Capt. Brant's Fishing Report
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2012 Reports
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My wife, Amanda and I have also been hard after the Bluefin on the MacMarle'n. Capt. Roger has had the upper hand on us for a few days aboard the ShowTime, but we showed him we mean business as well by boating a double header 88 and 90 inch Bluefin bite on Tuesday. We look forward to getting back after them this week- stay tuned for reports.
- Capt. Jon Tennant
"Bluefin Report" | Show Time- 34' | 12/27/05
Hope everyone has had a great Christmas. We've had an eventful last week as the Bluefin fishing was good. The ShowTime had the hot hand as we landed several fish between Tues and Thurs. Included are a few pictures of one of our trips. Friends Dr. Kendal Suh and Dirk Parson joined me aboard the ShowTime and as you can see, had a blast.
- Capt. Roger Gales
"Happy Holidays" | Carolina Contender- 36' | 12/26/05
As I type with a full belly, I hope everyone has had a great holiday. This is the first Christmas in which my daughter Caroline, now 13 months, has really gotten into the spirit. Although she hasn't gotten the Santa Clause bug yet, she definitely knows there is something very special and fun going on. Her specialty seems to be in unwrapping presents- never mind the gift. On the fishing scene, we've taken a few days away from the Bluefin season. We've had good luck on them prior to the holiday and hope to be able to continue within the next few days. Again, I hope everyone has a great holiday, and I look forward to seeing you in the coming New Year. Capt. Brant-
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Bluefin Bite On Fire!" | Carolina Contender- 36' | 12/21/05
Monday night, myself and Rhett made the 3 hour venture up to Morehead City for a bluefin tuna adventure on Tuesdsay. Rhett joined Capt. Hook on his new boat, The Black Pearl, and I joined friends Lynn and Chad on Lynn's 29' Century since my crew had cancelled on me last minute. The day started off as any other day----we left Harkers Island Fishing Center around 5am and headed out of Barden's Inlet (right beside the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty) and headed to the R14 bouy some 20 miles offshore. The bite had be decent there the day before and upon arrival we discovered why. Birds diving, bait all over the surface, and fish finders lighting up with huge bait balls. Everything looked perfect except-----no bluefins. Around 9:30 we heard of a bite about 5 miles to the west so we pointed the bow to 240 degrees and began trolling to that way. As we were trolling boats were screaming past us headed in the same direction. After some 15 boats came by us at full steam we reeled in our lines and fell in line at 35 kts. We put our spread of Blue Water Candy lures and seawitches in front of horse ballyhoo out and once again began trolling. This area too looked very fishy with oil slicks appearing everywhere from where the giant bluefins were feeding on the menhaden under the surface. All around us boats were hooked up and fighting fish. The radio chatter was intense as guys had fish "stretched out" everywhere behind their boats. Just as we thought our time would never come, around 12:00 our deep bait began to scream and the chaos began. Lynn was the first on the rod as myself and Chad cleared lines. I pointed the bow toward the fish as he was steadily dumping line off the Tiagra 50WLRS under 25 lbs of drag. I eased the boat up to him, steadily gaining line on the giant. The 3 of us switched up on the brute to try and keep a fresh person in the harness at all times in the attempt to wear him down quickly. After 45 minutes the fish surface some 30 feet from the boat and our eyes about popped out of our head. At first glance I estimated the fish between 95" and 100" and some 550 lbs. As we looked into the eyes of the giant and he glared back at us, he decided that we were apparently too ugly for him and he dove straight down 105 ft. all the way to the bottom. This is where the real struggle began. The fish kept his head down doing the "death circle" straight under the boat. We could not budge him even under 30 lbs of drag. He wore through each of us 2 more times before we FINALLY saw color again 45 minutes later some 25 feet below the boat. As Lynn cranked him up for the final time, I leadered the giant up to the side of the boat completely exhausted and sank the gaff in his head. It was then that I realized that the fish wasn't quite as long as I thought, but he was much fatter than most fish his size. At the fish house, the fish measured 93" and dressed out (no head, no tail, and no guts) at 413 lbs! (The fish was easily 525 lbs. while alive.) After some quick pictures, he was sent on a plane to be sold in Japan. So with aching backs, aching legs, and smiling faces, we headed the boat back to Harkers Island with one thing on our mind-----SLEEP. This morning I felt as if somebody had literally beat me with a 2x4 after doing battle with this beast but it is a fish that I will not soon forget.
Overall the bite today was the best it has been all year and promises to be even better as we head in to January. There was an estimated 100+ fish caught among the fleet yesterday with sevaral boats boating two. (This includes Capt. Brant and Capt. Jon on the MacMarle'n---their fish were around 90" each.) Captain Roger on the Showtime also boated a very nice fish in the 90" range.
The bite is definately on so if you'd like to try your hand at these giants of the sea give us a call here at the Fishing Center and let us set you up! I promise that doing battle with these fish will give you something to talk about for weeks to come!
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"Hot Bluefin Tuna Bite" | Carolina Contender- 36' | 12/20/05
Today the tuna bite finally busted loose. Most of the 200+ boat fleet at least had one shot at a giant tuna and many boats caught multiple fish. As for the Fishing Center fleet, the Showtime and MacMarle'n shouldered the load. Capt Roger, Henry and OIB fishing buddies Dirk Parsons and Dr. Kendall Suh rode the Showtime to a successful day. The first fish they caught struck a trolled ballyhoo before 6am in the pitch black dark. Dr. Suh did battle and defeated a 72" tuna, which had to be released because it was one inch too short. At midday they bettered their first fish when Dirk, Roger and Henry heaved an 89" 375+lb tuna onboard. The MacMarle'n was crewed by Capt. Jon, wife Amanda and Capt. Brant. Capt. Jon held true to his promise of taking revenge out on the tunas. Their first fish was too short to keep. As things were looking dim at 3:30pm the MacMarle'n fell into a double hookup. Both fish were captured. One was 88" and the other 90" both approaching 400lbs. Ryan and I ventured out in the Carolina Contender today and could only manage the "one that got away" story. At 11:30am our deep line began screaming. Within seconds 400 yards of line was gone from the reel with only 50 yards remaining. We quickly turned the boat and began chasing down the beast. Over an hour later Ryan had angled the fish to surface where we got a look at her. Easily the biggest bluefin I have ever seen estimated at over 100" and more than 600lbs. Everything was going smoothly. The fish was tired out and we were about to seal the deal when just as I leadered the fish to the surface for a strike with the gaff the hook simply fell out of the corner of the fish's mouth. A true heartbreaker. Nevertheless, the tuna bite improved dramatically today and hopefully will continue. We are fishing about 23 miles out of the inlet on a temperature break around structure and bait. We'll be back at it tomorrow and the next day hoping for an early Christmas present. I believe Dr. Suh may have some good pictures from today's action which we will post on the fishing report soon.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Bluefin Adventures Update" | Carolina Contender- 36' | 12/18/05
Ok at our last update the Fishing Center fleet was starting to make some progess as the Showtime sacked an 88" giant bluefin and the MacMarle'n lost a nice one at the boat. Thursday and Friday of this past week were forecasted doom and despair weather and thus we returned home to Ocean Isle for a couple of lay days. Of course though the weatherman missed the forecast and the few boats that did fish in the decent conditions caught fish. The MacMarlen, Showtime and Carolina Contender went back to work yesterday, Saturday, hoping to find the fishing was still on the upswing. We found the fishing had improved, but that there was about 200 other boats who were counting on the same thing. With all the competition on the water catching a fish was a major accomplishment. The main action occurred offshore of the Knuckle buoy in about 80 feet of water where there was a few small schools of pogies in the area. Once the large schools of pogies arrive the tuna fishing will hit full stride. The Showtime was the hot boat in the large fleet catching three giant tunas. The Carolina Contender greased one 81" for the scales. The MacMarle'n struck out but Capt. Jon promises revenge in the upcoming days. Today, Sunday, the wind is howling and the ocean is angry. We are sitting it out today, but it looks like we'll be back at it tomorrow and for the rest of the week. The weather is forecasted to be fairly nice thru at least Thursday. If you've never experienced this extreme sport of stand up fishing for giant bluefin tuna you need to give it a try. We will run charters for the next month and a half and would love the opportunity to christen any angler in a battle against a 400lb solid mass of swimming muscle. For those who are interested in giving it a shot in your own boat come by the Ocean Isle Fishing Center or give us a call at 910-575-FISH and we'll set you up with the exact tackle and gear you need to have success as well as tell you where the best action has been. We'll be hard at it for the next few days but I'll try to sneak a report in and hopefully will have some pictures.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Bluefin Bite Picking Up" | Show Time- 34' | 12/16/05
We boated an 88 inch Bluefin on Wednesday which weighed in the 350 pound class. Capt. Jon on the MacMarle'n fought an equally large fish but unfortunately lost it to the rudder as the fish was right at the boat. The action was taking place off the end of the Knuckle Buoy, some 20 miles out of Beaufort Inlet. The schools of bait and birds have finally moved into the area and we hope this is the sign of the start of the awesome Winter Bluefin fishery. The weather has been playing havoc with our schedule, but we look to be back at them on Saturday. Stay tuned and give us a call at (910) 575-FISH if you'd like to join us on a charter for a shot at landing one of these monsters.
- Capt. Roger Gales
"Scattered Bluefin" | Carolina Contender- 36' | 12/13/05
The Ocean Isle Fishing Center fleet has arrived in Morehead City and the first fishing day in the 05-06' bluefin fishery took place yesterday. The day before, Sunday, I made an attempt with fishing friends Scott, Austin, and Doug Allen but a strong 25 knot west wind kept us from crossing Cape Lookout Shoal so we opted to sit that day out. Yesterday, the Showtime with Capt. Roger and Henry, the MacMarle'n with Capt. John and the Carolina Contender with Capt. Brant all departed Beaufort inlet on the first official bluefin hunt for our fleet. With word of a decent bite last week to the north off Hatteras, Brant took off and made the 40 mile run. The Showtime and MacMarle'n hung close and fished the west side of Cape Lookout around the Big 10 Little 10 and Shad buoy. The weather had improved from the day before with 10-15 knot winds and 2-4 foot seas. Brant reported a fair bite where he was, but never crossed paths with a hungry tuna. There were about 30 boats fishing that area. The MacMarle'n and Showtime fished amongst 100 or more boats on the west side of the shoals. The MacMarle'n could only manage one king mackerel and no tuna bites. The Showtime had a little more success with one bluefin tuna caught and released. The fish measured 65", which is too short to keep commercially. About an hour after their tuna encounter Capt. Roger and Henry had another reel start to scream off line. This time they thought they had the monster bluefin they were looking for. Unfortunately after about a 45 minute battle the strong fish surfaced only to reveal itself as 10+ foot thresher shark. The huge shark was released. The Capt. Hook also had an unsuccessful bluefin fishing day yesterday. I believe they may have had a big king mackerel as bycatch. Overall out of the entire fleet fishing on the west side of Cape Lookout there may have been 15 boats to catch keeper bluefin. This morning the Showtime, MacMarle'n and Carolina Contender tried to make it out again. A 20+ knot north wind made for extremely tough conditions. I was fishing the Carolina Contender and decided to make it a short morning due to the rough seas. The Showtime and MacMarle'n are still at it as we speak. Hopefully they'll have a good report for us this evening. For now, it seems like the major group of bluefin have not shown up yet in Morehead. The weather is supposed to be poor for the rest of the week. As soon as it improves we'll be back at them and hope to report a good bite.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"It's Bluefin Time" | Carolina Contender- 36' | 12/11/05
The Ocean Isle Fishing Center Giant Bluefin Tuna team left today for Morehead City and the Bluefin Tuna season which will occur for the next month or so. The fish are just starting to show so hopefully great fish stories will soon begin coming over the rail. Barrett is at it today although the weather looks tuff and doesn't look great all week. Stay tuned for updates.
We all read about world class fisheries around the world and to have available to us the Giant Bluefin fishery here in our back yard is an amazing thing.If you haven't tried it you should and if you need any help in" how to" contact Rhett/Bryan/Brant/Barrett at the Fishing Center and they will be happy to get you pointed toward success.
If you're interested in checking out our local Ocean Isle/Long Bay waters, there was a report of a giant bluefin being caught off Georgetown this week and last year there was a definite bite at Hilton Head. No doubt these fish are off our coast also. Best spots should be Horseshoe/Shark Hole/Atlantic Ledge[places where bait will hold]. Look for Ganets Birds diving. They dive on balled bait and if you see them diving there is a very good chance they are diving on bait balled by Bluefin.
This is NOT the time to be sitting around the fireplace! Give the Bluefin a shot; it's a true angling thrill.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender- 36' | 12/04/05
Sorry I haven't reported in a while. Truthfully we've been tied up cleaning up, renovating..... for the 2006 season in hopes of getting most things settled before the giant bluefin tuna bite breaks out. The tunas have been very late this season as they are normally in full swing by Thanksgiving. But as has been the case with all fishing this year, they too are late. I'd expect them any day and surely they should be in full swing by Dec 15th. Here at Ocean Isle, if you didn't fish Saturday you missed a perfect day. I had to be out of town and I hated to miss the day, but I know if I was here I would've been out after a grouper, king or wahoo --- the wahoo bite should be strong now for sure. Anyway, if there's a good weather day and you can get down, you shouldn't miss the chance.
And don't forget your Capt. Club points-- the sale ends Dec 31st, but this is the PERFECT chance to get your Christmas gifts at 50% OFF. Its a no-brainer. Thanks again for everyone's support in 2005 and we will work to make 2006 a better year than 2005. Happy holidays.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Trout Bite Still Going Strong" | Carolina Contender- 36' | 12/03/05
With the beautiful weather today, many people took the opportunity to spend the day speckled trout fishing and most were well rewarded. The hot spots today were the same as the past couple of weeks--Little River Jetties, Sunset Beach Bridge, Ocean Isle Beach Bridge, as well as the Shallotte River. The bait of choice was definately live shrimp, however there were also plenty of fish caught on grubs. Fish ranged in size from barely legal (12 inches) to 2+ pounds. This nice weather is expected to continue with highs in the low 70's tomorrow and Monday so come join us for a couple of days away from the office!
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"Tournament Results" | Stori Teller | 12/01/05
2005 Thanksgiving Flounder/Trout Tournament Results
Overall Winner __ Mike Pridgen 1.6# flounder & 1.85# trout
Flounder Division
1st__ Mike Pridgen 1.60#
2nd__Kenny Jacobs 1.40#
3rd__Hunter Woodell 1.0#
Trout Division
1st__Ricky Kellum 5.85#
2nd__Chris Kimrey 4.75#
3rd___Tim Fletcher 3.35#
4th___Brent Banks 2.90#
5th___Clay Morphis 2.85#
Lady Angler___Kerri Patteron
JR. angler___ Clay Morphis
Bradley Graham Award__ Michael Palmer
This is the award for the redfish with the most spots
- Capt. Stan Gurganus
"Jolly Mon & Fall Brawl 06'" | Carolina Contender- 36' | 11/28/05
As you know by now, the Town of Ocean Isle did not grant a special event permit for the Jolly Mon or the Fall Brawl to occur on their normally scheduled dates. The town sited traffic problems on Saturday as the reason and suggested the events either be moved before June 15th or after August 15th or if they stayed in the same time, they could not be run on Saturday. Thus, this is where things stand. The town council was bombarded with emails and calls from hundreds of tournament fishermen like yourselves, lending support for the events and requesting the town to reconsider its decision. I fought tooth and nail against what I still believe is a very poor and ill-advised decision. However, as we were shown in the "Save Our Pogies" campaign, the public can outnumber the opposition 10-1, but without the proper politics, you're lost. However, all is not lost for the tournaments as they will continue. I do not have an exact plan on when or where they will take place, but I am steadfast determined to continue them on or nearly on the same schedule. The time of year each event is held is critical to the number of fishermen able to fish and to the success of the fishing itself-- as July is our early season big fish run and mid October is our late season big fish run. Who wants to go fishing when your chances of catching good fish are slim? Thus, I thank you very much for all your support, I assure you it was not unnoticed. I will keep you abreast of plans and hope that you will mark your calendars to fish both the Jolly Mon and Fall Brawl in 06'.
Sincerely thanks
Capt. Brant
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Pre-Tournament Report" | Carolina Contender | 11/23/05
With the Thanksgiving Flounder/Trout Tournament coming up this weekend, inshore fishing is peaking at just the right time. Consistent double digit redfish days have been reported from all over the area including the Sunset Beach Bridge, Ocean Isle Beach Bridge, Little River Jetties, docks along the waterway, as well as the Shallotte River. The speckled trout have been a little scattered but it seems that when you can find them you can really load up on them. Look for the trout on the falling tide along creek mouths as well as oyster rocks and docks. Live shrimp under a popping cork have been working well but many fish have also been caught on artificials. With the redfish and trout fishing being so hot, not many people are fishing for flounder but they should be in the same areas as the other species so be sure to pack a few mud minnows to drag across the bottom for these critters.
Don't forget that registration for the Thanksgiving Flounder/Trout Classic is on Friday, Nov. 25 from 4pm-8pm with a free dinner at 6pm. Fishing is on Saturday from 7am-4pm with the awards at 6pm. Entry fee is only $100 (plus an optional $50 largest flounder TWT and $50 largest trout TWT) with a first place prize of $1000 for the largest combined trout and flounder weight ($800 first place for EACH of the TWT's!)! The weather looks great for the weekend, so come down and join us for some great fishing, food, and fun!!
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"Tournament opinion" | Carolina Contender | 11/21/05
It sounds like sour grapes from Sheffield's and Sharky's. As far as my business is concerned they have shot themselves in the foot. My name is Tracy Huggins, I am from NMB and I frequently take my family to OIB for little day trips.
We usually arrive around lunch time and do three things. We shop at OIB fishing center for tackle and clothing items for my wife and daughter. We like The food and atmosphere at Sharky's so we usually eat lunch there. Before we leave I usually stop at Sheffield's for NC Sun Drop (it's a Sun Drop drinker's thing) to bring home, snacks for my daughter and sometimes I fill up w/gas. Several times a summer we take the boat up in the evening w/friends to eat dinner and go to the bar at Sharky's.
I participate in both the Fall Brawl and the Jolly Mon and I have witnessed first hand the lengths to which OIBFC has gone to trying to ease the traffic situation. I think they have done a wonderful job. I have ridden the shuttle over every time. All of my OIB activities ( Lunch, Shopping, Dinner, Gas, and Night Life) can be done at OIBFC. From now on I will not spread the wealth on my trips to OIB but will deal exclusively w/OIBFC. If other OIB visitors follow my example then Sheffield's and Sharky's are hurting their own business. How short sighted.
You are welcome to share this E-Mail w/anyone you wish.
Tracy Huggins
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"State of the Union" | Carolina Contender | 11/18/05
Well, I'm back from a nice week's vacation in which my wife, daughter Caroline and myself took a roadtrip through Ocracoke, Hatteras and Nags Head. I've fished from all the locations before, but always arrived via boat and had never actually explored these places. Each place is unique and at each place fishing is an important way of life. There wasn't much going on out of Ocracoke, but Hatteras had a few boats fishing each day and the King Mackerel bite was super hot-- lots of fish in the mid 20's+ and I saw several over 40 pounds to the dock. Word was the Yellowfin bite had slowed a few days before. Nags Head a.k.a. Oregon Inlet has more of a year round presence. The charter fishing fleet out of the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center is very impressive, but even more impressive were the fish they were catching. 10 or so boats fished the day I was there and every boat had their limit of Yellowfin Tuna from 25-60 pounds. Word was that the bite had been like this for several weeks and they expected it to continue til Thanksgiving. Anyway, besides checking out the fishing, we did the "touristy" things such as visiting the light houses and looking in the various shops. It was nice to get away and visit similar tourist driven towns such as my own at Ocean Isle Beach. If you've been following this last week's events, you may also figured that I got out of town just in time to escape the fire storm of public sentiment concerning the town's decision not to permit the Jolly Mon and Fall Brawl for their normal dates. But now I'm back, having collected my thoughts, and ready to move forward.
First, I thank my brother Barrett for doing an outstanding job in keeping you fishermen aware of what was transpiring with the tournaments and the town as he held the fort in my absence. I instructed Barrett to let you fishermen know about what was going on as well as to feel free to post any emails he got from others on the topic. In a few of the emails he posted, there were a few incorrect statements made which I should clear up- #1 - The statement "no traffic is created at all from the events on Saturday" is incorrect. Less than 1% of the traffic experienced on the island on Saturday is from the event. I was told that the three shuttles that bring fishermen to the event are added traffic, thus "zero" is not the correct term to use-- #2-- It was stated "the Chief knows there is no traffic problem". We cannot speak for the Chief. I trust he will use the facts to base his decision. I think the concept is that we hope is acknowledged is YES, we do know there is traffic associated with the move-in/move-out, but we hope the Chief knows the tournament impact is extremely negligible.--- #3-- It was stated in an email "Either the Council is making a totally uninformed decision or the tourneys are being held hostage to some unspoken political agenda." I hope the council is not making decisions based on a politcal agenda and I have no proof. I do feel the Council was not totally informed and they did make a decision without considering the big picture and knowing all the facts.
For these misstatements which were published, I apologize.
HOWEVER, do not take my willingness to make an apology with me backing away from the issue. I hold true 100% and believe with all certainty that the Jolly Mon and Fall Brawl do not impact traffic on Saturday. Furthermore, I believe the suggestions made by Chief Pritchard not to allow the events to occur on Saturday were not based on all the facts. I understand his position, which he states is "common sense", but I hold firm that from an outside perspective, it may seem "common sense", but with a clear understanding of the tournament's schedule and with knowledge on how last year's traffic flow went, the decision made is incorrect. Furthermore, and getting to the next big happening, I fear that a few uneducated local loudmouths at Sheffield's and Sharky's have screamed loud enough to get the Chief's and the Council's attention. Meanwhile the quiet majority who minds their own business are left to pay for these few. So, you've signed petitions, you've written emails to council members and now you have another chance. This Monday at 6pm the town will have an open forum in which the public can express their views. I will be there to hopefully have the opportunity to present the facts. If any of you concerned tournament participants and your families are available and feel an unjust decision has been made, I encourage you to come to the meeting. Sharky's has placed notice of the meeting on their marquee sign to "Stop the Madness. Support the Mayor and Chief". This is typical-- they are trying to turn the meeting into me vs. the Mayor and Chief when that is not at all what it is-- kindergarten, uneducated tactics. Sheffield's crew has taken the same approach. The meeting will no doubt be a show, and I look forward to the opportunity to speak on the facts and hope you will join me. However, if you are unable to attend and would like your voice heard, please email your remarks, including where you are from and where your beach home is located. That is enough from me at this time. Again I say, I do not fight for the sake of fighting and do not question our town officials without due cause. I will stick to the facts only and continue with what I think is a worthy fight.
Thank you,
Capt. Brant
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"" | Carolina Contender | 11/15/05
The responses from the Mayor and Council members that some of you who have emailed or called demands a response and an explanation. If they're being honest in their comments then they are ill-informed and apparently haven't been paying attention to how Brant's traffic management plans work and have worked for years. He spends thousands of $$'s operating a off island shuttle, donates thousands of $$'s to the police department each year[which they have gladly provided officers at the intersection for traffic control to get shuttle in and out of Causeway Drive]; in every publication,brochure,newspaper; he begs tourney participants to ride the off island shuttle so the island traffic can't be blamed on him. And apparently, the elected officials aren't paying attention because THE SHUTTLE WORKS!!! Using this past year on Saturday, he hired a company to video film the traffic turning into the OIFC tourney site coming off the bridge. Virtually the only traffic turning left into the OIFC was the shuttle vans[3 of them]. In fact,on Saturdays, at all times there were vacant parking spaces at the OIFC.
At the tourneys the Mayor normally comes to give the Town welcome to the fishermen, and after the event the Mayor and Council members and Police Chief have been all smiles and complimentary about how smoothly the event went and what a great asset to the Town Brant's tourneys are. And then suddenly, in the seconds it took the Town to vote against Brant, they destroyed all the hard work Brant has done for many years being the primary cheerleader for OIB fishing and putting OIB on the world map as a primary fishing destination in the Carolinas.
The excuse they are using is @#$%^%^^&*(* and if they are being honest in that justification they have not done their job to examine exactly what is the story with tourney related traffic. The answer is THERE IS NO TOURNEY RELATED TRAFFIC which suggest they are responding to a small group of malcontents who have their own agenda. The Chief knows there is no tourney traffic problem, the Mayor knows this, and if the Council had been paying attention they also would know this. As a citizen I think we have a right to expect more from our elected officials, when making a decision of this importance to OIB and it's citizens and guests, that they would carefully study a problem before casting the vote .Had they done so they wouldn't have taken the action they took.
The loosers in this situtation are the thousands of fishermen, their wives, and kids who enjoy the Jolly Mon and Fall Brawl as the premier family oriented events they are intended to be. The other loser is the Town Of Ocean Isle who now has "black balled" themselves with the sportfishing community for their poorly thought out decision.
For those of you who followed our approach on SAVE OUR POGIES; what we found is the "silent majority" can make a difference by stepping forward, and where we see a clear injustice, make noise. Don't let these elected officials off the hook. The fact they have responded to your emails indicates concern on their part to try to defend their position, and the facts of the matter are the only defense they have is they have the power, not the honest facts.
Bottom line: Keep the emails and calls to the elected officials coming also if possible try to be at the open forum meeting at OIB Town Hall next Monday at 6:00pm. Thank you for your support. Email addresses are below:
Mayor-
Debbie Smith debbie@sloanerealty.com --
Commissioners-
Richard Donovan rdonovan@mindspring.com
Dean Walters dwaltersgroup@atmc.net
Suzie Wooten suziew@2khiway.net
CD Blythe cdblythe@atmc.net
Bill Benton bbenton4@ec.rr.com
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Jolly Mon/Fall Brawl Fishermen; Ocean Isle Town Me" | Carolina Contender | 11/15/05
Ocean Isle Beach will have a "open forum" Town meeting Monday, November 21, 6:00pm at Ocean Isle Beach Town Hall. This is an opportunity for anyone to speak to the Mayor and Council on any matters of interest. This meeting offers a great opportunity for all the friends of the Jolly Mon and Fall Brawl King Mackerel Tournaments to come to the meeting and express their views on the action of the Town Council to not allow the tournaments on their normal dates. The Council's stated reason is concerns about traffic associated with the tourneys on the island on the Saturdays of the Jolly Mon and Fall Brawl. Those of you who fish the tourneys know there is no tourney traffic on the island on the Saturdays as you are on the water fishing and the small number of spectators who come to see the weigh in ride the off island shuttle. Either the Council is making totally uninformed decisions or the tourneys are being held hostage to some unspoken political agenda.
Please come and speak your mind. Thanks.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Voice your opinion" | Carolina Contender | 11/11/05
The poll has been taken down. . . . for some reason? A better way to communicate your feelings on this issue if it is of interest to you is to email the Ocean Isle Beach's elected officials that make the decisions. They responded to the few negative comments from the small group of locals who's sole objective is to negate any positive actions that come out of the OIFC. Hopefully now they'll listen to the other side which has traditionally been the silent majority (the people who stay out of other people's business). Below you will find the email addresses for each official. If you fished the tournaments you know traffic was not an issue this year due to precise scheduling and an efficient shuttle system. Please let your thoughts be heard.
Mayor-
Debbie Smith debbie@sloanerealty.com --
Commissioners-
Richard Donovan rdonovan@mindspring.com
Dean Walters dwaltersgroup@atmc.net
Suzie Wooten suziew@2khiway.net
CD Blythe cdblythe@atmc.net
Bill Benton bbenton4@ec.rr.com
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Speak your opinion" | Team Carolina Wellcraft | 11/10/05
It has been brought to our attention here at the Ocean Isle Fishing Center that a poll is being held on the Brunswick Beacon website concerning the decision Ocean Isle Beach elected officials made to not approve the Jolly Mon or Fall Brawl tournaments for 2006. It has also been brought to our attention that the most vocal party against the tournaments and the OIFC, Sheffield's, has made attempts to get the poll dropped from the website. This is a chance for all interested parties to give their opinion by voting. It is up to each and every one of us to vote so the decision makers will know the opinion of the affected citizens. The website to cast your vote is: http://www.brunswickbeacon.com/
Please take this opportunity to voice your opinion.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Jolly Mon and Fall Brawl 2006" | Carolina Contender | 11/10/05
Some of you may have read the news in the most recent Brunswick Beacon. If not, the Jolly Mon and Fall Brawl tournaments have been denied permits by the Town of Ocean Isle Beach to be held on their normal dates next year. The decision was based on the recommendation of Chief of Police Kurt Pritchard who stated that "no event should be permitted on the island between June 15-Aug 15 that occurs on a Saturday.... Saturday is tourist move in move out day and traffic is too congested on the island to add any special events." Chief went on to say..." The Fall Brawl should not occur on the same Saturday as the Oyster Festival in October. The Festival brings over 20,000 visitors to the island and the addition of the tournament just adds to traffic problems." I was shocked to here this from the Chief as he has been the tournament's #1 proponent for many years, a past tournament winner and one of the main reasons the event permit has been approved by the board for the last 10 years. Despite problems with traffic in the 2004 Jolly Mon which can be directly attributed to a religious festival that was held on the island with no parking/traffic plan, Chief Pritchard whole-heartedly gave his vote of confidence to authorize the 2005 events because of his confidence in Capt. Brant and knowing that the problems were not due to the tournament. If you attended the 2005 Jolly Mon, you know parking and traffic were flawless. It was the smoothest the event has ever run. Yet the Chief still pulled a 180 on the events. What has changed is the public complaints from a few select adversaries to the success of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center and Capt. Brant-- Sheffield's - Mrs. Sheffield attended the meeting and expressed in front of the board that "the tournaments took place when I (she) had enough business-- why not hold them when I (she) could make more money?"- My response: "the tournaments are for the fishermen and their families, not the benefit of Sheffield. These are the times when the fishing is best and families have time to go fishing."-- the other vocal oponent- Jim Culpepper-- (who is Jim Culpepper? He is the mouth piece for Sheffield's and proponent of commercial fishermen. He has been in the middle of all attempts by the Capt. Brant and the Ocean Isle Fishing Center to make any grounds against commercial fishing issues-- includeing banning Pogy boats off our beaches as well as shrimp trawling in the Intracoastal waterway. Jim Culpepper is not a registered voter of Ocean Isle. He does not live on the island, but he screams the loudest and fights conservation and the interests of recreational fishermen in our area. Culpeppers complaint "the tournament boats pollute the waters by running in the waterways while waiting for weigh-in." I'm not even going to waste my time explaining this obsurdity-- you can see what a joke-- BUT, I've come to find that here in Ocean Isle, the squeeky wheel gets the grease. Complaint #3 comes from Ray Harris, owner of Sharky's, which too is a joke since it is a known fact that he will take every opportunity possible to throw a wrench into anything good or positive the OIFC is doing. Sharky's has had a hell bent vendetta against the OIFC ever since my dad, Rube McMullan, bought their entire parking lot and then instead of using it for the OIFC and thus killing Sharky's, decided to sell it back to them because he didn't want to put them out of business and create ill sentiment-- talk about a backfire. Again, the squeeky wheel gets the grease.
These folks have been responsible for many editorial letters to the local newspaper which all were against the tournaments and the OIFC.
In the interview I gave the Beacon concerning my feelings on the tournament, I stated that I felt the Police Chief's actions were politically motivated. I was certain that he could not have been responsible for such a complete change of philosophy on the events and that he must have recieved pressure from commissioner(s). The Chief and I had a long conversation as we have been friends for years and he adamantly denied any political pressure. Thus, I have nothing to work with but his word and must apologize to him and trust him when he says he's "not political." However, what he did say is that his decision was based on pubic sentiment and thus we get back to the sword rattlers- Sheffield's and Sharky's. These folks stirred up public sentiment amongst a small but vocal group, and the Chief heard the cries, felt pressure and thus acted-- the squeeky wheel gets the grease. Beyond this, Chief says its a "common sense" thing-- too much traffic on Saturdays and your event just furthers the problem. How many of you drove to the event on Saturday in your car? If you did, were you already on the island or did you make a special trip to come to the site on Saturday? I guarantee that slim to none of you can answer yes to both questions. The events were changed this past year just to solve this very problem of inviting automobile traffic to the island on Saturday. Sure, fishing happens on Saturday, but you can't weigh-in from your car. And yes, the tournament does draw a large spectator crowd to watch the weigh-in, but again, how many of those people actually drove from distance to watch the event and were not all ready on the island? And how many rode the free shuttle I provide? The Captain's meeting happens Friday which Chief Pritchard has indicated is not a problem time and the awards are Sunday evening which Chief Pritchard has indicated is not a problem time.
Bottom line- you and your families that enjoy the Jolly Mon and the Fall Brawl have been done a great injustice. It angers me to see a few whiners with obvious alterior motives cause the downfall of the tournaments.
If you have any thoughts on this, I invite you to let local Ocean Isle commissioners know how you feel-
Mayor-
Debbie Smith debbie@sloanerealty.com -- Commissioners-
Richard Donovan rdonovan@mindspring.com
Dean Walters dwaltersgroup@atmc.net
Suzie Wooten suziew@2khiway.net
CD Blythe cdblythe@atmc.net
Bill Benton bbenton4@ec.rr.com
I don't fight for the sake of fighting and certainly not when I realize I may jeopordize my business at the hands of future decisions made by the commissioners and police chief- But, we, my fellow fishermen, lady anglers and jr. anglers have been wronged and thus I speak with a strong heart and clear mind.
My family and I are taking a vacation for a few days at which time I will consider alernatives for the future of the events. I thank you for your continued support of the events.
Capt. Brant
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"King fishing still awesome!" | Carolina Contender | 11/09/05
Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining some friends of mine aboard the Johnny Mike, a 26ft. Grady White for a day of king fishing. We were greeted with a slick calm ocean and arrived at the Atlantic Ledge around 8:30 and for the next 3 hours we were only able to get at most 3 rods out at one time before we were hooked up. Doubles and triples were the norm as we had fish exploding on our baits all morning. All fish were between 8-12lbs and bit frozen cigar minnows as well as live cigars equally well. (There are plenty of live cigars offshore.) All throughout the day we had schools of glass minnows all around us with small false albacore crashing through them. Let me add that if you've never caught these fish on small spinning gear, you are missing out. They are one of the hardest fighting fish in the ocean and are a blast on this small gear. The secret to catching them is "matching the hatch"---throw very small stingsilver type baits into the school and hang on! The wind is supposed to blow pretty hard tomorrow, but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday look excellent and the fishing should be just the same so come join us for some of this red hot action!
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"Fish Report and a fish story" | Carolina Contender | 11/07/05
November Brings Awesome Fishing Action
by Capt. Brant McMullan
Over year’s past I’ve always preached on October as the best month of the year to fish from our area. However, if you’ve followed my reports this past season, you might remember my account of the fish being a solid two to four weeks behind schedule. I thought the fish had got back on schedule by August, but this Fall has further proven that in fact the fish never got their clocks reset and have been following their own timeline. As such, our normal incredible October fishery was great, but short of incredible and now that November has arrived, the incredible fishing has begun. Despite water temperatures cooling into the 66-68 degree range, the king mackerel have moved into the 60-70 foot depth ranges in large numbers. Although they prefer waters a bit warmer, the main factor for kings and really any type of fish is the availability of food. Schools of herring and cigar minnows have moved into this range and thus the kings are also there. The grouper also love to eat these same baitfish and they too are concentrating in the 70-100 foot depth range. Nearshore, schools of bluefish are thick on nearshore reefs and wrecks, and if you can get your bait past them, you will likely also find the grey trout are thick as well. In the inshore waters the fishing for drum and trout has been great. These fish have been holding along docks, drop offs and creek mouths and are certain to take a live shrimp drifting with the current. For those of you who have written off the 2005 fishing season, let this serve as notice that you are missing the best we’ve had all year. And to top it off, the fuel prices are actually getting tolerable again, which will hopefully make your next fishing trip a bit less painful.
On the fishing story side, let me tell you about my weekend’s fishing adventure. My brother, Capt. Barrett and I decided to fish the year’s last king mackerel tournament, which was hosted out of Morehead City, NC. We had heard of a good bite of large kings off of Cape Hatteras, and the plan was to catch bluefish at the mouth of Beaufort inlet to use for bait, then make the 60 mile run north to try to locate this school of smoker kings. You know how some fishing trips just go right and others go wrong from the get-go? This was one of those “right” trips and everything went perfect. We loaded the baitwell with 30 bluefish from 1-3 pounds and headed north. We had lines in the water at 8:30am, and I think it took the kings about 5 minutes to figure out the buffet had opened. The first king blasted the long line bait and headed for the horizon. Moments later the short bluefish also met its end and that reel took off. And I’m not talking about 10 or even 20 pound fish, these were monsters. We boated Barrett’s fish, which was a meager 44 pounds and then released mine, which was a whimpy 38-40 pounds. Again the baits were deployed and again monster kings. We fished until 12:30 pm when Barrett set out our very last bait, which promptly resulted in the release of another 35+ pound king. We were excited at the prospects of maybe winning the tournament, unfortunately as typically goes, if we catch nice fish, so do others. We weighed in a 46 pound king but soon found a 53, 51, 48, 47…. had also been weighed. I think we finished 5th or 6th, but regardless, we had a great time and the bite was incredible. And so, all this leads me to the second part of the story. Since the bite of 40+ pound fish was so consistent, my wife, Capt. Amy and I decided to take a shot at a couple of world-records for king mackerel. Amy was shooting for the women’s 8 pound world record, which was 41 pounds, set in 1995, and I was shooting for the 4 pound world record, which was 38 pounds 12 ounces set in 1997. I spooled up a reel with 4 pound Stren and another with 8 pound Stren and we set off on Sunday morning with the same plan as the previous day, except this time we’d be using the super light line. We set the two rods out at the same spot we fished the day before and again the same results as monster kings blasted our baits. This time however, Amy and I were left holding screaming reels with no ability to apply pressure. And we soon found out just how light 4 and 8 pound test lines really are. My fish broke off quickly, but Amy held tight to hers. She fought the king for five minutes before the line broke. We again deployed and again got bites only to have them break off. It was quite the learning experience to find out what the lines could handle and just how fragile this light line becomes when hooked to 40+ pounds of kingfish. We soon learned that by pointing the rod at the fish when it ran, the amount of tension on the line was greatly reduced. Amy deployed her 8 pound outfit and within minutes a smoker king skyrocketed it right behind the boat. I knew the fish was of good size, but I didn’t know if it was quite large enough to go 41 pounds. Amy fought the king through several line smoking runs and got it to boat after a 45 minute fight. Believe it or not the fish came up totally exhausted and just lay there for me to reach down and tail it by hand to bring it aboard. It was no doubt a big king, but the question was if it would go 41 pounds. We put her on ice and then began to focus on my attempt at the 4 pound record. I fought several other fish to the boat including estimated 25 and 35 pound kings, but none were worthy of taking home to break the record. Later that evening we weighed Amy’s king on the officially certified scales of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center where it went 41.4 pounds on the digital scales making it 41 pounds 6 ounces and eligible to break the existing 8 pound world record. So as of now, I congratulate my wife, Capt. Amy McMullan for her unofficial breaking of the International Gamefish Association’s world record king mackerel on 8 pound test.
That’s all for this week. Hope you’ll come down to the coast and enjoy the great fishing action.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Its Here" | Capt. Hook | 11/06/05
I have the new boat backed in what is left of my shop in Whiteville. I will be installing electronics and hope to hit the water the end of the week. Then it will be Catp'n Hook at the helm of the BLACK PEARL! That sounds like a Pirate adventure to me! Pictures to come!
Stay Tuned
- Capt. David Hooks
"King Bite Still On Fire!" | Carolina Contender | 11/06/05
Ocean Isle Fishing Center manger Rhett Dickson fished the Jungle this morning and reported catching all the kings he wanted in two hours. After catching their limit they switched to 8lb. and 12lb. spinning gear and caught (and released) several more. There's still plenty of bait to be jigged offshore however dead cigar minnows are working as good as anything.
On the inshore side, Capt. Stan reported catching blues and redfish around the Little River Jetties. Capt. Roger and Capt. Jon set out on a speckled trout mission this morning and ended up catching a few specks as well as several redfish. So whether your game is inshore or offshore----the weather is beautiful, the fish are biting.....wish you were here.
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"Ft. Pierce Charts in stock for SKA Nationals" | Carolina Contender | 11/05/05
Just a reminder that we have in stock Profinder Charts for the SKA Nationals in Ft. Pierce, FL. These charts are the best thing going and are absolutely necessary if you plan on fishing the Nationals. They are 11"x17", completely waterproof and LOADED with waypoints (GPS as well as Loran coordinates listed on the back of each chart).
The hot kingfish bite that has been going on for the past few days continues today in the same 65-80ft. places---The Jungle, Atlantic Ledge, Shark hole, etc. The weather is going to be beautiful for the next several days so come join us!
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 11/03/05
The pictures say it all-- the weather is great, the fishing is great-- wish you were here.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Speckled Trout Report" | Carolina Contender | 11/02/05
After hearing all the good reports of speckled trout, Capt. Roger and myself loaded the jon boat up with live shrimp this morning in search of them. We left around 7:15 this morning and found ourselves facing a stiff 15-20kt. NE wind. We floated baits at the Ocean Isle Bridge, some docks along the waterway as well as in the Shallotte River with little success. We did manage to put a couple fish in the boat, however it wasn't as hot as we had hoped for. They should pick back up as soon as this wind lays down though. I'll be back on the hunt again in the next few days so keep checking in for more reports!
Also, there has been a decent king bite offshore in the 65-80ft. range in places such as the 65ft. Hole, Jungle, Shark Hole, etc. on dead cigar minnows trolled on Hank Brown heads or Cape Lookout Skirts. This weekend looks EXCELLENT to get out and have some fun with them so come join us! (Also don't forget about the great wahoo fishing in the stream this time of the year! Very few people have been to the stream recently so they've got to be starving out there!)
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"They're biting" | Carolina Contender | 11/01/05
Todays report. Kings at 65 foot hole; Jungle; Atlantic Ledge. Grouper at King spots in 85 feet of water.
Kings on dead cigars; grouper on live pinfish and chum[you can jig pinfish on inshore wrecks or use ringtails you catch on grouper spots].
Weather all week and WEEKEND looks great! Come on down.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"There Here" | Capt. Hook | 10/30/05
We had a real good day today at the Jungle. The school kings ranging from 8 to 15 lbs are definetly here. They are hitting dead cigars really well. This is good because livebait is getting tough! I will be out of the water until I get in the new boat, it should be very soon so stay tuned.
- Capt. David Hooks
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 10/30/05
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King hotspots- Jungle, Atlantic Ledge, Shark Hole, 22mile rocks, 18 mile rocks....
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Bite is on ; everywhere!" | Carolina Contender | 10/30/05
Seas have finally calmed down enough for the fish to be located and the answer is...they are here!. Kings are biting at Jungle and 65 foot hole. Grouper are as good as I've ever seen in 75-100 feet. Trout are biting around docks inshore. Haven't heard from gulf stream but with water cooling down wahoo bite should be on. We need help. Too many choices. Need somebody to come down and help us catch all these fish.
More good news. Fuel prices are dropping.
Weather looks perfect Mon/Tues/Wed. We'll be fishing everyday so stand by.
Pogies are getting difficult but Kings biting on dead bait. Boston Mackerel should be here soon and thats when Kings go crazy. Grouper biting on pogies or pinsfish. Also on whole dead ballyhoo and dead boston mackerel. Trick to catching keeper size fish is big bait.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 10/25/05
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Wheeww its cold. The wind is blowing and it looks like it will be a few days before it settles. I reported earlier that the fishing was great-- and man is it. Kings, Wahoo and Grouper are biting. We've got at least another month of the year's best King, Wahoo and Grouper fishing we'll see here, so don't miss out. This cold has got me thinking a bit about those Giant Bluefin-- the season is coming up soon--
Here are some pictures from last week I'm just now getting around to loading-- check out the video clip of Capt. Amy at work!
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 10/21/05
Sorry I haven't been reporting every day as of late-- the weather has been so great the fishing equally as good that I'm worn out from fishing and catching. At last report I was looking forward to Grouper and Wahoo and I'm happy to report I got'em both. We nailed the Grouper early in the week while fishing in the 75-90 foot depth range. The Wahoo fishing wasn't quite as glamourous, but we did manage 3 on Wednesday including a 40 pounder as well as the release of a 72" Sailfish while fishing the BlackJack-100/400 area. And while I've been off chasing these offshore fish, the King bite has finally gone off. The Kings are chewing hard at the end of the Cape Fear channel as well as the 65' hole and Jungle areas. There's been plenty of Pogies just to the West of Shallotte inlet and also off of Long Beach. Look like Saturday will be the last great day until the middle to end of next week. I think I'm going to hang inshore and maybe do a little Drum fishing with a buddy. I'm worn out. I'll rest up until next week and then be ready to get'em again.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 10/18/05
After a great weekend of fishing for the Fall Brawl, the weather continues to hold and the fishing is only getting better. Day by day the water clarity improves after last weeks 15 inch deluge of rain. The Kings are biting right at Shallotte inlet and here's a typical example of the "day after" syndrome where you always catch the big one you needed for the tournament the day after the event. Capt. Roger and Capt. Charles on the "Show Time" can vouch for that as they guided this group to a 1/2 day success with 3 Kings including one that tipped the scales to 29.9 pounds. The weather looks great for this week and I've got Grouper on my mind as well as Wahoo. I'm planning to do both, so stay tuned for the report.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"On the job!" | Capt. Hook | 10/16/05
The majority of the fish caught during Saturday's fishing came from the Shallotte inlet area. The bite was early with scattered action reported throughout the day after 10am. The leadering fish at 33 pounds caught by 8 year old Austin Allen on the Double Down came from the 90/90.
See below picture-- Capt. David Hooks hard at work on the docks during the Fall Brawl weigh-in.
- Capt. David Hooks
"Fall Brawl is on!" | Carolina Contender | 10/15/05
Weather this AM is nice. Wind is from the north at 10 knots and the sky is crystal clear. Looks like a classic Fall day-- hopefully catches will prove just as classic as the conditions. Stay tuned to this site for results.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Fall Brawl weather update" | Carolina Contender | 10/14/05
Jim Can'ttorie just called NOAA and explained to them that on south facing beaches with a north wind, a forecast of 3-5 foot seas should be changed to 3-5 inches. It is FLAT off our Brunswick County beaches. You could skip a nickel all the way to Frying Pan Tower. The north wind will continue throughout the weekend guaranteing flat seas, spots, mullets, pogies, and KINGS!
The beach bite is ON! Come join us at the Fall Brawl for classic Carolina October King fishing within a 9 iron of the beach.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 10/13/05
Here's what is laying in wait for you Fall Brawl fishermen. It has truly been a beach bite. We've been fishing 15-30 feet of water from Shallotte Inlet to just East of Lockwood's inlet- mostly offshore of schools of Menhaden. The Menhaden are very plentiful all along the beach, so that won't be a concern. The majority of the Kings are in the 15-22 pound class, but we're seeing a fair number over 25 pounds and you know someone's going to find a 30+ out there. The skies cleared today and winds have dropped out to 10 knots. The kings are biting so close to the beach you could hit a 9 iron into the Ocean Isle Inn's swimming pool. I hope to see you all here to enjoy this Fall fishing at its best.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Fall Brawl weekend weather flash" | Carolina Contender | 10/13/05
Improving forecast- looks like it should be nice weather to catch the beach king bite that is going on right now. Don't pay any attention to the seas forecasted as they will not come into play for our nearshore area due to our protection from the north wind. Trust me-- this is going to be a good weekend for king fishing and the winner will burn less than 30 gallons of fuel the entire day-- you watch. We're all set up here and awaiting you fishermen to come see us on Friday to sign up, eat Frogmore stew and race Spots in the Spot Derby. See you here.
Brant
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Yesterday!!" | Capt. Hook | 10/12/05
Well Sumo and Capt. John manned the Captn Hook yesterday on a Kingfish excursion. And as usual they had a brisk North East wind which kept them hung to the hill!! They fished around Lockwood Folly Inlet and pulled out a nice fish that tipped the scales at 26 and some change. We will be out there this afternoon to try it again. Once again we will be hung to the hill due to the wind!!
- Capt. David Hooks
"Jim Can'ttorie weather update for Fall Brawl" | Carolina Contender | 10/11/05
Jim's sticking with his forcast for the weekend. High pressure will continue to build into our area throughout the week bringing us northly winds which are just what we need to electrify an all out beach bite for the tourney. There were a few fish caught along the beach at Long Beach and Yaupon yesterday in the FLW tourney fished out of Morehead. What's slowing down the bite is the water salinity that is off due to the 14 inches of rain we had last weekend. As the days progress and the water flow from the Cape Fear flushes out the fresh water, the salinity will return to normal. That, along with the north winds[that means mullets and spots running the beach] and the fact it's October!...should all come together for the Kings to go crazy at Shallotte and Lockwood Inlets, Yaupon, River Channel, and Lighthouse Rocks.
I note the marine forcast is calling for 3-5 foot seas toward the weekend. This is due to a low pressure system off of Bermuda which will create a swell. This is misleading for our waters as with a northly wind we are protected by the land and therefore an offshore swell will not effect us. It should be flat seas along the beach.
Standby for more updates.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Jim Can'ttorie's Fall Brawl weather forcast" | Carolina Contender | 10/08/05
Had to get Jim Can'ttorie to put on his longe range goggles to figure out this forcast for the Fall Brawl next weekend here at OIFC; but here goes..... a very light cold front passes thru our area Friday giving us bluebird skies and light north winds for Saturday. Sunday will also offer light winds moving from north to northeast during the day. Bottom line....weather looks perfect; slight and light. The mullets should run the beach on the north wind, the Kings should be in hot pursuit, and considering the disruption to their dining envirnoment this week they should be VERY hungrey. No doubt it should be a beach bite, classic coastal Carolina fall fishing. Come on down and win the $$$!!!
This week our charter fleet will finally be able to get back at it, so stand by for updates as to where the fish are at.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Getting lonesome down here" | Carolina Contender | 10/07/05
Yeah, it's blowing the shortning out of the biscuit down here and no reflief in sight for the weekend.....so , if it's too rough to fish, this is the time to talk about fishing. I've been telling the same stories to everyone here at the OIFC all week. Come on down and let's talk it up!
Also it's perfect time to get your stuff ready for when it does calm down because there has to be some very hungrey fish out there. After the blow, it's time for the spots to show, kings continue on the beach, and the gulf stream wahoo bite should get in gear.
Don't forget the Fall Brawl King Tournament here at the OIFC next weekend. With the water temps staying in the 70's the beach bite should be explosive; River Channel, Yaupon, Lockwood or Shallotte Inlet, Myrtle Beach Rocks...all spots within 3 miles of the beach. The tourney is one day fishing and you can choose to fish Saturday or Sunday. Capt meeting Friday evening at OIFC.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Lately" | Capt. Hook | 10/03/05
Well we just finished the SKA Pro Division on which I compete with Forrest and Bookie Taylor on the THAT’S MY DOG/Team Furuno. We were fishing out of Morehead City and chose to run all the way to Shallotte Inlet to fish on day one. We scaled a 20lb fish and decided, after viewing the leader board, that we should probably do the same on day two. On the second day we stopped inshore at the Cape Fear River Channel and ended up with one strike and one fish. The fish scaled a 22.5lbs which gave us enough for an 11th place finish, and pushed Bookie over the top for the senior angler of the year title. We should be in or very near the top ten for the year also. This was a very good season and as always the competition is stiff!
Preston, Skip and Carter took the Capt’n Hook on the hunt for a US OPEN winner!! That is the whole crew minus ME!! They pulled their time in the River Channel also but just couldn’t find a hero!! The bite was fair but the big fish were few and far between. I hurried home from the touney to take a great group of ladies on a Charter in search of those so called “too small” Kings. Guess what!! The wind swung mainly out of the east and we didn’t get a strike. I even pulled Clark spoons to see if any Spanish were left hanging around which was also unsuccessful! The forecast is not favorable for the next couple of days so hang on and she will turn away from the East Soon!
My new boat is almost here, it made it from Florida to NC anyway!! It will be at Gore’s in Wilmington for a couple of weeks or so then we will be ready for a Maiden Voyage!! It is a Mercury Verado Powered 2006 model 31 open CONTENDER that is very similar to the present Boat without the Fwd. Cuddy. The not so old Capt’n Hook will be moving to Concord Street to take over the Daddy R dock!! I’ve heard roomers of a boat being tagged the “Black Pearl” moving into town!! There just may be a Captain nicknamed after a Famed Pirate at the helm!!
- Capt. David Hooks
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 10/03/05
Well, the East wind has been wearing us out the last few days. The kingfish bite along the beach was good Friday and Saturday early, but since then it has slowed dramatically under strong Easterly winds. Hotspots for the beach king bite have been the Cape Fear River, Yaupon, off Ocean Crest pier, Lockwood inlet and Shallotte inlet. Menhaden are very plentiful along all the beaches and as soon as the winds settles a bit or shifts to the south, the kings will back on track.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"US Open This Weekend" | Team Carolina Wellcraft | 09/29/05
Fall is on the way. Temperatures are supposed to dip down into the 50's this weekend as a cold front will cross the area. The bad news is the front will bring strong winds, the good news is the wind will be from a northerly direction and thus the ocean will be flat along the beach. This weekend's US Open king mackerel tournament should have your classic North Carolina fall time conditions. Cool air, calm seas nearshore and hot fishing are expected. Fishing has remained relatively unchanged from last weekends great nearshore action. Pogies are plentiful from Long Beach Pier all the way to Jay Bird Shoals in the river channel. The charter fleet here at the fishing center has been catching kingfish all week within a few miles of land. The hot spots remain Yaupon reef and the end of the Cape Fear Shipping Channel. Also a good number of fish are coming from even closer to the beach. Yesterday Capt. Roger weighed a 27lber that he caught in 20 feet of water near the Ocean Crest Pier. Daily the pier fishermen on Long Beach Pier and Ocean Crest are putting double digit kingfish days on the board. If the bait is there, don't be afraid to fish close to shore. I've heard of one king mackerel caught earlier this week just outside of the surfers. The fish are on the beach just they are supposed to be this time of year. Get out there and take advantage as it only happens one time of year. The spots I've mentioned have certainly been consistently producing kingfish, but they may be holding in other areas that are not being fished hard as well. It would be worth your while to check out any inlet including Lockwood, Shallotte, or Little River. Also, Myrtle Beach rocks has the potential to fire off right now. Go fish!
By the way, the big flounder are biting good right now as well. Capt. Stan on the Stori Teller put an 8.5lber on the scales two days ago. Several other reports verify the big flounder bite is on.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Weekend tourney outlook" | Carolina Contender | 09/26/05
The US Open and SKA Pro tourney operators must be smiling ear to ear as it appears this weekend will offer absolutely classic Carolina King Mackerel fishing. A strong cold front comes thru Thursday evening which will give us strong North winds Friday but front is moving fast therefore winds will begin laying late Friday and Saturday should see light northly winds before the day is done. It should be classic Cape Fear fall River Channel conditions as you can fish on the west side of the shoals in the River Channel and be sheltered from the northly winds. The mullets should run; there's a good supply of pogies; and the spots may also show with the north wind. My bet is the River Channel will be on fire! Bait of choice should be mullets. More info to follow as the week progresses.
For you anchor and chum fishermen we just got a new shipment of Capt Marks sardine chum.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"GAS PRICES HOLDING FIRM AT OIFC" | Carolina Contender | 09/25/05
In anticipation of Rita hitting Texas we have stocked up on fuel and plan to keep our prices the same as pre-storm fuel prices so long as we have stock. Currently Regular gas at 2.94 and Diesel at 2.99. Come by and see us!
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Kings move inshore" | Carolina Contender | 09/25/05
The big kings are hitting the beach. Fall fishing has started as Yaupon reef and Cape Fear ship channel have turned on with kings in the 12-30+ pound range. Stay tuned for a couple months of awesome King Mackerel action off our coast.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"River Channel is on!" | Carolina Contender | 09/25/05
Just as anticipated, it happened yesterday at Yaupon and the River Channel. The entire area around Yaupon/RC is covered with bait. Seemed Yaupon best early and RC heated up on outgoing tide. Will have full report of where best tourney action occurred yesterday for those fishing US Open next week. Standby.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"It's a beach bite" | Carolina Contender | 09/23/05
Ok, info is in...it's a bona fide hot beach bite! Yaupon/River Channel/Lighthouse Rocks. Had good reports from all those spots today. Also heard there was 20 kings caught at Ocean Crest Pier today!
Water off OIB inlet is "King Green" so don't be surprised to see fish come from Lockwood Inlet/Shallotte Inlet or Myrtle Beach Rocks. Weather looks perfect so everyone have a great day at it tomorrow and catch the big one.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Beach bite is on!" | Carolina Contender | 09/23/05
Over the years, I've noticed when we have a storm, it seems the first place the fish show back up is along the beach around Yaupon.I think that's because we seem to end up on the weak side of the storms and the land protects the close in waters from the north/northeast wind we get from the storms thus keeping it from getting too stirred up. Also the tidal flow from the Cape Fear river excellerates the cleaning process of the water. It's been mostly dead offshore this week however action is heating up around the Yaupon Reef area. There was a big catch of Kings last couple days at Ocean Crest Pier[right at Yaupon Reef]. There is lots of bait, both pogys and glass minnows. Expect Yaupon, McGlamery, River Channel/Lighthouse Rocks to explode this weekend. Also worth considering is Myrtle Beach Rocks as the water seems to clear up quickly there also. Good luck to everyone and we'll keep you posted on what we find fishing today.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 09/21/05
First king hits the dock after Ophelia! The fishing is looking up. Since Ophelia we've had perfect weather with flat calm seas every day. The water did get stirred up quite a bit, but it is settling quick and the fish will be back on by the weekend. I caught this king with a group from up north yesterday while fishing Yaupon reef. The action wasn't hot, but it showed promise as we caught the pictured 20lb king and a big spanish along with a 200+ pound Leopard Manta Ray and a citation sized Brown Pelican. The pogys have been holding off of Oak Island near the hot hole.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Gulf Stream report" | Mac Marle'n | 09/19/05
Capt Roger and Capt Charles back from the gulf stream on the MacMarlen. Fished the Black Jack; pretty gulf stream water. Couple good wahoo[1@39; 1@30], kings, amberjacks/ect/ect. Water started looking better approx 28 miles out; good schools of sardines.
Capt Brant fished inshore and did battle with Blacktip Sharks.
Noticing alot of bait in water inshore; pogies,glass minnows,mullets. Kings SHOULD lite up any time now.
Weather is perfect! Come on down.
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- Capt. Roger Gales
"weekend report" | Carolina Contender | 09/19/05
The weekends fishing was pretty much what we could have guessed it would be. The ocean is "greenish milky", typical after a big storm, and it takes a few days to settle out. Didn't hear of much luck anywhere in the ocean however there was a good redfish bite at the Little River jetties[live mullet on the bottom at end of jetties] and also along the Craven Street intercoastal at OIB. The pogies are good right outside the inlet.
We have boats in the stream and king fishing today so hopefully this is the day the fish decide it's time to eat. They must be very hungrey by now. Standby for update this evening.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Getting Back on Track" | Carolina Contender | 09/16/05
We escaped with no damage. We had lots of rain so the water is stained dark in the backwater and there's a heck of a tide line outside the inlets. All the heavy wave action we've had for the past 10 days has left the waters very stirred with silt and that's the biggest problem. With a few days of nice weather (which we're supposed to have) the water will settle over the weekend and certainly be very good by the following weekend. Actually, we typically have much better fishing than normal the week after a storm. Today is the first day it hasn't blown at least 20 kts and it feels funny-- I was busy on land attacking roof leaks, but the ocean was calling me. There's a cold front coming this weekend, but it's supposed to be weak, and after a day or so of light north, I think the weather and fishing will be awesome by mid next week. Stay tuned for bait and fish reports--
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Fishing Emergency!!!" | Carolina Contender | 09/16/05
HELP! We need HELP! It's been so rough for the last 2 weeks that the fish haven't been able to eat. But now, we're back to typical summer time conditions. Lite southwest winds, 2 foot seas, and I guarantee you there must be some very hungry fish out there. The weather looks perfect throughout the weekend, the first of the week a weak cold front comes thru followed by lite north winds. Basically it looks perfect as far as I can see.
So come on down and HELP us catch these fish. We're scared to try it by ourselves as there is genuine danger they will eat the bottom out of our boat.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Live Hurricane report" | Carolina Contender | 09/14/05
Live! From Ocean Isle Beach...hurricane report. It's a full blown, bonafide MULLET BLOW! That's it, nothing severe for us as again, by some miracle we are on the weak side of the storm. I've lost 5 shingles, one screen door, and a dove bird nest[FEMA has been contacted for the now homeless doves]. North of us I think they will get smacked, but here at OIB, doesn't appear to be a problem. I have heard up on the east end there is severe erosion occurring with street damage and loss of additional beach. I will try to get up there later and report back on what's what.
When the wind calms down, we'll start our 2nd annual "So called Hurricane Founder Tourney". Last year during our last "so called hurricane, we had a HOT flounder bite. Tune in live via our web cam.
No problem here at OIB; wind has stayed out of the north so no storm surge.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Thanks for the kind words" | Carolina Contender | 09/08/05
Name: Garry Bickett
Comments: Thanks for keeping the gas prices down on your docks over Labor Day weekend. Was surprised to pay less for boat gas than car gas.
__________________________________
I would like to thank Brian for helping my buddy and I out on our first
offshore fishing trip last Friday. He was the only one in the shop but
manged to spool 4 reels, help us choose rigs, planners, lures, and bait
that fit our budget. He also taught us some techniques on trolling and
downrigging and rigging our bait. We spent 3 hours in the shop.
Thanks to him, we filled a cooler full of Spanish and Kings for dinner,
AND he also cleaned them for us on his break!!
Eric Graziano
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 09/08/05
Wind, wind and more wind---- Noreaster' is a blowin' and it feels like Fall. We haven't fished since last Saturday and it doesn't look like we'll be doing much any time soon. I'll keep you posted on happenings--
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Please read SAVE OUR POGIES UPDATE" | Carolina Contender | 09/07/05
While the winds blowing, let's save some pogies. Please read the update on www.saveourpogies.com. We need everyone to get back on our horses and fire away at Preston Pate, Director of Marine Fisheries.
- Capt. Rube McMullan
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 09/06/05
It has felt like we’ve been stuck in the perfect storm for the past few days. A strong high pressure system to our north with clockwise rotating winds is butting up against a strengthening low pressure system to our south with counterclockwise winds. As a result, we are stuck in the middle of a tight pressure gradient, which is bringing the strong northeast winds that we’ve had since Saturday. That’s the bad news. The good news is that all this northeast wind will help to get the Fall fishing under way. I’m all ready seeing mullet along the beaches as well as schools of blues and spanish outside of the inlet mouths. The water temperatures have dropped into the low 80’s and once they drop into the 70’s, Fall fishing will be officially here.
Prior to all this wind, the fishing for king mackerel and grouper has been awesome. The kings were biting great in the 50-70 foot depth ranges. Many of the fish were in the 6-12 pound range, but on most days we’d manage a couple of fish in the 18-22 pound range. The menhaden have mostly been holding off Long Beach, so unless we had a longer trip, we have been making due quite effectively by simply slow trolling dead cigar minnows. I can honestly say that this season we’ve done more dead bait fishing than ever before. The high fuel prices along with the inconsistent supply of live bait left little choice. However, what we’ve found is that for shear numbers and action, the dead bait has produced just as good and possibly better than live bait. That’s been an enlightening find as I’ve been diehard live bait fisherman. I will say, however, that when it comes to grouper fishing, I am a live bait advocate. We’ve been slaying the grouper over structure in the 70-120 foot depth range for the past couple of weeks and I look forward to the best action to come in the next month. For those aspiring grouper fishermen, all we’re doing is anchoring over structure, dropping a bag of Capt. Mark’s sardine chum to the bottom via the downrigger and then fishing live menhaden or pinfish on 80# gear. It’s not a difficult concept and what most fishermen don’t understand is that grouper are just about anywhere there’s bottom structure. All your king mackerel, sea bass and snapper holes are also holding grouper. I find that once you get past 65 feet, anywhere that has structure will be holding grouper. And during the months of September and October the shallower 65-90 foot depth ranges will be the most productive.
That’s all for this week. The kings are doing what they’re supposed to and will begin moving closer inshore as the water cools. The spanish and blues are schooling outside the inlets and the grouper are within 40 miles. It’s time to go fishing.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Savannah" | Capt. Hook | 09/05/05
Well I just returned from Savannah fishing the fourth leg of the SKA Pro circuit aboard the “That’s My Dog/Team Furuno”. Due to the fuel situation and all the massive destruction Katrina left on our fellow Americans in the Gulf States, the tourney went to a one-day format. They have always been two days with a two day aggregate but a decision was made to fish one day and way two fish and the aggregate format would still stand. I think this was a good choice as teams could conserve fuel. To me it is not a matter of if you can afford it, its more of a matter of someone may need it worse than we do!! So in the interest of the President on TV asking us to conserve fuel and the spirit of the show must go on we may see more of the same in the fall tourneys. With no pre-fishing we picked a number on the chart about 33 miles out of the Savannah River over some live bottom. We immediately saw fish being caught and patiently waited for our turn. It came several times and when we hit the dock we scaled two kings at 24 lbs and 28 lbs. This was good enough for a 4th place pro finish and a 4th place in the Savannah tourney. This puts us back in the game for the end of the year. It may be fourth down and 30 to go but it is reachable!! Stay Tuned.
- Capt. David Hooks
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 09/01/05
#1- we have gas- here and at all the gas stations on the road. #2- the fish are biting. Had good luck with Kings today at the 390/390. The weather looks better Saturday than Sunday, so let's do the Grouper tournament on Saturday. Sign up Friday at the Fishing Center and fish Saturday. It's a plan-
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"No fuel crisis at OIFC" | Carolina Contender | 09/01/05
We refuse to have a fuel crisis here at the Ocean Isle Fishing Center. We have plenty of fuel. Also we are not going to adjust our prices to match the crazy panic market that's going on. We will sell our fuel at PRE-CRISIS prices as long as we have fuel left. When we have to re-order, our price will have to rise to reflect the current crisis condition. Our gas is $2.99/gallon. Come see us!
King bite good today at 90/90. We're Grouper fishing tomorrow and they're biting like bulldogs.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Grouper fishing; how you do it." | Carolina Contender | 08/30/05
Just a quick how to on how we grouper fish.
Any of the King Mackerel spots in 80 -100 feet are holding grouper. I prefer rocks and ledges over wrecks as it's hard to keep them out of the wreck. I start off by catching menhaden, the bigger the better[big bait/big fish]. Rarely do I catch grouper that don't measure by using large baits. I also like pinfish. I pull up to my spot, put boat in neutral and sit for few minutes to drift off the spot. I then motor back to the spot and determine my anchor course heading. I then drift back again and this time pull back to the spot following the heading I just determined. I go past the spot twice the depth of the water and drop the anchor. I then follow my gps guidance to drift back on the spot and tighten my anchor there. Another simplier way to do it is drop a buoy on the spot so that you have a visual reference. Once on the spot I put out a chum bag and drop it to the bottom on my downrigger. I then get my rigs ready which is approx 6 feet of 120lb test mono[or flourcarbon], a 3 way swivel with approx 8oz of weight, and a 9/0 circle hook. I hook the bait either thru the lips or in the tail, drop him over slowly so as not to tangle on the way down, put her in gear. You will feel your bait get nervous, the grouper will eat, don't jerk, but just reel down and when he comes tight get him off the bottom or he will get back into the rock. If you loose a fish by breaking him off, they will quit biting and you might as well move to another spot.
That's it, give it a try, and join us for the funament Sunday.I've got some grouper rigs here I made up just to give you a rigging guide.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Weekend's Upcoming Events" | Carolina Contender | 08/30/05
First off- I am foregoing the Swordfish excursion for 1 main reason-- NE wind forecast. I don't care that is supposed to be light, a NE wind is unpredictable once you get that far offshore and after spending a night last year in 3-4' pitch black darkness, I'm looking for variable or light south winds to get me back after the elusive Swordfish. BUT, the Grouper tournament is on and the conditions look favorable. The tournament will be held this Sunday. You can register at the Fishing Center any time- $100 cash- This is strictly a funament with honor code rules. 100% of the entry fees will be paid to the boat that brings in the heaviest 3 Grouper aggregate weight- oh yeah, and of course once you weigh, you keep your fish. We have all the details at the Fishing Center, but one other point of note is that you may weigh only between 6pm-6:30pm- and you can bring your fish to the scales via boat or vehicle. Let's have fun with this one. And just to prime the pump, I guided fishing friends Brad and Quinn Braun from Ohio aboard the "Carolina Contender" yesterday for a day of Grouper fishing. The problem was, we made short work of getting our limit and struggled to find other things to keep us occupied the rest of the day. Our biggest fish was 20.6 pounds and we posted a pre-tournament aggregate weight of 50+ pounds, which should give you potential entrants something to shoot for. I have a charter scheduled for Sunday, but we will be entering the event, so come on down and test your metal against myself and the other self proclaimed Grouper experts. See you at the scales- Capt. Brant
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Weekend's tournament" | Carolina Contender | 08/26/05
FYI --- South Brunswick tournament has been postponed to late September-
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Future Anglers" | Capt. Hook | 08/25/05
Last Sunday Preston, Eddie, and Myself all took our boys out spanish fishing, they had a blast and caught supper!! It is kinda gratifying to hear your 6 year old yelling "FISH ON".
- Capt. David Hooks
"Latley" | Capt. Hook | 08/25/05
We had two trips yesterday and did fairly well considering the weather went south after mid-day. On the first trip we caught several kings and a huge Barracuda. The party elected to release all the fish but a couple to eat; this is great for conservation and insuring the future!! On the afternoon trip we stumbled over a few Mahi, which turned it into a pretty productive day. They were 10 to 12 lbs. each. On the way home around 7:00 pm we met that front head on!! The last 6 miles were tough. The wind was blowing foam across the water and it was raining sideways. But we made it and if that’s what it took to cool things off a bit it may have been worth it!! This morning we circled the buoy and decided to wait on a better day, it was 4 to 5 in a southeast swell and capping pretty good. Stay tuned!!
- Capt. David Hooks
"Your reports" | Carolina Contender | 08/24/05
I would like to say thanks to Roger Gales (Show Time) for the most fun we have had deep see fishing,we have been deep see fishing before not with you guys,but we had the most fun and enjoyable time and we will come back and fish with you guys again.Just would like to say thanks to OCEAN ISLE FISHING CENTER,Ritchie Boggs
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Your reports" | Carolina Contender | 08/24/05
Just wanted to thank everyone at OIFC, you guys are great. Everyone is so helpful with fishing information. Me and my buddy, Barry Gardner, fished this past weekend Aug. 20 at the Jungle and caught this 31 lb King aboard the Fighton Triton. Fishing was slow that day, but our patience paid off. My biggest King so far. The fish was where Rube told us it would be. Thanks again for everything ya’ll do……
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"1st annual Labor Day Grouper tournament" | Carolina Contender | 08/23/05
No tournaments are occuring this year on Labor Day weekend so us guys need some sort of competition to keep our juices flowing. How about a Grouper tournament?-- $100 per boat with a 100% payout to 1st place for the heaviest 3 fish grouper aggregate weight. Fishing day will be Sunday, Sept. 4th with sign up any time until the eve of Saturday, Sept. 3rd. Weigh-in will be from 5-5:30pm on Sunday-- You can bring your fish by boat or vehicle-- fun tournament mostly for bragging rights. The OIFC will have all supplies needed for the day of fishing. Standy by for more information.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Report" | Carolina Contender | 08/23/05
Weather is on the change- lots of storms around today-- King fishing picked up the last few days, mostly small fish but Capt. Bryan had a 26 pounder from the 65 foot hole mixed with the small fish. We've been catching almost all our fish on dead cigar minnows.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"CUDA TIME!" | Carolina Contender | 08/19/05
When the king bite slows in the heat of the day, don't overlook our toothy friends. They are stacked up on all the artifical reefs and wrecks and seem to always be hungry. Here's a picture of one we caught on a live spanish this morning.
- Capt. Jon Tennant
"Today's Report" | Show Time | 08/19/05
Fishing has remained pretty steady over the past couple of days with action from king mackeral, spanish mackeral, and barracudas. We caught several fish yesterday at the 90/90 which included a pair of 5 lb. spanish, a couple of 12-15 lb kings, and a very short glimpse of a sailfish which broke us off during his first series of jumps. Today's action was much the same with fish coming from the 90's as well as AR455. Frozen cigar minnows have been drawing a few more bites, however the larger fish have been coming off of pogies. The live bait has continued to be easily caught just off of Holden Beach most every morning. With summer winding down, come down and enjoy one last vacation and help us catch some of these fish.
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"Kings & Cudas" | Mac Marle'n | 08/17/05
There was a good king bite this morning on the 90-90 Capt. Charles & myself lucked into. We found good sized pogies between shallotte inlet and the holden beach pier that we turned into a few good nibbles. The cudas seem to be everywhere right now with good numbers on all the AR's. Summer is almost gone, so get fishing & make the most of it!
- Capt. Jon Tennant
"Yesterday's Report" | Show Time | 08/17/05
We released a Sailfish!-- Yeehah ! We fished the Atlantic Ledge area in the afternoon and caught several Amberjack and small kings as well as a Mahi and yes, released a 75 inch Sailfish. The Pogys have been thick off Holden Beach and we haven't had alot of action inside of 70 feet of water-- seems as if fish may be moving off a bit. Stand by ----
- Capt. Roger Gales
"Today's Report" | Carolina Contender | 08/15/05
Fishing was a bit slow nearshore today. We fished Spanish on the beach and later in the day got to the offshore hole where we caught a few kings and a nice 17 pound Mahi.
Check out this king pictured-- 14 year olds Jordan David, Brad Walker and Nolan Newell caught this 40.5 pounder while light lining offshore while anchored and bottom fishing-- NICE FISH !
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"" | Team Carolina Wellcraft | 08/14/05
Kingfish action remained strong this weekend. Both numbers and size of fish were large at the Jungle and the 65' hole. Also of note was the bite taking place at Yaupon reef. Numerous fish over 30lbs came from there on Friday, Saturday and a few on Sunday. Pogies are still plentiful up and down the beach. The weather looks great this week so we will be reporting in daily with what's biting where. Come by and see us at the store to get set up on gear for the great kingfish bite happening right now.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Today's Report" | Capt. Hook | 08/11/05
We had a ¼ day this morning and eased off to the 90/90, we managed one king about 8 lbs on dead cigars before moving into the inlet and hitting the Spanish pretty good. We had 3 mid teen girls who did a great rendition of “Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning at full volume running out”. The second trip proved interesting as we had 3 kids from 4 to 10 years of age who caught some kings and released one 30 plus. Then we had a million peanut Mahi come to the boat and everyone had a blast. Stay tuned!!
- Capt. David Hooks
"Grouper time." | Mac Marle'n | 08/11/05
While everyone is busy catching the BIG kings, the bottom is still very alive as well. First mate Ryan & myself spent 2 productive hours working on them today. We had a nice catch of large blackbass and beeliners as well as a couple nice Gag groupers with a few other breakoffs about 28 miles off in the 80' depth range. So if the bottom is your thing, go get'em!
- Capt. Jon Tennant
"On Fire!" | Carolina Contender | 08/11/05
For the past 3 days the king mackeral bite has been on fire in the 65-70 foot depths. Yesterday we caught a limit in just over an hour and today's story was much the same. Fish have been averaging 12-15 lbs, however I heard of several larger fish (30-40 lbs) being caught today. Our largest today was around 25 lbs caught on the downrigger with a dead cigar minnow. Pogies have been very easy to catch just off of Holden Beach, outside of Shallotte Inlet, or off of Sunset Beach. The fish haven't really showed much preferance between live pogies or dead cigar minnows. We'll be back at it again tomorrow so keep checking in for hopefully more great news!
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"Caroline" | Show Time | 08/11/05
Caroline update
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Hot King Bite Continues" | Team Carolina Wellcraft | 08/11/05
Red hot kingfish bite still going strong off Ocean Isle. Multiple fish in 40lb class caught this morning. Plenty of live pogies just outside of Shallotte inlet. With no major weather changes in sight fishing should remain on fire.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Today's Report" | Capt. Hook | 08/10/05
We hit the Spanish pretty hard this morning just east of the Shallotte Sea Buoy in 25 feet of water. This afternoon we set out for 7 mile box car in search of the elusive Barracuda. We put out dead cigars and caught about a 8lb King, rigged him up, deployed him and the rest is history!!
Stay Tuned!!
- Capt. David Hooks
"Hot King Bite" | Carolina Contender | 08/10/05
As you can see by Capt. David's report and this one, the bite has miraculously turned back on after taking a three day break over the weekend. It's funny how it can be so good and then suddenly the weather shifts and winds go north and east and it totally dies. You know the fish are there, but I guess they just go into total lockdown. Yesterday, the winds swung from the SE to the S and SW and there they were. Same places as last week and just as hungry and just as big. The bite of big fish I've been talking about for the past month that was overdue and running a month behind is here. It started last week around the 5th, which if you go by history, every year this body of fish shows up right around the Jolly Mon tournament (1st weekend in July), thus further support that indeed the Kings are moving one month behind almost to the date. I too was fishing at the 70 foot hole yesterday along with Capt. Hook and Capt. Roger and we had nonstop action from Kings including several in the 20's and one that was close to 30 pounds that lived to see another day. On that note, I'd like to recognize Capt. David and Alan for a great job in releasing the monster King they caught yesterday. I've always been advocate of releasing the big ones if you all you're looking for is a meal-- the big ones are not as good to eat and why kill it if you don't have to. Capt. David got a great picture and hopefully that fish will live to make many more Kings and maybe one day either die of old age or be at the top of a leaderboard. We caught Kings on live bait (Pogys off Holden Beach) and then when the action slowed due to storm clouds and wind, we switched to dead bait and although the fish weren't as big, the action was just as fast.
Be sure to check out my Swordfish Rally idea-- if I can get enough people interested, we'll go for it--
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"What a King" | Capt. Hook | 08/09/05
Man what a day. We left the Fishing Center and the skies were all but black. We headed down Holden beach and caught bait about halfway to the Pier. Then I looked at radar to try to come up with a game plan. The 90—90 area looked pretty good so that’s where we started. We caught a couple of Kings in the 8 to 10 pound range and decided to move to deeper water since the skies had cleared a bit. We threw our spread out in 68 to 70 feet of water and caught a released a couple of teenage fish and the bite was on pretty fair. Brant and Barrett were fishing the same area and we all were doing well. Then we had a fish hit a top line and come easing by, passed the boat and was heading offshore at a slow pace, I stepped up realizing the drag was very loose and gave the star a little spin for the gentleman and when the fish felt the pressure the race was on!! The fish made several blitzing runs and then began the up down stuff. When I first laid eyes on the fish I knew it was stud bolt. I told the guys on the radio it was over 40, but when Sumo got his hands on and lifted it in the boat for a picture I knew it was in the high forties and that is conservative!! This doesn’t happen everyday it was a beautiful King we released it to fight again. Stay Tuned!!
- Capt. David Hooks
"Lately" | Capt. Hook | 08/08/05
We have been catching some good sized Kings right before the tournaments!! Last week the bite was fairly good all week but great on Friday. Several big Kings were caught in 60 to 70 feet of water from the Shark hole all the way down to the Jungle. We had a mid to high twenties fish and felt good about the tourney the next day. After a struugle to get bait Saturday Morning we headed to the spot! We caught a couple of teenagers early and then the wind swung around to the eastern and the fish shutdown cold!! That shows you will never know!! Stay Tuned!
- Capt. David Hooks
"Weekend Summary" | Show Time | 08/07/05
After a very hot couple of king fishing days on Thursday and Friday, things cooled off slightly for the weekend as soon as the wind switched to the East. Although the size and numbers were not as impressive as a few days ago, we were able to find fish willing to bite around the Christina's Ledge, Shark Hole, and the Jungle. The hot spot for this weekend's Frantic Atlantic tournament out of Little River, SC would have to be the Cape Fear River Channel with several fish over 30 lbs. being caught. The spanish mackeral and barracuda bite is still going on though, as we caught quite a few on this morning's 3 hour trip. We will be back out there again tomorrow with hopefully great things to report back at the dock!
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"spanish around the 3mi." | Mac Marle'n | 08/05/05
On our afternoon trip today, Capt. Roger and myself had quite a bit of luck with the spanish bite, we also had some quite happy anglers as well. In 2hrs and 30 mins. we were able to limit out on the spanish and were able to catch and release some of the cuda's that inhabit the area as well. This all went down around the 3mi. artifical reefs so go out and catch you some.
- First Mate- Ryan Strickland
"Eurekkkkaaaaa !!!" | Show Time | 08/04/05
It happened TODAY. The flood gates opened and the King Mackerel that have been on and off but never really here all season showed up and were very hungry. All of our charter boats had lots of Kings today ranging from 6-23 pounds with the average fish in the 12 pound range. There were also quite a few Mahi caught today as well. The hotspots--- Shark hole was on fire and so was the Jungle. Both spots were loaded with huge schools of red minnows and tons of Spanish and Bonito feeding on the minnows. The ocean was alive and as soon as you got around the red minnows it was Kingfish crazy action. Live bait or dead bait it didn't really matter (the Pogys were between Shallotte Inlet and the Holden Beach pier this AM). So, maybe this is the big break and the action will be super strong for weeks to come. I don't know for sure, but I can say today was a day I can say I enjoyed being a charter captain-- flat seas and screaming reels.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"summer fishing" | Mac Marle'n | 08/02/05
After an extremely hot week last week, these past few days of cooler weather have been a welcome change. I haven't noticed much of a difference in the fishing since last week, we are still catching the usual suspects, medium kings, huge spanish, and lots of barracuda. The live pogies have been around but I have found that cigar's, dead and alive, have produced the most kings. Try a blue and white skirt somewhere in your spread also.
- First Mate- Ryan Strickland
"Today's Report" | Capt. Hook | 08/01/05
We had a hard time finding bait this morning so we headed on without it. We fished in 70 feet of water and caught some nice kings on dead cigars. On the second trip we fished for spanish about a mile south of the Shallotte Sea Buoy and I thought they were going to chew the bottom of the boat out. They were all nice sized keepers!! Stay Tuned.
- Capt. David Hooks
"Today's Report" | Show Time | 07/29/05
After a rather slow morning at the Jungle, we found a steady afternoon bite at the Bill Perry Reef. Kings ranged in size from 8-20 lbs, as well as a few 10 lb. mahi's thrown in for good measure. The fish bit live pogies, live cigar minnows, or dead cigar minnows equally as well. Bait was once again hard to find but we did manage a bunch of small pogies in front of Pelican Point Marina.
- Capt. Bryan Williams
"Today's Report" | Capt. Hook | 07/26/05
We did well with the Kings again today in about 70 feet of water and pulled a "grown" Barracuda off the 7 mile boxcar. Bait was at Shallotte Inlet and easy to get. Stay Tuned!!
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Another firsherman's big catch-- keep them coming-" | Carolina Contender | 07/26/05
Capt Brant,
This seems to be the week for exciting fish. Fishing this past Saturday afternoon in the neighborhood of the 90/90 on board the Pharma Sea, anglers Bart Norwood and Lee Rogers had an unexpected thrill with this big Sail. Lee's girlfriend Bridgette captured the great photography. Fish was caught using a dead cigar on top.
Thanks for a great website!
-Bart
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"" | Capt. Hook | 07/25/05
We have been doing real well with the Kings. They are also getting a bit bigger and more aggressive! 50 to 70 feet of water seem to be the Magic Numbers!!
- Capt. David Hooks
"Another firsherman's big catch-- keep them coming" | Carolina Contender | 07/25/05
Thought you would like to see a picture of our good fortune this past Friday. We were on Chris Dawson's boat the MISS JANELLE fishing at the general sherman. We landed nine kings and one beautiful sailfish our first. The picture shows Chris on the left and Eric Barnes who fought the sail for about thirty minutes. He hit a live sardine minnow right behind the boat. Thanks for the web site and all the helpful info.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
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