Offshore Carolina Beach: Kings, Barracudas, Sharks and More!!!
Left Snow’s Cut boat ramp at 7:30 a.m., the wind was blowing 25 knots from the North. It was blowing so hard that it was white caping in the intercoastal waterway. The forecast was 10-15 out the West. The forecast was about 4 hours off because it did get better as the day progressed. Headed out Carolina Beach Inlet and it was horrible, I saw two boats about flip over backwards. Clients wanted to try and catch some sharks so we headed south staying near to the beach. Didn’t have much luck but the wind died and the seas began to lay down. Caught some bait in the ocean, hugh pogies pods are everywhere near shore, and decided to head off about 22 miles. It was still rough out there but we began trolling a ledge where it was instant action. First fish to the boat was roughly a 15 lb king. There were other fish swimming with it so I tried to get them to take a bait, and then I noticed them all leave quickly. I looked at the king beside the boat and was about to gaff him when a 8 foot tiger shark ate him leaving me nothing but the head. It was great the people on the boat got to see this happen, they were pretty excited. Started trolling again and hook up after hook up with barracudas and sharks. We landed one 30+ lb barracuda that jumped atleast 15 feet out the water. We were going to head in and fish one place on the way back when another captain called me and told me he was on some bait balls about 3 miles away. We decided to head that way and it was well worth it. As long as you stayed near the bait it was non stop action, more kings than you could ever want. We had to leave the fish and head back in for the day. It was a nice ride back in at 30 knots.
