It was another nice day, especially with the north to northeast breeze.

We decided to spend some time marlin fishing, and it was a good move because there was some billfish action today, but my group was getting a little antsy after a few hours of nothing but waiting. I don't blame them, marlin fishing can be boring when you're not getting the bites. Anyway, we worked back inshore and scrapped out a handful of dolphin in the afternoon. Some of the guys that stayed in there all day had pretty good catches. There were a few sails caught, as well as a couple of blue marlin. Thanks Chip, and congratulations Jake!

This stretch of weather is spoiling us ... but I'm not complaining!

Ok, so it was beautiful all day. Now, about the fishing. We started in the shallows, but it looked like it was gonna be scrappy at best, so I wandered off to the deep. I found several areas of grass, and for the conditions, you would have thought there should have been more fish. We got lucky and found several different floats and put together a beautiful catch of gaffers and big bailers. One of the gaffers weighed 30 pounds. I was hopeful that we would encounter a marlin, but never did. There was a pretty good sign of bills today, a few blues and whites, and one sail. Our turn is coming! Thanks Mike and Daphne.

The weather was definitely in our favor today, but the fish were not too eager to cooperate.

It's easy to enjoy a day in the gulf stream when the weather is calm. That's what we had today, but the fish didn't really want to bite. The bites we h ad this morning were few, and lazy. Around lunch time I found a nice float that had one big gaffer and a dozen bailers around it, but we only caught one bailer out of it. A little later I found another float with dolphin jumping around it. I was licking my lips. We only got three of them to bite! Everybody was saying the same thing over the radio, lazy fish with 0 appetite. Finally we caught a 30 pound gaffer, good job Joe. A couple more bailers and one medium gaffer would round out the afternoon, but it was a let down considering all the fish we saw. Still my group had a great time, and it was enjoyable for me and Justin to spend the day with them again. Thanks Connie, and I can't wait till the next trip!

Things were a little slower than yesterday, but by quittin' time we had scrapped out a nice catch of gaffers.

There was a pretty good number of bills seen in the deep, but my guys wanted to stay after the meat, so we spent the day looking for dolphin. We never really found a hot spot, just caught one here and there. It was a beautiful day and the fish we caught were nice ones. Near the end of the day we came across a big school of rays which made a nice photo, and right after that, as we were cranking our lines in, a big dolphin followed one of my teasers up and Justin picked him off on a TLD for a grand finale. Thanks again Nelson, you guys were great!

Fishing was great offshore today!

After landing four gaffers this morning, and enjoying a fabulous "sea world" porpoise show, I pushed offshore to hopefully find a marlin, and a few more dolphin in the deep. Well, to my pleasant surprise, I came across a grass line that was loaded with gaffers and big bailers. We caught fish till they had enough, and went on looking for something bigger. We had two big mystery bites that I would like to say were marlin, but can't for sure. In the early afternoon, Nate, who had come down with the 10 hour flu, perked up and seemed ready to catch some fish, so I located a few more dolphin and he hammered three of them! Good job Nate. Turns out that his 10 hour flu only lasted 6 hours. After showing off his fishing skills, he impressed me with his navigational knowledge. I think he's gunning for my job. Anyway, thanks CJ for a terrific trip, and I hope to see you guys in the fall!

We had pretty good gaffer dolphin fishing today for these first timers!

It was a little bumpy, out of the southwest, but plenty fishable. We caught a few nice dolphin first thing, before wandering out over the hundred. We did have one mystery bite out there, but we'll never know what it was. Back in about 50-60 fathoms, I found some streaky grass that was holding a few gaffers. We picked away at them till noon, when I decided to work back inshore to calmer water and hopefully a wahoo or sailfish bite. Neither occurred, although there was some marlin action back offshore. There were three blues caught today and a few others hooked. Also a couple of whites and a sail. Thanks again Bronson for bringing your family out with us!

Things were kinda scrappy around the fleet today, but we still wound up with a handful of gaffer dolphin.

The last time Justin's dad fished with us was in March, for giant bluefins. Today it was warmer and the fish were smaller than the 300 pounders they caught on their last trip! It looked promising this morning after fishing a half hour, we got hit by the gaffers and caught five in one whack. After that things got pretty slow. We caught three more nice dolphin the rest of the day, with the exception of one big almaco jack that we jigged off of a wreck. It was pretty spotty for most of the boats today, but I heard a report of some pretty good dolphin fishing headed our way, so I'm excited. There was one white marlin caught in our fleet today and maybe a wahoo or two. In the afternoon I jogged back inshore and spent an hour around the inlet looking for spanish mackerel and blues. We caught a few, but the inshore action was better this morning. Thanks Bunky!

We trolled off to the deep this morning and wound up putting together a great catch of dolphin while we were there!

My crew wanted meat, so that was our main objective, but I was quite hopeful that we would encounter a marlin while we were out there. It never happened, again. BUT, we did stop on a couple of pretty nice schools of gaffers and big bailers and accomplish our mission. Thanks again Dave, and I hope to see you in November for some yellowfin!

These guys got together for a reunion, and enjoyed a great day in the blue water!

It was a pleasure for Justin and myself to spend the day with these guys who serve our country. Thanks guys for all you do. We went a long ways offshore hoping to accomplish two things, a nice catch of dolphin, and a marlin bite. Well, we batted 500. We put together a nice catch of gaffer dolphin, but never got the big bite. There were quite a few marlin seen today, we just didn't get a turn. We ended the day with a 30 pounder, so everybody was pumped up on the ride home. Thanks again Ryan for setting up the trip, and I can't wait to fish with you guys again.

My buddy Bobby did his annual company trip, and fishing was pretty good, as usual.

Other than jumping off a sailfish first thing this morning, all of our action was dolphin. We didn't really kill them in any one place, but had a steady bite throughout the day. By quittin' time, we had put together a real nice catch of gaffers. Thanks again Bobby.

Today my group wanted to marlin fish, so we stuck to the task.

It paid off when a 450 pound blue marlin crashed the left short rigger. The fight was beautiful, and Justin had the leader in 15 minutes. There were a few whites seen today as well, but the blue was our only bite. There was fair gaffer dolphin fishing, a few blackfins, and a couple of wahoos caught as well.

We started out the day taking a swell from a squally ol' southerly wind right on the chin. Fortunately as the day progressed the weather got nicer and nicer.

Our first bite of the morning was one out of two white marlin, so congrats to Bruce on his first, and what a way to start. Shortly after that we caught a gaffer dolphin, but the grass that provided habitat for the dolphin yesterday seemed to be long gone, and the dolphin action with it. My guys really wanted to fish for "meat", so I turned a deaf ear to the radio as the marlin bites were announced throughout the day. Our luck was pretty poor the rest of the morning as we missed or pulled off several other gaffers and what was probably a wahoo. Finally I found a spot where the color change came together and there were some dolphin along it. They were a little on the "flip flop" side for size, but as I always say in cases like these..."the grill has no conscience"! Anyway, we managed to bail 40 or so, plus three or four more gaffers to make our day. We also had some pretty good houndfish action! Thanks again Bruce, and I'll see you in September.

The weather was beautiful offshore today, and fishing was pretty good too.

I didn't slow down till I hit 100 fathoms this morning, and worked offshore from there. There was a lot of grass in the deep, but the wind had it blown apart and scattered, making it hard to fish at times. Most of the boats got a catch of dolphin, gaffers and big bailers. We caught half a limit, or a little better before dedicating some quality time to marlin fishing. We looked hard, but never found one. There were a lot of boats fishing in the Hatteras Civic Tournament as well, and a pretty good showing of blue marlin. There were some blackfins caught as well as a scattered yellowfin and wahoo.

For some of these guys, it was their first fishing trip. What a way to start!

It's hard to figure, but I fished in the same general area that I did yesterday afternoon. What a difference a day makes. I fished to the northeast on a temperature break and had great dolphin fishing, big bailers and small gaffers. I suggested to my group that we drop offshore and try for some tuna, and they agreed. We had some pretty good action with the blackfins, and also caught a 35 pound yellowfin. I made another executive decision to work back inshore, in hopes of catching something different, maybe a mako. We got the big bite, but instead of it being a mako, it turned out to be a 55 pound wahoo! What a way to finish the day! Thanks Ken for a great trip. Hope to see you this fall.

Things were pretty slow for us today but some of the guys had good blackfin tuna fishing.

There was a good sign of small blackfins to the south today, and as bad luck would have it, I went the other direction. I fully intended on scrapping out a catch of dolphin, but my plan just never came together. We had a very few bites and landed two small gaffers and three or four "flip flops". Sometimes it's just not your day I guess. I also heard about a couple of wahoos and one blue marlin caught today as well. Thanks for hanging in there Gene, we'll get 'em next time!

Things were rather slow around the fleet today, but we found some dolphins and put together a nice catch in the afternoon.

We covered a lot of ground, all the way out over 500 fathoms, with very little action. I gave up on the deep and worked my way back inshore where an edge had formed and the dolphin had found it. We managed to bail our limit, or close enough, before working inshore further and hoping for a wahoo. Near the end of the day we got our wish as we caught one out of a couple wahoo bites. Thanks again Chris...see ya soon!

It was PERFECT weather offshore today, and good dolphin fishing to go with it!

We fished south again today and scrapped along on a few small gaffers and bailers. This afternoon we caught half of our fifty-some dolphin, around a piece of lumber that I found floating. We did have one big bite that pulled off. I would like to think that it was a blue marlin, but couldn't say for sure.

After work, I hustled out to the ball field to watch Simon play baseball. Today was his big day. He got a single, a double, and a triple! Just had to share.