fly and we’ve caught most casting - on a few days the troll has been better and it’s on those days that we just SMOKED them!

Last week was fairly excellent - good numbers of fish just about every morning and just about nothing in the way of boat pressure (hence a good reason to keep some things to ourselves!. Bonito have been just about everywhere - some days we opt for the short runs, other days we opt for longer trips to find the epic bites. It’s just about all worked out.

There are also plenty of blues to keep us busy, the flounder jigging has been very consistent and the Amberjacks are starting to show up (and starting to get a hair more aggressive)!

Backwaters: Consistent red drum, a few flatties and the sheepshead are already THICK. It’s gonna be a good year for the sheepies! Once these Bonito start passing I’ll be going after some big sheepshead to go along with the drum - look soon for some good reports!

I love Spring - it’s a very diverse season. The water warms up quickly and the fishing heats up very, very quickly. What’s so great about spring is the diversity - every single day is different as different species arrive and swim by following the warming ocean currents.

Despite our cold winter, the current water temps are above normal and the warm weather of this week (last week in March) is going to be very beneficial in really getting us over the hump.

BONITO

My favorite hallmark spring species. These small tunas fight hard, taste great and are usually very reliable when they finally show up. We catch most of these guys casting light spinning tackle (and occasionally trolling) and they are very fly friendly on most occasions.

The later we get into April expect to find an increasing number of other fish mixed in with the “bones” - big spanish mackerel, king mackerel, big bluefish, lots and lots and lots of little bluefish…

In addition, the locals where we target these guys also provide us with great opportunities to jig for big spring flounder and a variety of other bottomfish (black seabass, small grouper, etc).

Every day can be a great mixed bag of fishing - it just depends on how you want to try to shape your day.

4lbs, 5lbs, 5.5lbs <img src=”http://www.waterdogguideservice.com/images/414082.jpg” alt=”" /><img src=”http://www.waterdogguideservice.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/510095.jpg” alt=”510095″ title=”510095″ width=”600″ height=”401″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-735″ />

AMBERJACKS ON TOPWATER/FLY

This is a very special fishery - so special that I am extremely hesitant to advertise it. The Amberjack fishery in North Carolina is world class - there are few places in the developed world where they come shallower and in such huge numbers. Locally they get a bad rap as they are not a coveted food fish (and if they were - they would be fished out like much of florida and the gulf coast where they ARE a very popular food fish) and few people target them. This is a very good thing - the numbers and their behavior is simply incredible.

Where else can you find a fish of such size that pulls harder…and loves topwater poppers and flies. 20-60lb+ fish that will come streaking after a plug, hit it multiple times leaving splashes the size of man-hole covers. It simply does not get any more exciting than that.

While these guys usually start showing up nearshore come late april, they start to get very aggressive come mid-may where the best fishing of the year takes place for a month plus. While we have this action all summer long, the early summer the fish are simply less educated and easier to fool in more locations. There is not a better opportunity to catch bigger fish on flies, again, in the developed world.

There are also ample opportunities at other fish in the same areas during may, and also june - cobia (may/june), king mackerel (april, may, june), mahi-mahi (late may, june)….and also good opportunities to jig for flounder on many of the same wrecks and live bottom areas.

BACKWATERS - EXCELLENT REDFISH AND MIXED BAGS

2009 was a top year for red drum (much like the amazing years of 2005-2007) and 2010 is off to a good start. We are already finding great numbers of fish in the 18-30″ range scattered up and down our beaches and many creeks and marsh areas. This is a good omen as fish of these size stay in the marsh all year and a good spring  indicates good redfishing all summer and fall long. However, what the spring is known for is big schools of hungry reds on the shallow flats!

HOWEVER, this year my clients get to fish in style on my 2009 PATHFINDER FUSION for the entire season! My boat has excellent fishing amenities and a top speed of over 50mph combined with a smooth and dry ride - we’ll get to the flats and creeks in record time!

We can target reds - always tide dependent - in just about anyway. Spin, topwater, corks or fly - either tailing or sight-fishing. Just let me know what you’d prefer to do and we’ll find a good tide to accommodate you.

Once we get into May, the diversity of the inshore fishery becomes to grow. Not only will the redfish continue to get more and more aggressive, but we’ll start to find scattered numbers of speckled trout in their summer patterns.

However, early summer (well - all summer for that matter) is the time of dock fishing for me - for one, it’s not only a way to catch great way to catch big reds and flounder during many different tides but we also have a great sheepshead and black drum fishery in the area if we switch tactics Sheepshead and black drum are great fighters, and not only do they provide a really good change of pace but it’s usually a fishery of lots and lots of action as bites are easy to come across - and once you get the hang of it, the catching gets a lot easier too! They are both great food fish and tough fighters to boot.

NEW BOAT!

Captain Scott and I Still have a few SELECT DATES available during Dec and January. I call our dates select because we chose to only hunt 3 days a week in order to keep the pressure off our spots and provide our clients with the best experience possible.

While we specialize in layout boat hunting for seaducks, depending upon the weather what’s available we also concentrate on divers and mixed bagged hunting.

Call or email if you’re interested.

Layout Hunts

When it comes to Crystal Coast Albacore - 2009 is one of the years we’re going to talk about for a decade. This year the albacore showed up in August, were reliable all September and busted wide open in November. Combined with the persistent and consistent north winds, it carried into November and got better and better and BETTER. It was wide open and non-stop just about every day through the middle of the month when the remnants of tropical storm IDA decided to dump about 10 inches of rain on us.

While the fishing was definitely slower post-IDA, most of our days would have been considered good days in past years with good shots at fish on the beach in the week following - and it was wide-open again a week following the storm. While the weather followed its usual pattern and got more inconsistant as we got closer to Thanksgiving day, we still experienced very good albacore fishing all the way through the end of the month!

Like I said - 2009 was the best false albcore year I have ever experienced and was clearly at par, or better, than the “glory days” of the late 90s. Many of the old salts say it was the best year since the 80s/90s when just about nobody was fishing for them!

While I spend 95% of my time chasing albies, the trout fishing was decent and we had some great days with the reds in the marsh.

John and Phil really know how to pick ‘em - but I will go out on limb and say they are being rewarded for a lifetime dedicated to conservation. They rang in the beginning of November with a truly epic day - bait balls and fish that stayed on top all day, non-stop, from the instant we left that inlet at 7am till we went in at dark. They can tell you how many they caught on the fly because I sure can’t remember the number - it was a lot. They were tired. As good as it gets. The end.

Paul and Briton had a great afternoon - we sat out the morning due to 25kt winds, spent some time looking and it busted wide open middle of the afternoon. Big pods of fish crushing silversides. I left my camera in the skiff but they sent me a photo to make the site!

Round two this fall with John - but this time he brought the man that all fish fear - Ol’ Burt . He came charging with fly rod in hand and swiftly conquered an albie, trout - and on our third day I finally got his fly in front of some reds. With a cold front bearing down the reds left the shallows…but we found them stacked up in a shallow hole in the lee of a small island and we hooked up into some screaming upper-slot fish. Burt had the hot hand landing several nice fish andd breaking off a beast that took him well into his backing - he was also kind enough to let John catch one! Burt landed his first decent redfish of his fishing carear and we was quite impressed - that’s saying a lot coming from a guy who’s caught more atlantic salmon (on fly) than I thought existed. Always great to have you.

…then it was three days with the boys from the vineyard before IDA wrecked our party. I lvoe fishing with these guys - fly, spin they do it all and are happy with everything and whatever presents itself. As much as they fish and as self-sufficient as they are it’s almost (but not quite!) a vacation for me! We crushed the albies for three straight days. Crushed them. We also got into some Jacks on the wreck on poppers, caught several big sharks and landed the biggest red drum I have ever seen in my life (measured boatside between 62 and 65″). The best fishing we had was our blind casting - hours just drifting, tossing topwaters and dredging flies with albies crushing our baits every other cast. These guys also introduced me to the Rebel Jumping Minnow - a lure which I would not have given a second thought to. Watching the albies react to it is mesmerizing. I have put a dozen in my tackle bow - just put it at that. Always a pleasure y’all!

The Campbell crew - or the “you should been here 4 days ago” or “can you stay 1 extra day” crew. This has been there story for several years and while the fishing wasn’t as good as the pre-ida blizes, we have nothing to complain about most part. We had gorgeous weather for two days and had workable numbers of fishing chasing small spearing on the beach and tidelines. We all managed a fish on fly on the first day, losing several. It could have been worse (because last year was!)! Great having y’all!

Mike and Cathy made their annual trip for albies - last year they hit it pretty good (lucky) and this year they came out pretty well despite some tough weather and tougher fish. It was howling out of the north (20+) for both days and with the water temperature still lingering in the mid to upper 60s, the albies decided to switch their diet over to micro-baits and thus become very hard to hook. Truth be told, they were still pretty aggressive - you just had to get the fly in front on them and give it fast strip. With the wind it just took a good cast and perfect boat maneuvering - Mike had no problem getting it in there. We did quite well on day 2 and Cathy was able to land her fish albie ever! Awesome guys!

One thing I like so much about fall is that I usually get to see some of my oldest, and best, clients - people who love to fish and love the sport in its entirety. Beth and Dave and the next generation of fishin fools, andrew, are no exception and I was so happy to be closing out my season with them. We had a crazy day. First it was calm. Then it was windy. Then rainy. Then calm again. All while 65+ degrees in November. After catching a bunch of gray trout, we found big pods of albie skimming micro bait off the surface right outside the hook. It took a little figuring out - while they would eat a maria or stingsilver fairly readily - they would absolutely crush a jumpin’ minnow surface plug. We had multiple fish skying on each bait often throwing it 2-3 feet out of the water - some of the best surface strikes you could ever hope to see. We even had one fish miss the plug and run into the side of the boat!

Not just that but we found a lost red drum and got to see a Whale! First of that Beth has ever seen!

Thanks again guys for such a wonderful closure to such a wonderful year. See ya in June!

During thanksgiving week, the humpback whales decided to show and I saw 1 at least every day I was on the water that week! Saw several off of Atlantic Beach and several on the east side of the shoals. I was hoping to see a Right Whale but didn’t lucky this year. Always an amazing site - you should have seen how excited Dr. Beth was. First whale she’s ever seen! Worth the price of admission right there!