Added on Thursday, September 1, 2016  Gary Hurley

Tidelines – September 1, 2016

If you decided you wanted to go on a charter fishing trip, what would you be looking for?

To target a species or two you have never caught before? To target an exciting sportfish that would suddenly appear in your spread, a fish that would have to be coaxed into taking a bait, and then when it does commit it screams line, turns on a dime, and puts on a memorable acrobatic display most of the way back to the boat?

How about to go on a comfortable boat (with a bathroom and an air-conditioned cabin) that was wholly designed and rigged (based on a lifetime of trial and experiences) to hook every fish they raise?

Do you want a mate and captain who are at the top of their profession and still enjoy catching fish more than anything else? Finally, what about a captain and mate who regard Nickelback as one of the best bands ever?

I can give you the solution to all of the above but one, because while Capt. Jay Kavanagh and Mate Catlin Peele, of Bite Me Sportfishing out of Hatteras, can put the Fisherman’s Post crew on a billfish bite every August/September, they are unapologetic (as they should be) about not liking Nickelback, and getting to know them as people and not just great anglers makes us like them even more.

Each year Jay and Cat celebrate their waning summer season by trekking the boat from Hatteras Harbor Marina, their home port, up to Pirate’s Cove Marina to fish the annual white marlin bite out of Oregon Inlet, and Fisherman’s Post is now lucky enough, three years running, to be part of their month or two celebration.

The white marlin bite for this trip wasn’t supposed to be a great one, as fleets of boats had been catching mostly sails and they had been beating up on those sails for two weeks now (the Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament had ended the week before our trip, and the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament had only ended the day before).

However, apparently when the skill of Bite Me mixes with the luck of Fisherman’s Post, multiple billfish releases happen.

Of course the billfish bites and successful hookups don’t just happen—Jay and Cat work hard at their craft, refining every aspect of the process, from baits to dredges to teasers to every last detail of every piece of terminal tackle, and that far from complete list doesn’t even include their years of studying how billfish bite and then figuring out how to turn that knowledge into more successful release ratios (they can explain how to hook a marlin best in a metaphor about teaching a dog to sit).

This year the challenge for Jay and Cat to put the Fisherman’s Post crew on successful billfish releases was a little greater than the two previous years. This year they had Sarah and Colby on the boat, two anglers that had never fought a sail, white, or blue, but success was ours as everyone did exactly what they were supposed to do.

Jay and Cat (and their long-time Hatteras friend Bryan Mattingly who was fun-fishing and helping out in the cockpit) gave Sarah and Colby advice and pointers when they needed it, and Sarah and Colby listened. The result by the end of the day was Colby released his first white marlin and Sarah released her first white and her first sail.

I could give you the play-by-play of Colby and Sarah’s three releases or I could tell you about my two white releases, but if I’m really trying to “sell” you on going out on the Bite Me, then I would sell you on the experience beyond the strict numbers of fish.

I still have visions of our fish tailwalking, greyhounding, and trying anything to throw the hook out of their mouths, and I still can feel the energy we all experienced when Cat would suddenly run to grab a rod and put his thumb on the spool, a nonverbal announcement to our untrained eyes that a fish was in the spread.

I also clearly remember, though, enjoying a conversation with Jay about his 8-year-old son being asked by Santa if he had been good all year, and his son replied, “Define good.”

Then I remember debunking the banana superstition with Bryan, only to have him later argue for the good luck of drinking a beer when the bite was slow. When I called him out on the paradox of denying one false belief but holding on to another, he simply answered, “We’re all hypocrites.”

And I remember Cat telling me that his chocolate lab named Sage, who last year at this time was keeping him up all night and into everything, is now over a year old and ready (mostly) for this year’s hunting season.

I absolutely love billfishing out of Oregon Inlet every year, as it’s easily one of the highlights of my fishing year, but I also know that I love it even more because I go with Jay and Cat, two friends I’ve made over the last few years (and now new friend Bryan).

So even if you’re a fan of Nickelback, I think you should plan a trip with Jay and Cat on the charter boat Bite Me. In addition to steadily producing numbers of fish, you can quote Pulp Fiction all day and ask Jay about the extended research he put into where to place the brand new air-conditioning vent in the Bite Me’s head.

They will be at Pirate’s Cove for a few more weeks, and then they’ll be back in Hatteras catching wahoo and tuna throughout the winter (and big kings in November). You can check them out online at www.fishbiteme.com or call (252) 996-0295.