Finally here

[pilotman]

First day of fishing yesterday and my nephew lost a Drum in the surf and I hooked into a 6-7ft shark that I fought for about 20 minutes until it finally bit off the leader. I was  exhausted and done with fishing after that.  Today is beautiful weather. The drum bite is good at the Point but the wifey hates the Point. So we are headed to Hatteras beach area to go after a bull.

Edited April 3 by pilotman

[hhager23]

Good to know. Keep us posted and good luck. 

[ghost]

Please keep us posted. I am headed down for two weeks 4/15-4/29 and will be staying in Avon. In the past spring has been a hit or miss with some years being great an others poor, but that's fishing. 

 

Anybody around during those weeks, love to meet up and put a face to the names. 

[bstriping]

3 hours ago, ghost said:

Please keep us posted. I am headed down for two weeks 4/15-4/29 and will be staying in Avon. In the past spring has been a hit or miss with some years being great an others poor, but that's fishing. 

 

Anybody around during those weeks, love to meet up and put a face to the names. 

I'll be in Ocracoke 21-30

 

 

[CrappieAttitude]

I will be in OBX April 23-27 but way north in Corolla

[pilotman]

2 am on the Outer banks. Drunk and tired ..Went to ramp 55 today. The water was crystal clear blue. Beautiful but not what i wanted. Too clear for drum but Connie wanted to try for sea mullet and puffers for a meal so we gave it a go. Nada.... except another shark hookup...Fought it for 2 minutes and my crotch area was killing me so clamped down the drag to break the line. The first couple times is fun for pics but now it's too exhausting..  Saying goes,. I don't have time to have a bad time. So we left and went back to the beach house to fish the back. My 7 yr old son learned how to cast a rod over 50ft!  Nephew caught a 15 in Drum on Gulp Alive. I wanted to take the Excursion 5 out but too windy.  Neighbor caught 20 puppys last night at the mouth of the canal on a kayak .  After dinner,  took the nephew out to the Point, and no one was there. What a great feeling to be on the Point all alone! First cast landed a Drum. 30 inches. Was hoping it was 27 or under. We always have one dinner  fish fry from the fish we catch, so we are still skunked for dinner fish. But I'll take it. Been really hard to hook up to anything so far.. Picture a bit blurry.

Edited April 4 by pilotman

[hhager23]

13 hours ago, ghost said:

Please keep us posted. I am headed down for two weeks 4/15-4/29 and will be staying in Avon. In the past spring has been a hit or miss with some years being great an others poor, but that's fishing. 

 

Anybody around during those weeks, love to meet up and put a face to the names. 

Great idea but unfortunately we won't be in Frisco until early June. 

[pilotman]

Today Connie wanted to fish the back of the house so I took the little guy to the Point, rather 200yds south of it. Beautiful weather today. 74 and 5mph winds. Had 2 rods out but the Point proper was busting with drum 30-35in. There were always 1 or 2 fishermen constantly hooked up. But I was with the little guy so that's a no go.  Beyond the Point the sharks were roaming. I hooked up to 3 sharks and I was done. I know I should break off the line and reserve energy but something in me at times says no, land him. Lost all 3 in the surf.  Went back to the house and Connie had caught a 16in bluefish. Got the Excursion out on the water and nephew and I landed 6 15-16in puppys on gulp alive. Matthew caught grunt from shore on cut bait.  After dinner I went back to the Point by myself excited. As soon as I got there people were hooked up to big sharks. So I waited about 30 minutes to see if they would go away. Then this new guy not caring about the sharks casts and is instantly hooked up to a 45in Red. So I finally cast and hook up into a........shark  And of course for some reason I try to land him. But he breaks of at the surf.....again.  No other drum caught. Just sharks. After 2 more I was done .....again.  The Point emptied out in a hurry by 11;30.

Edited April 5 by pilotman

[Ncst8man1999]

Keep the updates coming.....

 

Headed down on Sat for the week.   Weekend will be a wash but looking good rest of the week

[pilotman]

I have to say I'm fished out. Yesterday, on a whim, we decided to head to Ocracoke.to clam. It was 2 hours of waiting in line at the ferry. So we did the tourist thing. Bought a t-shirt and sweater and walked around the ferry area. The weather was great. Around 80 and minimal winds. The water temps was good too. The little guy was swimming in the warm shallow sound as we clammed. Caught a bucket full and headed back. We didn't have time to fish the southern beaches of Ocracoke even though the bite has been great there. Got back to the house and and fished the back. Had a double header with the nephew. Jigging Gulp off the bottom is the trick. Those small puppies do fight hard. We caught a few more and headed to the Point after dinner. Same old story. Sharks and more sharks. The reports tell you drum and sharks at the Point. But not the ratio. The ratio in my opinion is like 10 to 15 to one. I've never fought so much big sharks in my life.....I have noticed that the best time to catch drum and not a shark is during the day at the Point proper. Got back to the house early morning today and knew I was fished out. Shout out to the best wifey in the world. Taking most of the burden of the energizer bunny 7 year old, allowing me to fish more. Today I did nothing and didn't go anywhere. Slept late and recouped. It was almost 80 today but exhaustion has finally caught up to me. Todays top excitement was watching the Masters and making clam linguini. Tomorrow is supposed to be rain and wind all day so this trip is almost a wrap up. Couldn't wait to come down before the trip and now looking forward to getting back home.

[dixiekraut]

Always enjoy your reports. Glad to see you and the family got some quality rec time in. My family will be down in Avon first week of May...the whole clan...16 of us. Have no idea what to expect as I havent spring fished The Banks in years. Just hope a week's stay gives us at least 3-4 days great weather.

[towpro]

in fact I been watching that little boy grow up through your posts on here

[pilotman]

On 4/7/2023 at 10:32 AM, dixiekraut said:

Always enjoy your reports. Glad to see you and the family got some quality rec time in. My family will be down in Avon first week of May...the whole clan...16 of us. Have no idea what to expect as I havent spring fished The Banks in years. Just hope a week's stay gives us at least 3-4 days great weather.

Hey Dixie, 16?! That sounds like an awesome time to come. First week of May is gonna be nice. Good chance the Point will be closed. (damn birders) but big sea mullet and pompano should be biting. Early cobia?

[pilotman]

On 4/7/2023 at 3:30 PM, towpro said:

in fact I been watching that little boy grow up through your posts on here

Thanks towpro. He's 7 now and thinks he can reel in a heaver. At least the mind is willing. He keeps this old fart feeling young. The core of my life.( Let's not tell Connie that)

[pilotman]

Finally back home. Worst part of a trip is not leaving the beach, it's the unloading when you get home. 2hrs+ cleaning and putting everything back in place. Then realization hits and 3 acres of grass needs to be cut tomorrow, garden needs to be prepped, etc....I feel very fortunate that our week had great weather for the most part. I went at it pretty hard the first 5 day and did ok. I wish I could have fished the Point proper during the day but never had an opportunity. It was always at night for the most part. Family comes first... Right?......  Met Kara at Red Drum and gave her the biggest hug ever. Such a wonderful woman. She asked that I give her a hug anytime that I saw her. And I will.... She told me about Bob's accomplishments that I never knew, about the bluefin tagging program Bob started. Just amazing. I told her I first met him in 1984 when his hair was not gray. He was a great man. In the early 90's when the rockfish started to disappear from the Point(December), Bob gave me several different lures for free and asked me to fish the Point with them and report back to him with results. No rockfish. That was the end of rockfish at the Point. I hope everyone that knew Bob, give Kara a big hug when they visit Red Drum. Please. Shout out to Travis for fixing one of my rod's tip in like 5 minutes. He builds great custom cts rods. The one he built me is phenomenal.....