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2004 Fishing Reports Carteret County
King Mackerel Tournament
I arrived in Morehead on Friday a.m. with Capt. Andy's (Hot Grits Fishing Team) Donzi in tow. He had left it in Wilmington at Coastal Carolina Marine to be serviced and I offered to deliver it when I came up on Friday. After dropping off his boat, 1st mate Brent and I set off for a routine bait scouting trip. We spent most of the day Friday locating several areas around Morehead that held plenty of bait. After a short attempt at a early season ribbonfishing adventure, we decided to call it a day and get cleaned up for the tourney Captain's meeting. It was good to be at our first captain's meeting of the summer. Lots of ole friends and some new faces were seen. My good friend, Greg Hauser (GailForce Fishing team), was breaking in his new 29 Donzi in this tournament. After the meeting Greg and I met back at the Condo where I gave him enough of last year's ribbonfish to fish this tourney. His team is new on the circuit and should be a very competitive force. Tournament Day 1 Found the Sea Drag,n sitting at Harkers Island with a small group of boats looking for the bait. With a great forecast on Day 1, most of the teams seemed to be making a run south where alot of fish have been caught in the last 3 Tournaments. We sat silently in the near dark listening for a crack of the water's surface to give us a hint of a bait nearby. As light cracked, so did the surface. Brent threw his net from the back and yelled for me to throw. As the nets sank to the 8 ft. bottom, the lead lines began to shake violently. The bait was hauled in and loaded up, and we were off to the first spots. We had decided on north of the Cape Lookout shoals. Weather was great and seas were slick as glass. After about a 28 mile run we settled in on the first spot off the beach south of Ocracoke Inlet. Lines went out and our season was under way. Crew on this first fish day was made up of only Brent and myself. Daughter Lauren was at Duke golf camp and sister Carol stayed behind to relay daughter to the Duke campus. Al Sr. now 72 was planning on coming in Saturday night to fish with us on Sunday. Continued on Page 2 |
