I’m amazed how poorly things went in North Carolina. While I didn’t expect to do well, I didn’t expect to do as poorly as we did. I expected that we’d only catch a few fish decent sized fish at each location, but all we caught were little Spot fish and Croakers. They were just as annoying, if not more so, than the sunfish that we’re used to in freshwater. If I could do it again, I would have tried two other spots. They were told to us by one of the employees at... (more...)
Having had no real success catching fish off a pier, we decided to rent a pontoon. It would hold 10 of us and we would be able to take it out for 4 hours in the morning. Surely someone would catch something worthwhile in the middle of a sound. We rented the boat from Fishing Unlimited in Nags Head to go out to Roanoke Sound. It was a very well run outfit. We got on the boat a little before 8am and headed to the first of a few spots that the guide pointed out. He didn’t come with us, so... (more...)
We told the family about the crabbing spot we went to yesterday and a few of them wanted to try fishing off the pier that was there. The cousins decided to head down in the morning to try our luck. We had room for one more in the car, so my dad tagged along. We stopped in to TW’s Bait and Tackle to pick up fishing licenses for a few of us and also pick up some lures that other people had success with off the pier. We got to Pirate’s Cove at about 10am. Even at mid-morning, the sun... (more...)
While we were out crabbing this morning, my uncle, dad, brother, and cousins Chris and Julie went out to Nags Head pier to try their hand at fishing. They caught a few small Spot fish, but weren’t really happy about their experience. We seemed to have more fun crabbing. Later that afternoon, my aunt and her family went out on an outing on their own. At about 4:00, she called and said she was out at the same pier as the group this morning and the fish were biting like crazy. I hung up the... (more...)
This morning, we went out to Pirate’s Cove to go crabbing. We had purchased some crab lines and chicken necks from TW Bait and Tackle yesterday and they said Pirate’s Cove was a good place to go. It was a bit longer of a drive than we expected, but once we got there, we had a lot of fun. The pier there runs under the bridge that goes between Nags Head and Roanoke Island. It weaves in and out and around like a big snake. We first tried directly under the bridge where there are some... (more...)
Two of my younger cousins bought a couple of flashlights this afternoon and wanted to go looking for crabs while it was dark. We thought they might be out because we found one or two that had wandered into our pool and died. The theory was dead on. We walked on the beach and my cousin, Tim, found a crab right away running from his flashlight. He went after it, but couldn’t catch it. He eventually came up with the technique of trapping it with his flashlight. It was a little tricky getting... (more...)
I’m in the Outer Banks of North Carolina this week for a family reunion. My wife was out walking the beach alone this morning when she met some people that found some really cool conch shells. She found out from them how they were catching them and then we started doing it. Hurricane Bill, while several hundred miles South of us, was affecting the weather by producing some rain storms and stirring up the oceans with big waves (by my Midwestern standards). There were 8-10 ft swells a few... (more...)
Ken was up at his cabin from Aug 4 to Aug 11. He had some friends up through Aug 9 and he came back with a fishing report. His friend, Eric, caught an 18″ walleye on the channel on the North side of Young’s Island on a small shad rap or fat rap. He said he was about 12′ down. His other friend, Ed, liked to fish with live bait. Ken had trapped some minnows for him and he had it on a hook with a spinner. Being so light, he couldn’t cast it from the boat more than 3 ft and... (more...)
Species: Northern Pike Size: 20″ Lure used: orange and yellow spinnerbait Date: 8/15/2009 Time: 10:30am-1:30pm Body of water: Lake Elmo Location: Lake Elmo, MN Weather Conditions: overcast with a spattering of light rain I live in a pretty close-knit neighborhood. We get together for holidays, random barbecues, and we do a camping trip every year to a local campground. This year, we were in Lake Elmo Regional Park. You may have learned earlier that Mark and I started fishing together after... (more...)
Species: Northern Pike Size: 36″ Lure used: Coca-cola colored (and branded) rattlin’ Rapala Date: Summer, 2002 Time: approx. 11am – 3pm Body of water: secret lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: [don’t remember] I had been going up to Ken’s cabin for a couple of years and we had always only fished his lake, Poplar Lake. One day we got a visit from Ken’s sister and niece, my aunt-in-law and cousin-in-law, if you will. They mentioned a small lake a... (more...)
