OBX trip last week

[thorhammer]

Ok, not sure if I should even post this as a report as the catching was slim...but anyway:

Got to OBX Sunday; trekked out to pier just to check out the situmanation and immediately saw a 45" drum landed....stoked....

Monday: half day inshore with an old buddy; caught about a dozen stripers on the bridges on light tackle

Tuesday: RAIN and 20 plus...a whiting and pompano in surf

Wed: sunny but surf pounding.

Thursday: rain and 20+. throwing 8 and bait from Nags Head pier and watched it move around. The local guys very cool; I always try to recon a pier and get the culture so as not to screw things up. Some cliques frown on braid, some use it, whatever's clever etc. Sometimes they are just (12 year old rule) holes from the get go (Cherry Point).

[thorhammer]

contd...Friday: rain and wind. snotty

Sat: nice weather but the rip and sargussum weed inshore after sustained east blow had 8's going down the beach like they were turbocharged. I did throw some ten's which I am out of practice to sling...no gain. we did catch a few lil uns in the slough.

overall, tough week to fish with the front camped on us...

However, during the rain I did manage to score an Abu 10000 CL at a pawn shop for $30. Got a cold beer and the AT box of traveling maintenance tricks and got her shiny and freespooling. I also got two Fenwick Fenglas 50lb class rods with Varmac seats, aluminum butts, and all Aftco's. Wraps are toast but the Fenwick decal is intact so I intend to repaint and restore to original as grips and butts are in decent shape. Will bounce this off Sal.

[thorhammer]

The stand:

12' with 980, 20 lb mono: Got a lot of use throwing heavy ordnance; did bring a four foot bat ray to the pier on half a bluefish

12' with 535 Mag, 20 lb mono: prolly the go-to of the trip in the surf

12' with 9500SS, 65lb PP: loaner. let's just say the sea mullet didn't tax it very hard.

10' with Slosh 20, 15 lb: pompano getter

9' with 550 SS, 30 PP: see above

10' with 8500 never came out

10' with 6500 never came out

carried two 535's as back'ups, stayed in bag.

[thorhammer]

Lastly, the AT faithful will be happy to know that I could not help but but service my buddie's crap before I would let them on the beach. I'm pretty sure I found a fossilized dodo bird bone in one of the crusty old Shakespeares....but by God it went fishing with Corrosion Block and Penn Blue on the drags when I was done!!!!!!!

Also found the other 80 Int I've been hunting for a highspeed wahoo trolling. It's gonna need work. dremeling your name in a reel is NEVER a good idea...

Thor

[Steve-O]

Nice to hear you duked it it out with Ma Nature.  Have only fished OBX a few times as we always went further south..at least to Atlantic, Morehead, Harker's , Lookout and then on down to Oak isle, and the rest of the south facing beaches.
As a kid our beach house was between CP and Havelock where the Neuse and Trent met. Great gigging there.

Not an expert surf angler by any means but isn't there a current proof weight? Are the spiders for that? Not sure.

But ya...have hated slinging lead out only to see it roll all the way back in.

[alantani]

thanks for the report.  lots of guys post reports when the fishing is red hot, but i would post both good and bad reports.  sometimes a bad report will save guys alot of money by not dipping your boat in the water when fishing is slow, or zero!

[thorhammer]

Nice to hear you duked it it out with Ma Nature.  Have only fished OBX a few times as we always went further south..at least to Atlantic, Morehead, Harker's , Lookout and then on down to Oak isle, and the rest of the south facing beaches.
As a kid our beach house was between CP and Havelock where the Neuse and Trent met. Great gigging there.

Not an expert surf angler by any means but isn't there a current proof weight? Are the spiders for that? Not sure.

But ya...have hated slinging lead out only to see it roll all the way back in.

Hey Steve, used sputniks too but the weeds just piled up on the line and pulled the spikes over. I lived in Wilmy and Topsail for ten years and am very familiar with that, as well as a buddy in CP I fish with there.

[Steve-O]

oh yea. ...forgot about the sargasso blob collector your line becomes. In calm water the sargasso patches are neat to wade out to and lift and shake into your other hand.  Full of life....cool little baby triggers, sea horseys, crabs, and stuff.

My Grandma was in the beach cottage near CP when Hazel came through. Can you imagine the waves and surge to lift the sound 10 feet and throw waves over a light pole? Lost a bunch of real estate to that storm. It even got all the way to Wake Forest and flattened trees and the area just outside town earned a nickname "the hurricanes" pronounced " herr-i-kins". Full of bootleggers until the 70's when pot growing took over. It's right between Wake Forest and Falls Lake. sort of...

Ask any local where the hurricanes are and they'll tell you just down the road a piece.  Drive down there and ask again and they'll point you back the other way "a fur piece".

now? all gobbled up in housing developments.

[thorhammer]

Lol, my fishing partner, the dude on the left in my avatar, lives about right thar, outside Franklinton.

It's funny, we look all day for the mats offshore, which produced the mahi I'm holding, but cuss it in three feet of water.....