I havent been reporting near as much as catching lately, but here's a bit of what I did last week after work as I wrote in an email to some buddies, this is from around the Swansboro area:
Went to get bait at lunch Wednesday but could only pick up one decent mullet and a hand sized pinfish. I kept them both and hit the ramp down the road on the way home to see if I could get a few more baits and was only able to get another pinfish. I set out anyways w/ only these 3 pieces of bait and figured I was getting a late start anyways (7pm) so give it a shot. Had a bank in mind and as I was heading there I saw a point in the marsh grass that looked great w/ the full/incoming tide, (relatively) deep channel next to it and a few scattered oyster beds around. Set up there and threw a bait off each end of the boat. 1ST pinfish and 2 pieces of mullet (I got 4 pieces out of the one mullet) got robbed. I was about to launch the other pinfish behind me when I saw what looked like a drum back chase something so I threw that pinfish where I saw that and placed it in the rod holder and started to bait the other rod w/the another piece of mullet. Before I could get that bait in the water the other rod bends over and after a few good runs I land a nice 24 drum. Back in the drink he went and had the next piece of mullet stolen leaving me w/ one more piece of bait. So I chunk that one right where I caught the last fish. Since this is the last piece I just held on to the rod and it werent but about 2 minutes when I felt it start to pull and bend. This one started peeling drag pretty good too so I unclipped my anchor and went for a ride. This was a great fight pulling me all around and I even saw a lightning bolt hit on the other side of EI while fighting. Ended up landing a drum that measured right at 27!!!! Released the fish and enjoyed my paddle back in. Looking back on it, I should of tied on a topwater and tried that a bit for it was milk glass out there and felt fishy.
Now to yesterday (Thursday), got back from Myrtle Beach (work trip) a bit before 6 and wasnt sure what I wanted to do till the fishing addiction overroad all the things I should do and I set out w/o any bait. Stopped on a marsh bank I saw lots of bait the day before and cast netted 7 mullet. Went to the same spot I got fish the night before and 1st bait out I land a 17 drum. Another 15 miutes go by feeding crabs until I reel in one of my lines and all thats left is my sinker, swivel and about an inch of leader. Found that odd for I didnt see that line get pulled, then I retied another leader and threw back to the same spot. Less than 5 minutes and got another fish on. Another great fight and Ive got a 24 drum in my lap. Whats interesting about this fish is after getting the hook out of his mouth, there was a piece of leader coming from deep in his throat sticking a few inches out of his mouth. I was thinking it had to have been him that just cut me off, maybe took the bait and it wrapped around an oyster rock and cut the leader before I knew it. Anyways, that was all the action I got and came in around 8 stoked again.
Went to get bait at lunch Wednesday but could only pick up one decent mullet and a hand sized pinfish. I kept them both and hit the ramp down the road on the way home to see if I could get a few more baits and was only able to get another pinfish. I set out anyways w/ only these 3 pieces of bait and figured I was getting a late start anyways (7pm) so give it a shot. Had a bank in mind and as I was heading there I saw a point in the marsh grass that looked great w/ the full/incoming tide, (relatively) deep channel next to it and a few scattered oyster beds around. Set up there and threw a bait off each end of the boat. 1ST pinfish and 2 pieces of mullet (I got 4 pieces out of the one mullet) got robbed. I was about to launch the other pinfish behind me when I saw what looked like a drum back chase something so I threw that pinfish where I saw that and placed it in the rod holder and started to bait the other rod w/the another piece of mullet. Before I could get that bait in the water the other rod bends over and after a few good runs I land a nice 24 drum. Back in the drink he went and had the next piece of mullet stolen leaving me w/ one more piece of bait. So I chunk that one right where I caught the last fish. Since this is the last piece I just held on to the rod and it werent but about 2 minutes when I felt it start to pull and bend. This one started peeling drag pretty good too so I unclipped my anchor and went for a ride. This was a great fight pulling me all around and I even saw a lightning bolt hit on the other side of EI while fighting. Ended up landing a drum that measured right at 27!!!! Released the fish and enjoyed my paddle back in. Looking back on it, I should of tied on a topwater and tried that a bit for it was milk glass out there and felt fishy.
Now to yesterday (Thursday), got back from Myrtle Beach (work trip) a bit before 6 and wasnt sure what I wanted to do till the fishing addiction overroad all the things I should do and I set out w/o any bait. Stopped on a marsh bank I saw lots of bait the day before and cast netted 7 mullet. Went to the same spot I got fish the night before and 1st bait out I land a 17 drum. Another 15 miutes go by feeding crabs until I reel in one of my lines and all thats left is my sinker, swivel and about an inch of leader. Found that odd for I didnt see that line get pulled, then I retied another leader and threw back to the same spot. Less than 5 minutes and got another fish on. Another great fight and Ive got a 24 drum in my lap. Whats interesting about this fish is after getting the hook out of his mouth, there was a piece of leader coming from deep in his throat sticking a few inches out of his mouth. I was thinking it had to have been him that just cut me off, maybe took the bait and it wrapped around an oyster rock and cut the leader before I knew it. Anyways, that was all the action I got and came in around 8 stoked again.