Bald Head Island 2017 trip report

[biggiesmalls]

Trip ended today, not a ton of fish for a week but it was a lot of fun.

No pictures on this trip unfortunately, for two reasons. One, my phone's camera is shattered. Two, there wasn't a ton to get pictures of. Sorry for that, wish I got some pics to post.

The house was packed - me, my parents, two siblings, grandparents, four aunts, three uncles, and six cousins. Made for a tight fit. I ended up spending most of the trip hanging out with three of my aunts, between the four of us we live in NC, Chicago, Jersey, and DC - so none of us see each other often. They are usually the only ones up until 12 or 1 in the morning so it gave me someone else to hang out with.

First day I got here I was building rigs, didn't get a chance to fish because I didn't have bait yet. Went to the store and got three tubs each of mullet and shrimp. Went out the next morning and caught a dozen pinfish in the surf on an ultralight for bigger baits. This had me set for most of the trip.

Second day - shark fishing in the evening after dinner. Stayed out for 4-1/2 hours before calling it quits, no activity whatsoever. This was in a new spot, so I can't say it doesn't work yet.

Third day, went out to get some inshore action. I headed to the docks with two inshore rods and an ultralight. Managed a big-azz pinfish on the ultralight, not too impressive of a fish but it fought hard and must've been 11 or 12 inches long. Then I saw a sheepshead on the seawall, this fish was 8+ pounds of solid mass. Tried to get him but I spooked him off. After this, I went home because it was too hot. I was getting up early to go shark fishing, anyways.

Fourth day - big day here. Got up at 4:30 and left the house at 5:00 to shark fish. I did not come back until almost 5:00 in the evening. I camped on a sandbar at the point of the island to fish for the most part, got stuck on it as well when the tide came in. I had the kayak though so we were good. This was the most productive time of the trip - I had three solid runs, presumably from blacktips or spinners due to the speed of the run. All resulted in a dropped bait. LOTS of smaller fish, probably sharpnoses, playing with my baits today. Saw a lot of rays as well - from about 14" diameter to 36" in diameter.

Fifth day - lots of family wanted a beach day today, so I tagged along... of course with rods. Believe it or not I had never caught a pompano before, and I got my first on this trip. On a 10' rod it fought kinda hard, and this was about a 9" pompano. On an ultralight it would've been super fun. Caught another dozen or so before I lost the school. Then I caught more pinfish and some whiting on an ultralight right in the wash. Then I got the shark rig going, but didn't have any activity over the time period from about 11 am until 3 pm.
Afterwards I got a workout and went kayaking in the surf for a while. Then I saw something offshore, a little less than a mile. Tarpon. I got out there with the 980 as quick as I could, and realized I was in a feeding frenzy. Mullet jumping everywhere, and 4-6 foot tarpon jumping around the kayak it was an awesome experience. I had the 980 and threw out a pinfish (only thing I had) but no takes. It was a shark rig with 2' of 275 lb cable on it, so that probably deterred them a bit. It was still an awesome experience that lasted probably 20 minutes or so.
That evening I went out with all the cousins (except for one, who's a bit of a wuss and doesn't like to do anyrhing involving the outdoors) to the docks to fish. One of the guys went over to the seawall and called me over, said there was a big black and white fish swimming. I went over and it was the sheepshead from the other day. We tried to catch him but didn't get him - he stole some fiddler crabs off our hooks though. One of the guys named him Harold, and he will be ours next time.
We stayed out here from about 5:30 until 9:30. We reverted to bottom rigs, two with shrimp and one with a 3" pigfish. One of the guys fished with the pigfish, and another one and myself had shrimp. The rod with the pigfish took a deep bend in it and within a few minutes we were down to half a spool of line. It took another 30 or 40 yards before stopping, and within a few minutes we brought in a nice 24" ray. He was snagged with a 1/0 kahle in the wing, back in the water he went. I didn't have pliers and didn't want to deal with anyone getting stung.
Aside from that, we caught tons of croaker. On the ultralight they were a lot of fun. We decided we were going to keep some to eat, so we ended up keeping seven of them from 12-15". We fried them the next day with my staple mix of flour, old Bay, garlic salt, and parsley. They turned out to be really good, we served them with hush puppies and Cole slaw and Arnold palmers.

Day six - we made the fish today for lunch. Didn't get a ton of fishing in, more of just chilling at the beach on our last day. We had a bait rod and a shark rod out from 8:30 until about 2:00 in the morning. Slayed the whiting and pompano but didn't manage any shark activity. Used the croaker heads on this trip, they looked like promising baits for 3-6 foot sharks. Didn't work though. Oh well, enjoyed some time with family out on the beach.

All in all, had a lot of fun, ate good food (I made my friend fish and my crock pot bbq pork), and caught a few fun fish, plus saw some tarpon. No sharks, but it was a great trip.

Tight lines,
Drew

[Cortez_Conversions]

Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing!
Tom

[Swami805]

Sounds like a fun trip, especially all the family. A foamer of tarpon must have been fun to watch. Good recon for next time. Thanks for the report

[Shark Hunter]

Drew,
As long as nothing breaks down and no one gets hurt and a good time was had by all.
That is a successful trip.
Glad you are back safe.

[Steve-O]

Great report on your trip.

We were just down the beach from you at Holden Beach last week.

It was mostly just a family getaway. Lots of good food, boogie boarding and hanging out at the beach.

I did some bait drowning just to relax and it pretty much went like this.

Pinfish, croaker, Pinfish, Pinfish, croaker, Pinfish....repeated each morning and afternoon.

One morning we got up early to go shelling and a guy caught a shark right as we walked by him.

A small Bonnethead. The smallest member of the hammerhead family.

[Shark Hunter]

Those Bonnet Heads are truly unique fish.

[Bill B]

Good reports gentlemen.....Bill

[thorhammer]

Nice report, Drew. Were you happy with the 980 on the US? I didn't think about you actually fishing on the yak but that's a probably a great rig for it. Too bad you didn't have one of those pinheads to paddle slow troll through the poon bite. They love pinfish. That's what we use for them in Keys.

[biggiesmalls]

That setup worked like a dream. I don't want to ever take it apart, lol. I'll have to get another one for a surf rig.

I did try pulling a pinfish around out by the poons, I think the cable scared them off. I caught an est. 60 lb tarpon in Sarasota, got that one on a chunk of hardhead catfish. These fish were bigger than that one, biggest probably ran 6 feet.

On an unrelated note, I'm probably going to get three spinners for shark fishing. Going to hit me hard in the wallet, but I want to put out the 9/0 for studs and three spinners for 7' and under sharks. One in close, one just outside the breakers, and one way out. Then the 9/0 with a 5 lb or bigger bait for bulls and tigers.

[thorhammer]

There are at least ten pawn shops in town, plus the flea market on CB Road where you are quite likely to find a $10 4/0. Keep an eye on those places for cheap pick-ups. Also, I know you are a Penn guy, but don't be afraid of Japanese metal spinners from the Golden Age, as Fred says. You can pick up Heddons, Olympics, Ryobi's inexpensively on ebay, etc. and put new drags in, and have a really beefy reel for what you want to do with them, which will get you fishing until you replace with whatever Penn's you are after.  Mitchell 488 is a massive reel; Roland Martin used them in Boca Raton on tarpon up to 200 lbs so they will deal with a New Hanover blacktip for certain. I have six.

An aluminum spool 3/0 is also very castable and can be had cheaply. It's a Jiggy inside but holds 375 of 30.


BTW are you gonna get the 9/0 together in time to teach your grandkids how to use it?

[Shark Hunter]

Bada-Boom!

[biggiesmalls]

There are at least ten pawn shops in town, plus the flea market on CB Road where you are quite likely to find a $10 4/0. Keep an eye on those places for cheap pick-ups. Also, I know you are a Penn guy, but don't be afraid of Japanese metal spinners from the Golden Age, as Fred says. You can pick up Heddons, Olympics, Ryobi's inexpensively on ebay, etc. and put new drags in, and have a really beefy reel for what you want to do with them, which will get you fishing until you replace with whatever Penn's you are after.  Mitchell 488 is a massive reel; Roland Martin used them in Boca Raton on tarpon up to 200 lbs so they will deal with a New Hanover blacktip for certain. I have six.

An aluminum spool 3/0 is also very castable and can be had cheaply. It's a Jiggy inside but holds 375 of 30.


BTW are you gonna get the 9/0 together in time to teach your grandkids how to use it?

Haha, the 9/0 will definitely be done in time for the great grandkids. Tough to say about the grandkids
I'm in Chicago for the rest of the week, got brought on this trip against my will. I need to order a new pin for the gear sleeve, I bent the one I've got and the other one had to be drilled out because it got stuck. After I fix the sleeve it's fishable - but I'm nowhere near done with it.

For now, I want a set of spinners by the end of August, at least one but preferably 3 so I can have a spread. Something around the capacity of an 8500 spinfisher, I fear no 7' shark on that rig and feel that it could bring in a shark up to 9' of certain species.

Now to decide, do I use 50 lb braid backing with 100-150 yards of 30 lb mono topshot - or straight 65 lb braid with a 15' wind-on of 100 lb mono. I'm thinking the latter option

[Three se7ens]

For your spinners, look to the Fin Nor Offshore series.  Its built like a tank, and almost as nice as one.  But its a truly strong spinner with a huge line capacity, and small price tag.  Its not polished or refined in any way, but it does its job well.  The largest holds nearly as much line as a 4/0 senator.

Beware of used ones though, there were problems with the early ones.  They were updated along the way, but I dont know when.  There is a new version out for 2017, but I suspect its mainly cosmetic. 

http://www.finnorfishing.com/reels/spinning/offshore.html

[thorhammer]

Adam is right, the Offshore doesn't much hype but its beastly and holds a ton of line.

[Dominick]

Good for you.  It looks like you had fish, fun and family; a great combination.  Dominick