We fished yesterday, and it was a little slower than it has been for us commercially. I think if you had been sportfishing with live bait, you would have had excellent action though. There was a good sign of bigger fish, dozens seen randomly skyrocketing, but they were reluctant to bite our trolling stuff. We wound up with 400 pounds and in a little early. Still, fishing has been great, and I would like to remind everyone that we are still open for business, so if you get the itch, give me a call, or an email, OR check out my new online booking calendar, and make your reservation that way.

Last weekend we had our annual Hatteras Island Christmas parade, which is a procession of fire trucks, different floats from local businesses and some from classes at the school, horses, motorcycles, classic cars, and bands. Kids and adults line highway 12 through the village to cheer, and gather the tons of candy as it is thrown. Simon was on the 1st grade float, and you'll never guess what they asked him to dress as.....yep, a fisherman. I gave him my lucky hat, and a downrigger to hold, since it is commercial king mackerel season! Andrea was on the Cape Hatteras Secondary School band float, playing her baritone horn, and I was throwing tootsie rolls out the window of my '68 Camaro, while Kelly watched and took pictures from the sidelines. After the parade, we all gathered at the civic center for hot chocolate and cookies. Always a festive day.

I don't know that I'll go fishing again till after Christmas, so I would like to thank all of you who keep up with my reports, and take a moment to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Remember Christmas is not just a holiday; it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the event that put God's redemptive plan for mankind into motion.

To close this report, I'd like to share a prayer that my friend Dan Rooks shared with the fleet this summer. It was particularly pertinent to me as a fisherman, but should be meaningful to all. Thanks for reading.

O most mighty and gracious good God, your mercy is over all your works, but in special manner has been extended towards us, whom you have so powerfully and wonderfully defended.
You have showed us terrible things and wonders in the deep, that we might see how powerful and gracious a God you are; how able and ready to help those who trust in you.
You have showed us how both wind and seas obey your command that we may learn even from them, hereafter to obey your voice, and to do your will. We glorify your Name, for your mercy in saving us, when we were ready to perish. We ask, make us as truly sensible now of your mercy, as we were then of the danger, and give us hearts always ready to express our thankfulness, not only by words, but also by our lives, in being more obedient to thy holy commandments.
Continue your goodness to us that we whom you have saved, may serve you in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Amen.

Today was #3 in a row of commercial king fishing, and things are still holding up.

The long and short of it is that we weighed in at 1750 pounds tonight. Still great fishing. One boat offshore had excellent blackfin tuna fishing.

The king fishing was better today than yesterday!

If you wanted to have a lot of fun with light tackle and live bait, the king fishing doesn't get any better than it is right now. We came in about sixty pounds short of the 2000 pound mark today...not a bad haul! One boat had some yellowfin action up to the northeast today, and there were some blackfins caught closer to home.

It seems like the weather has been terrible for forever, but we made it back out today.

We were commercial fishing again, and had a good day on the kings, 1200 pounds. Two boats fished offshore and reported the best blackfin tuna fishing of the year. Good to be back out there!

Things were slow for us commercial fishing, but once again, plenty good if you were sportfishing.

Only a couple of boats had charters, one of which was live bait kingfishing, and doing pretty well. The other one had caught some blackfin tunas before fishing out of radio range, so I don't know if he ever got on any yellowfins or not. The kings weren't biting very well on our trolling stuff today, but we did catch a 40 pound wahoo for a bonus. One small boat that was live baiting reported catching a 75 pound wahoo as well! It was a pretty day.

We have been commercial king mackerel fishing for a few days now.

The warm water has shoved in so close to the beach that the fish seem to be scattered from right up in the sand, to 40 fathoms. We caught 700 pounds of kings today, a little over that yesterday, and a little less the day before. One boat had a live bait charter today, and reported that the fishing was as good as it gets. I haven't heard of too much else going on, but the kingfishing is plenty good for anybody wanting to give it a go.