Fishing Reports

I hope all the Mothers had a good Mother's Day.Well the wind is howling but when it stops and we are able to get out the fish are biting.We have heard reports of good numbers of cobia showing up as well.So get your spring cleaning done and come have some fun with us.Oh yeah and remember that we are now located at Sharky's were you can get some good chicken wings and a good cold beverage while we clean your fish.Stay tuned for reprots for this weekend we have two trips to the stream.

Capt. Kyle had his annual spring inshore classic this past weekend and as usual it was alot of fun. Capt. Brandon "the man" Sauls scaled a 8 pound trout to sew up the largest trout of the event. He is on a roll! I will have to get up with Kyle to get all the winners but I do remember a few. Noah Quaintance along with his cousins, hit the board for junior angler again and you guessed it, his Mom, Heather Quaintance took lady angler honors. Clay Morphis had both species and finished near the top. Robert Hughes had a trout that put him in the top three. And last but not least Keith Bercuinas, his son Hunter, and myself actually finished 4th in the largest flounder division, and 3rd overall since we were one of only a few boats to have both a flounder and a trout. This is an annual event and will fall the weekend after the Tripp and Austin's Backwater Battle each year. Tripp and Austin ventured out on their own with Austin's Grandmother along for the ride and they did a great job of boat handling, fishing, and picking the right spots they just couldn't muster a fish. This is definitely a part of tournament fishing for all of us!! Stay tuned the offshore action is heating up!!
Once again we are operating out of Sharky's this year so come and down and get a fishing trip and some great food/beverages while we clean your catch!

We would like to thank all the sponsors and participants in the Tripp and Austin?s Backwater Battle. The tournament proved to be a great deal of fun, with good food, good prizes and great fishermen and women. The overall winners were Mark Dickson, Brandon Sauls and Mark Stacy. Man what a crew! They scaled a 5.70 trout and a 1.65 flounder. They were the only boat to have both species, CONGRATS. 1^st place largest flounder went to veteran backwater angler Mickey Cochran and his crew with a 2.65 pounder. 2^nd place flounder went to Captain Chris Dawson and family.  1^st place largest trout went to the Angler Marine team led by Adam Sellers with a 5.05-pound fish. 2^nd place trout went to Kyle and Nathaniel Hughes with 2.50 fish. Third place went to Scott Quaintance and family with a 2.15 pounder.

Guaranteed secondary prizes were 1^st place junior angler, $500.00 Noah and McKenzie Quaintance, along with Brandon and Alex Mercer. 2^nd place, $300.00 went to Errail McGilawee and Mitchell Bowman on the Get Busy. 3^rd place, $200.00 went to Hunter Kendall along with Chase and Reese Elkins. Kyle Hughes won the Brandon?s mystery weight prize, $200.00 with a 2.50 trout that landed the closest to 2.45 weight announced at the Captain?s Meeting. And last but not least Janelle, Dawson captured the $250.00 lady angler prize. The boys plan on making this an annual event so get ready for next year.

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Hey everyone we finally made it out fishing. It seems as if the wind has been blowing forever.Well Capt Hook, good friends Ted ,Tommy,David and myself set out for the stream this morning and had the best sea's I've seen in a while.We went to the Black Jack Hole and started. In a short time we were hooked up and I was lucky enough to be the first one to the rod. After a short fight we put a 45lb WAHOO in the box.We trolled a while longer then left for the Steeples where we found even better water and had some strikes but could not connect.Then right before we left we had a double hook up and one came off and the other was a 15lb DOLPHIN and after further investigating found a bunch of his buddies but could not make them bite.  The fish are here so come enjoy it with us.

The 1st annual Tripp and Austin's Backwater Battle was great success stay tuned in the next couple of days we will have pictures, the whole story and more. Sorry for the delay!!

Well the time is here!! Tripp and Austin's backwater battle is getting ready to go down. We are having the cookout/captains meeting tonight starting at 6pm. There are several raffle prizes including a depth finder, vhf radio, gift certicficates to local restraunts, gift certificates to Barefoot Landing. There will be a casting contest for the kids after the meeting awarding 2 diawa reels to the top 2 finishers. The junior angler and lady angler prizes are garunateed!! The trout bite is on and there are some flounder in the area so come fish with the boys and bring your family!

I learned late yesterday that Good freind and fellow fisherman Don Leonard had lost his battle with cancer. I had the pleasure of a lengthy conversation with him and his family a couple of weeks ago. He recalled such things as Salmon fishing in Alaska, his grandsons redfish and speckled trout catches last fall, and except for appearance I would never had known of his crisis. Don was truley a bluewater expert! When he and Billy left the dock we all knew something big was catching a ride in the fishbox of the "Billfish". Don earned my ultimate respect as a Father, Grandfather, Fisherman, and true family man. He left a bright spot on anything he touched and anyone he met. He will be greatly missed but wow what a legacy he left to carry on. We will keep his family in our prayers.
God Bless

Well we couldn't stand it has been blowing and wont stop but we thought we had a break according to the weather man.I hate to say it but the weather man was way off base with his forecast.Capt Hook, myself good friend Keith Berciunas his son Hunter and Tripper aka Trip went offshore fishing yesterday.We were met by solid 3 to 3 1/2 footers with an occasional 4 to 5 footers all day.The word on the radio was the tower was dead so we changed courses and went to the navy wreck and found some warm water.We didn't find but one king caught on a lite line while bottom fishing. Speaking of bottom fishing we had an absolutely wonderful time we caught nice beeliners,porgy's and silver snapper and a fish that was totally lost a yellow tail snapper.The yellow tail is native to Florida but found it's way up here.So if we can get the weather the fish are here so call and get your trip booked so we can share the joy of catching the many fish that swim off of our coast.  

We had a group from Wisconsin Friday who wanted to try a little Carolina deep sea fishing. The water was still a bit cool for trolling in reachable waters on a 3/4 day so we opted to try a little lead pounding. The seas were a solid 4 to 5 foot so drifting seemed better than anchoring. Atlantic Ledge was the spot chosen and proved very productive. They caught sea bass, porgies, flounder, sharks and a variety of other critters. The table fare was gonna be awesome I can assure you of that! The waters are warming and the Gulfstream should be on fire directly!
Till next tide!

Long time fishing partner Preston Kendall and I pulled out Last Monday at 5:30am to pull the Thats My Dog to Key West to meet Forrest and Bookie for the first leg of the SKA PRO tour. At 9:15pm we rolled up to the ramp in Key West and launched the triple Verado powered Yellowfin to get prepared for a bait huntin/pre fishing trip Tuesday morning. The weather was good Tuesday but all predictions were promising a 20 to 30 knot blow for Thursday through the weekend. Forrest pointed the boat toward the gulf pulling the throttles back at a hole called the tin can. The jigging poles were manned as the chum went over the side. We caught several nice baits as we watched the local charter fleet, all anchored in perfect line, chumming in perfect time, cast and catch several kings in the 15 to 20 pound range. Knowing this size fish would not be our target for the weekend we headed to the Atlantic side to pre fish and try for more bait. We hit the western dry rock area catching several more baits as the chum was sinking. Bookie and I rigged two ultra light outfits with 15 pound line up for yellowtail. I tied about four feet of 20# fluoro directly to the main line, added the smallest nose hook we could find, tipped the hook with cut shrimp and let them float back free lining without any weight to discourage a bite. In just a few minutes it was on! They bit like bull dogs and were a terrific fight on this light tackle. Preston and Forrest kept the blue runners coming over the side while Bookie and I caught dinner. Later on we pulled the anchor and trolled around the area for an hour or so with only one strike coming from a huge Barracuda. With the bait needing to be pinned up Forrest called to pull anchor and headed for the harbour to call it a day. Wednessday and Thursday were both definite blowouts and Friday was questionable. At the Captains meeting Thursday night everyone was handed two options that came up for a vote. Fish 2 days as planned weighing one fish a day, or fish just Saturday and scale 2 fish. The vote was close but the 2 day guys won out.
Friday morning was game day. After checking out, Bookie and I hunkered down in the bean bags, Preston jumped on the leaning post, Forrest nailed the throttles and the race was on. Let me tell you this Ocean was far from pretty. We ran 40 miles west to the tail end buoy deploying a spread that consisted of 3 live runners and a ribbonfish. The first hour was pretty slow so I decided to check the short line while winding it in BAM a fish hit and broke the leader. Not 2 seconds later the shotgun line screamed and we were hooked up. Preston looked around noticing almost all the boats in sight hooked up at the same time we did. A few minutes later we had a 28 in the bag. We caught a few more fish but nothing bigger. On Saturday morning we did the exact same run and fished the same area. It was fairly idle until around 11am when the downrigger went off. Preston manned the rod as Bookie manuvered the boat in quick pursuit of the mid thirties fish Forrest would soon sink the steel in. We caught  a few more fish but it wasn't until about 1pm Forrest jigged some fresh 2 pound runners in 120 feet of water and I sent one long. BAM we were on again and this one was taking it to school. Preston manned the rod as Bookie gave chase. This fish headed directley for three lobster pots and our hearts were pounding. I readied the gaff and was reminded by the crew that we would probably only get one shot. Thats always good to hear as a gaff man. Preston saw the fish deep and said it was a good one, Foreest kept adding pressure trying to get her up before she became entangled in the traps. All of the sudden Forrestt yelled stick him and I stretched to the end of the gaff handle and sunk it home. This fish tipped the scales at 40 pounds and some change which was good for a 5th place finish overall. This is a great start to the year and with charter season just around the corner it definitly has us pummped up!! Stay tuned for news on Tripp and Austin's tourney coming up in April!!