Carolina Beach Fishing Charters & Guide | Fishing Topsail Island, Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach & Carolina Beach North Carolina

A couple of Spanish Mackerel Offshore

attabouy — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:36:19 +0000

Today was another pretty day on the water but the water was no where near as clear as it was the day before. We covered a lot of ground today and the fish just were not wanting to cooperate. We had a couple of short strikes and missed a couple other fish as well. We were able to catch two good size spanish mackerel 20 miles offshore. The month of August is always a slow month for the offshore bite, the water is just too warm.

Offshore Wrightsville Beach – 10 ft Tiger Shark, King, and Flounder!!!

attabouy — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:18:46 +0000

Was able to fish with a great group of guys today on a really nice day. After catching bait we headed out in search of some kings and dolphin. The ocean was slick as a lake and it stayed that way all day, I haven’t seen it like that in forever. It wasn’t long after we put the lines in that one of the reels went screamin. After a short while the line went loose and the fish got off. We continued fishing and we landed a 10 lb king. As soon as we got the king in I noticed fins swimming out of the water about 30 yards away. I pulled close to get a better look and realized it was a really big shark. Everyone on the boat said let’s catch that shark and I replied you better be ready for a fight. The shark followed a double pogie rig for about 15 minutes and finally took the bait. The fight was on! An hour and a half later we had the fish close enough to the boat to see it but we could not get a picture. It was about a 10 ft tiger shark and a couple of minutes later the line broke. After that thrill we decided to head closer to shore and try and catch some flounder. We were able to catch two in about an hour before it was time to head in.

Nearshore Spanish Mackerel Bite on fire!!

attabouy — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:40:13 +0000

We had another two boat trip today with spanish mackerel being the target. We got a late start and began fishing around 7:45 a.m. Once we found the bait it was not stop action. At several times we were hooked up with 4 at a time. There were 3 kids and 1 adult on my boat and the kids had a blast. At around 10:15 the rain set in and we had to head to the hill. My boat finished with 37 Spanish Mackerel with biggest ones being around 2-3 lbs.

28lb King Mackerel, Large Amberjack, Hammerhead Sharks, Barracudas, and Flounder!

attabouy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:27:10 +0000

Forecast called for 2-3 ft every 6 seconds with the wind blowing later in the afternoon. The forecast should of said 4-5 ft every 3 seconds! The goal of today was to do some offshore fishing for the first half of the day and some flounder fishing the last half. The ride out was nice but as the wind picked up so did the waves. We stopped about 14 miles from the Inlet and put the lines in. It started out slow and right before we were going to leave the downrigger went off and it was a smoker! A few minutes later, the line went loose and the fish was gone. Continued on and 5 minutes later a fish took the short bait until it let it go, probably a small king. I don’t like starting out missing the first two fish. A few minutes later and another reel goes screaming, I know this one is a nice fish. After about 10 minutes we get it to the boat and gaff it, nice king mackerel. By looking at the fish I know this is probably the second citation in under a week. I did not weigh it till later in the day on my digital scale and it said 28 lb 4 oz. We picked up a nice spanish in this same spot and when the bite slowed we moved on out farther offshore.

We arrived to clear water and flying fish everywhere, I just knew we were going to get into some Mahi Mahi. We caught a couple of sharks and then we had a huge barracuda take the bait, jump a couple of times and then pull the hooks. The wind was getting stronger and all the other boats that were around had already left. Right before we started to reel up the lines, the downrigger goes off. I handed the rod to the gentlemen on board and let him have a nice fight. After 45 mintues we finally got it in the boat, it was a large amberjack (also known as “reef donkey”). I decided to go back in Masonboro because how rough it was and take the waterway back to Carolina Beach. By the time we got back it was already 3:30 so we did not have much time to flounder fish. I caught some bait and debated on where to fish, the ocean was horrible and the river wasn’t looking any better. I decided on spot and we fished there for about an hour before we had to leave. We ended up catching a 3 lb and a 2.5 lb flounder and 3-4 hammerhead sharks. All in all, we caught a little bit of everything and we defiantly missed our fair share of fish as well.

Wrightsville Beach Mahi Mahi and Barracudas, Nice day on the water!

attabouy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:33:51 +0000

After catching live menhaden and picking up clients, we headed out of Masonboro Inlet at 6:45. I was lucky to have a marine, his wife, and their two kids fishing with me today. I asked the kids what they wanted to catch and one said a dolphin and the other said a barracuda. There was still a lot of chop left over from the previous winds, but it was not to bad of a ride out. Started around 24 miles out in clean blue water and it wasn’t long until one of the reels went off. We had a dolphin on and it was putting on a good show. The kids took turns reeling in the fish and then it was finally mom’s turn to land the fish. Started fishing some more and another line went off. This fish ended up being about a 20lb barracuda. We caught some more barracudas and decided to head back in closer because it was getting closer to time to head to the hill. Even at around 12 miles out the water was clear, completely opposite of last week. We trolled for a little bit and then we had a hit on the downrigger, it was a king. Mom began fighting the fish and as we got it up to the boat it took a strong run and pulled the hooks. The wind began to blow so we went ahead back in, it was defiantly a beautiful day out there today. We got to see lots or porpoises and a group of bat rays.

Huge King Mackerel (39.5 lbs) out of Carolina Beach

attabouy — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:11:05 +0000

Had a two boat trip today in search of some sharks. Left out of the inlet and there was bait everywhere, but nothing was biting. We decided to make a run in search of more sharks. After a slow bite and not picking up anything, the other boat was able to land two sharks back to back. The bite died again so we decided to do some more trolling and pick up a king or two. Found some smaller bait balls and as I passed over it one of the rods went off. I knew by the sound of the reel that this was defiantly a smoker. After I got the other lines up I had to run to the fish so we did not get spooled. Since we were shark fishing today I did not have my larger gaff in the boat, just my smaller one. When we got the fish to the boat I realized how nice the fish really was. I gaffed him and it took all I could to get him into the boat. This fish went for 39.5 lbs when he was weighed in at Island Tackle. We got resituated and once we found the bait again another reel went off. The young man fought the fish well and we ended up landing a 17 lb king. After getting the lines in we ran back to the boat ramp so we could get the final weight of the big king.

Wrightsville Beach Kings, Dolphin, Barracudas, and too many Sharks!

attabouy — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:58:43 +0000

Headed out at 7:00 a.m. this morning with a boat full of 4 and myself. The wind was calm (its about time) but it was still choppy. We started about 20 miles out and we found the bite! It was nice to get back out to the cleaner water. We started out missing 3 fish with one of the kings putting on a great jumping show before he threw the hooks. After loosing some nice fish we started boating more kings. Along with the kings we were catching barracudas and dolphin. We were reeling in the dolphin when a hugh shadow came out the water and decided to take a bite out of it. It was a very large shark and the boat beside us ended up catching it, estimated around 200 lbs. The sharks were everywhere, by the time we would get the fish to the boat they were right behind them, it even got to where I had to hit them with the gaff to get them away from the fish. We left there and went another 4-5 miles out and got into some nice spanish mackerel and more kings. While out we had a pod of porpoises swim right up to the boat and put on a good show. After the wind decided to pick up and two people on the boat were not feeling well we headed back to the hill. I did not get to take many pictures because there was so much going on that I did not have time.

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Inshore Flounder fishing at Carolina Beach, caught a nice one!

attabouy — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:06:32 +0000

Once leaving the boat ramp we went to find bait. The wind was blowing so hard that the waterway was white caping already at 7:00 a.m. There was nothing in the boat basin but a few mullet around the grass so decided to head towards the river. Found as much flounder size menhaden you could want just outside snows cut. Decided to drift the inlet to start out and had two bites but were not able to land the fish. We then headed to fish the Cape Fear River. I anchored up on one of my favorite holes, and by the time I had a bait out one of my clients had aleady hooked into a good fish. I got the net out and put the fish into the boat. My digital scale read 4 lbs 2 oz. The wind decided to blow even harder, consistently around 20 mph. Moved to another spot and had several bites and had a double on sting rays. Moved around more and finally came back to a previous spot. We had one even bigger than the earlier one caught up to the boat and just before we were able to net it, it pulled the hook. Started to see the thunderstorms and lightening in a distance so we decided to pack up and head back to the boat ramp.

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Wrightsville Beach King and more strong SW wind!

attabouy — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:39:37 +0000

The last couple of days has been some ruff fishing. The wind is consistently blowing > 15 knots and the ocean is a mess. Today was 3-5 ft chop all morning and the cold front that came through yesterday didn’t help the fishing today. Left Wrightsville Beach at 7:30 this morning after catching bait. There is a lot, and I mean a lot of flounder sized mullet everywhere in the waterway and creeks. The wind had not started blowing hard yet, so we headed out about 10 miles and did some trolling. We picked up a 10 lb king mackerel fairly quickly. Shortly after that the wind picked up like crazy and we did not have any other bites. The water temps were reading around 74 degrees, which is 7 degrees cooler than it was a couple of days ago. Might not sound like much, but to pelagic fish it is night and day. Hopefully this wind and changes in pressure will soon get better!

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Slow offshore bite so settled for some Flounder!

attabouy — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:27:49 +0000

Left Carolina Beach Inlet around 7:00 a.m. We set out to try and catch some early morning kings about 10-12 miles out and we did not have any luck. The wind was blowing hard out of the SW and the water temps were not good. The fish were not corporating with us today and from talking to other Captains they had the same luck. Came back in and decided to do some nearshore flounder fishing. Once anchored we picked up some oyster toads before we finally reeled up the first flounder. We had a couple of other bites after that and the flounder kept getting us hung up on structure. There is not a worst feeling that feeling the fish pulling but you can’t do nothing about it, usually if you let it be they will eventually untangle themselves. I wish that would have happened, but it didn’t. If we would have had more time and if the weather would have let up, we would have been able to pull up more flatties.