Nags Head bound for the surf tourney

[kip]

Almost as soon as I can get off work, slide by the house for some last minute stuff, and then I am headed for Nags Head for the surf fishing tournament. I have been an "alternate" for a great team for a long time, and have been lucky enough over the last several years to have been called up to fill in a spot. This year, however, everyone made it and I had to scramble to find anohter team on which to fish.

Derf is talking about all of the grass and not being able to keep the bluefish off the hook (especially disturbing when your sites are set for Drum), but I'll be very happy if the Bluefish stick around through Friday as most times the tournament is won on either Bluefish or Sea Mullet. One year we were fortunate to get into a school of nice puppy drum and scored big during on session, which propelled us into a final second place finish, but I'd much rather have a consistent Bluefish bite.

It will also be interesting to take my Honda Fit to a tournament rather than my F-150 4WD, but as there are only 3 beach passes issued to each team and since I am going to arrive later this evening, I thought it best to save a few bucks traveling the 160 miles at 40MPG rather than the usual 12-15 in the F-150. I had to significantly pare down the equipment given the size of the car, and that I was carrying everything inside, rather than on top. Made an interesting little rack that holds 9 rods and 8 Plano tackle box inserts. I'll post a picture if anyone is interested when I get back and can give an accurate assessment of how it worked.

Wish me luck...........................

[EricF]

Good Luck!!! Only two short flounder for me today.

[jellybear]

Good luck Kip!I was just up there last week and they are not kidding about the grass!

[derf]

well the good news is the grass disappeared today !!
the wind laid down and it was a great day !!

[beachtoad]

glad its gone . Oct 12 can't come fast enough...

[ghost]

kip, good luck. If you want bluefish just keep driving north and when you hit LI call me.

Have a great tournament......................Lance

[surffishn]

Good Luck!! Kip

[OBXCAT28]

Today was a nice day I hope some fish were caught! I've seen alot of fishing rigs around today, several heading to "Hooters" at lunch time! Rick

[kip]

Well, lets just say it was an interesting trip........

Thursday morning we had station 16 which was on the northern beaches right around the Kitty Hawk/NagsHead town line. As we drove on to the beach at 6:30AM we could see a carpet of Sargaso weed on the beach along the high tide line. However a quick scan of the water did not indicate too much of the weed in the water and since the tide was falling, we had high hopes that it would be very fishable. During that first session, we had to check the baits often as there was enough of the weed to make it difficult for you to leave the bait out longer than 5 minutes without getting a load of it on the line and having your rig washed down the beach. Tried various combinations of rigs and finally settled on a single Hatteras/Doodle bug clip down rig and lobbing it just between the breakers. What fish that were there were in very close to the beach. We scored 18 points on 6 Bluefish.

On that afternoon session, we were down on Cocina Beach where the water was considerably cleaner. With the Hatteras/Doodle bug rig we caught 30 Bluefish for 87 points and had high hopes for a better Friday.

The first session on Friday found us at the northern end of the stations (4). The water was weedy, but fishable. At stations 1 and 2 on Thursday the tems had scored well with both Blues and Puppy Drum. Since everyone else was fishing for Blues, I decided to go for Drum and put a half a finger mullet out on the bar hoping for an early morning bite. After an hour without as much as a nibble, I swtiched back to the bug, but rigged it as a fish finder with a little longer leader. It didn't make any difference as I didn;t get a single bite the entire session. Out team caught 3 fish for 13 points.

Friday afternoon found us still on the north beaches well below the Avalon Pier with clear water and high expectations. By this time we had heard the leading teams had a little over 200 points, so we were not out of the competition, but we'd have to have a great closing session. Unfortunately, it didn't happen as again I had not a single bite and the team scored 20 points on 6 fish.

We ended up in 18th place out of 100 teams, not bad, but not as well as we had hoped. The team I usually fish with finished in 13th place a few points a head of us and another team from Raleigh in their first tourney (after being on the waiting list for 16 years) finished 3rd.

Now, I am waiting for the Hatteras Anglers tourney in November.........

[kip]

Here are the pics from my Honda Fit conversion to a rolling tackle box. Please bear in mind that the "transformation" happened between 7:30 and 9:00 PM the night before I left for the tournament. It is a "preliminary" design, done with a circular and back saw, a drill, and mostly some scrap lumber. I did remove the headrest on the passenger seat and used dowels to re-insert to provide stability for the front rod holder portion.

[Woodduck]

Thanks for the photos and interesting story/report...I plan on coming to Nags Head, soon; and trying to glean all the information I can.