HOLDEN CHARTERS
SOUTHPORT NORTH CAROLINA
12/09/07
We bottom fished and trolled all day, and my two (Bird Hunters) fished their hearts out. They had 8 total Grouper - 3 nice reds, 4 Skamps and a strawberry. Also had some full limits of several other bottom dwellers.
Caught a limit of 12 Kings on (MEAN GREEN PIRATES
This weekend was absolutely beautiful and I had 2 awesome groups of fishermen to help me finish up my Charters for 2007.
Also thanks to everyone on site that has fished with me or stayed at my rental house in 2007, it has been a very good year.
I sincerely appericiate all of the business.
12/08/07
Had a great Charter today (Charlie Kirklands Group) and went to the Tower. I have never seen so many boats at one place since the 2006 US Open at the Old River Channel. At one time today there were 54 boats between the Tower and the Red buoy, and over 100 within a radius mile of it.
The Kings are on fire there, and the Bottom Fish were hard to get today. We managed a few but they were not the quality that was there 3 weeks ago.
The boys also caught a Monster Barracuda, Charlie is big time into taxidermy and is going to make a Skull Mount Trophy from him. I never really thought about it but I think it would be very cool. Probably will look something like the G-Loomis Fear No Fish Decal.
Going to hit it again tomorrow, but will not be going to the Parking Lot.
10/14/07 Had the absolute pleasure of taking a fellow FPT member on a Charter Trip today, Mr. Bill Jolly aka (Barnacle Bill). Short but sweet, 9/23/07 Had the pleasure today of taking some FPT Members James (caisable) Cain, James (imaheelsfan) Woody, and Tony (Twestfall) Westfall on a last minute Pick-Up Trip. Seas were calm for a great ride going out and coming in. 08/25/07 Had a great group of guys from around Kerrnerville fishing with me today. Today was a weird start, I have never been more on the fence about running a charter before. So we decided to go out and stick our nose in it and make the final decision from there. Took 3 great guys fishing on Friday, Brad his son Neal and Bobby. Had another great charter from Kerrnerville today and they layed into the fish. The seas have been awesome the last few days. 06/02/07 We had a fun trip Saturday, fished with 2 good friends Emmett Banks and Dale Adams. Fished today with my Cousin Jason Jones, Richard (RAC) Clark, and my Daughter Hanna. Headed out to the Tower in bumpy but manageable conditions and it pretty much stayed that way all day. Had the (Beer Run) Crew follow us out and saw and talked to quite a few FPT Members that made it out there today. This report wont take long at all. Went Saturday with my good friend Tommy Brown in hopes of a commerical King Trip. The conditions were perfect for Kings BUTTTTTT, someone forgot to tell the fish that. 03/20/07 Got a call Monday afternoon and it was a very good friend of mine Captain Butch Foster of Yeah Right Charters and he asked me if I would like to fish with him on Tuesday in the Stream. Of course I jumped on the chance and went.
11/27/07
Had the pleasure of taking a long time friend Ryan Greene who I used to work with and his Girlfriend Holly out today.He had some friends to back out so I got a friend of mine Mark Albert to ride along and help out catchin a few fish.
We started the day at the Horse Shoe #2 and the Ole Mean Green Pirate Plugs had us a limit of 12 very nice Kings in about an hour and a half. All good quality 15 to 25 pound fish. (Jamey I can not lie I didnt even put the Pink One out today. They wanted some Bottom Fish so we jigged up some live baits (they were thick at the Shoe) and moved out another 16 miles to the 350s and went to work.
They ended the day with 3 Big Red Grouper, 5 nice Skamps, 7 real nice African Pompano and a 35 pound Cobia. And very close to limits on all the usual Bottom Dwellers as well. (Some fattie B-Liners are swimming right now)
What made this trip so cool was Ryan and Holly came down Friday Night and had originally planned to fish with me Saturday. Of course it was blown out so we checked the weather again Sunday morning and it was not very good either, so they took a vacation day from work to stay over and fish today.
It was their very first trip off-shore and those two worked me and Mark to death. Congratz on a great first trip - wish they all could be like today.
The plan was Bill and 2 friends of his were going on this trip, but business delayed them from making it. Mr Jolly still wanted to go and asked if I had anyone I could take with him to reel in a few fish, so I got Mr. Bill who fished with me yesterday to go and help out.
We run the 40+ miles off with great seas and get to the spot when low and behold I lose Sonar. This is a back-up unit Im using because my other two units have already been sent to Lowrance for repairs earlier this week. (Murphys Law) and Im back to the Christopher Columbus days on electronics. I am not a real happy camper with Lowrance right now.
This trip is not starting out very good, but OLD MURPHY wasnt counting on what the (2) Bills had in store. We floundered around dropping baits on places where I though the rocks were and after many loopless attemps (like finding a needle in a haystack) we finally hit em. I threw a buoy out made a long drift and spun around and got anchored and it was on. These two gentlemen proceeded to work me to death off that series of rocks for the next several hours.
They caught Big Reds, Hinds, Strawberrys, Skamps and Big limits on about every kind of Bottom fish you can think of, got lucky again today and nailed another Big Hoggggg Nose Snapper.
Mr. Bill #1 and Mr. Bill#2 it was by far one of the best trip I have run all year, thank you guys for Having Patience with me while searching for the fish in the blind, It was truely a blast.
I had 2 good teachers cheering me on saying dont worry, calm down we will find em, and learned alot today about how a little patience can go a long way in this game.
Im gonna try to remember (THE PATIENCE LESSON) tommorow while talking to the Lowrance People.
Fall Fishing is on - Go gettum Boyz.
10/13/07
Had the pleasure of fishing with Tom warner and Mr. Bill on a fun trip today.
Heck of a time catching bait, plenty flippin at
Kinda rough so we ran to 15 Mile/Shark Hole. 1 strike one lazy King in the 30s.
Wind layed out, ran the 30 miles to the 350s.
Cauht Mahi, Kings on the lite lines and all the usual bottom feeders Except Grouper. Couldnt buy one today at my spots, but did manage 2 Hogggggs.
Great day and Great Friends,
To all going tommorow be safe and catch um up.
Bait moved this morning from Ocean Crest Pier to right in front of the Lighthouse off
The bite today was different from yesterday, the fish would chew down for 20-30 minutes and then it would go ice cold. But they layed into them pretty good with some Nice Reds, Skamps, Strawberrys, African Pompano, AJs and a good mess of all the usual bottom stuff.
Made some more good friends off the site and had a ball fishing with them. The lite line was very slow but we didnt put alot of heart in catching the Top Water Fish today. A friend of mine on another boat did catch a 30# Wahoo right beside us.
9/22/07
Real quick one today guys, just got through eating dinner and have to hit again tomorrow.
Took AC Electric out for Charter today (3) Boats and 12 Great Guys. Its customers like this that makes this business fun.
Lots of Bottom-Red Grouper, Skamps, Triggers, Grunts, B-Liners, etc.
Top Water- Kings, African Pompano, AJs.
Fall fishing is soooooooooo close, even though with no wind it felt like 300 degrees today. Hopefully with some luck more info tomorrow.
BTW Live Pogies were the ticket off-shore today on Top. They were stacked up good at Ocean Crest Pier.
Good Luck to all that go tomorrow.
8/27/07
Had a charter Saturday of four Good Guys from the
Caught something I have never seen on a bottom rig, a Moray EEL. Did manage to get some pictures of him, but I couldnt up-load them to my photo album tonight. It said it had a page error. I will get them on here in the next couple of days. Have any of you guys ever caught one? They are pretty awesome to look at.
We did our Meat Fishing trip today and I had a great time. I had the dynamic duo fater and son team of Jim and Bill, Ms. Marissa (Beer Run) Mark (Reel Trouble) and Tony (ACWestfall). And they laid into the fish pretty good.
It started out a little sloppy and we got about 35 miles off-shore and had to wait for about 1-1/2 hours for a pretty good thunder / lighting storm to by pass before we could run out the last 6 miles to our spot. But it all worked out we put out a couple of lines out while we were waiting and everybody got a turn and landed a Top Water Fish. 4 decent Kings and a Marissa got a nice Mahi.
The storm passed and the sea laid down so we finally got on out and started bottom fishing, The grouper bite was slow we only got 2 but they smoked everthing else. We had a big box of fish and a bloody boat to clean this afternoon. This trip was a blast and some FPT Members got to meet, get to know and fish with each other. Cant wait to do it again with the group I had to cancel on last weekend.
If you get the chance put together a pick up trip with the people here on site and go gettum boyz.
08/18/07
When we got out it started pretty snotty but very do-able and got better as the day went on. You just couldnt run very fast in the head sea. So we took our time and eased out about 41 miles. The swell laid out just a little past the Knuckle Buoy in the deeper water and it was pretty good the rest of the way.
We lost a couple of very nice Top Water Fish that just came un-buttoned but did land 2 decent Kings. The bottom bite was strong we caught Red Grouper, Strawberry Grouper, Africian Pompano, BIG B-Liners, Pinkys, Jolt Heads, Sea Bass and all the other usual suspects.
The guys did very well and it was alot of fun, but the wind switched to the good ol Northeast this afternoon so we got to ride home in the same head sea we went out in. Momma said there would be days like that.
Sorry to let my Meat Fishing Trip guys down tomorrow, I feel terrible about having to postpone it but I have an Electrical Problem on the boat that has my Bilge Pump messed up. I wont chance offshore with that critical piece of equipment down. I will personally make that trip up for you guys in September if you can make your schedules work out for it.
If you guys go out tomorrow please be careful and take your time, I think the weather will be much the same as today (Sporty - but with a good bite)
08/03/07
Fished SW of the Tower and hit a absolute perfect weedline running out. Plenty of bait under the mats and several big Sea Turtles in the Line feeding.
Fished it for a few minutes and had 2 Mahi hit the lines at the same time. Pulled back across it in a bare spot and hooked a mid 20s King Mack. We could have probably fished this line all day but they wanted some bottom dwellers so we ran on out and they loaded the boat.
Caught all the usuals Grouper, B-Liners, Pinkies, BSB, Joltheads and the ever present grunts. Didnt get much action on the lite line except for 1 more King and a couple Amaco Jacks.
Stayed out of the Offshore Storms paths all day and it was slick, good day on the water with good customers.
07/28/07
Some days (Few and Far Between) you cant do no wrong. I had some good luck in the 350s on Friday so I decided to try there again on Saturday.
We stopped on a great weedline on the way out and picked up 3 bailer Mahi. Got out there and made our first drop to the bottom on a drift to see what was on the rocks and got slammed on both sides of the boat, big Red Grouper on one side and big Skamp on the other. Decided quickly to try that again when the Lite line went screaming, first African Pompano for this year. Every time I would get them back close to the rock to make a drop, the lite line we were draggin would take off. Kings, Mahi etc. Finally had to put that aggervating thing up so these people could fish in the mud (Bottom Fish).
They layed into the bottom dwellers, ended the day with 7 fat grouper, 6 Mahi, 3 nice Kings, 1 African Pompano, and a couple of hundred pounds of assorted bottom. BTW the B-Liners and Pinkies were as pretty as I have seen this year but we only caught 1 undersize Black Sea Bass in 2 days of fishing this area. That was kinda strange to me.
The fishing been fun the last 2 days, if you get the chance take a kid fishing, watching the little guy (Jerry Clark) that was on my boat Saturday reeling them in was as much fun as it gets.
Tight lines and Go Get Um Boyz.
It was a little bumpy but fishable. We started at the South 40 and caught a couple of small kings, moved out to the Tower and picked at them a little more.
Finally decided to go bottom fish and when we reached our SW number the Lite line would not stop screaming with Mahi. So we deployed the lines again and started trolling and the bite was smoking with Kings and Mahi.
But it was short lived because the beginning of the storm was coming down fast on us and conditions were getting worse, so we pulled the lines and started a slow ride home.
Ended up with 7 very nice Mahi and 15 Kings and some assorted Big Bottom Fish. Would have had 11 Mahi but the Barracudas were feeding hard also.
If you get the chance go gettum, I cant wait to get back out there.
BTW Offshore Bob and Warren,
The Bleeding Dolphin (Pumpkinseed) Pirate Plugs are lethal. We ran Two of them and Two Mean Greens, all and all it was a pretty equal battle they both produced good numbers of King and Mahi.
4/29/07
Trolled for Kings, the bite was very slow but we managed to pull in 11 Kings and we had 3 FAT FOOTBALL B-Liners come to the top and hit our Pirate Plugs spread. The Kings were very scattered out there today but I heard some very good reports of nice bottom fish being caught.
I probably should have anchored up on the B-Liners and caught a good mess but we had just enough action on the Top Water to keep trolling (as usual).
I have got a tough 7 year old Daughter (Ms. Hanna who I'm a little proud of) that loves this off-shore game as much as I ever thought I could, so even the slow days are GREAT days when she is on the boat cranking in a few with me.
If you get the chance do yourself a favor and take a kid fishing.
3/31/07
Searched all around the Tower (Nothing) and ran offshore about 9 more miles found perfect water temps and bait (Nothing) Ran Soutwest (Nothing) Finally threw in the towel and started bottom fishing. Caught a few bottom dwellers. Did catch and release the biggest foul hooked shark I have ever caught on a King Rod about 8-9 footer. That was a good fight.
We ran out with Big E (Eric) from the site and he a great day on the Grouper and Bottom Dwellers.
All in All it was a tough day for me but a great day on the water. Heard late in the day they caught some Kings in the 180s. It wont be long before the Top Water Fishing goes off full throttle and I cant wait.
A very good friend of mine Ben Coleman and his crew had a very good day in the Stream at the Same Ol. Big Hoos and a nice YF Tuna. Also heard from another crew the bite was good at the Blackjack Hole.
Good Luck and Tight Lines to any one going this week.
The seas were excellent and the air temps were perfect but the bite was slow. We trolled from the Black Jack Hole to the Steeples and never got a strike. We switched the colors in the spread repeately and tried every thing we knew how to do but - NO STRIKES. Most of the other boats out were reporting the same long day stories from the Stream to the Tower.
Finally about 4:30 we switched to chartuse colors on the skirts started marking good concentrations of bait scattered around the Steeples and the reel started screaming on the shotgun line. I caught my first Blackfin Tuna. We reset the lines and immediately got hit again, another Blackfin. Of course it was the ever famous afternoon bite starting to happen but we had to pull up for the ride home. Cant wait to get back and try out a Yellowfin Tuna.
Even though it started out slow this was a great trip with a great friend, if any of you guys ever charter trips be sure to consider Butch on the Yeah Right as he runs a first class operation. He also has a very cool little dog named Bodie that fishes with him as his first mate.
