Capt. Brant's Fishing Report
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For those who may have interest in our Traveling Fisherman program, we now have our dates set for the 2010 trip to Panama. As posted earlier on the OIFC fishing report the trip is slated to visit the Paradise Fishing Lodge in Panama where we will be fishing the surrounding waters of Coiba Island, the legendary Hannibal Banks, and Montosa Island. The trip consists of 5 nights in the Paradise Lodge resort and 4 full days fishing. We will depart the US on Sunday, March 14th and arrive at the resort that evening. Fish days are Monday, March 15th thru Thursday, March 18th and the return trip to the US is Friday, March 19th. If anyone would like to stay longer that option is available. We have put this extraordinary trip together with the purpose of giving OIFC friends an opportunity to travel to one of the most incredible fishing destinations on Earth with a group of familiar faces with a common background of being Carolina fishing enthusiasts. In addition to researching and finding a great operation with top shelf fishing action, we have been fortunate enough to secure the trip at a bargain. The cost of the trip will vary depending upon how many you choose to fish on each boat. The recommended number of fishermen per boat is 3. The price per person for 3 fishermen per boat is $2600. This price includes everything including; three meals per day, boat food, boat drinks, evening drinks (includes alcohol), 5 nights in Paradise Fishing Lodge, and 4 days fishing. It does not include air fare from the US to Panama City, gratuity for the boat crews and gratuity for the resort staff. Also, we will be provided a charter bus from Panama City to the resort, which all travelers will share the cost. Once again we have 15 spaces to fill. In order to hold a space contact Barrett via email. For more details email me.
Trip Dates: March 14th, 2010 - March 19th, 2010
Cost: 3 Anglers Per Boat $2600 per person
Contact: Barrett McMullan
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Dates Set" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
March 14th, 2010 - March 19th, 2010
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Panama Wrap Up" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
The dust has settled, my feet are back on the ground and I've had ample opportunity to reflect back on trip #1 for the Traveling Fisherman. It's funny, while in the moment you find yourself occassionally complaining about petty issues and making comments such as "if we had our equipment" or "if we had this fishing at home" ect. After you separate yourself from the moment though and have time to think back on the experience you see the trip for what it was meant to be and what it was- an adventure. If everything was just like home what's the purpose of traveling half way around the world for a new experience? My overall opinion of the Panama adventure aboard the Coral Star was that it was truly an awesome experience. We may have had our expectations set a little high, but when it was all said and done we had great fishing, great accomodations, great food, unbelievable scenery, and a unique opportunity to experience a part of the world that most will never see.
Fishing: From a pure fishing perspective I was anticipating more action, but not the quality of fish we encountered. What we lacked in quantity we certainly made up for in quality. Apparently with the use of such large baits (5-8lb bonitos), the sailfish action is diminished. I believe there are a ton of sailfish in that area, but most of the fishing is targeted mainly at marlin so we don't get as many bites as you would if fishing with smaller baits. And when you do get bites from sails they have a difficult time choking down the bait so the hookup ratio is not good. For me personally this was what I would prefer. I would rather fish all day for a couple marlin bites than catch 10 sailfish. But, that opinion probably differs from person to person. I would like to see the Coral Star operation equip their boats with tackle that would allow them to target sails if the customer desired. Such equipment would be ballyhoo, dredges, and smaller plastics. The rod and reels were completely sufficient. They had mostly Penn and Avet reels in the 30 to 50 wide range with Seeker rods. Depending on the angler's choice it'd be nice to have a better selection of light tackle. It's difficult though to pull out the light tackle when the next bite may be a grander black. The terminal tackle, and lures left a little to be desired. On my next trip I will carry an assortment of lures. The mothership deal is absolutely the way to go. Each morning we awoke, had breakfast, boarded the sport fish boats and were fishing within 50 yards of the mothership. There were absolutely no runs to the fishing grounds. In fact at times in the evening aboard the mothership you could watch billfish crashing baits from the uppder deck. At lunch time we would come back to the mothership grab something to eat, maybe a nap, cool off and then hit them again in the afternoon. Again, this is my opinion, but to me fishing is about more than just racking up the numbers and seeing how many fish you can catch. I put a lot of value in the style of fishing. While trolling plastics and ballyhoo seemed like a very effective method for catching sails and marlin, I much preferred the live baiting method. Once I figured out how to properly feed a bait back to a fish, the hookup ratio was much improved. It really put a lot more feel into when you have to free line an 8lb bonito into a slashing marlin's mouth. You could feel the difference between a sail billing a bait and a marlin sucking one down. Watching a big bonito get nervous and then seeing the tell tale bang on the rod was awesome. For the week the offshore fish captures are as follows:
3 Blue Marlin to 550lbs, 6 Black Marlin to 500lbs, 17 sails to 130lbs, 5 yellowfin tuna to 275lbs. The inshore fishing yielded snapper, roosterfish and jacks for most anglers.
Accomodations/Food: From the hotel in Panama to the living arrangements aboard the ship, I thought the accomodations were more than acceptable. The rooms and bathrooms on the ship were definitely tight to say the least, but we were usually so tired from fishing that it didn't really matter. We spent little time in our rooms other than to sleep. The upstairs outdoor dining and bar was where most of our time was spent while on board the Coral Star. Being more than 50 miles away from the mainland made for great sunsets and star filled skys which we took in nightly from the upper deck. Chef Andy treated us well on the meals. We had fresh fish most nights which was excellent. If we ate on the sport boats during the day we typically had ham sandwiches and fresh fruit. There was some difficulty each day in making sure everybody had their beverages of choice, but for the most part that was overcome.
Travel/Logistics: The getting to and from our destination was quite an undertaking. It seemed like we kept moving from plane, to bus, to boat, to bigger boat ect. This was definitely an adventure to some of the most remote areas in the world. With all the opportunities for logistical travel problems I thought everything went rather smooth. The Starlite travel group who guided us through Panama City was a major help. The only travel issues came from the sport boats that seemed to be on their last mechanical legs. To their credit though, the crew was resourceful. They kept their boats running with duct tape and bubble gum but never missed any fishing time.
Crew: I felt the sport boat Captains and their mates were great. They were super friendly, entertaining, and really cared about producing fish. After some initial jostling and sizing up they were very receptive to our input on fishing techniques and intricacies. Capt. Don, who was at the helm of the Coral Star kept us safe and navigated his ship to the closest safe anchoring location to the fishing grounds. He was very in tune to the conditions and kept the ship running in an orderly manner.
I very much enjoyed this excursion and I believe the rest of the traveling fishermen would concur. There are a few things I will do different when I return, but overall the concept is very attractive for serious fishermen who want to experience new fisheries and see new turf. A few things I might do different would be to bring more of my own tackle, try to arrange the trips where there would be no mates just us to run the cockpits, and lastly perhaps shorten the adventure by one day.
It's now safe to say The Traveling Fisherman program is a success. We had a great experience in Panama with a great group of OIFC fishing friends and we look forward to more adventures in the near future. Currently I am working on the late 08 and 09 Traveling Fisherman program. We are hoping to add a couple trips this year with excursions taking place in September, and then maybe a couple between January and March. If anyone out there has any suggestions on new and exotic fishing locations to check out please email me at mailto:captbarrett@oifc.com">captbarrett@oifc.com>. My criteria for selecting the next destinations include great fishing, peak season, unique fishery or fishing experience, remote locations, attractive fishing styles, and quality accomodations. I have several excursions in the works currently and as soon as I finalize a date I will post the details here.
Until the next adventure, Traveling Fisherman signing off
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Pics" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Panama Report Day 8" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
Day 8 Friday 2/15/08:
This morning the Starlite Travel folks woke us up at the Marbella and loaded us on their shuttle bus for the Panama City airport. We all ended up on the same Delta flight to Atlanta, which was on time and smooth. Back in Atlanta everybody collected their gear and went separate ways all heading for home in North Carolina, South Carolina or Georgia. As for me I was ready to pet my dog and sleep in my own bed so I hit the highway and made the 6 hour drive back to good old Ocean Isle Beach. Although leaving 80+ degree sunny weather was difficult especially when returning to 40 degrees and raining, I am glad to be home. After being away from the US for over a week and pretty much secluded from real life as we know it, it is almost surreal driving up and down the highway seeing all of the commercialization and the organized chaos of our society. It's amazing that you can be removed from your typical day to day life for just a week and the affect it has. I feel like it's going to take a couple days to get my feet back on the ground and back in the flow. I'm going to take a couple days now to reflect on the experience and will report back with my opinions and thoughts on the adventure and what the future holds for the Traveling Fisherman.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Panama Report Day 7" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
Day 7 Thursday 2/14/08:
Today was our last day with the Coral Star. The game plan was to fish the morning until noon and then make the trip back up the river to David. From there we were to hop on a plane for Panama City where we would spend the night before returning to home. At breakfast Capt. Don shared some interesting info with us. Apparently there had been riots in downtown Panama City yesterday evening between the construction workers union and the police. He said they were still collecting information but so far the plan was to continue on with our original arrangements. It certainly made us a little nervous but I guess this is the type of things you potentially deal with when you travel to a 3rd world country. Everybody seemed to have a different fishing or travel objective so we scattered onto the sport boats and headed out around 6am. Ray Boyd, Jared Boyd and Yorke Pharr opted to get an early start on returning home so they left the Coral Star with Tito and returned to David. They jumped on Ray's jet and headed for home. Forest Taylor, Richard McCrae and Tony McCrae were with Juan and Juan decided to hunt the inshore fishing scene. Todd Helf, Brian Richard and Robert Hughes were with Capt. Alexis and also were on the hunt for rooster fish. Brant and Robby Dial were bound and determined to find a marlin for Robby so they went with Capt. Kidd and headed offshore to Ladrones. Rube, Tommy Lytton, Todd Schadd and I went with Capt. Chaca with a mixed plan of trying for marlin and sails at Ladrones early on the tide change and then switch over to bottom fishing the rest of the morning. Yesterday evening several of the guys loaded up a floating live well with live goggle eyes and blue runners. Each of the boats that were inshore fishing or bottom fishing split the live baits this morning and headed out. We made the 45 minute ride from Paridas out to Ladrones first thing, located live bonitos and deployed a spread. We fished the bonitos for about an hour and a half with only one strike from an aggressive Cubera snapper. After making a good effort on the top water action we moved a little closer to the island dropped down live goggs and chunk bait for whatever was on the bottom. Interestingly the Capt's down there preferred to target snapper without any lead weights. They hook a bait and then just start free lining until a snapper strikes. We tried with and without lead weight but without seemed to work best. We caught a multitude of bottom species including 3 different types of snappers. We didn't find any monster cuberas and the action wasn't red hot. Around noon we headed back in and up the river towards David. About half way up the river we saw Capt. Kidd limping in as they had encountered an engine problem. After a valiant effort to fix the problem the decision was made that we were running short on time so Brant and Robby jumped on board with Capt. Chaca and us and made tracks for David. They had fished hard all morning but never were able to find that elusive marlin for Robby. We arrived back to the Coral Star which was already in port at David about 2:00pm. The cook Andy had a farewell barbeque going for us and we quickly ate, packed our bags and said our goodbyes to the Captains and crew. Robert, Todd and Brian had a successful day on the inshore circuit catching 2 nice roosters and a big cubera. Forest, Richard and Tony also had success inshore fishing with action from rooster fish. Sam, Capt. Tito's, mate extraodinaire and airport manager guided us through the small airport and David and sent us on our way. We arrived in Panama City this evening and were once again met by the Starlite Travel group. They helped us locate our luggage and got us back to the hotel Marbella. Most of the team walked down the street for a nice dinner in bustling Panama City. There was no evidence of any unrest or hostility in our area from the previous day's riots so were able to explore the nightlife. After dinner we ventured to the casino one more time where Robert and Forest schooled me on the intricacies of crapps. After I lost my money I headed back to the hotel and most of the other guys did the same as everyone is pretty worn out and ready to head home. We have another early wake up tomorrow with our flight departing Panama City for Atlanta at 8:30am. It's been quite a journey and awesome experience so far. I'm sure once I have time to reflect on the entire trip I'll have an even greater appreciation for all aspects of the adventure. For now, I'm glad to be heading back to the US.
Thanks to Brian Richard for the pics.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"More Panama Pics" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
Panama Pictures
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Panama Report Day 6" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
Day 6 Wednesday 2/13/08:
Today we got another early start. After a Capt. Don original wake up call, Andy had a big warm breakfast ready to go. We were on the water by 6:15 and had bait and fishing for marlin and sail by 6:30. I was aboard Capt. Alexi's boat with Rube and Robby Dial. The weather was perfect today. The temps were still warm but it was overcast which made the heat much more bearable. Today the plan was to fish around Montosa until about 2pm and then we had to start making the run back to Paridas a couple hours away. The action started quick for us. Right off the bat we missed a sail that couldn't choke down the big live bonito we were using for bait. Just a few minutes later the excitement really began. I had brought with me a shimano Trevalla jigging rod with a Shimano Torsa reel spooled with 500 yards of 80lb braid. These rods are extremely slinder but unbelievably strong. I had decided that today I was going to give her a chance and put a live bonito on the combo. I had the bait on this rod placed in the short position when the rod tip gave away the signal that a bill had just struck the bait. I quickly threw the reel in free spool and the fish definitely was carrying the bait away. Then all of a sudden the line went slack. I knew the fish had my bait so I advanced the drag and tried to come tight. At the same time the outrigger bait popped out of the clip and Rube freelined it. About that time the Capt gunned the boat I had come tight and a beautiful 300+ lb blue marlin broke the surface right behind the boat. Rube also had now come tight and we were both hooked up. We quickly figured out the same marlin had eaten both of our baits so we gave him the double team. The fish went ballistic as he ran and jumped so fast away from the boat he caused the Avet reel that Rube was using to heat up so much that it left a burn mark on the inside of his arm the size of a baseball. In the madness the acorbatic marlin had made a b-line towards a 65 foot Viking private boat that was fishing nearby. The fish showed no signs of stopping and actually jumped and hit the side of the huge sportfisher. The fish then went down for a few seconds and resurfaced jumping again right in the middle of the sportfish's spread. Nevertheless we both stayed tight and proceeded to gain back our line. Within 20 minutes the 30lbs of drag I had on the marlin slowed him down and inched him to the boat. At the boat the fight took on another life as the mate and Capt. Alexis grabbed the bill and went for a ride. Eventually the hooks were removed and off he went. Marlin are incredible fish. Personally I'd rather fish all day and catch 1 marlin than catch 10 sailfish. We put the lines back out and again it didn't take long until a sailfish came barrelling through our spread. He disappeared for about 5 minutes then my rod's bait went suspiciously slack and I free spooled. After 20 seconds of feeding I came tight on the sail and Robby Dial went to work and quickly handled the 100+ lb sail. This sail was unique in that it didn't have a bill. I went to grab his bill to bring him in for a picture but due to a deformity this sail had no upper bill. We took a few pictures and sent him on his way. About an hour later the big school of porpois moved into the area which meant tuna time. Several of the other boats nearby hooked up on big tuna but we never got the bite. However, we did end up in the middle of blitzing yellowfin in the 30 to 80 lb range. They were jumping all around the boat but weren't big enough to eat our baits. So Rube took a surface popper on a spinning rod and cast into the school. No sooner did the lure hit the water did it get eaten. Rube made short work of the 40lb yellowfin on spin gear. We fished a couple hours more missing one more sail that was tailing. It was then time to make the 2 hour run back to Paridas. On the way back we stopped at another set of islands called Ladronas or "Island of Thieves". We fished for a short time but had no success. We made one drop on a piece of bottom on the way in and captured a rock snapper about 8lbs. When we returned to the mothership at our original location at Paridas we found we had new company. The mothership and sportboat from the Go Fisch operation had anchored right next to us in the protected cove. The Go Fisch is the operation that you see on ESPN on salt water Sunday that travels around the world to the most secluded and incredible fishing destinations. By dark all of our crew had returned and we took our positions at the upper deck bar and began the run down from the day's activity. Brian Richard, Todd Helf and Robert Hughes had a slow day catching only one dolphin and losing a big yellowfin for a total of 1 point with Juan and Juan. Richard McCrae, Tony McCrae and Forest Taylor caught one sail, three dolphin and missed two other bites with Capt. Chaca for a 5 point total. Tommy Lytton, Yorke Pharr and Todd Schadd caught one sail, three dolphin and missed an incredible nine billfish bites for a total of 5 points with Capt. Kidd. Rube, Robby and I ended with 7 point with Capt. Alexis. Today's winner was Brant, Jared Boyd and Ray Boyd fishing with Capt. Tito and Sam. They won with one fish an estimated 500lb black marlin that Jared did battle with. We had mixed results today with some boats having significant action and others just didn't find the fish. Tomorrow is our last day. We will fish until about noon and then make our way back up the river and to David where the mothership will be at port refueling. Some of us are going to give the offshore fishing one last try around Ladrones while others are going to hit the inshore scene and try for roosters and cubera snapper. Montosa was an incredible fishing destination. There probably aren't too many places in the world where you can go and have shots at multiple marlin day after day. We never really busted into a large number of fish but the quality made up for the lack of quantity. We'll give it one more shot tomorrow but I think everybody is just about ready to get their feet on solid ground. It's been a long, fun week out here but there's no place like home.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"More Pics" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
So far I have been posting pictures from the Panama trip that I had taken with my camera and also pictures from Yorke Pharr's camera. I just got in a whole new set with pictures from Brian Richard. Brian fished with Todd Helf and Robert Hughes all week and had a variety of catches. I'll continue to post pictures as I receive them.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Panama Report Day 5" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
Day 5 Tuesday 2/12/08:
Today we woke up a little earlier around 5am so we get on the water sooner. The bite has been best in the morning and we wanted to try and take advantage of all the daylight. At 6:00am I was boarding Capt. Chaca's boat with Brant and Robby and Dial. We started the day like the others before by trolling small squid squirts for bonito that we needed for bait. Within a few minutes of leaving the mothership we had 4 lively bonitos kicking in the tuna tubes. Capt Chaca picked up speed and headed offshore of Montosa about 2 miles. He spotted a massive school of porpoise and zigged and zagged through the school. We couldn't really figure out what he was doing but all of a sudden he says "aqui' aqui'" which means here here. We dropped 3 baits in the water. Two were on 50 wide Avet reels and one was on Brant's OIFC custom combo with a 30TLD and custom gulf stream rod. Apparently Chaca's plan was to find the very front of the school of porpoise and then deploy baits. He later told us that the big yellowfin tuna stay underneath the porpoise. They come thru in waves, feeding and moving fast. He likes to put baits out in front of the porpoise that way the whole school will pass by our baits. Less than 10 minutes later 2 baits get nervous. When you're fishing with 5-8lb bonitos you know when a bait gets nervous. Then at the same time both baits get whacked. It's not like a billfish bite that picks the bait up and carries it away. These fish nail the baits and stripping them from the hooks and off they go. Chaca explains "grande tuna". Before we had time to try and figure out what happened the third bait gets hammered. This time we free spool for 20 seconds and Chaca hits the throttles. The drag is advanced and the rod doubles. He's on! The 50 Avet is smoked as Robby takes his place in the fighting chair. For over an hour Robby does battle with the huge yellowfin tuna. The fight of the the yellowfin is exactly the same as that of a bluefin tuna. The fish runs hard at first staying up. Next he darts around confused as to what is going on. Finally he goes deep and begins the tuna spiral. After just over an hour Robby inches the fish to within sight. This is by far the largest yellowfin I've seen and looked to be in the 80" range. We guessed the fish to be in at least the 275lb class. The mate took hold of the leader and right as he had the yellowfin coming to the gaff the 300lb leader popped. It was an official catch and the monster tuna swam back down to the depths. We fished another hour or so without anymore action and decided to head back to the mothership for lunch and a short siesta. On the mothership we met with several of the other guys who all had a good morning fishing. Rube, Ray Boyd, and Jared Boyd were headed out but they were going to explore Montosa first. They took a fishing boat close to the island and then swam in the rest of the way while the tide was slack. Brant, Robby and I grabbed some lunch and then a nap. About 2:00 we jumped back on with Chaca and went for round two refreshed and ready for action. It didn't take long for the plan to pay off. Brant's OIFC custom setup gets popped. He free lines the big bonito for a few seconds, feels the fish take the bait then advances the drag. He came tight on the fish and the fish headed for the high country. About 300yards away he broke the surface and revealed he was a 300lb black marlin. The combo was spooled 450yards of braid and mono and we needed every inch. Finally we got the boat turned and ran down the angry marlin. He jumped at least 10 times while Brant did everything he could to keep the line tight. Within 30 minutes the massive marlin was boatside where we took some video and sent him on his way. The rest of the afternoon we jumped off two sails and caught 1 dolphin. Back at the mothership we enjoyed fresh tuna sashimi and started the story process from the day of fishing and exploring. While most of us were fishing Ray Boyd spent the afternoon on Montosa talking with the "squatter" on Montosa. By the time he left he was in deep negotiations to buy the island. On the fishing front it was another decent day for everybody. Tommy Lytton, Yorke Pharr, and Todd Schadd caught only 1 dolphin but missed 3 billfish bites and 2 other bites with Tito for a total of 1 point. Rube, Ray and Jared missed one sailfish, caught a small yellowfin tuna and Jared landed a monster yellowfin estimated at 275lbs for a total of 3 points with Capt. Lexi. Todd Helf, Robert Hughes, and Brian Richard fished with Capt. Kidd and Grouper and had a decent day. Brian landed a 160lb yellowfin tuna and then just 5 minutes later they were attacked by a 400lb blue marlin that ate a trolled plastica and this time Todd Helf was on the rod. They caught one more small yellowfin and missed another marlin for a total 7 points. Brant, Robby and I ended the day with one giant yellowfin, one dolphin, and one black marlin for a total of 8 points. The day's winner for a second time this week was Forest Taylor, Richard McCrae, and Tony McCrae who fished with Juan and Juan and caught 2 sailfish and an estimated 550lb blue marlin. Richard was on duty for the enormous marlin and had him whipped in 45 minutes. This team accumulated 12 points. Dinner tonight was fresh seared yellowfin tuna that cook Andy prepared just right. Tomorrow we are fishing around Montosa until about 2:00pm and then we have to start making our way back to Paridas. We're going to get an early start again tomorrow so we can get as much morning fishing in as possible.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"More Day 4 pics" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
More Pics from Day 4 in Montosa
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Panama Report Day 4" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
Day 4 Monday 2/11/08:
Today was our first day of waking up at Isla Montosa which was just a few minutes from fishing grounds. We woke at 5:30 and Andy once again had an impressive breakfast for us. By 6:30 we were loading all of gear, food, and drinks on the boats for a full out fishing effort off Montosa. As soon as we cleared the mothership the lines were put in the water. Today I fished with Rube and Robby Dial with Capt. Kidd and his mate Rupert a.k.a Grouper. Kidd and Grouper were a totally different story than what I had experienced the day before. These guys were on point and it was obvious they had plans to catch some fish today. Kidd spoke a little English so I was able to get his philosophy which differed a little from the other Captains. He liked pulling plastics and other lures especially if he had ballyhoo. He had been in Costa Rica the week before and brought back a few ballyhoo that we were using. Kidd and Grouper put out 12 lines including the lures used to target bonito, large plastics for billfish and one small islander with a ballyhoo. It didn't take long for this approach to payoff as less than 1 mile from the mothership we found the dolphin. For the next couple hours we trolled and hammered the dolphin all in the 25 to 30lb class. In the middle of the dolphin chaos we were attacked by sailfish 3 times and finally made one of them pay. Robby Dial did work on his second sailfish in two days and second one ever. He made short work of the 100lb bill and sent her on her way. Once that sail was caught it seemed like the billfish really started to show. Until about 11:30am we saw marlin in sailfish everywhere we looked. Some would come through our spread, some were free jumping and some were hooked up on other boats. Sometime around mid morning I was standing in the tower looking out front of the boat where I had already seen a few free jumpers when the water exploded about 400 yards ahead. It was then I saw the largest fish I had ever seen. I don't have a lot of experience guessing weights on billfish but this black marlin greyhounded twice and his head was more than 3 feet from top to bottom. It had to be in 800+lb class. We trolled towards the jump, but were not able to get the bite. Less than an hour later our turn finally came on a marlin bite. Rube had the ballyhoo rig in his hand on a small Avet reel with 100lb braid when the big boy came thru. He made one swipe and then headed for the high country. Rube held on while line disappeared off the reel. For 30 seconds the fish burned it down then he jumped and spit the hook. We learned quick it happens fast and you have to be watching all the time. Most of our action was before noon as we spent the afternoon trolling looking for activity. Kidd and Grouper entertained us with stories of their lives and families. At day's end we had captured 10 dolphin, 1 sail, missed 5 billfish bites and seen a total of 11 billfish. Fishing was good today. We returned to the mothership about 5:30 and greeted the other crews as they returned. Everybody seemed to have a good fishing just on first reports. However, Yorke, Tommy, and Todd were not back yet. By 7:00pm everyone had returned and the fish stories began. Todd Helf, Robert Hughes, and Brian Richard were with Capt. Tito and Sam and managed 3 sail releases, 1 dolphin, missed a marlin and saw another marlin for a total of 7 points. Next was Ray Boyd, Jared Boyd and Brant fishing with Juan and Juan. They captured an impressive two black marlin one at 300 and one at 400lbs plus one sail and missed 5 other billfish bites for a total of 10 points. Third place was yesterday's winners Forest Taylor, Richard McCrae, and Tony McCrae with Capt. Alexis. They had 7 dolphin, and 1 black marlin estimated at 450lbs caught by Richard. According to Forest the black crashed a trolled plastic and drug Richard across the deck where the back of the boat stopped his momentum. They had the fish whooped in 30 minutes. Rube, Robby and I came in second with 12 points with our 10 dolphin and two sails. Today's winners were Yorke Pharr, Tommy Lytton, and Todd Schadd fishing with Capt. Chaca. The reason they were late getting in was that around 6:00 just a few hundred yards from the mothership they had 400+lb black marlin visit them. Tommy was on rod duty and battled the beast for 30 minutes before bringing him alongside for release. This crew accumulated 17 points with 9 dolphin, 1 black marlin release, 2 sail releases and they reported missing 3 more marlin and 4 sails. Overall the action was steady for everybody. We all missed a bunch of fish but I think we are mostly missing sails that are having trouble getting the large baits in their mouths. After another great dinner we had a team meeting to discuss a variety of topics. First it is agreed the tournament rules need some adjusting. We limit the amount of dolphin and tuna that count towards your point total to 3 per boat. Next most of us decide that we will come in for a couple hours during the middle of the day and eat lunch and take a nap. The heat in the middle of the day is tough and the fishing seems to be dead so taking a siesta is a good plan. Ray Boyd, Jared Boyd and Rube negotiate with the Capt and get approval to go explore Isla Montosa tomorrow. They will take one of the fishing boats in close then jump off and swim to the island. After all the business is taken care of we all shared stories of the day's events. By 9:00 I'm exhausted and ready for bed. Today was a good day. The fishing was much better, the equipment held up and everybody's spirits were up. Hopefully tomorrow will bring more of the same.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Panama Report Day 3" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
Day 3 Sunday 2/10/08:
It is our first morning waking up on the Coral Star. Our wake up call consisted of Capt. Don banging on doors and announcing "we are buring daylight" at 5:30am. Sleeping is difficult the first night probably due to the excitement of the day's fishing ahead and the sardine can of a room with 2 inch mattresses on the beds. That problem would soon go away as I'm sure we are going to be exhausted after a day of fishing. After wake up we head to the dining room where we enjoy a full breakfast whipped up by Andy in the galley. By 6:30am we are loading onto our designated sportfish boats. Anybody who brought some of their own gear loaded it on their boat, but for the most part all the boats had a good selection of rod and reels. They carried Penn reels, Avet reels, and Seeker rods. Today I was fishing with Ray Boyd and Jared Boyd aboard Capt. Tito's 28' Pursuit. We left the protected waters at Paridas and made the 2 hour run until we were within a few miles of Panamas most remote island Isla de Montosa. According to Tito this is where most of the action had been occurring over the past few weeks. Apparently Hannibal Banks, where I thought we would be fishing, had not been producing due to current flow. All 5 of the sportfish boats in our group spread out over a 10 mile stretch in hopes of locating the fish. When we stopped we threw in two rods with small squid squirts that we were using in hopes of catching bait. Also we put in a standard cedar plug and a couple big marlin plastics and started trolling about 7 knots. The idea I came to find was to troll around until you ran across a school of bonito and then try to catch 3 or 4 and put them in the tuna tubes on the back of the boat to keep them alive. Next they slow the boat down to about 3 knots and put out a spread of live bonitos. It's very similar to live bait king mackerel fishing just with much larger baits and on 50 wides. We started pulling around our spread and passed a longline boat. A few minutes later I spotted a large group of porpoise and birds feeding. We trolled all over the activity and were quickly rewarded when the cedar plug went off. I had it tied on a Shimano Torsa and Shimano jigging rod with 80lb braid I had borrowed. This little setup is pretty awesome. It is very light weight yet extremely powerful. Jared jumped on the first bite and just a few minutes later put a 30lb yellowfin in the boat and more importantly scored a sashimi dinner for us. We continued to troll the area and caught 6 more smaller yellowfin. While Jared and Ray were catching the tunas off the back I had taken a Yo-Zuri Bull GT popper to the bow and started casting to the tuna. The tunas were all over this thing but I quickly opted to put it away when at one time I looked down while we were moving slow and saw a school of about 20 yellowfin swim under the boat that were in the 200+lb range. I knew my spinning rod wouldn't be the answer. We trolled a while longer and couldn't hook up on a big tuna so we picked up and made our way to the official fishing grounds which was about 1-2 miles west of Montosa where there were numerous underwater pinnacles that the big game fish hung around. We trolled our squid squirts for a short time before we captured several bonito. Capt. Tito and his mate Sam quickly bridled the baits and deployed them. We trolled most of the day around a very fishy looking area with bonito schools crashing the top and birds and porpoise everywhere. Surprisingly there were 10-15 other boats fishing the area that were from other outfitters or private boats. The top water action was extremely slow for us and for everyone else. We missed one bite that could have been a billfish but no guarantee. The method of fishing is interesting. The large 5lb bonitos are bridled with a circle hook and deployed. The drag is set extemely loose but tight enough to keep the bait in place. If a bait gets very nervous or drag comes off the reel is thrown into freespool until you feel like the fish has taken the bait and eaten it. Next the Capt. and mate start screaming in several languages, run in circles, jump up and down and slam the throttle to the corner as the angler advances the drag and reels like mad. Although we didn't hook up today I believe I understand the process. Near the end of the day we got a knock down on a bonito and we do the freeline deal. I'm on the rod and the Capt. nails the throttles. I reel hard and the line comes tight except that it's not ripping off the reel like I was expecting. Nonetheless the crew is screaming and reeling everything in. I look back behind the boat and see whatever we have hooked up is not real big because it's spinning with the boat making 12 knots ahead. The crew regains composure and Jared takes over angling the 30lb Dog Snapper to the boat. That was it for us today. It was very disappointing as I visions of double digit sailfish and grander marlin. Oh well maybe the bite will be better tomorrow. I did see a few other boats hooked up to marlin and sails so there are fish here. We headed back to the mothership around 5:00. The others make their way in behind us and we convene on the upper deck for tuna sashimi appetizer and happy hour. Dinner tonight was steak and lobster- no complaints. The mothership is anchored in the lee of Montosa about 1 mile offshore. The landscape of this island is incredible. It's very mountainous but has white sand beaches lined with palm trees just like something out of a movie. We are told it is uninhabited except for two people claiming squatters rights who have built a small grass shack on the point of the island. After a great dinner we come clean with what each boat caught today. Tommy Lytton, York Pharr, and Todd Schadd fishing with Juan and Juan on the 28 Albemarle captured 1 30lb dolphin, 1 30lb cubera snapper, 4 mullet snapper and missed 1 marlin and 1 sailfish for a total of 1 point. Rube, Brant, and Robby Dial were fishing with Capt. Alexis aboard his 28' Pursuit and caught 1 dolphin 30lbs, 6 snapper up to 30lbs and Robby caught his first sailfish at 130lbs for a total of 2 points. They also missed one other sail that came up on a kite bait that Brant had set out which we brought from home. Todd Helf, Brian Richard and Robert Hughes caught 6 dolphin to 20lbs, 3 mullet snappers, 1 hammerhead shark, and raised two sails for a total of 6 points with Capt. Chaca. Ray Boyd, Jared Boyd and I ended up with 6 yellowfin tuna, 1 30lb snapper, and 1 missed billfish with Capt. Tito and Sam for a total of 6 points. Today's tournament winner was Forest Taylor, Richard McCrae and Tony McCrae who caught 2 dolphin to 30lbs, 4 sailfish and missed 2 sails with Capt. Kidd for a total of 10 points. There was some talk of disqualification though as we learned Capt. Kidd had ballyhoo on his boat and that was the ticket for the sails. We all hung out on the upper deck until about 9:00 and then started hitting the sack. Fishing off the back produced more blue runners but no big fish. Most everybody is too tired to mess with it anyway. Today was not a real good fishing day. I was not very impressed with the techniques or tackle on my boat. Most everybody else echoed the same thoughts. The condition of the sportfish boats was not great either to say the least. 3 of the 5 boats had mechanical problems today but to their credit, the crews are extemely resourceful as all the problems were fixed and no fishing time was missed. Hopefully the fishing will get on track tomorrow. Wake up is at 5:30.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"More Day 2 Pics" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
More pics from Day 2 in Paridas
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Panama Report Day 2" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
Day 2 Saturday 2/9/08:
The 6:15am wakeup call at the Marbella came early. Several of us were eating breakfast in the street side lobby when we spotted the missing crewmembers making their way back from a long night in Panama City. We finally rounded up all 13 in the group and the Starlite folks had our bus waiting to take us to the airport. We were once again quickly processed through the airport lines and boarded on a plane to the port city of David. A short scenic 45 minute plane ride through Panama led us over mountains, rivers and the Panama Canal. We arrived in David around 10am and met with Capt. Dan and his crew from Coral Star Expeditions. They loaded our luggage into the shuttle bus and we headed to Taz marina about 5 minutes away. At Taz we met up with the remaining 2 from our group Ray Boyd and his son Jared who flew direct from Atlanta on their jet. The Captain was anxious to get on the road becuase of a low tide issue as he explained the tidal swing on the river we would be traveling was 18 feet. Taz was little more than a couple docks tucked away in the deep jungle. We loaded the 5 sportfish boats with luggage, three passengers per boat a captain and mate. The sportfish boats are very slow, maybe 15 to 18 mph. We take another scenic hour and a half ride down the river out to the mothership that was waiting at an island called Paridas. The landscape is incredible with volcanic formed islands everywhere you look. At some point in time a serious geological event had taken place here. Once aboard the mothership we drop off our luggage, go over a quick safety briefing, grab some snacks and we're off again. This time we're headed out for some afternoon inshore fishing around the numerous rock islands. All 5 boats were targeting roosterfish, snapper, and jacks using top water plugs and live bait within a couple miles of the mothership. I was aboard Capt. Tito's 28 Pursuit with Brant and Robby Dial. In a few hours of fishing we caught a jack crevalle, missed a couple roosterfish and last several big snappers in the 30 pound range on the rocky bottom. The snappers would come to the surface and take a surface popping lure that we casted towards rock piles and then make a b-line to the bottom. Todd Helf caught a nice 25lb rooster with Brian Richard who also caught a 20lb snapper and Robert Hughes aboard Capt. Chaca's Pursuit. Tommy Lytton, Yorke Pharr, and Todd Schadd caught a small rooster and a couple snapper with Juan. Forest Taylor, Tony McCrae, and Richard McCrae caught a nice snapper with Capt. Kidd. Rube, Ray Boyd and Jared Boyd caught a couple jacks with Capt. Alexis. It was a nice warmup day for us. A good day to get our sea legs under us and get used to the boats. Once back on the mothership we were served snacks and took in happy hour as the sun set over the beautiful island of Paridas. Capt. Don struck a deal with a family passing by on their hand carved canoe for a 5 gallon bucket full of lobster we would eat for dinner the next night. Andy, the very talented cook, prepared an awesome fresh snapper dinner that Forest had caught just a couple hours earlier. After dinner Capt. Don gives us the gameplan for tomorrow, which was for the sportfish boats to take us out to Isla Montosa a couple hours away and begin our serious big game fishing. While we were fishing the mothership would move to Montosa and anchor on the lee side assuming the weather stayed nice. Next we figured out who would be fishing on what boat for tomorrow and we established rules for the tournament. We planned to have a new tournament each day. The tournament was between the 5 boats and would be based on a points system. 4 points were earned for a blue or black marlin release, 2 points for a sailfish release, 1 point per dolphin, tuna, or wahoo. Double bonus points were awarded if the marlin was estimated over 500lbs by the Capt. and for tunas over 100lbs. A few from our crew brought satellite phones and made contact with home. Darkness fell and most of the team opted to hit the bunks for some much needed rest before the real fishing began. The living quarters were not much to brag about but functional. There was a set of bunk beds in each room with a small bathroom. On the main deck was the living room, kitchen and dining room. Upstairs was the outdoor bar, eating area and sun deck. Not too many frills to the mothership, but certainly nice enough to call home for a week. Before we knock off for bed Brant, Tommy, Robert, Bryan and I try some fishing off the back of the mothership. The water is about 40 feet deep. We quickly found that the lights around the boat had attracted a multitude of fish including goggle eyes and blue runners. We had no where to store the baits so we let them go except that we put one on a balloon and one on the bottom for a few minutes. Neither bait yielded any action so we cashed in and rested up for the day ahead.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Panama Report Day 1" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
Day 1 Friday 2/8/08:
Finally after months of planning and anticipation our fishing excursion to Panama is here. I've been in Atlanta for a couple days visiting family and friends, but now it's time to start making progress south. I met up with fellow travelers Yorke Pharr, and Tommy Lytton at my dad's house in Atlanta for a carpool to the Atlanta airport. At the check in we ran into three more crewmembers Forest Taylor, Richard McCrae, and Tony McCrae who had driven down from Rockingham. We checked our bags including my fishing rod carrying case at the Delta International counter. We made our way to the concourse and found everything in order. Our plane was on time and waiting, the remaining fishermen from our group, minus Brant, had arrived, and the airport bar was conveniently located directly across from the gate. The 3 hour and 45 minute flight was relatively smooth and uneventful except for the "chicken" or "fish" option at dinner. We arrived in Panama City, Panama around 10pm and were immediately greeted by our in-country travel guide Starlite Travel Company. We received rock star treatment as they hustled us to the front of the customs line and through it in no time. They then showed us to the VIP lounge where we waited while the luggage was retrieved and packed onto our transport bus. By this time we have also met up with Brant who came in on an American Airlines flight from Miami that arrived about 20 minutes before ours. The group now 13 strong is loaded onto the shuttle bus and taken on a 20 minute ride through Panama City to hotel Marbella. The city is bigger than most of us expect with numerous high rise buildings, bright lights and construction everywhere. At Marbella the Starlite folks sort us out into our rooms and make sure all of our luggage is in the right place. Within a few minutes most of the team decides to check out the nightlife in downtown Panama City. Just a couple blocks down from the hotel is the heart of Panama City and a bustling casino. The people in this place are dressed to the 9's, the atmosphere is vibrant and cultural diversity is very apparent. Our team equipped with fishing t-shirts and jeans made themselves right at home in no time. Some opted for the bar, others for gambling, and the rest just took in the sights of this "different world." After an hour or so several of the crew walked back to the hotel for sleep while the others were last seen high fiving at the craps table. Tomorrow's, well I guess it's now today's, wake up call is at 6:15am.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"In Route" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
A quick update on the road to Panama. Our crew has successfully navigated a night in the bustling metropolis of Panama City (some better than others :) Everyone made it back from their evening excursions by departure time this morning at 7:30. Currently we are waiting at a small airstrip near Panama City for our plane to take us to the port of David where we will meet the boats. So far so good. Nothing a dark pair of sunglasses and a quick power nap can´t heal. The temperature is about 75 degrees this morning and warming quickly. We should be on the boats by noon and fishing this afternoon. We´ll try to give as many updates as we can. Signing off for now from Panama- Traveling Fishermen 2008
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Changes in latitudes, Changing in attitudes" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
The time has finally arrived. We're out of here! This evening, along with 14 other OIFC'ers, I'll be heading south to Panama City in Central America on our first Traveling Fisherman excursion. By this time tomorrow we'll be making 6 knots and keeping watch for lurking billfish underneath teasers. It's my understanding that so far this year aboard the Coral Star operation the marlin fishing has been excellent. Both Brant and I are equipped with all kinds of electronic media devices so that we're sure to bring back evidence with our stories. I will be keeping a day by day journal of the expedition and will post that journal on the Traveling Fisherman link off our website upon our return next week. Wish us luck.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Now Booking Panama!" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
After several months of logistical planning and conferring with the owners of the Coral Star Operation we have our first trip to Panama planned for 2009. The fishing days will take place February 15th - February 20th 2009. We've had tremendous interest in this trip from those who followed our adventure this past February so I expect the slots to go fast. We have room for 14 fishermen or fisherwomen on this trip. Booking is now underway. If you have interest email: captbarrett@oifc.com or 910-575-3474 ext. 4. Click here for more details or click underneath Trip Information.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"The Countdown Is On!" | OIFC.com- 36 | 04/10/08
For all you folks who follow this website I'm sure you've seen information on the exotic fishing expedition we are heading up to Panama in a couple weeks. In fact we are now exactly 2 weeks away from departure and the anticipation of a fishing paradise has all of us "Traveling Fishermen" fired up. It certainly doesn't hurt that it's February and cold enough to freeze sea spray to the bow rail at home while we are headed to a sub tropical 80+ degree billfish mecca. I apologize if my fantasizing is making anyone sick but the point is we are all excited to go to Panama and hopefully the fishing lives up to its reputation. Capt. Brant and I are going to take this opportunity fishing the fertile grounds of the Hannibal Banks to put on our journalist caps and take as much video and still shots as possible. When we return we will be posting a daily journal with pics and videos on OIFC.com to give those following a clear picture of our experience abroad. There are 15 Traveling Fishermen taking part in this excursion all of whom are "OIFC fishing friends" and cover a broad variety of backgrounds. We have the "contractors", the "real estate guys", "the "sales guys", the "fishermen" and several other categories. I'm sure there will be some sort of internal tournament competitions arranged once this crowd gets together. The standard method of big game fishing in Panama is trolling live bonita on flat lines targeting blue marlin, black marlin, sailfish and huge yellowfin tuna. We are also likely to run into giant snapper, grouper, wahoo, roosterfish, mahi and who knows what else. Keeping true to form we plan to shake things up a little from a tactical fishing approach on our excursion. While we know we can fall back on standard live bait trolling with bonitas and hopefully experience incredible action we plan to bring a little home cooking innovation OIFC style to Panama. We hope to try a few new things including top water plugging, vertical jigging, kite fishing and possibly night time swordfishing while we are there. We'll probably go to the billfishing capital of the world and catch king mackerel! We are truly excited to experience this incredible fishing destination once again and even more excited to expose our fellow Traveling Fishermen to a fishing experience like no other. There are already plans in progress for the Traveling Fishermen in late 08' and 09' so next time don't miss out on an opportunity make an escape from the winter doldrums and head to warmer latitudes!
Here is an email report we received from George Whitaker who recently traveled to Panama and fished out of another operation near our Coral Star excursion.
"Thought I would let you guys know some friends and I just returned from 4 days fishing around Coiba and Montousa. Caught 7 black marlin from 250 to 500 lbs., plus 5 sails in the 130 lb. range, plus numerous dorado and cuberra snapper. We fished out of Panama Big Game Club, which is well run with great food and accomodations. Also, I wanted to add that numerous boats from a mother ship (don't know which one) also fished around Montuosa, with everyone hooked up with marlin or sailfish at one time or another. The bite was best early morning, up till about 11:30. Then dead for a couple of hours, followed by another bite. Bonita were plentiful, and ballyhoo showed up Wed. of last week. Capt. Lee Campbell of Panama Big Game Club reported that our catch of 7 blacks made their total through January 16th come to 27 blacks for the month. One party prior to our arrival on the 12th caught a 250 lb. yellowfin."
More reports to come. Stand by.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Team is Set" | Carolina Contender- 36 | 04/10/08
Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in joining our OIFC organized fishing excursion to the remote Hannibal Banks off the coast of Panama in Central America. We have officially filled all available spots on this trip that is slated for mid February 2008. I will continually post updates with trip details and upon our return from Panama will include a detailed report and pictures. For those who wanted to participate but couldn't due to schedule conflicts or other reasons, I'm sure another opportunity is already being formulated. We are very encouraged to see the interest this program has brought forth from fishermen and we hope to offer even more exotic fishing adventures in the future. Thank you again OIFC fishing friends for helping to get the Traveling Fisherman program up and running!
2008 Panama Traveling Fisherman Team
Robby Dial
Yorke Pharr
Tommy Lytton
Todd Schadd
Robert Hughes
Todd Helf
Brian Richard
Richard McCrae
Tony McCrae
Forest Taylor
Ray Boyd
Jared Boyd
Rube McMullan
Brant McMullan
Barrett McMullan
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"1 Spot Available" | Carolina Contender- 36 | 04/10/08
It's officially cold here on the Carolina coast which makes thinking about our excursion to the lower latitudes a lot easier. In just a few short months the Ocean Isle Fishing Center's Traveling Fisherman program will be heading south to fish the fertile waters of the Hannibal Banks off the coast of Panama in Central America. We'll be chasing a variety of billfish, hugh yellowfin tuna, groupers, snappers, roosterfish and much more. We have a great team on this inaugural mission that are sure to bring back fish stories and experiences that will last a lifetime. Currently we have 14 Traveling Fishermen on board. There is 1 slot still left open for somebody who wants to join this exotic fishing adventure. If you want to fill this position I encourage you to act quickly as this is the final spot available for the OIFC group's trip. Contact me immediately if you have interest- captbarrett@oifishingcenter.com The trip is scheduled for Feb. 8th, 2008 - Feb. 15th, 2008. On the team so far:
Robby Dial
Larry Terrell
Yorke Pharr
Tommy Lytton
Todd Schadd
Robert Hughes
Todd Helf
Brian Richard
Richard McCrae
Richard's brother
Forest Taylor
Rube McMullan
Brant McMullan
Barrett McMullan
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Forming Ranks" | Carolina Contender- 36 | 04/10/08
2 more Traveling Fisherman have joined the Panama excursion leaving a total of 8 slots remaining. We need to fill these 8 slots as soon as possible in order to keep the trip an all "OIFC" excursion. Traveling Fisherman #3 for the Panama trip is Tommy Lytton of Ocean Isle Beach. Tommy has extensive experience billfishing in Central America especially Costa Rica. Traveling Fisherman #4 is Rube McMullan. Rube made this excursion about 10 years ago and couldn't pass up the opportunity to return to the fertile waters of the Hannibal Banks. I can't stress it enough, if you're planning on joining this trip or need more information please contact me as soon as possible. Thanks.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"2 Slots Available" | OIFC 1- 36 | 04/10/08
Our October 1 deadline has come and gone and the Traveling Fisherman program at the OIFC is officially in full gear. With only 2 slots remaining for the Panama excursion Coral Star Expeditions in concert with the OIFC has declared the trip a "go". The trip is slated for February 8th, 2008 - February 15th, 2008. Two final slots remain for anyone interested in jumping on board. Currently the trip is composed of all "OIFC fishing friends" and it would be great to round out the last spots with 2 more. For additional details or if you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact Capt. Barrett McMullan at captbarrett@oifishingcenter.com or 910-575-3474 ext. 4. We have a high powered team already signed up for this inaugural Traveling Fisherman event so don't miss out on this great opportunity to experience some of the most amazing big game fishing in the world. Stay tuned for further updates. The Traveling Fisherman Panama team currently consists of:
Robby Dial
Yorke Pharr
Tommy Lytton
Rube McMullan
Larry Terrell
Robert Hughes
Todd Helf
Todd Schadd
Brian Richard
Forest Taylor
Brant McMullan
Barrett McMullan
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Spots are Filling" | Carolina Contender- 36 | 04/10/08
We have our first traveling fishermen signed up for the Panama trip. Traveling Fisherman #1 is York Pharr of the Pharr Fishing Team. Traveling Fisherman #2 is Robbie Dial of the Force 5 fishing team both are Ocean Isle fishing pros and promise to do damage on the species abroad. We now have 10 slots available. I am getting many emails with questions and interest in the trip. The next 10 deposits will reserve the final slots on the Panama Coral Star Expeditions fishing excursion. Feel free to email or call with any questions.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Details Are In Place" | Carolina Contender- 36 | 04/10/08
Alright guys, we have been working with the folks at the Coral Star operation in Panama to set up the final details for the 1st Annual OIFC Hannibal Bank Excursion. The trip will commence with everyone from our group meeting in Panama on Friday February 8th, 2008. We will stay the night in Panama City and then take a short in-country flight the next morning where we will meet the mothership and head for the fishing grounds. The Coral Star folks have organized a package for us to include all accomodations, transportation, and customs from the time we touch down in Panama City and then again when we return from fishing and head back to Panama City. The fishing expedition will include 4 full days of fishing and 2 half days. We will be fishing the pristine waters surrounding the Hannibal Banks where we are likely to encounter a multitude of billfish, giant yellowfin tuna, huge grouper and snapper, roosterfish, wahoo and many others. The last day of fishing is a half day on Thursday February 14th, 2008. We will return to the marina that afternoon and by that night be back in Panama City. The next morning, February 15th, 2008 we will fly back to the States.
The costs associated with this trip are as follows:
*Coral Star Trip $4,500 per person- Includes 4 full days fishing, 2 half days fishing, (3 to a boat) accomodations during those days, meals, and boat food and beverages.
*Starlite Travel $435 per person- Includes greeting at airport and customs arrangements, 2 nights in a local hotel in Panama City (1 on the front end of the trip and 1 on the back end), transporation to and from airports on both ends of the trip, and a roundtrip in-country flight from Panama City to David where we meet the mothership.
*WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED- Travel to Panama City, gratuity for the staff and crew aboard the Coral Star, and meals in Panama City.
In order for this trip to be an OIFC exclusive trip, we must have our commitments in as soon as possible. To reserve a slot we will be taking a deposit of $1,125 which is 25% of the trip amount of $4500.
I know it is hard to make plans for February 08 in August 07 but this is a trip of a lifetime and in order to keep the trip OIFC exclusive we must act promptly. If you plan to make this trip or need additional information please contact me via email- captbarrett@oifishingcenter.com or phone 910-575-3474 ext.4. Thanks.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Taking Reservations for Panama Trip" | Carolina Contender- 36 | 04/10/08
Greetings fishermen! I wanted to remind those who might be interested in joining with fellow OIFC fishermen for the Panama trip that we are currently taking reservations. We've had a lot of interest over the past month and spaces are filling. We have 10-12 slots remaining so if you're planning on making this fishing excursion please don't wait to contact us. I can be reached via email- captbarrett@oifishingcenter.com or by phone 910-575-3474 ext.4. The trip details can be seen by clicking above on upcoming expeditions. Below is a fishing report from this past winter's trips from the folks aboard the Coral Star in Panama. Stay tuned for further updates.
So let’s talk fishing in Panama!!! In fact, let’s just talk about fishing!!! Where have you been? What have been catching??? What is on “your catch list” that you have not caught yet???
I hope you and your family are well……..
Below are some recent highlights over the past few months of fishing in Panama. Check it out!!! Are you up for it, or are you going to “miss the boat”??? DON’T DO THAT!!!!
February 10-15 gave us a double hook-up on Black Marlin, one scrappy high flying 350 pounder and one nice fat 500 pounder, also this week would land over 40 big Pacific Sailfish, among other things!!
February 24-March 1 brought in an amazing 1,000 pound Black Marlin, along with another well rounded 800 pounder. Oh Yeah, among other things!!
Overall, in the last two months, over 24 Black Marlin have been landed, along with 2 Blue Marlin and 2 Striped Marlin. 132 Pacific Sailfish and at least that many more teased up, largest Yellowfin weighed in at 270 pounds and the Dorado numbered well over 103, largest bull weighed over 60 pounds. Roosterfish are strong with over 52 landed, largest weighing in at 78 pounds and Wahoo, which typically prefer overcast skies, are still producing good numbers under clear, sunny skies! 22 nice Wahoo have been landed in February and March, largest 35 pounds. Cubera “Dog-toothed” Snapper have been outstanding, over 190 have been landed, the largest weighing in at a whopping 70 pounds! Amberjacks, Blue Jacks, Mullet Snappers, Groupers (one nice 178 pound), Pargo, Bull and White Tip Sharks, Barracudas, Pacific Black Snook and many other species numbering 170 plus…….landed!
FYI – La Nina is upon us…….so no matter where you go fishing next year???? You will not JUST BE FISHING…..YOU WILL BE CATCHING!!!!
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"My Panama Experience" | Carolina Contender- 36 | 04/10/08
Capt. Barrett McMullan-
I can testify that the fishing adventure I took to Panama with the crew of the Coral Star was without a doubt a truly unique and unforgettable experience. If I had to describe the fishery to someone who has never been to the Hannibal Banks and the nearby islands in one word I would say 'unimaginable'. I have been on this trip once back in the mid 1990's with my father Rube, and though I probably can't do the description justice in words I'll try to convey my experience the best I can.
Our adventure started in Atlanta where we hopped a plane to Miami. From Miami the next stop was Panama City, Panama in Central America. We arrived in Panama City early afternoon and did some quick sightseeing and experienced the local cuisine that evening before crashing that night at a nice hotel in the heart of the city. The next morning we were guided by a travel agent to the airport where we took a short flight from Panama City to a small coastal town called David pronounced Daveed. At David we were greeted by representatives of the Coral Star and we packed our luggage into their vehicles and headed down to the docks where we met the boat. At the docks we transferred our gear onto to the 28' sportfish boat and headed off to meet the mothership the Coral Star. My geography and memory is a little hazy at this point, but I believe we ran down an inland river for a while before getting to open water where we intercepted the Coral Star. I believe the itenerary has changed a bit now, but back then once on the Coral Star while we got aquainted with the boat and unpacked, the mothership was already making ground towards the fishing grounds. It was a 6 day trip and it was obvious the crew was ready to make sure we got the most out of every minute. We had incredible meals every night that consisted of the catch that day or if you preferred more turf than surf that was also available. Anyway, after a night where excitement blocked any hope of sleep we stepped out of our individual cabins to the outside deck to find we had traveled through the night and were now anchored about 2 miles from a mountainous island in the middle of the ocean. Finally, it was time to go fishing. Back then the Coral Star operation and recreation sport fishing the Hannibal Banks was still in the early stages of discovery. We had fished Costa Rica many times and had great days on sailfish, but we had no clue what we were about to find. The mountainous island provided a lee where the mothership was anchored in calm water. From there we boarded one of the sportfishing boats and traveled about 6 miles offshore until we reached the Hannibal Banks. It felt like we had arrived to a place on Earth where man had never been. In broken English the Captain descibed the method of fishing we would be employing and the mate quickly tossed over two small bucktail rigs on 20lb tackle while we trolled the area. We were working the Hannibal Bank area which is basically a serious of mountains and a plateau that rises from the extremely deep waters of the Pacific to about 300 feet beneath surface. About 5 minutes after putting the lines in both rods with three bucktail rigs on each bent over and line starts screaming off the reel. Dad and I are chomping at the bit at this point and quickly take action thinking 'man that was quick'! After short battles on both sides of the boat we're thinking 'ok not a bad way to start off the day two double header bonitas on each rod in the 8-10lb range for a total of 4 bonitas'. Just as we expect the mate to release the bonitas we see him and the Captain quickly scurry around the deck and say 'now we're ready'. They expertly rigged two of the bonitas on bridle rigs and deployed them in seconds so they were good and lively. Holy smokes, we are about to use these things as bait. That's when the nerves set in. It wasn't 15 minutes later when both baits started shaking the rods violently. The Captain says, 'get ready'. At that time two 120lb sailfish simultaneously engulf the monster baits and take off in opposite directions. That was just the beginning of our incredible fishing expedition to Panama. During the week we trolled huge live bonitas over the bank and had some of the most extraordinary sportfishing action imaginable. We never trolled more than 30 minutes without action. During a 3 1/2 day span of fishing the bank I caught and released a blue marlin about 350lbs, a black marlin about 250lbs, a striped marlin about 150lbs, countless sailfish in the 80 to 140lb range. For the dinner table we also caught two enormous yellowfin tuna between 180 and 220lbs. My dad also caught numerous sailfish, mahi, and a couple marlin. The top water fishing was off the charts, but maybe the most impressive thing I saw was when the Captain became frustrated after trolling the live bonitas for about 30 minutes without a bite. He tried to piece together some directions for me but just ended up putting the fighting harness on me and handed me the rod. I noticed the mate positioning himself behind me with a two handed grip on my belt. I didn't understand what we were doing at the time, but the boat was in neutral and was told to freespool the reel. After about 45 seconds the Captain and mate in unison said 'ok go'! as the mate threw the Penn International into gear. At that point I was nearly pulled out of my shoes as the rod doubled and I lunged forward and caught myself on the gunnel with my chin. After a 10 minute all out war of up and down battling, from the depth rose the biggest snapper I had ever seen. It was called a dog snapper and had to weigh over 60lbs. After witnessing my ordeal my dad had to get a piece of the action and he busted another snapper of a different species about 45lbs. So that was their version of bailing out when the top water action wasn't fast and furious. Very impressive! One morning we opted to spend the first half of the day trying out the inshore fishery around the island near where we had anchored the Coral Star. In that half day of trolling top water plugs within a 100 yards of shore we caught huge snapper, grouper in the 20-40lb range, several roosterfish between 25 and 45lbs, mackerel, and some kind of jack. In the evenings we would return to the Coral Star and tell fish stories on the upper deck where drinks and snacks were served. From the upper deck we watched the sun sink down while you could actually see sailfish busting bait and tailwalking off in the distance. While this fishing report sounds like we hit the jackpot on our trip, we were assured by the crew that we had just an average catch. From a pure fishing perspective the Panama trip aboard the Coral Star is at the top of my list.
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Pics" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 04/10/08
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"More pics" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 04/10/08
So far I have been posting pictures from the Panama trip that I had taken with my camera and also pictures from Yorke Pharr's camera. I just got in a whole new set with pictures from Brian Richard. Brian fished with Todd Helf and Robert Hughes all week and had a variety of catches. I'll continue to post pictures as I receive them.
- Capt. Rickey Beck
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"More Pics " | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 04/10/08
So far I have been posting pictures from the Panama trip that I had taken with my camera and also pictures from Yorke Pharr's camera. I just got in a whole new set with pictures from Brian Richard. Brian fished with Todd Helf and Robert Hughes all week and had a variety of catches. I'll continue to post pictures as I receive them.
- Capt. Rickey Beck
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"More pics" | Get Busy | 04/10/08
So far I have been posting pictures from the Panama trip that I had taken with my camera and also pictures from Yorke Pharr's camera. I just got in a whole new set with pictures from Brian Richard. Brian fished with Todd Helf and Robert Hughes all week and had a variety of catches. I'll continue to post pictures as I receive them.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"More Pics" | Get Busy | 04/10/08
So far I have been posting pictures from the Panama trip that I had taken with my camera and also pictures from Yorke Pharr's camera. I just got in a whole new set with pictures from Brian Richard. Brian fished with Todd Helf and Robert Hughes all week and had a variety of catches. I'll continue to post pictures as I receive them.
- Capt. Rickey Beck
"More Pics" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 04/10/08
So far I have been posting pictures from the Panama trip that I had taken with my camera and also pictures from Yorke Pharr's camera. I just got in a whole new set with pictures from Brian Richard. Brian fished with Todd Helf and Robert Hughes all week and had a variety of catches. I'll continue to post pictures as I receive them.
- Capt. Amy McMullan
"AT LAST!!!" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/31/08
Congratulations Barrett and Stephanie........Don't be mad at me, Stephanie said I could post it.....besides she's the best catch you'll ever have!!
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Rodeo" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/31/08
At closing time the 2008 OIFC Rodeo ends. Thanks to everyone who participated. Give me a couple of days to make sure my records are straight and we'll announce the winners and the payout.. Hopefully we'll be able to to it in 2009. Happy New Year and be safe.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"A few brief thoughts" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/31/08
I had planned to go bluefin fishing with Capt. Brant this morning, but the news we got from the buoy at 4 this morning was less than enticing. So I went back to sleep for a few hours and now am on my sixth cup of coffee, organizing tackle and dreaming of calm seas/hungry fish. Won't be long...
Jim Bowen from the "Stick Slinger" sent me these pictures the other day from his trip with his son to Rudee Inlet, VA. What a great winter fishery they have going up there. I know of several other OIFC regulars, including Derek McKee, Benny Hipp, and Woody Wooten that are big time striper anglers. What's more, Jodie at Blue Water Candy makes some of the best striper gear around, it's huge up there at the NOBX and Virginia Beach. There is a point to this--quite a few people have pointed out that there could be a viable striped bass fishery in the lower Cape Fear River if there was a fish ladder or weir at the dams. Capt. Jeff Williamson and I talked the other day about how they catch fish now with the dam in place, and how that is is a fishery that could easily skyrocket with a little work. Maybe we could push for that in the future. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt the feelings of our inshore guys, Capt. Jeff and Capt. Kyle Hughes. Food for thought for '09.
Also, Tim Garrett sent me this picture of the flounder he caught at the Caudle reef. He kept it in a pen and fed it steroids and large bluefish for a year and it turned into this.... No, actually that was a halibut his father-in-law caught in Alaska, where he is a commercial fisherman. Which brings me to the concept of the Traveling Fisherman trips. Due to economic issues, there won't be one this winter, but that doesn't mean there won't be one in the future. We can go abroad or go domestic. We just want to know where you want to go--send emails to info1@oifc.com. We can live bait sails in Palm Beach, fish for 300# yellowfins on a long range trip out of San Diego, or mooch for salmon in Ketcikan. North Drop in the Virgin Islands? Wahoos in Bermuda? Let the public speak...
2008 had its ups and downs, and not just in the economy. We miss you Scott and Don. Keep fighting Doug, you'll make it just fine. Here's wishing a Happy New Years to fishermen, fish, friends, and everyone else out there.
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Subsurface Report" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/31/08
While the rest of the fleet was on a hot giant bluefin bite I opted for an offshore diving mission aboard the Dirty Martini with Jeff Martini, and crew Ace Parker and Eric. Before the diving, first on our agenda was wahoo. We left Little River just before daybreak and slugged it out to the 100/400. The weather man slightly miss timed his forecast. We fished in 4 to 5's most of the day before it finally laid out to nothing in the afternoon. It made for a tough ride out and difficult fishing conditions, but by the late afternoon we were running wide open on the way in. The fishing started off dismal with cool water, no bait and no surface activity. Around noon we found a temperature change and the birds started showing up. By 1:00 we had a 35lb wahoo, 15lb dolphin, and missed another wahoo. Once we found the break the bait showed up and so did the birds. For that hour we were busy but we all had diving on the mind so we left in the middle of the hot bite for our next mission. Eric, Jeff and I deployed once securely anchored and Ace was our on-board man. Clarity was great and we were greeted by a curious school of dolphins and amberjacks on our way down to the bottom. No matter how many times you make a dive it's always overwhelming once you get to the bottom and see first hand what you've been looking at on your depth finder your entire life. This time we saw a huge school of black bass traveling together like a school of tuna. I had no idea they moved around that much. Next we saw scattered grouper of vairous sizes, a few hog snapper and great big sea turtle cruising the ledge. The tom tates, grunts and ringtails were also prevalent but we had dinner on our mind instead of sight seeing so we started our hunt. The grouper and snapper weren't as thick as I've seen on other dives which made targeting them difficult but Eric did manage to shoot a couple. It may have been a blessing we didn't get distracted by the fish because it gave us an opportunity to look into the ledges where all we could see was tentacles sticking out. Jackpot! We worked quickly to coerse the lobsters out of their dens and into our bag. By the time we got the third lobster I looked over my shoulder and saw our signal it was time to go so politely provided by the two 8 ft sand tiger sharks that were investigating our catch. The fish hunting was not so good but the lobstering more than made the dive. It was starting to get late in the afternoon so we moved a short distance to drop down again but just before we reached bottom several more sand tigers were standing duty so decided not to tempt fate and returned to the boat and made our way home. The sharks look menacing under water but they seem to be more curious than anything and anytime you make an aggressive move towards them they are quick to leave you alone. The problem comes when more than one shark shows up and you have a stringer full of bloody fish. The dinner bell has been rung at that point and you're just "in the way" for the feast.
Under water, above water, it's all good right now. Grouper, Sea Bass, Snapper, Kings, Wahoo, Trout, and Bluefin Tuna; they're biting and we need some help down here. Not many folks are taking advantage of the great fishing and low gas prices we have right now. That means a few fishermen are having all the fun. Pick a good weather day, stop by the OIFC to gear up, and we'll give you our best opinion on what's going on where. All you'll have to do is reel!
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Bluefin bite is on!" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/30/08
Fished today with Brant. Bite came down southeast of knuckle as good as I think I have ever seen it here in our waters. 20 boats fishing, 10 fish caught, others lost. Thats an amazing statistic. All the fish were big, no shorts that I am aware of. One fish was over 100 inches. Congrats to all the fishermen who caught fish today. Lets go get em tomorrow.
For anyone who has ever dreamed of fighting one of these monsters, now is the time to get here. Come by the OIFC and we can fix you up with everthing you need, plus tell you exactly where the bite is at. Come on down!
- Rube McMullan
"Capt. Rickey's chances for sea bass title fade...." | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/30/08
.....as Randy Lingerfelt upgrades his lead by weighing in a 3.2 pound knot head this afternoon. With only a day to go and sea conditions worsening, Capt. Rickey will need a miracle to have any chance of taking back the crown. After losing employee of the month honors to Mack the golden retriever and getting stomped in his own rodeo, I'd hate to have to look Rickey in the eye lately.
************************LATE BREAKING NEWS******************************************
Robert Hughes and Brian Richard stopped by just before closing to weigh their black sea bass, which tipped the scales at 3.2 pounds and 3.0 pounds respectively. Not sure how the tiebreaker scenario works, we'll have to defer to Capt. Rickey on that one. Hope he's able to answer the question through what is certain to be a fog of despair after getting dropped to approximately 42nd place in the rodeo. I can't sugar coat this Rickey. You just need to catch bigger fish.
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Red alert!!! The bite is on!!!" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/30/08
Ok, one fish is maybe luck (or not so much when you get three bites like Keith Logan did yesterday, but whatever...). My point is that there definitely are some fish here, as there have been multiple fish caught in the vicinity of the Knuckle Buoy today and some have already been put on the docks in Southport. Bryan Aycock just called me to report that two had already been sold up there and there are reported to be several more on the way in. At least two boats are said to have multiple fish on board. Bad day to be a giant tuna, I suppose. With cooling weather to come, this may be the time when it all comes together for an all-out bluefin blitz on our beaches. If you're not fishing right now, you need to tighten up and get down here!!!
I just got word from a reliable source that yesterday's hero, Keith Logan, again had multiple strikes/hookups and has an 86" fish in the boat. Congrats again to him--that's quite a run he's got going on.
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"More tuna pictures" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/29/08
Showcasing Keith Logan's fishing ability and Capt. Roger's climbing skills.
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Sea Bass Rodeo Update" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/29/08
After conferring with rodeo director, Capt. Rickey Beck, Randy Lingerfelt on the "Stitchwizard" is now in first place in the OIFC Rodeo's sea bass division. Randy weighed in a 2.2 pound blackfish yesterday to take over the lead. Two days to go, time to tighten up! I've heard rumors of a Dan Ratley/Jeff Beck trip tomorrow to set the record straight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGb2PL-bnVY
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Finally! FINALLY!!! They are here." | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/29/08
Okay, now we have the scoop on the first giant bluefin tuna of the season to be caught and killed on this side of the shoals. Keith Logan, on the "Stand N Down II" nailed this 84 inch fish earlier today. This giant was one of three that he hooked, so evidently a body of fish has shown up to some degree. As I am writing this, Donald Diehl of True World Foods is filling out the paperwork on this tuna. He is our buyer for all the fish brought to the dock here and we have been really pleased to have him on hand in the past to help our commercial fishermen who wish to sell their fish. My understanding is that the OIFC dock is the only place now to sell a bluefin in Brunswick County--Keith earlier took the fish to another fish house but was turned away. Whatever the case may be, we are here at the OIFC with all the tackle, bait, ice, and fuel you need to go after your own bluefin tuna, and we will gladly help you through the sale procedure as long as you have your permits in order. My hope is that this is just the tip of the iceberg for our bluefin fishery this winter. Congrats to Keith for getting it started!!!
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Hot InShore Action and OffShore" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/29/08
Before I get started, everyone check out this video that Capt. Chris just posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGb2PL-bnVY
Ahhhh, feels like summer again...
Winter is upon us whether the temperatures reflect it or not. This is a time when trout fishing really heats up in our neck of the woods. Most every inshore species has boogied off shore looking for warmer water. But as long as the water is 50 degrees or better the trout action is on.
One of the great things about trout fishing around the Fishing Center is you don't have to go far to do it. You can get action along the structures in the ICW from the Sunset Bridge to Sasspan creek, so long as you fish a moving tide. This means you won't freeze cutting thru the winter wind in search of a fishing hole. But you still need to bundle up. For hunters, since deer season ends, use your tried and proven cold weather hunting clothes....it's the same principle.
Trout love shrimp. It's their candy. Live shrimp is hard to come by, and will get only harder to find, and if you find someone selling it, you will pay a premo price. As they say, "shrimpn' ain't easy". and the price will reflect it The best alternative is artificial shrimp like the DOA and the Halo, which we stock. We also have OIFC Custom shrimp rigs for those who aren't sure how to rig for trout fishing. To make the action more fun, use light tackle.
If you've put your boat up, or for some other reason can't get on the water, the OIFC has two of the best in shore charter captains in our area, captain Kyle Hughes and captain Jeff Williamson. They've fished here for years and know the locations and techniques as well as anyone I know.
Don't think in shore fishing is the only action in town. Off shore, the bottom fishing, king fishing and Gulf Stream action is on. The signs indicating blue fin are in our area are strong also. There have been several sightings and some cactches reported off Brunswick County.
If fishing during the winter isn't your cup of tea, check out the Expo in Raleigh the latter part of January. Captain Roger, Captain Chris and Mrs. Juanita will be representing the OIFC. If you want to visit our area there is a show in Myrtle Beach. This time of year you are less than 30 minutes away
The beach is almost deserted and beautiful during the winter. We are open, as well as most of the local speciality shops and eating places. This time of year you can actually get in without waiting. Or if you like, venture to N. Myrtle. At any rate there is plenty of action at a slower pace. Don't sit home and wait for beach weather. Come visit. Stop by and see us, we can hook you up with the proper gear and information for fishing our area, as well as info on local shops and restaurants. This is one of the locals' favorite times of year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGb2PL-bnVY
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"About Time" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/28/08
Congratulations to Tim Garrett!!!! I've talked enough smack that I knew someone would step up and give me my come upp'ns! But, giving up first place to a 1.6 lb sea bass. Neither one of us have anything to brag about, no offense meant Tim, but we've all seen a sea bass that weighs more than Tim and mine added together. So now the challenge is to knock me off the board. You've still got a couple of days to try.
On another note captain Brant didn't score a blue fin on his trip yesterday. Blue fin fishing is either feast or famine. The crew reported that the area looked positive with birds and bottle nose dolphin however. It'ill happen sooner rather later. I didn't get any reports of any other action today.
Check out these pictures. I took them this morning as I was crossing the OIB bridge. One is of the OIFC. Talk about foggy. But it burned off quickly as the temperature rose to a balmy 74 degrees and the sun came out. Captain Chris is right about the global warming. I'll take it any day over global cooling!
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Ha ha Rickey!" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/28/08
Tim and Tracy Garrett stopped by this morning with their three kids, ready to head out on their Grady White, the "Bloodline." Tim entered the sea bass division of the OIFC rodeo, and bought one jig, a Shimano Lucanus. I couldn't help but think that it was kind of arrogant (only one species and only one jig, you know...) but kept my mouth shut. Well, Tim just showed back up with a 1.6 pound sea bass, knocking Capt. Rickey Beck squarely into second place. That should set up a last minute scramble, with only three days left to fish for one of the best eating species to be caught in local waters. The Garretts also caught two keeper grouper in about 70 feet of water, quite the feat for late December. Of course, it is in the mid 70s outside and everyone is wearing shorts.... Capt. Rickey can scoff all he wants, global warming is real (and I love it!) and he's no longer the leader in the sea bass division!
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"GOOD MORNING AMERICA!" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/27/08
It's foggy here in Paradise. But the temperature is warm enough to wear a light jacket and there is just a slight breeze out of the north. The official OIFC wind guage says 6 mph. Not bad for December 27th. Maybe there's something to this global warming thing. Perhaps I should quit mocking it. Just a thought for the day. The global warming crowd blames the rise of the sea level on the melting ice caps. If that's true, doesn't water expand when it's frozen? So if melting polar ice has any effect, shouldn't the sea level be dropping? Too much time on my hands.
On to important things, Brant is out blue fin hunting. He took the OIFC lucky charm little leprechaun so maybe he'll have good luck. The boat ramp parking lot is filling up so maybe we'll have some inshore reports. Reminder...the Captain Club's sale lasts until the 31st., and you have until the 31st. to knock the 1.5 lb. OIFC Rodeo 1st place in the sea bass class off the board. I'm throwing down the challenge!
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Christmas Recap" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/25/08
Just sitting alone enjoying the peace and quiet after a busy and fun Christmas day with family and friends. So I thought I'd review the Fishing Reports from earlier this year in order to be able to answer charter booking questions. During the winter months the South Brunswick area was afire with fishing action. In shore we were heavy into the trout and red drums using Gulp and DOA's. The shrimp were still around as they are now. The inshore bite was hot from St. James to the Little River Swing Bridge.
Off shore, the King bite was strong around the Tower. the grouper and snapper were happening in 80 to 100 ft. and the gulf was hot with wahoo, the tuna bite was on also. So far this winter seems to he exhibiting the same patterns.
The OIFC has been exposed to a whole new world with spearfishing taking hold of Amy and Barrett with the help of the people of Coastal Scuba in North Myrtle Beach. Jeff Martini, proprietor of Martini's Restaurant in N. Myrtle, who happens to be one of our good friends and loyal customers also is an avid spear fisherman and joins in on the excitement. Even my Camdyn is getting into the action! What they see and report in the habitat and actions of our favorite table fish is incredible and enlightening when it comes to sport fishing.
We are all aware of the tightening economy around the country, but with fuel prices dropping we should now be able to afford to go fishing. Review the past fishing reports and lets go fishin'!
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Merry Christmas" | OIFC 2- 27' | 12/22/08
I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone that fished with me on the It Works this year. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of every trip and look forward to next season. As we all prepare for Christmas, let us remember the true meaning it represents and take this time to be with our families and friends. I wish everyone a safe and memorable holiday season. Merry Christmas. Capt. Chris Dew
- Capt. Chris Dew
"Christmas Gift for Senior citizens in need" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/22/08
If you're looking for that perfect last minute gift idea, and would like to help us in supporting Brunswick Senior Resources, the non-profit group that provides support services for the elderly in need thru Meals on Wheels and many other programs, please consider buying a fishing trip/fishing school/parasai//jet ski trip. Look on the banner on our home page on our web site for info. 100% of monies raised will be donated to the Senior services program, and is deductible as a charitable donation. Much attention is given to kids and the needy, but often needy elderly folks in our community are overlooked. Please help us in this effort. Merry Christmas!
- Rube McMullan
"Happy Holidays" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/21/08
Wow, it's hard to believe Christmas is Thursday. The weather here is in the 60"s and 70's (I thought I'd rub it in to those living where the winter storms are, that pesky global warming). The weather reports and live report from the Tower tells us that we'll have to stand by awhile before we try our hand at those monster wahoos, grouper. snapper. and kings that are being caught in our area. But it allows us to spend time at those family functions without feeling we should be on the water.
Congratulations to those who've landed some big blue fins, Brian Aycock, who must have a horseshoe in his pocket, and Captains David Hook and Ryan Strickland for landing a blue fin this week that cored out at about 500 lbs.
Booking a charter for blue fin fishing, or any other fishing is a great last minute Christmas shopping idea. Fuel prices are low, the OIFC has some great deals so now is the time to book. Remember that our Captains' Club points sale goes on 'til December 31st. You don't have to come here to buy, though we'd love to see you. You can make your purchases by phone (this way you can hear Mrs. Juanita's sweet voice) or online.
The Rodeo goes on until December 31st. It's going to be a sad day if I win with a 1.5 ib. sea bass! Though I haven't talked with Brant, it's my hope we can have it again next year. We may make some changes to make it better and hopefully make it grow. If you have any suggestions please send them to me at the OIFC or call me there. After all it's your tournament. Sorry Chris, (emails go through him).
The Raleigh Boat show is going to be the latter part of January. It will help folks who don't get to enjoy fishing year round get their juices flowing. The OIFC will be there with info and products. You'll also get to meet our staff of celebrities such as Captain Roger, Captain Chris and Mrs. Juanita. (hope that embarrasses them). Which reminds me, check out You Tube for some video of Brant and other OIFC celebs. fishing. Chris should win an Oscar as best producer. Please don't send nominations to the OIFC. I got in trouble when I was running for admiral. I'll be holding down the fort here at the OIFC during the Raleigh Show, and I think Captain Brant will be suffering while fishing a tournament in the Keys. It's tough being him.
In case we don't get to see you before Christmas, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and be safe.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"My Story" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/19/08
While the Carolina Cat crew were on the OIFC dock cleaning their bounty from yesterday, Jeff, Camdyn, in her new Grundens. and I set out in the Scout 240 Bay Boat in search of trout. We headed to the Shallotte Inlet area and started fishing live shrimp under corks. As soon as Jeff cast out he was hit by a trout. Candyn assisted in reeling him in. This went on for about an hour until the tide went slack. The bite quit and Camdyn lost interest so we headed in. The bite is good both inshore and off so this would be an excellent time to visit us in Paradise.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Triple Digit Wahoo!" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/19/08
I first heard about this monster this morning when David McKethen out of Holden Beach stopped by the OIFC to tell me about the nice wahoo he lost at boatside yesterday. He said his fish weighed about 80-85 pounds but that Patrick Bryant, on the "Twister" had killed one that went over 100 pounds. Drew Shytle called me a litte bit later to let me know that the fish was 102 pounds. Several others have said that the fish came on a king mackerel rod while Patrick was grouper fishing and light-lining at the same time. All I can say is "wow!" Now that's a fish! With very inconsistent yellowfin tuna in our area over the past few years, wahoo (and BIG wahoo) have certainly filled the void and then some. Plus they're here about year round as well. They just might be the perfect gamefish. Congrats to Patrick on an awesome catch.
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Yesterdays catch" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/19/08
Yesterday the weather was nice and Amy, Barrett, Rube, Jamie Millikin and Cameron Sebastian and I all hopped on board the 33 World Cat, Carolina Cat, for an offshore adventure. We headed toward the Frying Pan Tower and stopped off at the Knuckle buoy to troll for Bluefin Tuna for an hour- some good sign with bait and birds, but no bites. We then headed to the Tower where we jigged up a livewell full of Cigar Minnows, Grunts and B-liners with plans of feeding them to Kings and Grouper. The Kings were biting around the Tower and threw out a couple lines, but it was Grouper we had our sights set on. I headed Southwest and ran across a good mark on my finder. I turned around and had Rube, Barrett and Jamie drop down some lines to see what was going on. Rube and Jamie came up with two big Pink Snapper and Barrett caught a 15 pound Scamp Grouper- hmmmmm! I set the anchor and we commenced to wearing out the Scamp Grouper on the live baits. The bite was hot for nearly an hour before it started cooling off. By then, Cameron and Barrett were all suited up in dive gear and they went over with spear guns in hand to investigate. 30 minutes later they came up with a stringer of big Scamps and Hog Snapper. The seas laid out flat in the afternoon and it was a nice ride home with a box full of fish and a boat full of content fishermen and divers.
Come on down to the beach and visit if you get the chance. Our charter boats are ready to go at a moments notice and the fish are biting.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"King Bite" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/18/08
I talked with a very accomplished local angler who told me the king bite at the Tower was hot. He said the ocean/winds were perfect. As we were at a church preschool Christmas show neither one of us could fish, and today was beautiful. Some of the guys who rely on commercial hook and line fishing to tie them over in the off season said that kings were selling for $2.50 a pound. It looks like the weather this weekend is going to be less than perfect as far as boating goes, but come visit and do some last minute guilt shopping.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"In shore vs Blue Fin" | Speckulator - 22' | 12/16/08
Two of OIB's premier in shore anglers, Kyle Hughes (Speckulator), Brian Aycock (Double Trouble), along with Brian's younger sister Leigh Anne, ventured to Morehead City today for a try at blue fin fishing. Their efforts were rewarded with the 87 inch blue fin tuna pictured below. Bet it put up a bit more fight than a trout. The trio were fishing aboard the 27 ft Privateer, Wide Spread.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Let's Go Fishing!" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/15/08
The weather looks AWESOME Weds and Thurs and I'm going fishing! Weds I think the family and I will probably do some Wahoo fishing and maybe some diving as well- not exactly sure, but we'll be on VHF 11 if you are out. Thurs looks good too- maybe we'll do some King fishing that day -- I know I will be carrying my Bluefin gear with me both days as they are liable to show up at any time. Stay tuned- let's go fishing!
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Winter; Time to go Fishing!" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/13/08
It seems almost most of America has forgotten what a great place the beach is during the winter. Getting awfully lonely down here. Not sure what everyone is doing back inland, but here at the beach much fun and entertainment is being missed out on. Just as a reminder to everyone what all is available here at the beach this time of the year; the best cold water oysters of the year, best served on the beach with a north wind[the island faces south so the north wind is blocked by the land causing tropical conditions at 50 degrees F]; great trout and redfish action; the biggest seabass of the year within 3 miles of shore; the best King fishing of the year at the Tower; some of the best Wahoo fishing of the year in the stream; and of course the Giant Bluefin Tuna fishing is just now starting and will peak late December to early/mid January. So folks, why miss out on all this; come on down to the beach. Weather this week is forecast in the 70's.
Brant and I will be giving the Bluefin a shot tomorrow morning. Rode out this afternoon and the waters from Shallotte Inlet toward Lockwood absolutely full of menhaden. Good temperature break just east of the Raritan, so thats where we'll hope to find the Bluefin. Standby for report tomorrow.
- Rube McMullan
"Slow Going" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/13/08
Test? I don't know what Chris is going to test us on, or what he was writing about in his last post , and I don't know about,you, but I'm worried and am boning up on reel spooling and knot tying, just in case we have a pop quiz. I did check my spelling on this report in case it's a spelling test. Just think, I could lose employee of the month.
However the OIFC Staff hasn't forgotten about our fishing reports. As far as fishing goes, right now things are slow off shore because the wind won't stop blowing. It's gusting to 29 at the Tower now. In shore, Brian Aycock, and who ever he can find to fish with him are tearing the trout up. Yesterday was his shrimping day and he reported a lot of shrimp are inshore to be had. His catch was for his fishing buddies and him only. I don't know of anyone selling shrimp right now.
Captain Roger and his brother, Henry were headed to Morehead yesterday to try to catch a blue fin, but I expect it is too windy. Several have been reported in our area and a couple have been reported to have been weighed in. We do have HIGH quality ballyhoo in stock. I must to defer to Roger and Captain Chris for the quality, and they say they are the best we've had in quite sometime. Roger says our large are as big as most people's jumbo. Otherwise we are painting boat bottoms and doing general maintenance.
We've still got the Captain's Club sale going on as is the Rodeo, Captain Brant has some excellent deals on fishing schools and charters which would make great Christmas gifts and Juanita Clause is filling orders from our On line Store. Speaking of Christmas gifts....Brant has two of our rental jest skies for sale. They were sitting at Hwy. 17 and 904, across from Mcdonalds yesterday. Captain Barrett also has two of his jet skies for sale. These were the ones he used last summer to pull the Banana Boat with. I bought one of the rental skies and have had a blast with it. Brant and Barrett both kept the maintenance up on them and they in great condition. I wasn't asked to put this in the report, but I personally am familiar with the skies. I don't know the asking price, but call us and we'll connect you with Brant or Barrett.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"The Biloxi Pickle and other adventures." | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/13/08
My apologies for the earlier posting of "The Biloxi Pickle." It would play on some computers, and not on others. For those of you who haven't seen it, check out these links.
The Biloxi Pickle
http://v1.as48.com/hipi1.asp?MSGID=335FC9FB-D592-4410-95C5-E8D4210BDBC4&bhcp=1
SKA Nationals 2008
http://v1.as48.com/hipi1.asp?MSGID=ED06FB4F-0A43-456A-871A-C0B3A0575C92&bhcp=1
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"OIFC.com King Tournament Recap" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/11/08
There were several motivations behind starting the new OIFC.com King Mackerel Tournament that concluded this past Saturday. First and foremost our team was looking for an excuse to fish the late fall/early winter Hatteras/Morehead kingfish bite. And if we were going to be fishing anyway, we might as well have a tournament! Over the past 10-15 years we have enjoyed some of the most incredible king mackerel bites imaginable during this time period in this area. Typically, large schools of large to enormous kingfish show up on temperature breaks and structure from mid November through mid December creating an unmatched setting for catching the biggest kingfish of the year. Having seen this great fishery for years and feeling that many fishermen have been missing out, we thought hosting a tournament would give fishermen not familiar with the area an opportunity to fish a new area with the comfort and help of other fishing teams. Another motivation behind this event was to expose our newly developed webstore, which can be located from www.oifc.com, to fishermen hoping to make www.oifc.com a stop on everyone's online shopping. In addition to bringing our website to the attention of the fishermen, by hosting the event completely online we were able to keep operating costs low, which means only a very small amount of entry fees were needed to cover costs and the rest went back to fishermen in payouts. So, with a list motivating factors both personal and business and with the encouragement of many many fishermen we created the OIFC.com King Mackerel Tournament.
Like so often is the case, things don't always work out like you have them planned- at least not exactly. The tournament achieved the goal of exposing the webstore to the fishing public and we thank each and everyone for checking us out whether you purchased or just shopped. We are grateful for the opportunity to win your business and we will continue to improve our webstore in an effort to prove our product, price, quality offering.
The tournament however, did not achieve our expectations on participation with only 12 teams entering the event. Preceding the tournament an estimated 50 to 70 teams were planning to fish, but when it came time to enter only 12 stepped up. We have been hearing from teams since and the two explanations for the lack of participation are (a.) bad weather and (b.) teams should have been able to enter anytime throughout the week of fishing. Addressing (a.) first. This was a pick 2 days from 8 days event. The purpose of this format was that surely within an 8 day time frame we would get at least 2 nice days. The forecast for the first weekend of the event was terrible and perhaps that was enough to deter participation. But, we did end up with at least 4 very fishable days and 3 great days. Though it started off ugly the format worked in that any team could have had an opportunity to fish in good weather for 2 days. Addressing (b.). Many teams expressed they would have fished if they could have entered the event any time within the 8 days of competition. Personally I don't like this concept. As soon as one team goes fishing the event is on and anyone allowed to enter after having seen how other teams do would be getting an unfair advantage. We would like to hear thoughts on this topic so we can consider if this tournament occurs again next year. Email captbrant@oifc.com or captbarrett@oifc.com.
On the fishing side of the equation, the bite was outstanding as usual however the size of the fish did not meet expectations. Usually this time of year you can expect to catch all you want over 30lbs and many in the 40's and possible even 50's or 60lbers. For whatever reason the fish were where they were supposed to be most of the week, on a temperature change between the Bad Bottoms and the Smell Wreck off Hatteras, but they were mostly in the 20lb range with a very few topping the 30lb mark. The bite was as advertised just as fast as you could put a bait in the water, but a little disappointing in the size of the fish. As luck would have it, on the Monday after the last day of the tournament the big fish showed up off Hatteras exactly where most of the teams had fished and the locals were bailing 30's and 40's. That was supposed to happen in the tournament. Apparently the fish missed the memo.
Tournament Results and Payouts
1st Overall 53.35lbs, 1st Agg TWT 53.35lbs, 2nd Big Fish TWT 31.75- Team OIFC $3420
2nd Overall 52.25lbs, 1st Big Fish TWT 35.0, 2nd Agg TWT 52.25 - Big Bad Wolf $2820
3rd Overall 44.9lbs, 3rd Agg TWT 44.9lbs- Team Bobcat $660
3rd Big Fish TWT 30.5lbs- Dig It $480
Congratulations to all the winners and all that fished this inaugural event.
Though Team OIFC ended up on top this time, it was not exactly an easy or expected path that got us there. Our day one fish 31.75 fish came on the first Saturday of the tournament when nobody else elected to fish. The day started off great. We had bait, we were on an epic bite off Hatteras and the weather was decent. Everything remained the same all day except the weather. We felt like Forest Gump when the rain came. It was relentless and the wind and seas got nasty as well, which made for a long ride home. Day one in the books. A soggy Team OIFC leads with 31.75lbs. Throughout the week most other teams fished on Wednesday and Thursday in near perfect conditions and most experienced a good bite. We decided to wait and fish the final day of the event on Saturday. Again, we lucked out with perfect weather and bait. However this is where our luck was halted for the morning. On our way north from Morehead we were running up the Core Sound and out Drum Inlet when we made a wrong turn and ended up on a sandbar. You know it's bad when the birds are standing in water and not floating. When you run on the edge so often at some point it is going to bite you and this time were bit. We were aground at 7:04am. For those who know Core Sound and Drum you know that if you make the slightest of wrong turns you're on the hill. There we sat and there we stayed. After several hours of nursing our baits, hoping that when the tide came in we would get off and go fishing, we eventually realized that unlike home waters the tidal swing in that area is only 1ft. That is when panic set in. We had to figure a way out. We tried every direction and every method and had all but given up hope of getting out on our own. It was time to turn this into a salvage mission. We dumped our bait and wells trying to make the boat lighter so it would float higher but this didn't work. When we hit, we made it across a very shallow bar and then were floating a section of water about 3' deep, 50' long and 10' wide. All other sides were surrounded by inches of water. The bar we had to get across was about 30 yards in width. At 1:30pm we decided to either make things worse or better knowing the next step was to call the towing companies. The stretch of deeper water was not long enough to get up on a plane without making an adjustment. We thought if we could get on plane we could skip the bar. So, we flooded the front of the boat (all boxes) with water and emptied everything out of the stern. This put all of our weight up front, which would hopefully help us get up quicker in the small space by lifting our stern. The throttles go in the corner and she's up! We make two thirds of the way across the bar before bumping, but she makes it. At last! At this point we feel like we already have a victory nevermind the tournament. It is 1:38pm now. Instead of doing the smart thing and turning around for home with our tails tucked, we forge ahead and make our way out of Drum. With weigh-in at 5pm we now had 3 hours to make bait, run 55miles north to where the fish were, catch a fish and make it to the scales. Impossible? Not probable. Just outside of Drum we see the ganets diving and take a shot in the dark. We drop our gill net and make few throws with the cast net. We catch 4 flounder bait size pogies in the cast net and 1 turbo pogy in the gill net. With only 1 decent bait we make the call to head north. 50 miles later we find the charter fleet on a temp change and bait around the Bad Bottoms. Team Bobcat is already there and catching fish. We pitch our 1 good bait behind the boat and before it is set in the rod holder we're on. The 21.60lber is put in the bag with time to spare. We catch a few more smaller fish on the peanut pogies and head for the scales. What a day! There are highs and there are lows, but there is never a dull moment!
Again, we appreciate all those that fished and all those that followed this new event. Any input regarding the future of this event, or the webstore is much appreciated. Just email captbrant@oifc.com or captbarrett@oifc.com with thoughts.
Until the next adventure!
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Rodeo" | Speckulator - 22' | 12/09/08
Just a short note. Captain Kyle (Speckulator) knocked his daddy off the Rodeo leader board with a 6.6 lb. trout. Congratulations to Kyle, but that's a terrible thing to do to your daddy.
I also read an article where shrimpers are catching huge Tiger Shrimp off of Charleston. I think these shrimp grow close to a foot long and will bite the mess out of you but taste good. I read the article in the Sun News. Google them up.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Bottomfish galore" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/08/08
William Parker called me early Saturday morning and asked where he and Duane should go bottomfishing that day. I wasn't sure where I was, as the phone woke me up, and I think I gave him numbers for somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. I must have been dreaming about warmer weather. Good thing he didn't listen! They left in Duane's Key West and showed up later that afternoon with this mess of bottomfish. William said the fish came from near the Gary Ennis. Not bad for a short winter's day of bottomfishing! I guess that proves it--get deeper than 80 feet and the bottomfish are there for the taking. Of course, you don't have to even go that far. I have heard reports that the Sherman is covered in big knot-head bass. The OIFC sea bass slot in the rodeo is up for grabs! Go get 'em!!!
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"OIFC.com Tournament Update" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/08/08
Team OIFC & the crew on Bob Cat went fishing for their 2nd fish this past Saturday. Both teams got lucky & brought home a couple kings. Team OIFC weighed a 21.6 lb king & took the lead in the tournament with a total of 53.35 lbs. The Bob Cat crew weighed a 22.5 lb king, which pulled them up to 3rd place. The 3 biggest fish weighed in for the tournament were, Big Bad Wolf - 35 lbs, Team OIFC - 31.75 lbs, & Dig It with 30.5 lbs.
The final aggregate standings:
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Team OIFC - 53.35 lbs
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Big Bad Wolf - 52.25 lbs
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Bob Cat - 44.9 lbs
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Mac Hunter - 44.7 lbs
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Dig It - 30.5 lbs
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Thumpin - 29 lbs
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Mean C - 19.95 lbs
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Bikini Bottom - 18.4 lbs
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Knot Kiddin - 10.75 lbs
- Technical director-Anita
"OIFC.com Tournament Results" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/07/08
Just got off the phone with Capt. Barrett, who relayed the (unofficial) results of the OIFC.com king mackerel tournament, hosted out of Beaufort and Hatteras. Official and full results will be posted tomorrow, but in the meantime:
1) Team OIFC 53+ pound aggregate weight
2) Big Bad Wolf 52+ pound aggregate weight
3) Bobcat 44+ pound aggregate weight
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Ramblin'" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/06/08
The McMullan family loaded up yesterday and headed to Morehead to fish. We've got some blue fin reports from that area and they may try to get a jump before the blue fin arriver here. Even though the cat's away the mice won't play at the OIFC. Chris and Juanita are still here to crack the whip.
In shore I'm still getting reports of trout around the Shallotte Inlet/River area, along with the Jetties. Off shore the wahoo are in the Stream and grouper are around the Tower. Gas prices are dropping like a rock around here so fishing and trips to the Gulf Stream are more affordable than ever. News reports say they might hit a dollar a gallon! I talked to a few anglers who are getting worn out between long work hours and the shopping mall and said they need a salt water fix!
Don't forget to use your Captains' Club points. A lot of folks have taken advantage, but some still have a gang of points. You can let your fingers do the walking and order from our Web Store. Juanita has been busy filling orders already.
In the Rodeo news, the Rodeo has been extended 'til the end of the year. I really think that was done so Rube and Captain Roger can knock my 1.5 lb'r off the board. They are threatening to have a family fishing day Christmas. I'm in no way allowed on an OIFC boat to improve my standing. Good friend Larry Spainhour has weighed in the only Wahoo, and with the Stream being affordable, someone needs to give him a run. Captain Amy landed a winning 'hoo the other day, but guess what, she wasn't in the Rodeo.
Today's weather looks good and the ocean is slick as glass. Take advantage.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"OIFC.com Tournament Update" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/05/08
We had a few kings weighed in yesterday. The Mac Hunter weighed their 2nd fish, a 22.25 lb king. The Big Bad Wolf weighed their 2nd fish, a 17.25 lb king, which keeps them in the lead at the moment. And Bob Cat weighed their 1st fish, a 22.40 lb king. Congratulations guys! Here are the standings as of Friday 12/5/08:
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Big Bad Wolf - Day 1: 35.0 lbs / Day 2: 17.25 lbs - TOTAL: 52.25 lbs
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Mac Hunter - Day 1: 22.45 lbs / Day 2: 22.25 lbs - TOTAL: 44.70 lbs
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Team OIFC - Day 1: 31.75 lbs
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Dig It - Day 1: 30.50 lbs
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Thumpin - Day 1: 29.0 lbs / Day 2: 0 - TOTAL: 29.0 lbs
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Bob Cat - Day 1: 22.4 lbs
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Mean C - Day 1: 19.95 lbs / Day 2: 0 - TOTAL: 19.95 lbs
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Bikini Bottom - Day 1: 18.40 lbs / Day 2: 0 - TOTAL: 18.40 lbs
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Knot Kiddin - Day 1: 10.75 lbs / Day 2: 0 - TOTAL: 10.75 lbs
We still have several boats with a day left to fish, one more chance to move up the leader board. We will post more updates as we get them.
- Technical director-Anita
"The Biloxi Pickle" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/04/08
We said it had been done, now here's the proof! You saw it here first.
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Year 'Round Rodeo" | OIFC 1- 36' | 12/04/08
The Rodeo executive committee has made a command decision to extend the Rodeo until the end of the year. For those of you from the Green Swamp, that's December 31st. This is because we won't be having the Blue Fin Bash. The results will be double checked and the money sent out to the participants on the leader board. This gives everyone a chance to get on the board, get more money in the pot and to knock my puny black bass off the board.
On the inshore note, the trout are still being hammered as well as the red drum. Live bait is the preferred weapon, but in lue of that I'd use DOA shrimp or Berkley Gulp. I've also been told the sheep head are thick around structure. Scrape some barnacles or again use Gulp and help yourself.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"A Heck of a Box of Fish" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/04/08
Amy, Barrett, Cameron Sebastion of Coastal Scuba and myself left on the Carolina Cat yesterday AM. We ran to the MacMarle'n hole where we trolled from Wahoo from 9:30am-11:00am. We caught a double header of Wahoo 30 and 38 pounds at 10:30am and accomplished that end of the equation. We then headed inshore some 15 miles where I dropped the anchor and the crew suited up in dive gear to check it out. Cameron led the mission as Amy and Barrett are still learning the ropes. They dove in 120 feet and reported awesome life- Cameron shot 3 or 4 Grouper up to 18 pounds and brought up 3 HUGE lobster- YUMMMM! We then moved inshore some 10 more miles to 105 feet where they dove again and Cameron shot a few more nice Grouper. I tried some fishing for the Grouper, but had no luck. A very interesting learning experience. They did see quite a few sharks at each spot, but luckily everyone returned with all their parts. A new horizon is being breached and it looks pretty promising! Thanks again to Cameron Sebastion with Coastal Scuba.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"OIFC.com Tournament Update" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/04/08
More photos from yesterdays weigh-in.
- Technical director-Anita
"OIFC.com Tournament Update" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/04/08
We had quite a few boats at the weigh-in yesterday. Congrats to all who weighed fish! Here are how things stand as of Thursday evening.
- Big Bad Wolf - 1st fish - 35.00 lbs
- Team OIFC - 1st fish - 31.75 lbs
- Dig It - Carroll Construction - 1st fish - 30.50 lbs
- Thumpin - 1st fish - 29.00 lbs
- Mac Hunter - 1st fish - 22.45 lbs
- Mean C - 1st fish - 19.95 lbs
- Bikini Bottom - 1st fish - 18.40 lbs
- Knot Kiddin - 1st fish - 10.75
There are several boats fishing today. I will have another update tomorrow morning with those results. Good luck fishermen!
- Technical director-Anita
"OIFC.com Tournament Update" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 12/01/08
This past Saturday Team OIFC went fishing for a King to weigh in the OIFC.com King Mackerel Tournament. They did catch a king even though it wasn't the monster they were looking for. The first fish weighed in at Town Creek Marina on Saturday, Nov. 29 for the tournament was a 31.75 lb. king. As of right now Team OIFC has the lead! Lets see what they can come up with later in the week as they try for their 2nd fish.
I will post more updates as the rest of the boats go fishing this week.
- Technical director-Anita
"Thanksgiving Inshore Classic Results" | Speckulator - 22' | 12/01/08
We put another Thanksgiving Inshore Classic trout tournament in the books this past weekend, in some slightly less than desirable conditions. Only 10 teams elected to brave the cold and unrelenting rain on Saturday, and while we were all cold and wet, the fishing was good and the trout actually bit very well. When the scales finally closed the resulted were as follows(keep in mind that the tournament was based on a 3 - fish aggregate weight format):
1st- Mike Fields/Adam Sellars - 14.90 (1st Big Fish = 5.20)
2nd- Brandon Sauls/Clay Morphis - 12.00 (2nd Big Fish = 4.60)
3rd- Kyle Hughes/Nathaniel Hughes - 11.00 (3rd Big Fish = 4.20)
4th- Robert Hughes - 9.40
5th- Larry Spainhour - 8.20
Once again, thanks to all that fished this year, and everyone who was scared by the weather, well, fishing isn't for wimps.
- Capt. Kyle Hughes
"Who needs turkey anyway?" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/30/08
Certainly not the crew of the "Double D," who went offshore with Capt. Dickie to the Steeples on Thursday. The crew caught several species, including this wahoo and this king, which marked 10 year old Sterlin's first offshore trip. I'm sure they celebrated with some pumpkin pie when they got back. Congrats to them, while the rest of us were on the couch watching football, they were out there getting it done!
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"OIFC.com Hatteras Tourney" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/30/08
Quicl update from OIFC. com Hatteras tourney. Team OIFC Yellowfin pulled out of Morehead early Saturday morning; good seas, lite rain, rolled up to Ocracoke and out inlet on to Hatteras. Water from Ocracoke all the way to Hatteras absolutely full of pogies and ganets diving. We threw the net couple times, mostly peanuts. Made it on to Hatteras out to area along shoal and found massive kingfish bite. Fast as you could put bait in water. Kings skyrocketing, classic Hatteras bite, only problem class of fish not what we were looking for. Most in mid to upper 20's. Biggest fish was 31.75. The good news is we're leading the tourney; the bad news is I think we were only boat to fish Saturday. As day progressed weather went to hell and we made it back to Morehead. Looks like Wednesday/Thursday is next best shot.
Very warm water from east of shaols on to Hatteras. We caught 2 15+ dolphin and another boat caught a Blue Marlin on a king rig at the Smell wreck. That's Hatteras folks.
- Rube McMullan
"OIFC.com Tournament Update" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/29/08
The OIFC.com Hatteras/Morehead King Mackerel Tournament starts today. So far we have no reports of fishing, but we do have a few entries. I will post any updates that I hear of right here, so stay tuned.
Entries as of Friday, Nov. 28th
Larry Barnes; Joe Buie; Carroll Construction, Inc.; Linwood Clark; Field Hucks; Damien James; David Mason - Knot Kiddin; Capt. Brant McMullan - Team OIFC; Henry Moore - Bobcat; Will Moore; Jeff Morris; Stacy Webster - Big Bad Wolf
- Technical director-Anita
"OIFC Rodeo Leaderboard Shuffle-up" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/28/08
The king mackerel division of the Rodeo got turned on its ear today as Randy Lingerfelt weighed in a 37.6 pound smoker at the OIFC docks (sorry, Jay). Fishing with Randy when he caught this stud were Corey Swink, Scott Lomas, Jeff Lingerfelt, Joshua Lingerfelt, and Nathaniel Lingerfelt. This moves Randy into first place with time ticking down in this year's event. Folks, there's still time left to get out there and catch a bigger one, but it's at the point where it's time to get motivated. Congrats to Randy and crew--that's one nice fish.
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Morning Update" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/28/08
Not a great deal to report as far as fish being caught as it's still early in the morning, however there are a lot of anglers up and stirring. It's light enough to safely get on the water at about 6:30. This morning the near shore wind was blowing about 5-7 mph from the north. The wind at the Frying Pan Shoals is showing 15 gusting to 19 mph, so it might be a little bumpy today.
There have been several boats fueling up this morning with most heading out to grouper fish. Captain Brant has a charter and maybe between him and the others we'll have something to report.
There were several in shore boats going out. Clay Morphes and Scott Quaintance were among those. Also Clay's Trout from Wednesday weighed 7.1 lbs., which put him in 2nd place on the Rodeo Leader Board. Hopefully there will be more to report later today.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"OIFC.com Hatteras Tourney" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/27/08
OIFC.com Hatteras/Morehead King tourney starts this weekend. Fish any 2 days from this Saturday thru next Saturday.
Just got call from Brant. Looking at weather looks like we will drive up to Morehead tomorrow and run to Hatteras Saturday morning to fish the world famous Hatteras early winter King bite on Saturday. THe wind direction is perfect for Saturday and then goes down hill for next couple of days. Next opportunity appears to be probably Wednesday/Thurs/Friday. We'll get in day one on Saturday and see what we can put up on the board.
Anyone that wants to run up with us Saturday morning early, call us on cell 9103672944 or we will monitor channel 11 on VHF Saturday. The Hatteras King bite is legendary for BIG fish. Same will be true for boats fishing out of Morehead at the Atlas Tanker. These are the locations of where Kings over 70 lbs have been caught this time of year. Maybe somebody will break the North Carolina world record that I think I recall is over 80lbs!!! Come join us in the OIFC.com King tourney at Hatteras/Morehead. Go to our web site and click on scroll for info and to register. Deadline is Friday night at midnight.
- Rube McMullan
"Happy Thanksgiving!!" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/27/08
Wow, it doesn't seem like Thanksgiving should be here. I seems like it was only a year ago it was here. Rube says time flies when you get old. I guess we'll find out when we get to be his age.
Miss Niki said Clay Morphus who runs a Majak boat weighed in an OIFC Rodeo Leader Board trout yesterday at the OIFC docks. I was out of town and have yet to get the scoop. Speaking of Rodeo Leader Board and trout, Capt. Kyle's Trout Tournament is Saturday. Be sure to fish it, and to get into the Rodeo as time is winding down for this year's Tournament. I fished with Captain Roger Sunday and took 1st place in the Rodeo in the sea bass class. The sad thing is I'm the only one on the Leader Board in the sea bass class and I weighed in a puny1.5 ib bass. That's pitiful!!!! Someone ought to knock me off the Board before the Rodeo ends. For those of you who have Captains' Club points don't forget to shop at the OIFC and spend them on my Christmas present.
The OIB Christmas Flotilla takes place at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Anyone interested in watching the water parade can view it from behind the OIFC. From all of us at the OIFC have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. We hope to see you this weekend.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"OIFC.com tourney- let's go fishing" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/26/08
Registration closes for this tournament on Friday PM at midnight-- We've got a decent number of entries to date, but need you to join us. I've gotten reports today that the fish are chewing hard- and I just checked the water temps-- IT IS GOING TO BE ON !!!! There's a 66 degree edge around the Bad Bottom off Hatteras and a huge edge to 70+ degrees off the Smell Wreck -- I think the fish will be on the cooler break, but if not, for sure on the warm one. Also, if you plan to fish out of Morehead, the warm water has pushed in over the Atlas Tanker and that could mean HUGE fish. Looking at the weather, it looks like Sat and Sun may both be decent days. My experience at Hatteras says the best fishing is usually on a 10-15kt North wind, which is forecast both days. My plans as of now are to run up on Saturday- I'll likely be running the backwater at least to Ocracoke, so if you want run with me- COME ON! Call me at (910) 367-2945
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"FOR SALE" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/25/08
Spoils from the SKA Nationals- we have won a Mercury 225 Optimax engine. I am looking for a buyer- asking price is $9500 -- EMAIL me if you have interest
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"SKA Championship to NC Championship" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/25/08
After a memorable week in Biloxi where we experienced a full array of conditions and emotions we are back home in NC and looking forward to one last kingfish tournament for the 08' season. This coming Saturday is the first of eight possible days to fish the OIFC.com King Mackerel Tournament. As a reminder, registration is exclusively online at the Ocean Isle Fishing Center webstore at www.OIFC.com. You can read all the details and rules on the tournament homepage. Basically this is a fish 2 out of 8 day format. No checkout but a lines in the water time. Two weigh-in sites, 1 in Morehead City, 1 in Hatteras. The winner is determined by the heaviest combined weight of 2 king mackerel (1 fish per day). There are two twt's available. Registration closes at midnight this Friday the 28th. You may fish any two days beginning Saturday the 29th of November thru Saturday the 6th of December, but MUST declare ahead of time by calling the hotline. We invite all participants and spectators to keep up with the results daily on our Fishing Report at www.OIFC.com. Also, we hope you will take a minute to look around our webstore and keep us in mind the next time you're in need of fishing related supplies or apparel, and give us your thoughts on how to make it better or if we're missing any products. Our objective was to present quality name brand products as well as a wide array of our custom products at great value and competitive pricing. Thank you for everyone's interest in this event and we look forward to seeing everyone on the water and hooked up!
On to a pre-tournament fishing report and game plan. I don't have a detailed kingfish report at this time due to being out of town the last week. However, it's no secret the biggest fish of the year in NC are typically taken from Morehead's east side to the Hatteras temp breaks during the end of November and early December. There has been a great fall bite up that way for the past few weeks with numerous fish over 40 and several 50's that I know of. The report is the bait (pogies) is plentiful along the beach from Drum to the north. I would imagine the blues are on the wrecks. For those fishing the area for the first time, the pogies we will be using are not your average summer pogy. They can weigh up to 3lbs and be about 18" long. Many will use gill nets to catch them, but we've had good success using our super fast sinking heavy cast nets that we custom design, which happen to be available on our webstore. From the sounds of things up there right now perhaps the biggest challenge we may have is distinguishing a smoker kingfish run from a giant bluefin run. If he doesn't stop it was bluefin! For those entering the tournament if you don't mind, shoot one of us an email and let us know when you're heading up and if you'll be staying in Morehead or Hatteras. That way we can give better web updates and maybe plan to meet for dinner one night. The OIFC team is currenly planning on staying at Hatteras and heading up the first pretty day after this coming Sunday (we have a trout tournament at the OIFC in Ocean Isle we are hosting this weekend). If anyone is planning on running the back way up to Hatteras and either knows the way and doesn't mind others following or is interested in following somebody that does know the way, shoot us an email and we'll try to help. I'm not sure yet whether we are running the boat up or taking the ferry.
After experiencing an absolutely incredible bite in Biloxi this past weekend it's going to be tough to top it (FYI-It's true we did catch a kingfish on a pickle: I have video). But, if there is anywhere on the planet that can compete it's Morehead/Hatteras during this time. We'll see. With 8 possible days to choose from, we should be able to give them a good shot in decent conditions. Registration ends this Friday at 12pm. Go to www.OIFC.com to register.
Capt's Barrett and Brant McMullan
captbrant@oifc.com
captbarrett@oif.com
- Capt. Barrett McMullan
"Kings at or near the Frying Pan" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/24/08
The area around the tower was on fire yesterday for good-sized king mackerel. Jim Bowen on the "Stick Slinger" was out there after missing a wahoo or two at the Black Jack hole. Jim reported being hooked up with multiple fish for about four hours, sometimes with triples and quads! He also said that it was a nice class of fish, with several in the mid to low twenties. Judging by the pictures he sent, I have no doubt. To finish out the day, Cameron Byrd released an estimated 100 pound shark on 20 pound line. Jim said they got back well after dark but that it was definitely worth it.
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Birthday Boy" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/23/08
Captain Roger's birthday was Saturday and he didn't even tell us. I'm hurt! No one would have messed with him....not us. But today turned out to be a bitter sweet birthday present. He and I had a charter with a fun group of guys who are all neighbors in Sanford. Somehow an angler /friend named Buck from Supply was thrown in the mix.
We all met at the OIFC dressed in our best warm foul weather gear. Fortunately for us it wasn't as cold as we expected. We then went about 10 miles out and jigged some bait. We put fishing lines in a while later, in 80 ft of water. As soon as the first line struck the bottom a 15 lb gag grouper hit it. We fished there for a while with mostly AJ's biting.
The next stop was in @100 feet of water with a temp. of 72 degrees. Again it was mostly sea bass and AJ's. That was pretty much the story for the rest of the day...grouper, AJ's sea bass and pink snapper. Although Buck quickly became the Shark Master after hooking up with 3 monster sized Sand Tigers. Roger estimated them to be in the 300 lb. range. They were all released quickly.
The fishing was action packed and non stop. The ocean and weather was even better. It was cool, but that helped keep the guys from overheating when they were reeling in what felt like a Volkswagen from about 100 feet below.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Speck bite in full effect" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/23/08
It's official, the specks are here and hungry. Today was a little warmer than yesterday and Austin Aycock, Brian Aycock, and Jeff Beck took full advantage on the Hook Em Up Scout. The crew were using live shrimp that they caught themselves. A good precursor to next weekends inshore tournament, hosted right here at the OIFC.
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"SKA Championship update" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/23/08
In the world of King Mackerel fishing, we often question the the logic of trying to outsmart a critter that doesn't have a measurable brain. And sure enough, if you get lucky enough to figure that one out, then you get smacked from trying to figure out the proper strategy to use in the modified tourney format in fishing the SKA Championship. Due to the adverse weather, the SKA came up with a very creative solution to allow teams to fish Friday or Saturday and weigh 2 fish, but if they weighed no fish on Friday, they could still weigh 2 fish Saturday. So being hard core Carolina fishermen, of course Brant/Barrett weren't going to miss the chance to basically have a free pass for Friday. So despite 30+ winds they went at it. The problem was they caught a medium fish[32 pounds], and so the delimina of whether to weigh it or not, since they still had the option of weighing 2 fish Saturday. They rode aound in the channel about an hour mulling that one over, and based upon the anticipated bad weather for Saturday, they decided to weigh their 32. That put them in 8th place. Day 2, Saturday started with the same 20-25kt winds, so their strategy was looking good, however as the day progressed, the winds layed, and in the words of kingfishing legend, Wayne "Kingfish" Hill, "if they don't chew today, they'll chew tomorrow". And thus it was as an all out bite developed around the Horseshoe Rigs. Brant/Barrett weighed a 47, had a 43 and a 41, and if they had made the decision not to have weighed the 32 on Friday, they would have finished 2nd to Fish Fever and their 57 and 38. As it was they finished a very respectable 6th, but damn! the bad luck on strategy. That's racing.
So, now on to the next shot at 50lb Kings; don't forget the OIFC.com Hatteras King tourney. You can fish 2 out of 8 days, starting Saturday after Thanksgiving. Weighin locations are at Hatteras and Morehead. Go to www.oifc.com for info.
- Rube McMullan
"Trout Time" | Speckulator - 22' | 11/22/08
Two great friends of the OIFC, Scott Allen and his son Austin joined Captain Kyle on the Speckulator for a day of trout fishing . Captain Kyle started this chilly day out with a dozen OIFC premium mud minnows, whether they caught their fish on them or some other bait is a mystery. With the tournament this weekend I operated on the "ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies" premise, so I haven't any details on the day's experience. All I know is this father son duo brought a bunch of nice trout back to the OIFC dock, including the 4.5 pounder in the picture.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"A pickle in Biloxi" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/22/08
Just got word from our boys at SKA nationals in Biloxi, Mississippi. Capt. Brant and Capt. Barrett reported that the hottest kingfish bite of all time took place in less than comfortable conditons today. Brant said that the bite was so good he managed to catch a 25 pounder on a pickle! The good news is that they have to upper 40 pounders on ice right now, the bad news is that they are only able to weigh one of them. Hopefully the bigger one will go nicely with the 32 pounder they weighed yesterday. Kudos to those who went ahead and toughed it out there today--that's what it's all about.
- Capt. Chris Burrows
"Biloxi Report" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/22/08
Report from SKA King Championship in Biloxi.
As is typical, the weather before the tourney was perfect and everyone enjoyed 2 great days of prefishing. The fish were dialed in around the Exxon Rig, so Team OIFC went on a mission of trying to find out where they weren't in hopes of finding a body of fish that everyone else didn't know about. We succeeded in finding out where they weren't; fished day one in the West Delta with perfect conditions, perfect water color, surface bait everywhere, and no Kings. We stayed with Bill and Mike Butler at their great fishermans facility in Venice. They've done a great job putting Venice Marine back together after the storms and if you ever want to go on a fishing adventure you should come to Venice. You can catch anything from large mouth bass to blue marlin. It's an amazing fishery and the Butlers are great host.
Day 2 shifted to the east side, same strategy, same results. So, game plan tourney morning is to go where they're at, which is where everyone else will be. During night major cold front came thru. Early morning Friday, wind blowing 25, gusting to 30[thats from buoys 20 miles out, fish are 70 miles out]. My decision was to respect the weathered condition of my body, so I gave Brant/Barrett my best Rick Hendricks speech and told them to "go get em boys". All during the day boats were coming back in early with horror stories of broken windshields, damaged curtains/tee tops/consoles/ect. Everyone said it was terrible, but to my knowledge, noone got hurt. As always there are a few who somehow tuff it out, and at weighin, there were approx a dozen fish weighed, including a 44,43,3 38's, a 34, and 2 32's. Brant and Barret came thru with a 32 and were in 8th place. Randal Edens, good fishing friend from the Topsail area was leading the 23 under group with the 43, caught right beside Brant/Barrett.
Day 2, early, wind report 20, gusting to 25. Wind has moved more to east, sea conditions are 1 foot higher than yesterday at the buoy reporting station 20 miles out. Gave Brant/Barrett repeat of yesterdays speech and sent them out. Seeing boats returning early just like yesterday so conditions are terrible again. Best of luck to everyone fighting it out. Rube
- Rube McMullan
"Global Warming????" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/22/08
President elect Obama hasn't even taken office and he's already resolved the global warming crises here in Paradise. Al Gore should be ecstatic!!!!! I don't know where you are, but it's freezing here. But...that ought to make the trout bite take off. Kyle has a trip this morning so I hope we'll find out. Jeff is fishing Sunday and if I don't go out with Roger I'll fish with him and file a report. I learned that line from Clark Kent. As I said Roger has a charter Sunday, we're going to target Kings and possible grouper.
It appears the weatherman missed the wind reports for today because it's calm here. The beach looked flat, the horizon had some camel backs, but should settle down.
Captain Brant, Captain Barrett and Rube fished in their tournament yesterday, maybe we'll hear some good news from them. Captain Amy is in Florida scuba diving with the crew from Coastal Scuba in N. Myrtle Beach. We hope she has a good time and will have some great stories to tell. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, us commoners are holding down the fort and freezing!
Thanksgiving is upon us with most people having a long weekend. Enjoy your day with your family, then beg out and come wet a hook!
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Thanksgiving Inshore Classic Update" | Speckulator - 22' | 11/17/08
Well guys, fall is officially here, but the way the weather looks fot this week, it may feel more like winter. But the cold air temperatures should have the opposite effect on the inshore fishing, especially the trout and drum fishing...things should be HOT! The cold weather will casue the fish to "bunch up" in all the normal fall spots, just in time for the Thanksgiving Inshore Classic, the weekend after Thanksgiving. See the tournaments page for more details...hope to see all of you there!
- Capt. Kyle Hughes
"Heading to Biloxi" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/17/08
Rube, Barrett and I are heading to Biloxi, MS to fish in the annual SKA national championship event. The tournament is next weekend and we are always excited about the prospect of experiencing some of the best king mackerel fishing in the country. Fishing Biloxi is always an experience, but like any fishing, its particularly fun when you get on the bite. I remember a few years ago we posted a 2 fish aggregate of 97 pounds-- a 47 on day 1 and 50 and day 2 and only finished 15th! The bite was one of the best I've ever seen and even though we didn't finish high, just being a part of it and being where we needed to be was well worth it. Last year was an example of how we were out to lunch. The body of fish was much smaller and only a handful of boats found them and we did not and thus the disappointment of not being where we needed to be. So, we leave with a hope and vision. Stay tuned for the report.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Archives" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/15/08
It's late and Grouper,(my bulldog) and I are up and enjoying the peace and quite. I decided to "bone" up on what's biting and where this time of year. I was excited to read last year's reports about our exciting fishing. It was about this time when the Trout bite turned on for the in shore guys. Off shore got real fired up with the Wahoo bite in the 100/400 area. Also hitting were the black fin. grouper, snapper and kings, and the most exciting was the arrival of the giant Blue Fin Tuna. Get yourself in the mood for fun winter fishing by reviewing our Fishing Report Archive Section.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"A Bunch of Nothin'" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/15/08
I know you don't want to hear about me cleaning house or being sentenced to going to the mall, but what I can report is generally speaking, nothing much is happening, either the wind is blowing, or it's raining or like yesterday the fog is so thick you have to cut it with a knife. However there are a few things I've scraped up to pass on.
Blue fin tuna time is quickly coming upon us. Captain Roger says that they have been spotted north of us and he figures they ought to be showing up in about a week. We have OIFC Custom blue fin set ups in the store. We also have a charter spacial for that as well as king mackerel/grouper, tuna, dolphin and wahoo trips. Speaking of grouper, there are new regulations concerning grouper coming into effect the first of the year. You should make yourself aware.
Our Captains' Club Sale begins today. You don't have to come to the store to shop, just contact Mrs. Juanita, our On-Line Store guru. and shop on line. As I buy all my gas here I've got a ton of points and already have my eye on some Calcutta and Pelagic stuff!
Our tourist season is slowing down, just like everyone in this business, so I'll be working less. But that's a good thing because I can fish more and go out on our charters to get better reports, pictures and hone my skills.
For us in shore anglers the bait ( peanut pogies and mullet) is holding strong in Tubbs Inlet. The shrimp are also thick in the waterway if you can work your way around the side netters. Jeff, Roger and I loaded up yesterday and stashed them in Bryan Aycock's and Jeff's bait pen. They've got an excellent set up and if I get permission I'll be glad to share how to make one with you. Don't winterize your boat. FISH!! I believe we caught more fish last winter than we did this summer.
Finally, happy birthday to our favorite blondes, Caroline and Camdyn! Their parties are this weekend.
Not a bad report for nothing to say. Maybe I should run for office in 2012.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Take A Kid Fishing" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/11/08
Today Capt. Roger, Capt. Amy and myself loaded the Carolina Cat up with a bunch of kids and we took them fishing. One of the children was 10 year old Heather Cartland who won the "Capt. Brant Best Fishing Story" contest held through the Brunswick Beacon. Along with Heather was a group of my wife Amy's Sunday school class- 7 kids from 12 to 16 years old -- it was quite the crew and most had never been on the ocean. We headed out some 3 miles and anchored up over some hard bottom where the kids had a blast catching Sea Bass, Bluefish, Gray Trout, Sharks and to top it all off, they landed a double header of 40 inch Red Drum! People often ask me what type of fishing I like to do best? The answer is I like doing any fishing where the fish bite and fishermen truly appreciate and enjoy the experience. Such was the case this AM.
L-R: Summer Phelps, Cody Thorpe, Dalton Hernandez, Alexis Phelps, Heather Cartland (bottom), Tyler Evans, Chad Milligan, Austin Rhodes – this group of outstanding young fishermen and fisherwomen are all members of the United Vision Pentecostal Church with the addition of Heather Cartland who was the winner of the Capt. Brant Best Fishing Story contest. The children had a great day catching tons of Sea Bass, Bluefish, Grey Trout, Sharks and topped of their catch with a double header of citation size Red Drum, pictured.
- Capt. Brant McMullan
"Trout King" | OIFC 1- 36' | 11/10/08
Jeff and I were making our rounds this afternoon. Our first stop was Gordens Net Shop on Bricklanding Rd. to order Camdyn a set of kid's Grundens. This is a cool place to check out even if you're not into netting and the folks there are as nice as can be.
After that we cruised by Captain Steve Previtte's (U Hook'em) house. We caught Steve in the middle of bagging trout he'd just finished cleaning. Knowing I write the fishing report and had just caught him red handed, he just kind of gave me his sheepish grin. After swearing not to give specifics, he told me he'd caught them and some red drum using live shrimp while fishing with his son Saturday in the Lockwood Folly River. I've included a couple of clandestine pictures I took. They're pretty dark so I hope you can see all the trout.
Remember Capt. Kyle's Thanksgiving Inshore Tournament which is coming up at the OIFC on November 28-29 and that the trout are around.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
"Movin' off shore" | OIFC World Cat / Carolina Cat | 11/10/08
Captain Roger had a king fish charter Sunday with Ken Aadsen (Calabash transplant), Joel (Anacortes, Washington state) and Tele (Sitka, Alaska). Joel and Tele were visiting with Ken and decided they'd like to experience our fishing. They are both commercial fishermen (fishing people as one is a lad) in Alaska and fish a boat Ken built. They've got some great stories and are going to send me some photos of some of their fish which I'll post.
Roger had to take them 24 miles out before he found warm enough water to really get into the kings. He was pretty amazed about how the warm water had moved. The ocean was still swelly after Saturday's blow but was fishable. They scored several kings off dead cigar minnows and threw in a few good tasting sea bass for good measure. Someone in the Rodeo needs to catch a sea bass because no one is on the leader board yet. As soon as I can make an off shore trip I'm going to try it.
Finally I tried to recover Roger's cell phone from where he dropped in the water, but with no luck. I forgot that Captain Amy and Captain Barrett just got their diver's certification and could have done a recovery dive.
- First Mate- Rickey Beck
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