Dante and the PLAN 9 in the snow 2/13/10

  Sunday 2/21 we left the dock with Brent and his father in-law Frank from Corning, New York for a little fishing. As I left the inlet I pointed the boat to a small area of hard bottom in about 60′ of water the chilly 47 degree water only warmed up 1 degree by the time we got there. As I looked around I marked some life on the machine and we dropped squid baited hooks to the bottom. To our surprise the fish were active and Frank soon brought a sea bass to the boat! We caught a bunch there in the first hour but very few keepers. We even caught only 2 or 3 spiny dogfish and we even took a picture of one.

 We were looking for a few more sea bass for dinner so we bounced to a spot about 3 miles further out, the dogfish reprieve we had on the first spot was lifted when we reached the 2nd spot, boy were they THICK, we had double headers, 5 more following up another one, chasing up the sea bass, even had a couple of mixed sea bass/dogfish double headers. We moved around a bunch and would find a little patch of sea bass and work them for a keeper here and there until we got over the doggies again. We eventually wound up the day with a fine catch of keeper sea bass up to 15 inches and a load of fun with plenty of fish catching action! Not bad for February!

Brent and Frank with some of their catch.

  We are fishing whenever we get a chance with the weather to get out. If you want to fish now give us a call, I will tell you what we have been doing lately.  There is still a good bite of red drum happening in the ocean, we are able to sight the fish and cast to them for some exciting action! Book your vacation trip now, we are already getting a few inquiries a day for summer vacation charters!

Tight lines,

Captain Jim

Art Brownell with a fat Cape Fear Striper

Okay, after some of the coldest weather right after the wettest December in over 130 years we are still fishing! December was pretty much a bust with maybe 3 fishable days but here in mid-January we have seen the temperatures rise a bit and the fishing has rebounded along with it!

This past weekend we fished the Second annual Cape Fear Riverwatch Striper  Tournament. This event grew this year and we had a few more boats as well as a great turnout for the banquet. The cold temps in the preceeding weeks made fishing tough but my people caught and tagged a few so we had a successful day. Striper fishing on the Cape Fear should still be happening til the end of January. Check out my interview as well as a bunch of  shots of the boat from Channel 14 News!http://news14.com/charlotte-news-104-content/620688/fishing-tournament-helps-fish-conservationist-efforts?ap=1&Flash

Right now we are catching black sea bass near shore, excellent table fare and a lot of fun on the light spinning tackle we are using with the jigs and bucktails. Also around the same areas there is a chance for a big flounder or 2. The inshore fishing is pretty well shot with the super cold temperatures but the great news is the schools of drum that are right behind the surf right along the beach. These fish can be picky and we catch them on lures, leadhead/grub combos as well as cut bait. When the fish turn on we can have some really exciting sight fishing. Also there is a chance for a nice speckled trout sometimes mixed in.

Part of a fine dinner black sea bass and porgy!

  We are still fishing! Call me up and see what we might be able to find for you! Always a fun day on the water. Booking trips for 2010 reserve your prime date now! Look for a recap of 2009 in the coming weeks, this will help to plan your vacation and see what will be biting when you come down to the beach.

Tight lines,

Captain Jim

Ed with king

 I always have enjoyed October partly because my birthday falls in the month as well as my favorite holiday, Halloween. I really love it because some of the best fishing of the year is had in October!

  We have seen a great end of the spanish run with many solid 2-5lb fish caught. The bigger blues have moved in and are filling the gap left by the spanish, mixed in with grey trout and some nice flounder on the nearshore hard bottom. The bottom fishing is super and keeps getting better, gag grouper are close and so are the big sea bass, offshore the other groupers bite well throughout the fall. The king mackerel bite is super duper and close! We have been taking fish to 30+ lbs the last few weeks with false albacores and even a mahi here and there! The drum, trout and flounder have also responded to the cooling water temps and have made the days where we cannot get offshore or people who do not want to go offshore very happy!

  We will be running trips as long as weather allows so please call us! We fish as long as we have people that want to go and fish more ourselves at this time of the year, we do have a year round fishery here. Grouper season will close on December 31st 2009 and not re-open til April 2010 so there is not much more time for getting in on those til then.

Joe with a king

Double headers are common now

Layne with a king

BIG CATCH! My son Dante Sabella with his first catch a croaker!

  The fishing here on Topsail the last few weeks has had a great variety of fish! We have still been consistently catching spanish and king mackerel, as well as LOTS of BIG SHARKS. Captain John has been on the sharks real good with another large bull shark caught last week as well as black tips and sandbars. Captain John has also had some solid amberjack action and nice mahi too! I have been doing alot of mixed bag trips with everything from kings and spanish to a good day last week with some nice sea bass and a few fat grouper caught close in.

  Now is the time to book your fall trips. The fall fishing is some of the best time that we have for fishing of the year. We catch all the summer species such as the king and spanish mackerel and the amberjacks, but the fat sea bass, grey trout, and gag grouper move in giving us a tasty mixed bag as well as good action.  Book a fall trip now for some great fall mixed bag fishing!

  Now let’s see some fish!

Mitch from Queens, NY with a nice king mackerel!

Amberjack caught while fishing with Captain John

Brian with a sunrise king

Whew, another week of SUPER fishing has gone down here on Topsail! The king mackerel bite is really great, good size averaging 8-15lbs, and plenty of them! We have had consistent sucess using Bluewater Candy dead bait rigs and Pirate Plugs with cigar minnows on the hook and Hot Shot skirts. Many times we have multiple hook-ups with anglers having to dance around the boat to keep from getting tangled. Also the mahi bite continues on the 3/4 day trips, the main body of fish has moved off 15-20 miles, but true too mahi mahi form when you find them you can usually put a few in the boat. Captain John still is the only one of us who has put a sailfish on the boat but July and August are your best months for a shot at these so any day I plan that one of us will be getting another shot. The amberjacks are still around to give hardy anglers some serious pullage.

  Here are some pictures from the last week.

Ray Perkins with a nice king mackerel

Alex Perkins with another nice king mackerel

Aaron Peterman with a nice king mackerel

Ethan with the first mahi of the day

Becky shows how it is done with a schoolie king.

Mahi caught while fishing with Captain John

Big mahi caught fishing with Captain John

Mike Johnson with a nice gaffer mahi

 The bite is red hot right now! We have been fishing almost daily this month, I only count 4 missed days due to weather in June til right now (tomorrow  July 6th is a blow-out).  Our customers have had plenty of hard fighting kings, jumping mahi mahi, amberjacks, cobia, spanish mackerel, and Captain John released the first sailfish of the year for us. We have been fishing with both live and dead bait trolling for the majority of the fish. Light tackle makes the fight even more intense when the fish burns off 50-100 yds of line in a run, then just when you start to see color the fish decides it’s not ready yet and takes back the hard fought line, that’s what you are here for, right?

  Even the kids have gotten in the action! I had a trip with four young boys aged 5-9 and their parents that was alot of fun! We had a great time fighting the saltwater “panfish” of the area, spots, pigfish, seabass, and pinfish, and also going fast.

  Fishing has been very consistent so far this season and we are working hard to make your day on the water with us memorable and fun. 

Ollie Atkins with a king mackerel

Taylor with a nice king mackerel

Taylor with a nicer king mackerel!

Art Brownell with a 30lb king mackerel

Rob with a king mackerel

Bill Stepp with a 20+lb king mackerel

Bill Stepp with a 20+lb king mackerel

Pigfish

Pinfish

Double header pinfish

Spot

  Both mine and Captain John’s trips have been liberally spiced with catches of mahi mahi to 15lb, king mackerel to 25lbs, cobia to 25lbs, and amberjacks to 30lbs. All this has been 12-15 miles from the dock, leaving ample time to fish with quick runs to the grounds. Both live bait fishing and dead bait fishing have been very productive.

  Some notable catches has been Sean Sahlstrom from Minnesota with a 9lb sheepshead caught on a Gulp! 3″ shrimp fishing with Captain Jim. Chris Smutzer’s party fishing with Captain John had over 15 king mackerels caught and released, as well as a 25lb cobia and 30lb amberjacks. Alex Crawford, 9 years old, from Ohio with his first mahi mahi while fishing with Captain John. And Andrew Neighbarger from Ohio with a nice catch of mahi mahi and cobia while fishing with Captain Jim…..Now some pictures.

Alex Crawford age 9 from Ohio with his first mahi mahi caught with Captain John

Sean Sahlstrom with a 9lb sheepshead caught on a Gulp! 3" shrimp while fishing with Captain Jim

Some pictures from Chris Smutzer's party of some fine eating and fighting fish while fishing with Captain John.

Andrew Neighbarger from Ohio with a nice cobia caught while fishing with Captain Jim

Mike Johnson from Ohio with a nice mahi mahi caught on a pink Pirate Plug while fishing with Captain Jim

Sara Johnson from Ohio with a nice mahi mahi caught on a pink Pirate Plug while fishing with Captain Jim