Well, October has finally arrived. And, while it is the drizzling shits for watching football right now, October is the pinnacle of my fishing season.
After working half a day on Thursday, I headed to Buckroe Pier in Hampton to try and catch bait for this weekend's north wind in the OBX. While there were a decent number of large spot caught, I couldn't get hardly any action on my bloodworm fishbites. I managed three, but folks using real bloodworms caught at 10 times the frequency that I did (and I would rather buy cob mullet than drop $18 a bag for bloodworms.) At dark, I drove down to Chesapeake and got a little bit of sleep at a Fairfield Inn.
At 3:00AM, I got up and headed down to Jennettes Pier in Nags Head, armed with a bag of around a dozen spot heads graciously donated by the Buckroe patrons cleaning their catch, and my three whole spot. I didn't have great expectations. The weather Friday was beautiful, almost flat calm wind and 70 degrees. Unfortunately, that usually means poor fall fishing. There weren't any bluefish, spot, or anything else I could use for bait. I soaked the spot heads off the end, and one drum was caught in spite of the conditions. I also realized that the FHB Drum Tournament kicked off the next morning with the windchange, so I knew the end of the pier was going to be a mad house. I made the call to leave the pier at 11:00AM and go get corncob mullets. I loaded the cooler with corn cobs at Ocean's East, grabbed a Jersey Mike's sub for lunch, and slept from mid-afternoon through 3AM Saturday.
As expected, Saturday was a madhouse. Between a north 20 mile an hour wind, 30+ rods set up in a confined space, and a slow bite to start the day, it was an excercise in patience. I didn't enter the tournament this year, so I tried to give the tournament guys (many of whom are long time acquantainces) as much distance as I could. It is still early, so most of the red drum are local fish coming out of the sound to feed, so most are caught in the South corner. I fished the North corner most of the day, which was a little less hectic. To hold, I had to use 10oz pyramid sinkers.
Well, most of the morning was shark after shark. I caught a dozen 3-12 pound Atlantic sharpnose shaks (called "purple biters" by the locals) while maybe four drum were caught before lunchtime. But, starting around 3:00PM, the bite got stronger, and I got two nice fish about 45 minutes apart. The first fish was 44 inches, but was as wide as any drum I have caught. It's tail was almost 16 inches wide.
On the board and one of my biggest #drumtour2022 pic.twitter.com/mHHYQbueSY— TKP-Mode French (@french60wasp) October 8, 2022
The second fish was almost 48 inches, didn't have the width, but was much more difficult to get to the pier. I got it right before sunset.
Second fish of the day #drumtour2022 pic.twitter.com/Bq7t9TcLHs— TKP-Mode French (@french60wasp) October 8, 2022
On my next cast, I promptly blew up my Penn Fathom II (I kept loosing the brakes to improve casting distance, and like Icarus, I flew too close to the sun), but I was so worn out that I didn't bother retying. I sat around for a bit to watch the chaos, and then packed up and made a bathroom pit stop before leaving the pier (keep in mind, at that point I had been on the pier for nearly 15 straight hours without a restroom break.) I declared victory and went to bed.
With the wind flattening out on Sunday, I made the call to sleep in, and then meet up with two friends from Maryland who were spot fishing at Rudee Inlet. I headed out around 8:30AM, washed the salt off my Trailblazer, made a side trip to get A Bite of Maine lobster rolls for the boys lunch, and then arrived at Rudee a little before noon. The bite started out slow, but as the slack tide started moving again, we filled the cooler for their annual Thanksgiving fishfry. We caught around 60 spots, two keeper trout, and two croakers (this time almost all were on bloodworm fishbites, as the pinfsh made quick work of the regular bloodworms they brought.)
My buddies are huge buffet afficianados, so we wrapped the day at Captain Georges. I am not a fan, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do. They pounded the crab legs and we had a great time talking smack and planning future fishing trips.
Hopefully I can get back down to the OBX for the next NE wind.
Tight lines everyone.
Comments
Awesome French, congratulations
Well done!
Second October fishing thread.... Drink up French!
Well there hadn't been much posting in the other one. I've been fishing but not catching... so nothing much to report on my end.
I haven't been fishing because, well, boat....
If you can get 4 people the ferry can take you over to the hook at Lookout and catch albies.
I would but I'm too spoiled to sit around and pray the albies come close enough. I've got work to do anyways. Hopefully the part shows up this week
Sorry with the duplicate threads. I couldn't find a new October thread.
It's all good, I'm just giving you a hard time.
Not much fishing around here... 1- busy as hell recovering from the storm still. 2- they are "strongly advising" against even going in the water in the gulf right now. And 3- you actually are not supposed to have personal watercraft out in my county right now. Even in Goodland bay, there's still floating debris. Actually saw a video on Facebook from Estero bay yesterday where a WHOLE DAMN HOUSE was resting on an oyster bar (I know it's an oyster bar, because it's one of my fishing spots actually).....
Nice drum French!!!
great to hear from you! I was a bit worried
Thank you, and glad you are ok. Stay safe down there.
AS frustrating as it is, I'd heed the warnings. In 4+ years on the Boating Advisory Council, I saw enough reports to know they aren't frivolous with those things (they catch hell from every elected official who can find them when they tell people they can't do stuff); and their resources are stretched way beyond capacity after storms. They'll be picking up derelict vessels from this one for years. We've got 4 or 5 next to our neighborhood and we barely had TS conditions.
I'm not going anywhere near that water right now. I'm not a super smart guy, but it took me about 5 seconds to figure out why the water coming out of the Marco river and flowing with the current from up north is all super brown.... you can see the difference in fresh gulf vs .....everything else... from our roof pretty clear. Doesnt take a genius configure out that when a sewer system floods and sustains the damage it did, all that *stuff* goes somewhere....
Its incredible how many people are getting in the water though. All renters, from other states, that got on the airplane without thinking. We've warned every one of them, dropped clean hints to some and flat out told others "hey, there's some serious shit, literally, in that water".
One of our electricians, who just rebuilt a 73 Johnsen skiff into a beautiful fly fishing machine, went out of port of the isles and back deep into the 10K islands this past weekend. He said the water was crystal clear back there and didn't have any smells to it at all. Had pictures of a beautiful slam he caught (because yes Flyguy, those that are fishing here say the fishing has gotten white hot).
Makes sense, all the fish pushed to the clean water, makes them more concentrated.
Yeah absolutely. Unfortunately it's a bit out of paddling range. 3 miles plus some fishing is about all I can do before my shoulder tells me it's time to quit. I'll probably give it a month or so before I start fishing again tbh
Yeah I've been pushing how far I can pedal but it also takes up a ton of time in the trip. Been thinking about getting a torqeedo to double my speed. Still enjoy the kayak. Yea I don't blame you for waiting a month.
I thought about the torqeedo as well. Also thought about just fixing my PWM on the trolling motor, but the battery weight and cost of lithium batts was a hurdle there. Now I'm leaning gas (since Nucanoe has a Honda built specifically for them) to get me to the area, and then just paddle onto the flat or up closer to the 'groves. Probably the way I'll end up going.
Sounds good, I had also thought about going the solo skiff route. Yea battery weight of doing a trolling motor was also big. A lot of people had added the XI3 on the front of the shearwater. Keep us updated on what you do.
the Solo is much more suitable for a little outboard because of the forward position of the motor/improved stability; but I don't know how easy it is to fish one.
One of my friends has one and enjoys it but haven't been out when he has had it.
I have a 2.5 Suzi (30 lb) I got for that NuCanoe and you need A LOT of weight in the front (or a second person). Otherwise the COG shifts far to the rear and the boat is very unstable if/when you turn around to start the motor or turn to shift it. I used the motor one time with my wife (she is small...like 105 lbs) in the front seat (facing forward), but otherwise I couldn't make it work for me.
I suggest you take it out with only you and a paddle and turn around in the back seat and face the rear. I'd estimate you want about 150 in the front if you are going to put a motor on the back and plan to turn all the way around at any point.
The fishing is probably really good too.... Glad you made it through ok
My buddy fished the Cape last weekend and said he caught over 50 albies. I call BS on that many but heard it has been on fire the past few days. Ugh...
Saw some guys on Ocracoke we're catching albies from shore this week
That's awesome. I know there are big bluefish running around there.
Yeah been seeing tons of citation drum and big blues in tradewinds reports every day. It's that time of year I guess
Yep, it is. Totally eating me up inside. Supposedly my mechanic will look at my boat this weekend.... Next week I have to fly to California for a wedding that I am dreading. I'm going to miss the bulk of the good fall fishing.
Fishing has been on fire at Cape Lookout. Absolutely insane. I watch from afar while tying earrings in Virginia. Yesterday I replaced the Yamaha "engine cable," turned the key over and nothing. I walked away and left it before I took a sledge hammer to something expensive. Before replacing the corroded cable, I was at least getting power when turning the key over. Replace the corroded old cable, which I'm hoping is the issue, and now I'm even further behind. I'm not sure I'll be back on my boat this fall. It sits at my mechanic's house and he has a real job to take care of every day before looking at my boat.
Heading to the OBX tomorrow-Monday. Should be posting up at Jennettes, although I will have two friends with me so I need to be aware of their needs during the trip. Tomorrow is the quest for bait.
I need to feed them (primarily because if I don't have lots of recommendations, they will want to go to Captain Georges, and I want to avoid the runs during a drum bite.
I'm religious about eating grits grill when in the area.
Yeah, that's a lot of money to pay for the back door trots.
Saw on the socials that Heuplek got hitched over the weekend. Congrats on outkicking your coverage for life! Hope marriage doesn't suck up too much of your fishing time.
Finally got the old twin vee shoal cat out for a inshore trip on the mobjack this weekend twice. Motor is finally broken in so we can finally let the 70 horse sing and it's a smooth riding 19 footer. Didn't catch anything significant, a few 14 inch pups and couple small stripers and some trout but nothing big enough for the frying pan. Always used to seeing the water by kayak it's going to be new trying to learn it from a powerboat. Now I just need a trolling motor to mount on the front trying to drift and fish docks in the wind Sunday morning was a pain without one. Might just get a pole I can use to stake out as a poor man's pole anchor until I can find a trolling motor.
Superstick is a relatively inexpensive pole option for you.
Anywhere local that sells them or tackle direct my best bet there?
might check kayak dealers or bass pro if you have one. Get an 8 or, preferably, 9 footer
edit: some manufacturers recommend a certain length based on the size of the boat. However, imo, the most important factors are water depth, bottom type, and current. I have an old Scout 145 (a little over 14') fish mostly in tidal creeks, and I have an 8' anchor pin. So with a muddy bottom and current, it works in about 6' of water, max. It would be way more useful to me if it was 10'. I wind up mostly using it to nose up close to the bank in a creek bend, where I can bounce a bait off a shelf into a drop off. There are a few flats where I am, but not many.
Yeah 5' is about my max when I had an 8' one. Upgraded to 12' for winter fishing so can anchor in 8 to 9'.
what brand?
Yak attack makes an extension piece so it's three 4' pieces
Im leaning towards a longer one for that reason alone itll be used both to push and mainly as a spike to anchor with if its not rough or real windy.
There's also DIY ways to make them too. I was just lazy and used the yak attack one
I'm pretty sure I bought my Superstick online from bass pro and they mailed it to me. It was really useful since it is extendable and went from 9 to 17 if I remember correctly, would lay down in the bottom of the boat.
Just fished Friday through Monday. Friday- NE 15, should have been perfect. Water was gin clear. Bluefish only. Saturday, same deal. Lots of bluefish, but the wind was pure drum wind and the water never dirtied up. Sunday there were a few drum caught (4) but you had to fish with 10 and 12oz pyramids to hold. Yesterday everything laid down. There was one drum in the morning, but little sharks and rays were eating up my spot and sea mullet heads as fast as I could catch the spot and sea mullet off the side of the pier.
Because of a family obligation, that was my last OBX run this fall. I will be in Ocean City the first weekend of November, and then a break before the honeymoon in January.
Oh. Also looking for a cooler recommendation since my drain plug on my Yeti has warped and failed and leaked mullet juice all over the back of my whip.
Looking for 25-35 QTs, heavy enough for a 350 person to sit on without warping the cooler, keeps ice and bait for 2 days. NO DRAIN PLUGS.
Won't Yeti do something for you? Hell you have to get a second mortgage to buy one!
I've used Igloos higher end ones they do have drain plug but its a screw type. I've also used rotomolded Orion coolers very similar to yetis. Not sure on the warranty's of either never had issues with them.
Went out of Goodland on Saturday with my Ace Hardware rep, who has become a really close friend. The storm changed a TON of stuff around, as they usually do. Water was 68-70 degrees in the back (89 to 90 two days before the storm), too windy and choppy to take a skiff out of the pass. Places that used to be 6 feet deep, we actually threw up mud while running. Goodland bridge used to be 20 feet at all the pilings (more at the channel) and is now 16 at deepest. Looks like it totally destroyed the oyster bar farms they had going back near Palm Bay. Sandbars where sandbars didn't used to be, channels where sandbars used to be. And around half of the channel markers were either laying almost sideways or just totally gone. Spent the entire day strengthening my respect for mother nature's fury.
Could not find any bait of useable size, didn't see a single tarpon, snook, redfish, trout, or pompano on any of the spots we ended up marking for later use. All this while pulling a whopping 3 ladyfish into the boat, that eventually became free meals for some goliath grouper at the bridge... Much needed mental break though.
we're headed out tomorrow for the first time since May. Ian was just a major rainmaker here...over a foot. gonna go where the fish usually are this time of year. the creeks look good again, we'll see if the fish agree.
That's a TON of rain. Any flooding in your area?
Thats what baffled us the most. Any spot that we'd normally do well on during winter, if it was relatively unchanged, was empty. I think the fish are even still kind of shocked at the temp dropping so fast. 20 degrees is a lot of change in 4 weeks.
Not as much flooding as one might think given the rainfall #'s; for the area it was most of the usual low spots; and tides were a foot below Matthew and Irma so that helped. But the off color/turbid runoff in the watersheds lasted about 2 weeks. Tomorrow will be interesting.
welp; buddy and I got to my favorite trout hole (pretty far back in a creek) at high slack; water was stained but not turbid. We each caught a trout but it was slow and we decided to eat lunch to wait for the water to start moving. Decided we'd cross the waterway and try a creek draining from the island instead of the low lying flatwoods. Went to crank the motor and..."click". Pulled the cowling and tapped on the solenoid. "Click". Some more tapping and finally it fired. With the outboard running we went straight back to the ramp (7 miles) and trailered the boat. It hasn't fired since. Goes into the shop Monday morning.
But there were some fish there. Only other boat in sight was a guide poling a flyfishing client in the spartina on the flood tide. Heard them yelling real loud one time so I think either the client caught something or there will be a police report.
Yikes. Sucks to hear about the motor trouble. But at least you got it back to the trailer on it's own power.
feeling very fortunate
I got caught out in the middle of Lake O with a motor that wouldnt start in a July tournament. Not fun. At all. Motor trouble is the absolute worst. Hopefully it's just something silly that you weren't thinking about for whatever reason and doesnt require an almost-overhaul!
we'll find out! my buddy thinks it is the solenoid
update: so i walk into the repair place yesterday a.m. and proudly told the mechanic (super nice guy), "it's probably the starter solenoid!". to which he replied, "which one, there are two of them?".
so I was instantly deflated, laughed, and described the symptoms. and he says, "it's probably the solenoid in this relay switch right here...on this outboard, it's almost always the switch".
and he tested it, and he was right!
so waiting for the part, and it should be here tomorrow a.m. and fixed a few minutes later.
and I'm going to order an extra switch for my tool kit because its easy enough to change out myself if I can get the boat to the shoreline or a dock.
boat runs!
just in time for a nor'easter for the next 2 weeks
Geez, nothing like having an experienced mechanic, huh? Knew exactly what it was!!! That's awesome to hear that it's something easy.
One of the sayings to live by is simply Mother Nature always bats last.
I used that approach professionally for 4 decades. Just when you think you have it figured out, Mother Nature reminds you who is in charge.
In the 1980's, I did fish and wildlife impact assessments of the hurricane protection civil works projects near/in New Orleans that would eventually fail during Katrina. And somewhere in the annals of the Houston Chronicle is an op ed I wrote about a large, controversial housing development being permitted that I was sure would eventually flood...and it did...under 10+ feet of water from the San Jacinto River. Issuing that permit was just pure negligence.
She does. And she's pretty powerful when she swings...
I know some of you use the Tactical Angler style clips...25 lbs? 50 lbs? I'm going to rig up some rods with them and some without. Can you actually get a DOA jig, trout eye jig or 17 MR on/off a 25 or is it too small?
I was intrigued. Looked over some fishing blogs on these.
For snook and reds in the ICW, i tend to be more of a purist and avoid as much metal as possible. For those species, considering their pickiness, i likely wouldnt change from direct line to leader.
But, for less picky species, these seem legit functional. Lots of positive comments online. Some of the comments are ficused on tuna trolling, but not all. Depending on what ur targeting, id say their worth a try. Good luck.
I won't use them on my typical soft plastic or topwater. I'm pretty much a finesse type; I want max action, just the right look, and I want to feel everything. I'm not going to go to the trouble of adding eyes and extra glitter to the body of a soft plastic and then put a paper clip right in front of it. I don't know if it will bother the fish but it will bother me, lol.
So more likely on suspending or shallow running hard baits (or even spoons) which I don't use a lot but I tend to change quite a bit when I do. Maybe gulp; maybe. And maybe some use in the kayak (which I also don't use very often).
I've only used the 50 lb ones. I use them on everything (topwater, gold spoon, jig, mirrolures)
thanks!
I picked up that size and they sure are easy to use. I walked down to a nearby dock today to check the action on an assortment of plugs and even a spoon. Seemed not to impact action at all.
What knot do you use?
I use a uni. I figured the clip acted as a loop knot already.
Anyone know a good local taxidermist that does replica fish mounts? Trying to get one done but dont want to have to pay the florida shipping fees for a larger mount and would rather find someone regional.
I'd just make it an excuse to go to Florida on a trip to pick up your mount. New wave taxidermy has done the best stuff I've seen. Idk about local.
Yeah everything I find online is in florida it seems and to pay half the mount cost to ship from florida is a no go on my end. As always I like to find local places to get stuff done but not too many around VA do tarpon mounts unfortunately.
Yea I get your point but yea I doubt anyone who does mounts here has done more than a couple of tarpon or none at all.
Tarpon?? We didn't catch any tarpon lol
Anybody got suggestions for fishing St. Helena Island area is SC?
Here for a few days for Marine Graduation and gonna have a few hours each day to wet a line
heuplek territory...if he survived his honeymoon
Albie fishing and drum fishing continues to be on fire at the Cape. I'm sitting here wondering if I should go to Blacksburg this weekend to watch us lose to GT or back to NC to fish the weekend crowds. I'm told my boat is running but still need to verify it.
Depends on how bad you want a rail lol. I'd rather catch fish but I'm going to the game myself...
LOL I want one pretty badly! My cousin is a senior and I promised him and his best friend I would come down and hang with them for a game. So far I haven't made it yet. I hate backing out on promises, and I've got the rest of the month to catch albies....
If I go, we should catch up!