I had today off, but not by choice. Wish I was out there!

What a beautiful day, and sitting at the dock. Well, atleast I got to take my daughter to school, and my son to preschool. It's always good to see them in the morning. Anyway, I piddled around my boat most of the day, built a spreader bar, put line on a reel, you know, just ''stuff''. I saw one boat come in before I left, and it looked like excellent dolphin fishing, some real nice gaffers. I'm not sure about the marlins, but I'd be willing to bet there were some bites. Anyway, unless something happens tonight, I've got tomorrow off too. I'm not sure what I have left to piddle on! Oh well, maybe I'll get a call. See ya soon!<BR><BR>I snapped this shot of Andrea one morning heading out fishing. What a sunrise!

We left with a plan this morning, and I love it when a plan comes together!

After a brief discussion we decided to head on off, in search of a blue marlin, and hopefully find a few dolphin in the process. Well, it was a beautiful trip to the hundred, once we got out of the morning fog that had set in. We put the baits over, and trolled offshore. I found some streaks of grass in some 79 degree water, out over 600 fathoms, and caught a couple of gaffers. We scrounged around for a while without a bite, and then, there he was. About a 200 pound blue marlin filled the bill for us. He put on a fairly good show, and came off when Ben got the wire. Just right. Anyway, we picked at the gaffers for the rest of the day, and did have one more blue marlin encounter. About a 250 pounder shopped through our spread for a few moments, but changed his mind about eating. All in all, a perfect day. The boats that stuck it out further inshore, did pretty well on the dolphin, and I heard of a few tunas and wahoos too.

Fishing was still not up to our standards for May, but we managed to find a few dolphin anyway.

A few of the boats camped out on the rockpile all day, and maybe caught a tuna or two, maybe a wahoo, but overall it was spotty. I worked down a temperature break for an hour this morning, had a couple of dolphin bites that we missed, and off to the rockpile. It was a little too crowded for me, and the bites were few, so I worked back up the beach in a little deeper water. We had an occasional bite, but had bad luck hanging on to them. Finally we found a school of dolphin and managed to catch eight or nine, and I'd say maybe five of them were pretty nice gaffers (10-15 pounders). Anyway, that about wrapped it up for us. There were a few marlin sightings again today.

Today was another one of those days that we classify the fishing as ''scattered'' (whatever that means). The weather, however, was perfect.

Nothing like a light Northeaster in the summer. Of course, it's been cold so long that it seems weird to say that a cool breeze feels good. Anyhow, after the last few trips, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where I was headed this morning. Off to the deep. There's gotta be another blue marlin waiting out there! Well, four hours later, and not a bite, I waved the white flag, and headed for the shallows. Throughout the fleet, it had been hit or miss, some guys had scrapped out a catch, but most were complaining about the lack of bites. Thank you Lord, the gaffers hit us. I had a small group today, so we were a little short handed, but we landed four out of the first go 'round. Next, we caught two out of three, and a few singles after that. It was a relief to have some fish in the box, and some pretty nice dolphin at that. I heard of a couple of marlin bites, but not like it had been. It'll pick back up.

The last couple of days have been a hard sou'wester, but it looks like we'll get cranked back up tomorrow. I didn't have a trip on Thursday, but there were some blue marlin seen again. I am open on Tuesday and Thursday this week, and the weather looks awesome.

My advice is, drop what you are doing, call Dave, and go fishing!<BR><BR><BR>Blue Marlin from 2005 (There's one out there for you!)

While meat fishing remained slow, we were blessed to be able to catch another blue marlin.

It was a beautiful day, as forcasted, but the meat catches were on the slim side today. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to have a box full to have a good day. Anytime it's as nice as it was today, you've had a good day. I went way the heck out there again looking for something to fish around, and did actually find a pretty nice grass line, but I never saw the first dolphin. There were a couple of marlin seen back inside of 200 fathoms, so I worked back in that way. It wasn't long befor we hooked a 400 pounder on a short rigger. This fish was tough, and we spent nearly an hour on the fight. As you can see, he still had plenty of life left when we finally got the leader. After we were shed of him, I found a bucket floating that had a few dolphin around it, and that helped us get enough for dinner. One boat got lucky and found a tree floating, with a load of dolphin around it, but for the most part, it was slow. <BR> Keep the marlins coming, that's what I say!

I can tell you, there's nothing like taking your kid fishing, but today I had a dad, two sons and a grandson! We showed them a lot of bluewater action too.

I knew the day was gonna be good when we caught a dolphin for Brandon (I'm gonna guess his age at 8) right off the bat. Things sounded scrappy, so I headed on out. We hooked a blue marlin at 200 fathoms, and he put on an amazing show for us. A little over a half hour later, we released him, I guessed the weight at 375. We went on off and found a float with a few dolphin around it, and then back in later where we caught two nice gaffers, the largest weighing in at 31 pounds (you have to look close in the picture, he blends in with my party's clothes). After that, I saw another blue marlin tailing, made a circle, and got him to eat. This one was maybe 200 pounds, and we enjoyed a good show of a half dozen or more jumps till he came unglued. Oh well, you win some, you lose some! Overall, on the slow side, but we got lucky and had some great action today.<s

Today we broke the ice with our first blue marlin of the year. Dolphin fishing was good too!

After yesterday's ride home, I was tickled to see a flat ocean this morning. We started out on the color change again, and found a couple of schools of dolphin. We broke down with the bailing rods for some, and caught a scattered one trolling throughout the day. Today it was mostly big bailers/hoisters, but we did wind up with seven or eight gaffers as well. The highlight of the day was a 300-350 pound blue marlin. Short rigger bite, and what a show! There were five other blue marlin caught today as well. Pretty slow on the tuna and wahoo, although I heard of a scattered bite. I included a few pictures today, one of my angler doing battle with the marlin. If he is smiling in the picture, it was just a pose. He wasn't smiling much till Ben had the wire!<scri

Dolphin fishing was great today, and we wound up with a nice catch of gaffer dolphin, in spite of windy conditions.

Last night the forcast said southwest 10-15 this morning it said southwest 20, and it blew 25-30 most of the day! Fortunately, we had about four knots of current that helped make it tolerable. We set out on a color change with a streak of grass in it, and picked away at the gaffer dolphin. A couple of times a school would follow up, but the conditions weren't favorable for us to bail dolphin. Somewhere in the midst of our gaffer bites, we hooked a doubleheader of sailfish, and landed one, for an extra bonus. A little after lunch time, we started working in, hoping for a wahoo or tuna bite, but no luck with them. All in all a great day of fishing.

Things were similar to yesterday, only we dealt with a breezing southwest wind all day.

Almost every boat went straight to the color change and trolled for dolphin. A couple of boats got lucky, and laid claim to a spot that was holding some fish, but for the most part, it was kinda spotty. I elected to try the green water today for tuna and wahoo. Well, wouldn't you know that the first two fish we caught were gaffer dolphin! Anyway, we did manage to catch one yellowfin, missed one wahoo bite, and landed a nice king mackerel before the high winds sent us in a little early. There was some marlin action in the tournament that is underway, and two were taken to the dock.<s

Things were about the same as yesterday, blue water in the deep, green water over our shallow bottom structure.

If you wanted to fish specifically for tuna and wahoo, then you would need to get your mind right about fishing in green 64-67 degree water. There were a few bites in there for the guys that stuck it out. On out in the deep, there was some dolphin fishing to be had, and there were a few marlin seen today. We found a couple of schools of nice dolphin, and wound up with 25 or so, more than half of them gaffers. After watching my pal catch a blue marlin right next to me, I had to dedicate a good portion of the day to that, but today was not our lucky day. I worked back inshore, where I found several schools of bonitos on the surface. We had a huge wahoo skyrocket on the flatline, miss it, and then sky on my spreader bar. Well, 250 # mono was no match for his teeth, so away he went, bummer. Anyway, we did catch a 30 pound yellowfin after that to give us a little variety.<BR>The ride out was so pretty this morning, I snapped a shot to share it with you!

Iv'e been accused of being ''out there'', but today I was really way out there!

I don't know when the hot water will shove in to stay, but for now, it's a pretty good ways out in the deep. Some boats pounded the breaks for a tuna or wahoo bite all day, some scrapped out a catch, some didn't. Some went to the deep, looking for dolphin and maybe a marlin bite. It worked out for some, and not so good for others. We kinda did both. I started out shallow, caught a wahoo in the morning, early, and worked on off. I guess we wound up close to 1000 fathoms at one point, and we found a good color change, but the grass was a scattered mess. We caught three gaffers around a piece of plywood, and then got struck and landed three more. I heard of a couple of tuna bites back inshore, so I worked my way back, hopeful of more action. We didn't get a tuna bite, but we managed to land a wahoo that was just under the 40 pound mark. All in all, it was a beautiful spring day, glad to be there!<scr

When the goin' gets tough, the tough go to the deep! I spen my day out over 100 fathoms today, and it paid off with good dolphin fishing.

Ok, here's the scenario. Beautiful flat calm SATURDAY in May. Everybody on the east coast who owns a boat is out. Eighty percent of them are where the fishing was best yesterday. Got the picture?! One guy got struck by the tunas, and immediately had all his fish cut off by a couple of weekenders. Well, I knew my nerves couldn't take all of that, so I went up the line, and out, at one point to 1000 fathoms. I was hoping for a blue marlin bite, but I never heard of one today. Anyway, we found several small bunches of gaffer and ''hoister'' dolphin, and scrapped out a pretty nice catch. The biggest was 20-25 pounds. There were a few tunas and wahoos scrapped out in the shallows, but it sounded tense.

May has never been any nicer! The fishing was a little on the scrappy side, but the weather was perfect.

Most everybody started out on a temperature break this morning, with some grass in it. The guys that pounded it all day scrapped out half a catch of dolphin, but I have a hard time fishing behind a bunch of boats all day. As soon as we started, we found a little bunch and caught a half dozen, fairly nice dolphin. Boats were approaching from both directions, so I decided to leave the line and work the bottom. We immediately caught a 55 pound yellowfin, and I thought things were going to be crazy. Well, little did I know that with the exception of a few other missed strikes, that would be it for me! There were a few wahoo bites up and down the break, but I don't think I had but one, and he got away. We'll see what tomorrow brings!<scri

We finally broke the ice for this season with a sailfish. There was a little bit of everything caught otherwise.

I was just thankful to get out, last night the forcast was 20-25 from the south, and this morning they had dropped it to 10-15, increasing in the afternoon. They were right on, it was a pretty nice morning. We started out pretty quick with a wahoo, and then another. I think we probably had seven wahoo bites for the day, but only hung on to two. Next we caught the sailfish, and then a pair of gaffer dolphin. Shortly after that we landed a 40 pound yellowfin. By now it was 10:15, and had had pretty good action. The wind started breezing up as a squall line approached, and we prepared for the monsoon. After the frog drowner passed, the wind set in, a solid 25. We stuck it out till about 1:30, with only a couple more bites, but never caught anything else.<BR> <BR>

Fishing today was all about being in the right place at the right time.

There was a distinct color change out there today, and every boat from Oregon Inlet to Ocracoke was fishing on it. If you were lucky, you found a little spot in the morning, first thing, and caught some dolphin. It was real easy to catch nothing today too. I fished on the change for about three minutes, and got over it. I spent some time on the southeast rocks, and managed to catch four small yellowfins. After scouring that spot for an hour or more, I wandered off to the deep. I found another color change in 300 fathoms, with a good amount of grass piled up on it. It didn't take long to find some dolphin, trouble was, they didn't want to bite. Ok, let's look for another school. The next school didn't bite either! They were in some cooler, greener water, and I guess it gave them lockjaw. Anyway, it was beautiful today, and as we trolled back in, we missed a wahoo bite, and caught a king mackerel. Some of the boats to the south had four or five nicer size tunas, but they were the lucky ones.<s

Never try to predict Hatteras weather. It was supposed to be nasty today, and turned out to be fairly nice.

I hate trying to make a guess about the weather. A meteorologist once told me that it's impossible to ACCURATELY forcast wind more than 24 hours in advance. Anyway, the forcast was not so great for today, but it wound up being fairly nice, and from the report I got, fishing was pretty good too. I don't have details since I wasn't there, but hopefully tomorrow I'll have more info. This is what Ben and I look like when we miss a day!<BR>(notice how slick the creek was this morning)

Today fishing was pretty good for everything, but I spent the day looking for wahoos and tunas.

Most of the fleet ended up further south than I, and probably had more action, especially on the dolphin. I kinda started in the middle and worked up. We actually had a fair number of bites, and caught four out of nine or ten wahoo strikes, and a 50 pound yellowfin. One of the wahoos made citation size, 40 pounds.

Today was nothing but quality strikes and quality fish for the ''Godspeed''.

Well, I had the same crowd today as I did yesterday, and they really wanted to try for something other than dolphin, so thats what we did. I love it when a plan comes together! We wound up with five wahoos and four tunas from 40-60 pounds, and probably had atleast that many more strikes that got away. We had a nice gaffer dolphin to go along with the rest as well. A good portion of the fleet went further offshore looking for hotter water, and found it, along with a good sign of gaffer dolphin and a couple of marlin sightings.<<sc

Today there was a well defined color change that ran up and down the beach, and boats had pretty good fishing on it over a thirty mile stretch.

I ran out on a moderately south course this morning, and set out in 50 fathoms on a green to blue color change where the water went from 58 degrees to 76. We had a few dolphin bites right away, but it didn't take me long to get over the crowd, so off I went to the deep. Well, I turned around at 200, and spent a little time on a couple of different grass streaks, but no luck. I gave in and trolled back to the change figuring I'd just take what I could get, but we actually found a couple of schools of dolphin that wanted to cooperate a little. They were half and half, gaffers anf big bailers. I don't think I had a tuna or a wahoo bite today, but there was a decent sign of both, depending on where you went. There was some king mackerel action on dead baits this afternoon too.

I think everybody scrapped out a catch today, some better than others, but all in all pretty good fishing.

After yesterday, I steamed out southeast to find the same edge that I fished the previous day. We found it, but it didn't produce like it did yesterday, numbers wise, but we did catch a few nice gaffers, including a 30 pounder. I worked out to 1500 fathoms because there was a finger of cold green water that had shoved out, and kinda screwed things up. I picked up and steamed back across it to try and get a tuna bite. It worked out and we finally got a couple of tuna bites, both fish were 65 pounders, glad to have them! The boats to the south had pretty fair fishing, tuna, dolphin, and wahoo. See ya tomorrow!

Man, nine days at the dock will make a man crazy! It was great to get out this morning, and greater to catch some fish.

The majority of the fleet ran south this morning, I leaned that way, but not all the way. It sounded kinda scrappy plus there were a lot of boats working down the break, so I went the other direction. Another boat reported a fair number of dolphin bites east of me, so that was encouraging. We found several schools of dolphin, mostly gaffers, but they didn't want to act quite right. We managed to catch fifteen of them. I didn't have but two tuna bites where I was, but the one we caught was an 88 pounder. Beautiful fish. Looks like we might just get a few days in for a change!<scrip