Wrightsville Beach, Wilmington, Carolina Beach and Topsail Area Fishing Reports

In the Gulf Stream the wahoo fishing has gotten started early with good numbers of big fish along with mahi,  blackfin tuna, and sailfish. Offshore we are catching a few mahi, king mackerel, amberjacks and the bottom fishing is still fantastic. Along the beach there are plenty of Spanish mackerel. We are just having to pick through some throw backs, but the keepers are really big Spanish. The shark fishing has been good and there have been a few cobia caught. Come on down and join us.

Offshore fishing has been really good this year. We are catching blue marlin, sailfish and mahi.  The blackfin tuna and wahoo are also showing up early. Thursday we had a marlin release with 3 tuna and 2 wahoo also. Inshore this past week we have been catching mahi, king mackerel, and sailfish.  Along the beach we had Spanish mackerel and bluefish and great shark fishing.  We are catching some big blacktip and blacknose sharks as well.

Offshore we have seen good mahi fishing with some small tuna and a white marlin on the 4th.  Near shore fishing has gotten better as the cleaner water continues getting closer to the beach.  Mahi, king mackerel, bonita, barracuda, and sailfish are being caught. Along the beach we are catching Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and when the shrimp boats are there, sharks.

Just got home from the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. It was really a great week of fishing and seeing old and new friends. We ended up releasing 2 blue marlin and catching some nice mahi. We also lost another blue marlin and a white marlin. Here at Wrightsville Beach, offshore fishing is seeing the same as Morehead City. Blue marlin, white marlin, mahi, and a few wahoo and tuna. Inshore the spanish are biting, bottom fishing is good and the trolling is seeing king mackerel, mahi and sailfish.  Come join us.

We have fished the last four days and the fishing remains good at Wrightsville Beach.  We fished along the beach on Saturday and we had excellent catches of Spanish mackerel and bluefish.  The Gulf Stream fishing was great for Dr. Paulson and his family on Sunday (5/26) with 18 mahi and 1 wahoo. Brian from A-1 Plumbing had another good catch on Friday (5/24) with 15 mahi and 3 blackfin tuna.  On Monday (5/27) Dr. Ben Smith and family and friends caught 8 big mahi. 

We finally got out on the water for three days this past week. We had good fishing for mahi, with some wahoo, blackfin tuna and king mackerel mixed in. And we also released a white marlin and a sailfish over the weekend. Why not come join us and take advantage of this great fishing we are having right now?

The wahoo fishing this past week has been incredible. Limits or close to it have been the norm. The fish are between 25 and 40 lbs. and we have caught 3 NC citations. There are some mahi and blackfin tuna mixed in and a few sailfish are still around. Inshore the fishing is still good with spanish mackerel, big and small mixed in, and big bluefish. The speckled trout are starting to show up as the water cools. 

Fall weather has arrived and the fishing is getting better every day. Offshore the wahoo have arrived and in good numbers. Our last trip we had 9 wahoo, a few mahi and a few blackfin tuna. Inshore the spanish mackerel and bluefish are still biting. The shark fishing has been really good also. We have a few weekend dates left in September and October, so please come join the great fishing. Note: Sorry for the lack of fishing reports this summer, we have been dealing with some computer problems.

Our good fishing continues off Wrightsville Beach for us this past week. The good spanish mackerel fishing continues on our 1/2 day trips with some sharks and bluefish as well. We are getting a  mixed bag of fish on 3/4 day and full day trips including king mackerel, spanish mackerel, bonita, barracuda, mahi, amberjack, and sailfish. The Gulf Stream fishing has some mahi and lots of marlin sailfish plus and the wahoo have shown up early.

The last week has seen very good spanish mackerel fishing inshore and the sharks have finally shown up near the beach. We have run several 3/4 day and full day trips and have caught several sailfish, good numbers of mahi and the bottom fishing is still good. The Gulf Stream is producing mahi, wahoo, and billfish. We ran a Gulf Stream trip last weekend and had 41 mahi and jumped off sailfish.

We are fishing almost everyday. The inshore spanish mackerel fishing has gotten better in the last few days after slowing down with last weeks cold front. The bottom fishing still remains awesome with lots of keeper sea bass, limits of pink snapper and some grouper and grunts on most trips. Offshore there has been good mahi fishing, with wahoo mixed in and good action from billfish.

Sorry for the delay in our reports. It has been a really busy couple of weeks. The offshore fishing has seen lots of mahi, good marlin fishing and a few wahoo. Inshore, the bottom fishing has been outstanding for black sea bass and grouper. The inshore trolling has seen fair to good for spanish mackerel fishing.

Offshore the mahi fishing is still great, with a few wahoo mixed in. The marlin fishing has gotten hot in the last week. We had a white marlin try a bait on our last offshore trip, but just did not get a hook in him. There were lots of blue marlin caught, seen, and lost in the last week, and some white marlin and sailfish. We also ran a 3/4 day trip this past week. We had a couple dozen spanish mackerel and a cooler full of pink snapper, porgies, and grunts. If black sea bass season was open, I could have filled the boat. Oh well, June 1 and we can keep them. We are booked up this week, but have a few days next week.

I am putting together a make-up trip for Friday May 25th. We currently need 5 people so here is an opportunity to jump on with another group. Capt. Tim

We have had really good offshore fishing this past weekend. Saturday, Bunn Olive and his friends and family had 10 mahi and 3 wahoo. Sunday Sam Potter and his gang had 12 mahi's, 2 king mackerel, and a wahoo. There were a few tuna caught over the weekend, and several blue marlin released by the fleet. Grouper season opened May 1 and there was good bottom fishing on Saturday. Sunday was a little rough for grouper fishing

Well we are working hard at getting the boat ready for the spring fishing. The offshore fishing from the weekend was decent mahi catches, some wahoo, some blackfin tuna and a couple of blue marlin releases. Bottom fishing is not getting a lot of attention with grouper season closed until May 1, but the offshore area has had lots of king mackerel, bonita, and there was one cobia caught. The inshore fishing along the beach slowed down with this last cold front and there are some bluefish, but the spanish mackerel seemed to have disappeared at the moment. In the backwater, the red drum are biting with both keeper size slot fish, and big ones being caught, a few flounder and small trout have been mixed in. We are starting our charter season next week with trips on Friday May 4, Sat May 5, and putting together a make-up trip for Sunday the 6th.

Well, we got back from Manteo just in time to have to come out of the water for Irene. The fishing in Oregon Inlet was great. We released 5 white marlin the tournament out of 12 or 13 bites and we pulled the hooks on a 500lb+ blue marlin on Friday 10 minutes before lines out! Oh well, that is tournament fishing.  We stayed and caught 8 more whites and a sailfish over this past weekend.  

Now at home, the sailfish are still biting inshore and offshore and the wahoo fishing has started early this year with several boats having double digit catches right before Irene came through. I have even heard of a yellowfin tuna being caught off Wrightsville. Man it would be nice to see them in good numbers again this fall.

Pirates Cove was the final tournament in the NC Governors Cup series and we ended the year as the 7th place boat in the Charter Boat Division.  Thanks to everyone that fished with us this year and hope to see you next year.

Isla Mujeres, Mexico 

We will taking the Fishin' Days to Mexico for the fantastic Sailfishing from early January through the first week in March.  Isla is an island right off the coast from Cancun.  A normal day fishing here in the winter is 15-20 sailfish, with 75 or more not unusual. We are currently taking reservations for the trip and already have 14 days booked, so please let me know if you have any interest in one of these trips. There are several first class resorts right there by the marina. It is a 15-20 minute ferry ride from Cancun to Isla, and the ferry dock is right next to the marina. Come join us this winter.

We had a banner ¾ day trip! I got out to the 23 Mile Rock and worked around until I found the bait. We pulled the lines in at lunch and heading in after catching 3 out of 4 sailfish, some mahi, barracuda, bonita, and a few spanish mackerel at the Inlet before we called it a day. We have another ½ day trip in the morning and then we are heading to Oregon Inlet for a week of White Marlin fishing.

We have a great tournament coming up fished from Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks. Tournament dates are August 15-19th with 3 days of fishing.  We are looking for 2 more Anglers for this one.  The white marlin fishing has already been good with double digit releases in.

The sailfishing continues to be awesome inshore. We caught several over the weekend and had mahi, bonita, and barracuda mixed in. The bottom fishing was really good for us on a full day trip this past Saturday (8/6). Offshore the wahoo are showing up in good numbers early this season and the sailfish are out there as well. We are fishing the next three days and then heading to Manteo (Oregon Inlet) for a week, so check back for reports from the Pirates Cove tournament.

I took the day off for my birthday today, so I am getting a report done this morning. The Gulf Stream fishing has slowed down this past week. The water has really warming up. It will be getting better towards the end of the month, but we have fished offshore three days here of late. There aren’t many mahi out there right now, but the wahoo have showed up early. There are still sailfish around. The best fishing for us is still full day trips going 20 miles offshore. In the last three days we are 4 for 6 on the sailfish. We have also caught some mahi and had really good bottom fishing on Monday. Inshore we have had good days of spanish mackerel fishing and the shrimp boats have started dragging there nets off the beach, so the shark fishing has been good with sandbars, hammerheads, and black tips being some of the species we are catching.

Well the sailfish have showed up this year in really good numbers. We fished the Gulf Stream this past Friday and caught some nice mahi and had a sailfish release. Saturday we spent the morning catching some big spanish mackerel and then releasing 2 nice sharks. Sunday we had a ¾ day that wanted to catch some meat. Unfortunately I could not find them any mahi, but we went 3 for 6 on sailfish. Then we did manage to also catch some spanish around the inlet on the way home. Yesterday went right back to the same area and got to fish for about 1 ½ hours before it started blowing 20+ knots, thanks weather man, and we had to come home. We saw one sailfish and caught 5 mahi. We got blown out today, so we are now getting ready for 8 days straight. 

We fished a ¾ day yesterday and caught 2 mahi, released a sailfish, and had a bunch of bluefish around the Inlet. We ran a Gulf Stream trip today and had good fishing in rough conditions. We ended the day with 10 mahi, 1 wahoo and released another sailfish.

We have been running half day trips since Sunday. It can only be described as awesome spanish mackerel fishing, with limits or near limits the last four trips. We have also been shark fishing for a little while we are heading in and have caught some nice sand bar sharks up to 25 lbs.

We had a great group onboard for our Gulf Stream trip today. After dodging rainstorms to start our morning, it cleared up and the fish started biting like crazy. We ended a great  day with a sailfish release and 16 mahi. We also had several Wahoo bites, and saw a couple more sailfish. We will be busy with half day trips that are scheduled for most of next week, but we are heading back out to the Gulf Stream late next week.

The spanish mackerel fishing on our inshore trips has been really good for the last week. We have caught our limit or close on the last three trips. On our last full day trip we had good bottom fishing and caught some mahi trolling. There are also a few sailfish being seen and caught inshore. 

We fished the Cape fear Blue Marlin Tournament over the weekend. We caught a sailfish on Saturday and missed a nice blue marlin.  We walked away with the 1st Place Jr. Angler Billfish and 1st Place Jr Angler dolphin and a nice check.  This is the second tournament in a row we have been on the leader board, so come join us for one of the few we have left this season.

NC Ducks Unlimited Billfish Tournament 

We are already fishing this Tournament from Morehead City, NC.  Tournament dates are July 28th - July 30th.  We will be staying in Beaufort and are selling 3 full shares for this one, costing $1,500.00 apiece and gets you 2 days of fishing or a 1/2 share for $750.00 and you get 1 day of fishing.  

Ocean City White Marlin Open 

 This is a great tournament with big prize monies.  Tournament dates are August 8th - 12th.  We would be fishing from Ocean City, MD.  First place last year was just a little over $850,000.00.

These are all great tournaments and look forward to seeing you onboard with us for some great Marlin fishing.

Inshore has seen lots of Spanish mackerel along the beach and around the inlets. Some king mackerel and sharks are around the inlet as well. Offshore has seen good mahi (dolphin) fishing continue along with some king mackerel and a few scattered Wahoo. The billfish are here as well, and the sailfish are showing up inshore. We saw two sailfish this past week on 3/4 day trips. The bottom fishing has been good. We ran 2 full day trips on Sunday and Monday and had good bottom fishing both days, catching black sea bass, vermillion snapper, pink snapper, grunts, a few groupers and one really nice american red snapper. We also caught a few mahi while trolling between spots.

Big Rock - Leaving Scales	Heading to Scales	Unloading at Scales

Big Rock Win! - Well what a great week. We caught a 467.4lb Blue Marlin on Wednesday and thankfully the fish held up for the rest of the week to win 3rd Place at the Big Rock Blue Marlin tournament. We also released a white marlin on Thursday. Thanks to Ken Upton, our world class mate, Kevin Travis, who did an awesome job in the chair and the rest of the crew, Mike DelVechio and Dr. Mike Goines. We could not have done it without everyone's help. 

Now a fishing report. Inshore has seen lots of Bluefish and Spanish mixed together along the beach and around the inlets. Some king mackerel have moved inshore as well.  Offshore has seen good mahi (dolphin) fishing continue along with some king mackerel and scattered wahoo. The billfish are here as well as evidenced by this past weeks success. The bottom fishing has been fairly good for black sea bass and snappers with grouper and grunts mixed in. We also caught a couple of big amberjacks bottom fishing the week before the big rock. We are fishing everyday this week so I will get out another report later this week.

467.4 pound 3rd Place Blue Marlin

Well, good fishing continues off Wrightsville Beach, inshore and offshore. We have caught good numbers of mahi on our last few Gulf Stream trips and we have also had some wahoo, blackfin tuna, king mackerel, and barracuda mixed in. We have seen several billfish, but can't keep our hooks in them. Inshore we have run a 1/2 day trip and a 3/4 day trip since the last report. Along the beach we are catching lots of bluefish and spanish mackerel mixed together. The cobia are also feeding along the beach and will be here for a few more weeks. On our 3/4 day trip, we caught some smaller mahi and a king mackerel and had good bottom fishing for snapper and grouper. We are fishing today through Monday, but have a few days open next week before heading to Morehead for the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, so come join us!

We fished 4 days this past week and everyday was the same report. We caught lots of mahi from 10 pounds to 35 pounds. Thursday we had 14 mahi, 3 wahoo and a blackfin tuna.  Friday was a short day with a wedding getting in the way of good fishing, but with just 5 hours or so to work with we managed 6 mahi and a king mackerel before we headed home. Saturday was more good fishing with 15 nice mahi, 2 wahoo and even a white marlin. On Sunday, with a great forecast I headed out with the family and had a dozen nice mahi, 3 blackfin tunas, and a big barracuda.

This mahi fishing should be good for another few weeks. We are open on Friday and would really like to go fishing. Right now the weather looks good and I have 2 folks who would like to do a make-up trip, so let me know if you would like to join them.

We had some spectacular fishing today with Robert Fleming and his friends. We trolled along the break which got us lots of bites. We ended the day with 12 mahi, 3 wahoo, one blackfin tuna, half a dozen bonitas and a couple of barracuda. The weather looks great for the weekend and now is your chance because we have a rare weekend opening for this Sunday.

The fishing this past weekend was again solid. We had a good catch of mahi and 2 wahoo thrown in. The Reel Quick released a 150lb blue marlin Saturday in the same area we fished and I just heard the Reel Jim released a 350lb blue marlin today, so they showed up. We are fishing this Saturday, but open on Friday and Sunday, so someone come fishing, we really want to go chase the mahi and blue marlin, while they are here.

On Saturday, Matt Dixon and his buddies headed out to a beautiful sunrise and a great ride out. We started fishing a little south of yesterday’s bite and what a start. Lines in the water for 5 minutes and we have 2 nice wahoo in the box. This was just a precursor for the day. Ken did a great job in the pit. I think we went through 4 dozen ballyhoo. We ended the day with 10 wahoos, 3 dolphins, 1 blackfin tuna and 1 barracuda. The guys had over 300lbs of fish on the dock when we got in. Fish cleaning took a while! 

We have Saturday May 7th open, the group had to move their trip to June.  So come join us for this awesome fishing.  I am going to try and put a make-up trip together for Saturday.

The fishing off Wrightsville Beach right now is as good as I have seen it in a few years. We headed offshore Friday with Rod and Andy from UDig and some of their clients. We fished today in rough conditions with a 6-8’ swell with 15-20 knots of wind to start, but the guys stuck it out. We had a lot of bites and ended the day with 6 blackfin tuna, 4 mahi and 2 wahoo. We are back at it again tomorrow. The weather looks better for tomorrow and really good for Sunday, but we need folks for Sunday, so come join us.

On Sunday, we had a ball with Mark Poovey and his friends trolling along the beach catching some nice 2-3lb bluefish. We then hit Bluewater for Lunch and then headed back out for an afternoon of trolling. So again we found the fish right in front of the Oceanic Pier, catching two dozen nice bluefish and our first spanish mackerel of the year.  

We are fishing Friday and Saturday this weekend. Please note, we currently have Saturday May 7th open because that group had to move their trip to June.

We headed offshore Saturday with the Grainger family and we really had a good day with 4 wahoo, 6 blackfin tuna, 1 yellowfin tuna and 1 mahi. All of our action was up the line in the low 200's. I started on the break in 30 fathoms, catching the blackfin and 2 of the hoo's there. When it slowed down, I pushed off to 50-70 fathoms and caught the yellowfin and other 2 hoo's out there. Once again black and purple and blue and crystal were the hot colors on top. On the planer, a black and red 2 oz. Eye Catcher Outlaw worked best.  I heard of 1 white marlin released and a blue marlin lost, so the billfish are showing up.

Well spring fishing is getting started right on the Fishin Days. We had a half day last Thursday and had a ball catching sea bass at the liberty ship. Unfortunately we had to throw them all back because current regs have sea bass closed till June 1. On the way back we saw a 100 lb bluefin tuna chasing bait only 5 miles off the beach. On Sunday, we headed offshore with a great forecast.  Once again the weather man missed it, but the fishing was great. We ended the day with 3 wahoo, 2 blackfin tuna, 2 mahi, and 2 king mackerel, and lost several more nice wahoo. The highlight of the day was 12 year old Charlie's 61 pound wahoo caught on his first trip offshore ever.

 We have the Fishin' Days in the boat yard this week, getting the bottom painted, doing some painting and varnish work and removing the tower from the boat.  We are back fishing next week, but had a cancelation for Easter Saturday, so come join us.

Alright, I had our first group of folks out fishing this weekend. The water was not real pretty, but we stuck it out and caught 2 wahoo, 2 blackfin, and 1 gaffer mahi. Weather was really nice for March.  The rest of the boats fishing around us had about the same to report, except for the Trophy which also had a nice mako shark. Sorry for no pictures, forgot my camera.  I hope to have some on the website this week, charter promised to send me pictures.  

Captain Ty left Treasure Cay this morning bound for St. Augustine. He should be home in Wrightsville, weather permitting, on Wednesday. The offshore reports have been good in the last few weeks. When folks can get out, good numbers of wahoo and blackfin tuna have been caught. The first blue marlin of the season has already been caught, and there have been a few mahi and small mako sharks caught.  We are going in the boat yard for a few days and then we will be ready to start fishing. We have our first charter in Wrightsville Beach on March 31st. I am starting to get calls and book trips, with only 7 weekend dates left in April and May. If you want to enjoy the great spring fishing we have, get in touch with me now.

The new boat's mezzanine deck!

Well the wind is finally going to give us a break this weekend, so we are going to try and put together make-up trips on Saturday and Sunday. Offshore on Sunday the one boat that fished had 4 Wahoo some Blackfin and lots of Bonitos. Inshore on Sunday they had good trolling for Kings and bottom fishing. So we will do either this weekend. Last chance to fish this year, the boat is heading to the Bahamas on Tuesday.

 * Make-ups this weekend will be either Gulf Stream or a full day trolling and bottom fishing. 

We are happy to announce that for the winter in the Bahamas we have put together two plans for folks to come visit us. You will be staying in a luxury 3 bedroom condo located on the Marina in Treasure Cay Resort, home to one of the top ten beaches in the world. Fishing starts in 15 minutes from the dock.  

First a fishing report for the last week.  Ty had Terry and the Hillsborough Sportfishing Club for the first trip on the new boat.  The weather was less than ideal in fact it was plain rough.  They scraped it out with a nice wahoo and catching lots of albacores and bonitos.  Thursday we had Russ and the Essilor guys out for their last trip this year.  Great weather and really good fishing.  We caught 4 nice wahoo, 4 Mahi and 1 big shark. Probably missed or lost 7 or 8 more wahoo.  Ty is fishing again tomorrow so I will post another report on the website. 

First a fishing report for the last week.  We have fished inshore and offshore and fishing has been fair on the beach and great offshore.  

Trolling along the beach has been producing some Spanish and blue fish and lots of albacore.  The bottom fishing offshore has remained good with gag groupers, lots of sea bass, grunts and pink snappers.  And the gulfstream trolling has been awesome with lots of wahoo, had 11 on Sunday, some blackfin tuna and sailfish.

The weather this weekend is going to be bad with a tropical storm coming up the coast at the end of the week, but hopefully next week it gets better.  We are open next weekend, so come join us on the new boat.

We ran a 2 boat trip yesterday afternoon with the “Pole Position” for Pfyzer.  They ran 20 miles off the beach with no luck while Ty stayed on the beach and had good luck catching spanish mackerel, bluefish, and bonita.  We are fishing again tomorrow, so check back for a fresh report.  We also have a few weekend days open this fall here in Wrightsville Beach before we head to the Bahamas.  Come join us.

Ty and Anthony had Jordan Sterns and his friends out for a ¾ day trip today. The guys wanted to try some trolling and then go bottom fishing. The trolling was slow, but the bottom fishing was awesome. They ended with an almost full box of pink snappers, grunts, sea bass, triggers and a really nice gag grouper. We are open this week and then back at it hard for four days the following week.

Great group pf guys today for an offshore/grouper trip. The guys wanted to spend ½ the day trolling in the Gulf Stream and ½ the day grouper fishing. Awesome morning of trolling with 5 nice wahoo, including a 50lber for Christian, amberjack, and a blackfin tuna. Then we ran back inshore for some bottom fishing. Ended the day with a nice catch of red grouper, pink snapper, some big black bass and plenty of big grunts.

TY and I had Russ and the Essilor guys offshore today in beautiful weather.  Trolling was real slow for us with a couple of Wahoo bites early that did not stay tight and then we managed to catch a barracuda and a couple of tunas. We tried some bottom fishing in the deep and managed a mix bag of red hind grouper, porgy, and squirrelfish.

Labor Day weekend. Ty and Rick had two trips this weekend with an inshore trip on Saturday catching some big spanish mackerel and a bunch of bluefish. On Sunday they headed off for some bottom fishing with some Time Warner Cable guys from Greensboro.  They had a good catch of pink snappers, sea bass, grunts and sharks. The also caught a couple of king mackerel while trolling home.

Anyone want to get in on a make-up Trip this weekend let me know.  The weather gets great by tomorrow afternoon and is 2-4 ft on Sunday and 3-4 ft on Monday so lets go fishing.

Capt. Ty and Kristoffer had the Reiley party out for a half day in the morning trolling along the beach.  With 15-20kts of NE wind, it was a little rough but everyone toughed it out and managed some really nice spanish mackerel. Capt.Ty said they were the biggest of the year so far and lots of bluefish mixed in. We are back at it tomorrow, so please check back.

We have been busy the last two weeks, fishing 10 days in the last 14. So here is the fishing report. The water is hot everywhere right now from the beach to the Gulf Stream.   

Inshore fishing has been pretty good the last few weeks. We have been catching lots of Spanish mackerel but a lot of them are to short, good numbers of bluefish and a few small king mackerel are starting to mix in with the spanish. 

Offshore has been good news/bad news. The bad news has been slow trolling with a few king mackerel, small mahi, and some bonito. The good news is the bottom fishing is still awesome, with lots of snappers and groupers being caught along with grunts, sea bass, sharks and more.  Only snag was a real strong tide last week on the full moon. 

Gulf Stream fishing is getting better every week with more wahoos showing up and the blackfins starting to bite better. The mahi are still around, but most of them are still the smaller bailers. Last two trips we had wahoos, blackfins, mahi, and barracudas. We did have a sailfish on Friday that would not eat. 

We have trips this Thursday-Saturday so I will have another report out on Monday.

We have been busy with 3 half day trips and 2 ¾ day trips in the past 5 days. The spanish mackerel fishing on the ½ days has been really good, only problem has been sorting out the short fish and the keepers. There have also been plenty of bluefish mixed in to keep everyone busy. On our ¾ days we have been catching some spanish on the beach early and then heading offshore. Trolling out has produced some small kings and mahi. The bottom fishing remains awesome with lots of snappers, seabass, and groupers. Captain Ty and Joe have a ¾ day today, so I will post up a report tonight. 

Tomorrow is the only open day left this week, so I will keep the reports coming.

Finally we got a break from the heat last week with light NE winds for most of the week. We spent Wednesday on a full day bottom fishing trip and we had a good day. With 150lbs + of grouper, snapper, sea bass and more the guys were happy. 

Friday and Saturday we fished the Eddie Hannaman Inshore Sailfish Tournament. Great charity event with a unique set of rules, you must fish with-in 20 miles of the beach. Only problem was the water and fish were not inside 20 miles in good numbers.  A total of 7 sailfish were released, but none by us.  We did see one each day, but no good bites. We did catch some bonitos, and had more bites from bonitos, mahi, and king mackerel.  We are back at it hard the next two weeks, fishing 10 days out of the next 14 coming up. 

We had a full day bottom fishing trip today and what great weather. Really nice to see light winds and not southwest at 15-20. We spent the day with 4 boys constantly hooked up, catching over 200lbs of fish. They caught gag grouper, red snapper, pink snapper, black sea bass, grunts, rock bass, sharks, and triggerfish. The highlights would have to be 5lb pink snapper and a 15lb American red snapper. We are back at it for Friday and Saturday, but open on Sunday and the weather looks great, so let’s go fishing.    

We finally got a break on the weather and got to fish 4 days this past week.  On Wednesday we had the Sumner family out for a 1/2 day on the beach. The water was still pretty muddy from the hard SW wind earlier in the week, but we managed a half dozen Spanish mackerel and 8 bluefish.  On Friday, Russ and the Essilor folks joined us again for a Gulf Stream trip and thankfully the weather was a lot nicer than their last trip. Fishing was not red hot, but we managed some mahi and a great summertime wahoo at 54lbs. For the weekend, we had an overnight trip for swordfish, but unfortunately 4 knots of current offshore just stunk for drifting.  So we spent the day and part of the night doing some bottom fishing and that was a good idea. We came back in late Saturday night with almost a full fishbox. Highlights including 6 grouper, a limit of pink snapper as well as vermillion snapper, sea bass, grunts, jolthead porgy and a couple of nice king mackerel on the jig.

We just finished the Barta Boys and Girls Billfish tournament and for the third year in a row, the weather just stunk. Southwest at 15-20 knots and gusty made Friday tough. We caught a blackfin tuna and had a couple of wahoo bites and the small mahi's attacked us, but we were fishing for billfish with circle hooks, and did not have a bite from a sailfish. On Saturday, Dr. Mark and his daughter Emma joined us for some Spanish mackerel fishing around the inlet instead of making the run offshore again.  We caught some spanish mackerel and bluefish, the neat thing to see was the other 15 big boats doing the same thing for the kids on their boats. The good news was the number of wahoo bites everyone had fishing this weekend. Looks like they are showing up early and the mahi are still biting.

Well, first a Wrightsville Beach fishing report. The inshore fishing for spanish mackerels has been fantastic.  We had a 1/2 day on Thursday morning and again had great fishing with over 2 doz. spanish mackerel caught in a few hours.  Saturday we headed offshore in less than ideal conditions, SW 15-25 knots and the farther offshore we got the closer to 25 it got.  Anyway I set out on the break and caught two nice wahoo, both were 30 lbs or so. By 10:00 am it was just blowing too hard and I set out trolling back inshore for a few hours. Thankfully we found mahi, sailfish, and king mackerel and barracuda inside to keep the charter and Rick busy. At 2:00 pm I called it and we steamed for home. We stopped right outside the inlet and spent about 20 minutes catching a dozen spanish before a big storm ran us to the dock. 

Now let’s talk billfishing. It has gotten red hot in Morehead City just in time for the Barta Billfish tournament coming up this weekend. Yesterday three boats caught 23 white marlin and sailfish and missed or lost another 30 or more. This was after they all caught a bunch of bailer mahi inshore. Folks, we still need a couple of anglers for Wednesday or Thursday. Let me know if you want to join some great fishing.

On Friday had the Essilor guys for an offshore trip.  Southwest at 15-20 made for a rough day, but we made the best of it.  King Mackerels, Mahi's,  Barracudas, and a Sailfish on the dredge made for a good day.   

On Saturday we had a great crowd of deputies for a 3/4 day charter.  Unfortunately the trolling was slow for the entire fleet for the day.  We tried everything and finally found the bonito and Spanish biting about three miles offshore and salvaged the day.   

On Sunday we had a 1/2 day with dads and kids.  Knowing the bite has been better early, we headed off the dock at 6:00 for some trolling around the inlet.  Glad we left earlier, by 7:00 we had 33 Spanish Mackerels.  More and more boats came out the inlet and pushed the fish down, but we stuck it out and ended the morning with 49 Spanish, 3 bluefish, and a bonito. 

The weekend weather is not looking great for offshore fishing, but inshore looks good.  We have a few days open this week so come fishing.