Capt. Brant's Fishing Report    Tip of the Week | Capt. Brant Fishing School Fishing Report Archives 2007 Archives 2006 Archives 2005 Archives 2004 Archives 2003 Archives Search Fishing Reports: Current Year All Years Start Over Click a Picture for more Information... Ocean Isle Marina

All is calm here in Brunswick County except for some good waves for the surfers.  We ought to have some pictures later in the day.

We have the entry forms for the Bay Creek Classic at the OIFC.  Try to fish this inshore tournament.  It's for a great cause and a much needed operation for Brandon Matthews.

Below is a picture from local angler/surfer dude Ryan Neuwirth of  a drum he caught behind OIB.

Enough about Earl.  It passed with good surfing waves and some flooding at the east end of OIB, but that was it.  The wind blew out of the north here just about the whole time, so there was no chop, just some good swells so the ocean shouldn't be dirty in our area.

Mullet, spanish and the blues have hung close enough to shore for the surfers to tell me they saw them jumping so I expect in addition to some great spanish fishing, the king bite should fire off soon.

Now is the time to think about fall fishing, and bottom fishing.  Speaking of which check out this picture of Cameron Sebastian of Coastal Scuba with a 29 lb grouper he shot TODAY!  This fish will find it's way to the Midtown Bistro via the proper channels. and Jeff Martini said there will be fresh fish this weekend at the Midtown Bistro.  We ate there last weekend and it was fantastic!

The surf is up at OIB.  This picture which was taken by Mark Lenard was just posted and was provided by Sea Tow OIB.

I'll be working at the Fishing Center from 2-9 pm Thursday night.  If you have any weather related concerns, need you boat checked or house and live near OIB give me a call during these hours and I'll try to get by your place. 

Captains Chris Dew and Chris Dawson fished with Don Priebe (Pinckney, Mich), John Messisco (Stockbridge, Mich), Travis Messisco (Stockbridge, Mich), and Jeremy Herbertson (Dallas, Tx) today.

They started the day by catching some great king sized pogies in the mouth of Tubbs Inlet.  The pogies have been plentiful both inshore and near shore.  The spanish and blue fish continue to be thick near shore also.  This has got to be a good sign for the close to shore king bite to start firing off.  Plus the yellow butterflies are all over the place...another good sign in Brunswick County.

The cat boat then concentrated it's efforts about 8 miles out in 55 ft of 85 degree water.  Soon Travis was on the business end of a Speedmaster with a nice king putting up a 20 minute struggle.  Travis prevailed!  The king, along with some spanish, some sea bass and beautiful weather made for a fun fishing trip.

The word around the OIFC today was Captain Steele had a good wahoo.  But no one seemed to know just how good.  Steele had taken his family fishing today.  Along with him were his dad Bruce, brother Trent, Mary Margaret Park, Julia Park and Mike Baldyga.

When the Parks returned to the Fishing Center from the York Hole everyone found out the definition of "good"....61 lbs = good.  What a wahoo!!!!  She was fat!  Trent said Steele fed a pogey to the whoo and when it finally took the bait Steele set the hook, and took the wheel handing the Speedmaster loaded with 20# line off to Trent.  About an hour later Steele put the gaff to the "good" wahoo.   Great job guys.   If you look close, you'll see some other fish they also brought home.

Wendell Barnett sent this picture of a monster mahi and wahoo he caught late last week at the 100/400.  This came in just as we at the OIFC were talking about how it won't be long before we need to start heading out to the Gulf Stream for some of our fishing.  We're also already shifting mental gears towards blue fin tuna fishing 

The Giant Bluefin Tuna fishery has become a great winter time fishing and economic engine for coastal North Carolina over the last 10+ years. This fishery initially was in the Outer Banks and progressed south to the Morehead waters. A few years ago, Capt Brant and other fishermen found them here in our local Brunswick County waters, and great success was had by many fishermen catching these world class fish, right here in our home waters.

Fast forward to this past year, and the fishery totally collasped. The fish didn't show in our waters at all, and very few were caught in the Morehead waters. What happened? The answer we believe was seen by Team OIFC as we traveled from Hatteras to Morehead in mid November last year. We came upon the entire Omega Protein menhaden netting fleet. There were 12 100+foot mother ships and the numerous catch boats operating from the mother ships. They were totally wiping out every menhaden from south of Ocracoke to north of Cape Lookout.

In that the Bluefin migration from up north to our waters was about that same time, we believe when the Bluefin arrived, expecting to find their winter food source of menhaden, only to find they were gone, wiped out by Omega, they were forced to pack their bags and head off somewhere else in search of the massive amount of food they need to fill their appetite. The result was the Bluefin season crashed, and virtually no fish were caught. There is an excellent article Jerry Dilsaver wrote on this subject[NC Sportsman Magazine, May 2010 edition].

Following that occurence we observed in mid November 2009, we appealed to Dr. Louis Daniels, Director of NC Marine Fisheries. Our request was for him to issue a proclamation that Omega's pogy netting would not begin until the end of Bluefin season[Jan 31]. By doing so, the food source for the migrating Bluefin would be preserved and thus their normal migration pattern in NC would not be interrupted. Dr. Daniels response was "there is no scientific evidence that menhaden are overfished". This of course is the same standard baloony response we got regarding our Brunswick County waters, that eventually led to our successful effort to eliminate pogy netting in our waters.

So..as a new winter Bluefin season is soon approaching, where do things stand. Hopefully/possibly there is light on the horizon. Enter David Redwine, a candidate for the NC Senate representing southeastern NC. He is a fishermen and understands the pogy issue. More importantly, he served in the NC House for 15+ years, and held very important committe positions while serving. Additionally, he was instrumental in establishing the NC Fisheries management programs. Bottom line is.."it's not what you know, but who you know that knows what". I have been talking to David on the Bluefin/pogy issue, and he has agreed to make every effort to try to get approal of our request to delay Omega's netting until after the close of the Bluefin season.

No guarantees, but for a Senate candidate with a lot of clout, to step forward and help attack this very important issue, speaks well for his committment to the fisheries. Let's see what happens. Standby. Rube McMullan[OIFC]