NSP 8/01

[ichiro51]

Son and I fished the North Pier from 9:00am - 2:00pm.... It was very, very SLOW. Almost no bait, and very few fish. We finished the day with 2 mangos (10.5"and 14"). The highlight of the day was the 20.5" grouper pulled up from the pilings while fishing for the mangos. That was alot of fun on the light/medium tackle.

[David from NC]

I think due to the heat we are probably into the toughest time of the year for fishing. Inconsistency is the only thing consistent. However, there are usually times within a 24 hour period when some fish do bite somewhere. It may be for 30 minutes or an hour or two. A school may move in, water temperatures drop from showers, the wind shifts, or the tide turns just enough to kick something into gear.

I read a column this morning that mentioned it being a time of the year when we just have to work harder to catch fish and I think that's true. Or we may just get lucky.

I remember some years ago being at Cape Hatteras in NC in August and our week there had been pretty pathetic. However, I had needed a "fishing fix" so braved the heat and sun anyway. On Thursday after catching nothing all week I went out on the pier at 3 in the afternoon. The tide was out and it was 95 degrees so not a time to be very expectant. Interestingly, a woman to my left caught a 3 pound trout quickly followed by the same thing happening to my right. Then I caught a 5 pounder. Within a few minutes everyone on the pier was catching trout and this lasted for about two hours. There were also larger fish that tore up a lot of the lighter tackle most were using. I filled up two 48 quart Igloo coolers and the nose and tail of the trout touched each end of the of the coolers.

It made no sense that this happened under those conditions but it did. One of the intriguing things about saltwater fishing is that when you throw a baited hook into that water you never know what you are going to catch (if you catch anything at all) nor the size. But the potential exists for a great catch even during those time we do have to fish harder. It's 2 pm and hot as blazes so it is probably time to go fishing!

[fishwander]

I read a column this morning that mentioned it being a time of the year when we just have to work harder to catch fish and I think that's true. Or we may just get lucky.

Yup ,... it's called "paying your dues". Sometimes it's a little of both hard work , and sometimes it's just luck ~ but you gotta be there !

Fishwander

[fishwander]

On the WORK SIDE OF FISHING :

make sure your fishing equipment is clean and up to the task.
make sure you have all the equipment you want to take ~make a list !!
make sure you have the proper bait for species
check the tide tables for best side of the tide
try to get there prior to the best tide and be set-up early
try to locate best specific location that was successful in the past
be aware of your surroundings ~who is catching and exact location
what are they using ~ can you match lure/weight/line/hook
be aware of your surroundings ~ bait showing? where ?
have an iced cooler available for your catch
keep a fishing log (where/what/when/how)

My expierience is that by following the above , you can be one of the 10 % of successful fishermen catching most of the fish. Also , depending on the tide , light changes (dawn / dusk )affect the presence of baitfish and preditors.

Fishwander

[David from NC]

That's a good check list. Part of the fun to me is seeing if I can make something bite when the normal, standard mode of operation is not working. It takes a lot of due diligence. If all we rely upon is "luck" we'll miss more than we will hit.

[albatross]

Nice fishing; but isn't there a limit of five per day on Trout?

[David from NC]

I said the trout were caught "some years ago" which for me was back during 80's and at that time there was no limit in North Carolina for gray trout, also called northern weakfish.