Tidelines – June 12, 2014
Gary Hurley and Alastar (mate) with one of the many gaffer dolphin they hooked on skirted ballyhoo inside of the Rockpile while fishing with Capt. Jeremy Hicks on the charter boat “Capt. Snag” out of Oden’s Dock in Hatteras.
Capt. Jeremy Hicks recently treated the Fisherman’s Post staff to more than a Hatteras blue water trip on the 52’ Buddy Canady sportfisherman he charters as “Capt. Snag” out of Oden’s Dock. Jeremy also gave us a front row seat to the breaking in of a prospective new mate.
In addition to being a charter boat captain, Jeremy also coaches football at Cape Hatteras High School, and on our offshore trip he brought Alastar, a freshman at the high school and a running back on the football team, out to groom him for potential employment this summer working the cockpit on the “Capt. Snag.” And to help the process, Jeremy also brought along Ross, a long-time fishing buddy that would help acclimate Alastar to both managing the cockpit in general, as well as managing it specifically to Jeremy’s style and the boat’s configuration.
The plan for the day was to start just inside of the Rockpile looking for gaffer dolphin and a possible wahoo or two, and then work our way further off in search of billfish, as blues, whites, and sails had all been reported in recent days.
After a short ride out (my use of the word “short” is based on fishing the Gulf Stream the 65 miles out of Wrightsville Beach), it was time to put out the two daisy chains and spread of eight lines—two dink bait lines, two short outriggers, two long outriggers, one short shotgun, and one long shotgun. But before the first bait was put in the water, Alastar was treated to one of the basic lessons of being a mate—expect the unexpected.
Ross, the assigned first mate mentor for Alastar, was holed up in a bunk in the cabin, where he had been on the entire ride out, and he showed no signs of waking up. Alastar was suddenly on his own.
Sure, the ten lines didn’t go out as smooth as they would with a seasoned mate on board, but Alastar kept his cool, applied the knowledge gained from previous trips, followed instructions when necessary, and made steady progress on the spread until he had everything just the way Jeremy wanted it.
And as is often the case when fishing out of Hatteras in the summer, after getting out our skirted ballyhoo the gaffer dolphin bite turned on almost immediately.
Now 14-year-old Alastar had to immediately make the transition from putting out baits to clearing lines and preparing the gaff and the fish box. Again, a mate with several seasons under the belt would move more smoothly through the process, but Alastar kept his focus and soon we had our first mahi on ice.
The rest of the day followed that same pattern: Jeremy put the boat over fish, Alastar kept baits rigged and in the water, and Max (Editor), Joshua (Sales), and I took turns fighting fish to the boat. The billfish bite was slow that day, so we weren’t able to tally any releases, but late morning the two TLD 20 flat lines simultaneously started screaming drag in a way different than all of our gaffers, identified boatside as yellowfins, a welcomed upgrade to our meat fish trip.
Jeremy has earned his way into the position of captain, spending many seasons working the cockpit as mate for both private and charter boats, and I enjoyed watching him use his first hand knowledge and appreciation for the work to groom Alastar for success. In an industry where breaking in a new mate can be a high pressure, cuss word-filled endeavor, Jeremy had the running back making noticeable progress in just a couple of hours without any of the negative reinforcement tactics.
Whether looking to fill up a big cooler (actually, a number of big coolers) or wanting to search for trophy billfish, I suggest a call to Jeremy at (252) 996-0977. Or you can keep up with him and Hatteras fishing in general by visiting his website, www.fishthesnag.com, where he posts fishing reports and photos on a regular basis.
As for Ross, he finally emerged from the cabin around 3:30, gaffed our last dolphin of the day, and then went to the bridge for the ride in. My understanding is that he broke up with his girlfriend the day before and had a few too many adult beverages.
I hope Ross, too, has been making noticeable improvement.
