2004 Fishing Reports

Carteret County King Mackerel Tournament - CONTINUED
July 17-18, 2004

After 1 hour of working this lst area, lines were up and we were off making our way back south. Next spot was a few miles south, but when we arrived it was loaded up with boats bottom fishing. We worked the area, trying to stay out of the way of the drifting boats. After the second pass over some of the hard bottom the downrigger lit up. I grabbed the rod and Brent cleared the other lines. After a 20 minute tug of war, we raised the 16 lb. king which was foul hooked in the tail into the boat. The rest of the Day found us on two other spots with nothing but small spanish and trigger fish.We headed in for the points and weighed our fish in at 16.4. Not many fish caught the first day, but three nice fish, 43, 39 and a 38 lber.

Tournament Day 2
We awoke to strong thunderstorms and wind, which had been forecasted the day before. Al Sr. had been alerted of the weather forecast and he elected to sit this one out. So Brent and I put the Sea Drag,n overboard and made our way back over to the Island for bait. We sat in the dark and the rain came down as we were trying to make a decision which way to go. Lots of boats sat out day 2, especially the ones with a decent fish. I think if we would have had a 20 pounder or better, we may have. Weather was not looking good and the bite was weak on Day 1. The boats that were fishing were mostly staying close to the beach. As light came so did a break in the rain. We made 2 throws and were rewarded well the nice Harkers Island Pogies. We loaded our tank and headed for the checkout.

Since it was only Brent and myself on board,we decided to make an effort to go back to the east side( Not that we take dangerous risks, we just push it a little more to the limit when its just he and I.) The plan was to try and run the beach close with a hard SW wind, as we thought it would be possible to get a ways north of the Lookout Shoals. After the first 6 miles and we cleared the protection of the shoals, conditions got bad fast. Rain squalls were tracking northeast taking a track over Cape Lookout heading off shore. We stopped to rearrange gear that had moved around and almost decided to head back. However, we saw somewhat of a clearing pattern began to show behind us. We continued on just south of Drum Inlet 1 mile off the beach. As we put lines out, the clearing had been replaced with lightening and strong winds. We were close enough on the beach that we missed most of the squalls offshore of us. It was clear this was as far offshore as we were going to go today.

We settled in as best you can in 4-5 ft seas with a occasional 6+ and started deploying lines. It was almost 8:20 a.m., by the time we put out the first lines. We fished as hard as I have ever fished and in some of the worse conditions. I told Brent maybe we should flip a coin if we get a fish hooked up to see who will have to hold the rod up in all this lightening.(we laughed, and I told him we would keep to our routine of me fighting the fish. I guess if you have to be struck by lightening I just as

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