Headhunter Outdoors Report

Hi folks, Capt.David here with this weeks outdoors report. Fish in the sound,fish in the surf,fish offshore,it doesn’t matter what you like to catch,they are biting! The Inlet bars are holding some nice Reds and the Spanish are thick just outside the inlets. Some nice Flounder are showing up now and the blues of all sizes are everywhere. Kings are being caught from the beach on out but most are little snake kings. If you want the smokers go out a couple of miles before you start fishing. The Cobia are showing up in good numbers and will swim right up to the boat if you make some noise. I know it goes against everything about fishing to be noisy but Cobia are curious critters and will investigate anything around. Gulf coast anglers will take a paddle and beat the water to attract them! Be sure you have a good rod and reel with plenty of line on it if you hook one and be sure to wear him plumb out before you bring him into the boat. Cobia are known for going ape when they are pulled in the boat and will beat the heck out of you and your boat! Folks it really doesn’t matter where you like to fish get the kids and go fishing!
Now I’m going to rant and rave for a bit so bear with me. Last week I had a party out fishing with me and we saw something floating in the water and went to pick it up. I thought it was trash and I always pick up other folks trash from the water. Much to my surprise and dismay it was a 25 inch Redfish dead. It had net marks all over it and we found 8 more floating belly up in the current dead from gill nets! Now don’t get me wrong, commercial fishermen are working a lot harder than 90% of the people in the world and I’m not against a man making a living. The thing is the netter responsible was a weekend warrior with a recreation/commercial gear license! Folks he killed fish for what, a couple of little flounder. You can call it a Flounder net or a spot net but a gill net catches everything that swims into it. I’m not a tree hugger or anything but I practice catch and release and try to take care of the environment as best as I can. One of these days NCDMF is going to figure it out and get the gill nets and shrimp trawls out of the nursery-estuary system for the benefit of everyone. Folks I have caught little grouper,barracuda and who knows what else in the sound and we have to protect the nursery areas. This opinion will probably get me cussed out but you know what they say about opinions. Another thing that rubs me the wrong way is gigging! Folks sticking ain’t fishing,it’s hunting! If you want to send me a photo of a 5 lb Flounder, don’t send one full of holes! The best thing NCDMF did was give the giggers the same limit as rod and reel fishermen. Besides why does someone need to stick 50 flounder in a night. Hell I don’t want to clean that many fish. Commercial fishermen feed the world and if you don’t make a living full time doing it you don’t need the gear. Besides they ain’t going to screw themselves by overfishing an area either! Well thats it for this week so remember to take a kid fishing and be safe.

Capt. David
Headhunter Outdoors
(910) 329-0818

Hi folks, Capt. David here with this weeks outdoors report. Folks the fish are bitin’! Outside the inlets the Spanish are tearing it up in the morning. Bluefish of all sizes are mixed in with them and will bite anything in the water. The surf is giving up some Pompano and Mullet along with some Drum and Flounder. Most of the Flounder that are being caught are in the 13-15 inch range so the big ones shouldn’t be to far behind. Kings are biting from the beach on out and the Mahi are being caught in the 10 -15 mile range. Farther out the Gulfstream is hot and everyone should know that the Big Rock is on in Morehead. Folks the sound is thick with Redfish and I am proud to tell you folks about the IFA redfish event in Surf City last weekend. The local boys dominated and showed them professional fishermen how it’s done “Carolina Style”! The top three teams were from Porters neck, Swansboro, and Wrightsville Beach.
Bill Slaughter from Porters Neck and Gary Wysong of Titusville Fla. weighed in 2 fish for a total weight of 14.87 lbs and took home a 20k Ranger boat for their efforts. Capt.’s Mike Taylor and Jeff Cronk from Swansboro weighed in 14.02 lbs. for second place. My buddy Capt. Rennie Clark and his partner Drew Arndt finished with a total of 13.88 for third. I don’t have the complete list of finishers for the tournament but all you folks need to know is local boys kicked butt.
Well thats about it for this week so be safe and take a kid fishing!

Capt. David
Headhunter Outdoors
(910) 329-0818

1st place team Bill Slaughter and Gary Wysong (above)
Capt. Mike Taylor and Capt. Jeff Cronk 2nd place from Swansboro (above)
Capt. Rennie Clark and Drew Arndt from Wilmington 3rd place (above)