All this nice weather has really got me jonesing for a trip to Nags Head. the Rvr

2/9/2009 5:26:53 PM

i just want to stand in a river and fly fish. sitting in a boat is cool and all, but nothing beats camping and fly fishing.

2/9/2009 6:23:18 PM

Looking for a some nice (used) offshore gear to add to the collection before the beginning of the season, mostly looking at Penn Internationals and Shimano Tiagra either 30's or 50's.

Please let me know if you have anything, or know anyone

2/9/2009 8:04:48 PM

Check out craigslist. Ever so often some rods and reels pop up on there.

2/10/2009 11:13:38 PM

Think of taking an 16 or 24 hour head boat trip in March. I want to learn how to do some serious offshore bottom fishing

2/12/2009 6:35:39 PM

^^^ i know a guy with 4 50W's, rods and line (210lb braid, 80 lb momoi diamond leader) included. I think he's looking to get $850 apiece

[Edited on February 12, 2009 at 6:38 PM. Reason : ^]

2/12/2009 6:37:55 PM

^ What kind of rods? Condition? That's really high btw

2/13/2009 7:56:40 PM

^^^Where are you going out from?

Don't have enough for a bottom fishing 6-pack?

2/16/2009 12:55:37 PM

where's the pictures??

this is my neighbor a couple of days ago (our backyards back up to Lake Concord)


these are mine from today. Today was literally the first time I've ever handled live hooked fish, so that goes to show what a n00b I am. Plus I had to look up the 2nd fish to find out it was a crappie I was out there out of boredom and was using an old generic reel with a shallow diving lure (as seen in pic). It dives all of 1' with the tip of the reel almost touching the water That's OK for now though; I'd rather not lose lures snagging on the bottom at this point.


is that a pretty good size crappie? average?

[Edited on February 16, 2009 at 2:00 PM. Reason : pics too big]

2/16/2009 1:58:32 PM

Quote :

"Don't have enough for a bottom fishing 6-pack?"

Yeah. These trips are about $150-$170 on one of the giant head boats. I just want to tussle w/ some big bottom fish before we get ready to do it full time this season on our boat. There are a couple boats out of Morehead and one out of Rudee Inlet. Both are about the same price and distance to drive. If my ole man goes it will be out of Rudee.

2/16/2009 2:07:33 PM

^^I'd say that is an above average size crappy.

^Just didn't know if you had only 1-2 people. I went on headboats most of my life because it was just me and my dad...

I'd recommend the Contenintal Shelf from Morehead City....dunno bout Rudee Inlet.

Last year was my first year really bottom fishing on my own....it is harder than I expected so far, but I've not been able to really get out as far as I've wanted the few times I've gone.

2/16/2009 2:14:23 PM

Yeah, the CS is one of the boats. I want to nab a big grouper. We started to bottom fish at the end of last year on our own and ended up catching some big tile fish. I'm getting ready to buy two rigs so we can go past 600 ft of water and have them double as tuna jigging combos.

2/16/2009 2:17:50 PM

anyone interested in putting together a 6 pack over spring break? or if anyone is going out over spring break I'd be more than happy to pitch in some gas/food money...I'm itching to get out there...went out late feb last year and didn't do too hot on the bottom....I wanna do some standup bluefin action again

went out on the carolina princess when they ran a 12 man bluefin trip....we brought 5 300#+ to the boat, couldn't keep any though....great time though, we'd go through 4 guys per fish on those international 50s

2/16/2009 2:24:05 PM

Nice, the CS does well on grouper usually. Capt. Tilley is one of the best around. I bought my first jigging rig last year myself....only got to use it in 70' of water and snagged some seabass, not much else....looking forward to trying it again in some grouper waters this year.

2/16/2009 2:25:13 PM

^^I'm always done for putting together a trip if funds and time are there.

2/16/2009 2:30:59 PM

that crappie is pretty much average, but average is different for different ponds. it may be really big for that pond and some places it would be average. i don't think there's many places where that would be a "small" one.



word is the shad are running in the neuse at goldsboro

2/16/2009 4:53:27 PM

Man I got Cabin Fever. I'm so bored I might go to the International Rod Building Expo and I don't even build rods.

2/16/2009 11:22:41 PM

Quote :

"What kind of rods? Condition? That's really high btw"

dunno what kind of rods. i imagine you could talk him down if you wanted to.

The reels are in excellent condition. They've only been used a few times, and have been meticulously cleaned each time (I helped the last time).

2/16/2009 11:27:15 PM

less than a week from now i'll be standing in some wayne county mud casting a dart and spoon in total peace

2/20/2009 11:38:48 PM

whats the forecast for the river rat

2/21/2009 3:25:05 AM

Tides for Ocracoke, Ocracoke Island starting with February 21, 2009.

Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon
/Low Time Feet Sunset Visible

Sa 21 High 5:20 AM 0.9 6:43 AM Rise 4:44 AM 15
21 Low 12:16 PM 0.1 5:52 PM Set 2:47 PM
21 High 5:34 PM 0.7
21 Low 11:57 PM 0.0

Push the Ocracoke tide data back a little ways and you'll know about where you stand in the Neuse.

High 52 with clear skies. Winds out of the North early, switching to out of the South in the evening. Wind speed ~7 knots.

2/21/2009 8:21:18 AM

no tides where i'm headed for the shad lol

2/21/2009 10:52:05 AM

my dad is at the ORCA convention this weekend in daytona....bunch of old farts swapping their old reels

he's got an amazingly extensive collection and was featured in the GSO News & Record a few months ago for his collection

he's just been getting into restoring rods & lures, but for the most part he's a reel man

2/21/2009 1:16:29 PM

Anybody ever do any spearfishing, whether free diving or on scuba gear? I'm thinking about starting this summer in the Wilmington area?

2/21/2009 1:54:04 PM

I'll sure be glad when it gets warm.

2/21/2009 4:13:53 PM

^^ i've done a little of both with slings. never with a spear gun though. looking to get into it this summer over the artificial oyster reefs in pamlico sound

2/21/2009 4:42:41 PM

Going Deep Dropping tonite!!1 Leaving Lynnhaven at 2400 for a 16 hour marathon. Hoping to crank up some Groupers, Tiles, Wreckers,





[Edited on February 24, 2009 at 9:29 AM. Reason : !!!!]

2/24/2009 9:27:57 AM

Went extreme deep dropping on Wednesday for Groupers off the VA Coast. I will post a report tomorrow, but my one Snowy Grouper was 2lbs short of the IGFA record...

2/26/2009 3:23:56 AM

Make arrangements for a extreme offshore bottom fishing trip. I call up a Capt in Virginia Beach; he he wants to go for snowy groupers and golden tiles. He wants to leave at midnight because its a 5 hours ride to the canyon. Its five hours not because we are traveling long distance but because his boat does only 12 knots.

I get to VA Beach and off we go. Its fucking cold btw, as you can tell by my moon suit. We ride all through the night crammed in a cabin (there are 9 of us) trying not to freeze to death. I end up sleeping on the back deck because of the crammed quarters inside. I don't think I fell asleep, I just stopped trying to stay warm and my body gave out!

We start fishing and I think my hand is frost bitten...literally. It was really blue and I had gloves. This happened withing 5 minutes of fishing. I had to sit a few minutes with it on a heater to get the feeling back. It was crazy. As soon as the sun came up it hit about 35 degrees so it was bareable.

Well within 10-15 of fishing, everyone is hooking up. People are pulling in 30-45 lbs groupers. This fish are strong fighters and you are pulling them up from 600+ foot of water. Its like dead weight. Well I break off one, tangle and catch dogfish all morning. Its about 9am when I guy hooks a monster fish, about 55lbs just huge and he is the last one to get one besides myself. We almost have our limit and then another guy hooks one and I'm think this sucks because we are getting ready to go fishing for something else.

I'm don't even want to drop my line back in the water but I say fuck it. I drop down and withing a few seconds and I feel a nibble and BOOM. I thought my rod and reel were going overboard. It was like being pulled by a Buick. I don't know how long I fought that thing but it was forever, especially in 600 foot of water. I was drenched in sweat and I'm sore as hell today. I thought the rod was going to snap as the line was pressed hard against it. Well it comes to the surface and the capt is going crazy. It was awesome.

We ended up fishing for Golden Tiles (only caught one) and Black Belly Rose fish. We were fishing in 800-900 foot of water for these bad boys. It took about 2 minutes to hit bottom and 5 to crank up w/out a fish!. Between my dad and I we caught about 15 plus some Eels.

We take the 5 hour trip back to the dock and we weigh my fish. The world record is 66 lbs and my fish weighs in at 64.5. It was a heart break but the catch of a lifetime. Two world records were broken on the trip. One of the anglers caught the pending world record white hake and another pending WR yellow grouper (I think thats what its called!?!?!?!)

2/26/2009 2:54:23 PM

damn, nice grouper. Congrats.

2/26/2009 5:53:57 PM

went to the little river yesterday for a couple hours and didn't catch anything. gonna try it again this afternoon.

2/27/2009 11:11:46 AM

^^^Amazing trip...thanks for the report!

Wish we could get out in the deep like that....I need new engines.

2/27/2009 2:26:03 PM

hey NeuseRvrRat, let me know if you catch any shad. I fish around Richardson Bridge Rd, (Johnston/Wayne line). It may be just a tad early, I have had best luck around late March--if we could just get a warm spell.

2/27/2009 10:48:40 PM

i am going to chase tarpon in the keys in 2 weeks. i have not had the boat in the water yet this year. when i get back from florida it will be time to chase sheepies on the wrecks. i would like to make an early run in april to see if we can get the mahi season going while gas is cheap. hope to have some tarpon pics in a few weeks.

2/27/2009 11:28:28 PM

^^caught one hickory in the little river near cherry hospital. they usually make it up in there by the last week of february or first week of march. a lot of folks don't know the run can start that early. i usually catch whites and hickories there on spring break, but it doesn't seem like they're in there as thick as usual. i'm gonna slide down the neuse on the boat one day it isn't raining. the cold weather slowed the run down this year, but i'm sure i'll manage a few more.

cell phone pic i snapped before i released him. i was fishing tandem dart/spoon and he hit my go-to red head/white tail dart:




also, forget gold, i think the streets of heaven should look like this and we all just scoot around on canoes:



[Edited on February 28, 2009 at 12:04 AM. Reason : heaven]

[Edited on February 28, 2009 at 12:05 AM. Reason : damn cell phone doesn't do it justice]

2/27/2009 11:57:16 PM

all this rain has pretty much fucked me as far as fishing goes over spring break. river's gonna be high and muddy

3/2/2009 12:49:28 AM

this weekend looks to be mid 70's and sunny down here! too bad i have a birthing class with the wife on saturday from 10-3 and then we are moving on sunday. this blows, the first good day and i cant go.

3/2/2009 8:41:26 AM

weather looks like it's gonna clean up around wednesday. can't wait to get on the water.

3/2/2009 10:06:56 AM

i didn't think there was much going on at the coast anyways

3/2/2009 10:07:00 AM

rumors of reds. we'll see.

3/2/2009 10:10:30 AM

they're around year round

3/2/2009 8:49:01 PM

caught flounder today behind Carrot Island. saw some mullet jumping.

3/7/2009 6:09:30 PM

was planning to go down around Beaufort this weekend since I have the weekend off and of course the good weather was the week before I have off

3/10/2009 11:38:54 AM

I want to fish right now

3/10/2009 11:55:46 AM

lake wheeler today

crappie fishing with minnows

no bites at all

3/10/2009 8:31:09 PM

Heavy, green rubber minnow. On the first cast out I immediately (within 2 seconds of hitting the water) got a bite! I thought I had instantly snagged a tree or something, but sure enough, it was this girl. Didn't get a chance to weigh her but she was 22 inches tip to tip. J/w are you supposed to count all the way to the tip of the fin or just where the body ends?



[Edited on March 10, 2009 at 9:14 PM. Reason : thats a dog shampoo bottle there, just fyi ]

3/10/2009 9:13:53 PM

TL: total length: from the tip of the mouth to the tip of the tail (caudal fin)
FL: fork length: from the tip of the mouth to the fork in the caudal fin
SL: standard length: from the tip of the mouth to the caudal peduncle (where the body meets the caudal fin)

[Edited on March 10, 2009 at 9:18 PM. Reason : ]

3/10/2009 9:18:15 PM

bass are generally measured total length, tip to tip

that's how you should measure them to ensure you're meeting ncwrc regulations

for other fish, primarily saltwater species w/ forked tails, the regulation may specify a fork length min. length

3/11/2009 12:06:30 AM

for marine species, if it has a deeply forked caudal fin, odds are you should use FL. examples are mackerel, triggerfish, some snappers, wahoo, and some billfish.

otherwise, TL is used.

3/11/2009 12:08:45 AM

set em up

3/11/2009 9:14:58 AM