I arrived in NC to meet up with some friends and found we were staying at a rental dig that was far nicer than my own home.

One of the perks of this annual trip to North Carolina- other than the fishing, and the fancy digs- is the warm weather.  However, this year, I left 82 degrees in the Colorado to find cold weather with strong winds for the first couple days.  The trip started out pretty grim as the fish were holed up and the catching was slow.

Then the weather changed. The birds got moving, and the fish followed- or maybe it was the other way around.

False Albacore took our clouser minnows and sprinted away with them like a 20-something purse snatchers.

The Albies were coming up to bust bait but they weren’t staying up very long. At first we ran after schools busting in the distance, but they were usually down by the time we got there. A more effective technique was to try to guess which way they were moving and sit in that lane, or to sit on a bait ball. We caught as many of these as we wanted.

While cruising around looking for a new spot, we approached a small, sand hump island that was loaded with fish. There were thousands upon thousands of Bluefish flashing under the boat as we moved along. We found a couple pods of relatively big Blues hunting up against the island beach that were very receptive to Crease Flies- and about anything else you would throw. If you cast near a school, you could watch a pod of twenty or more, come charging up to the fly, hitting and missing it until one got hooked up. They put a nice bend in an 8 weight.

On the same hump, we ran into a school or Redfish in the midst of all the Blues.  We managed one before we spooked the school.

We also found schools of Sheepshead on the side of the island. They’re a spunky, attractive fish. A first for me.

On the backside of the same island, we came across a gill net that had drifted free. It was full of fish that had recently died. They were mainly Bluefish but there were several sharks trapped in the net, including a Hammerhead. We also saw several dead sharks on the bottom near the net and this one that had washed up on the beach. Although required by law, there was no name on the floats. We pulled up the net as much as we could, looking for any live fish that we could free to no avail. We called the NC Wildlife Commission and they sent out a couple boats to take care of the matter.

After a day or so of warm weather, the Puppy Drum turned on. We even caught some on a grass bank right in front of the rental out of kayaks.

We found an area with shallow feeding Puppy Drum. The area held lots of Reds, with several schools moving through as well as singles. My favorite type of fishing- wading and sight fishing.

I tried a spoon fly for the first time and it was my most effective fly. Works well in the grass without hanging up. You could follow the schools pushing the grass and moving water as they fed their way through. I had one cruising fish come with 10 feet of me before I saw it. I just reached out with the rod and dropped the fly next to it. The fish turned to the fly, chased it and grabbed it as it sunk but I jumped the gun on the hook set and missed it. Pretty cool.

And then there were the Trout and the Flounder.

I also ate better than I do at home. Fresh fish, steaks and to top it off, Dan and his wife made a “boil” with fresh shrimp and crabs that was fantastic!

All in all, a fine trip! Timing on a trip is always hit and miss. It’s always fun when you hit it.