Tidelines – August 7, 2014
Adam Meyer, of Wells Marine Insurance, with two of the three species that led to an inshore slam while fishing the southern Cape Fear River with Capt. Mike Pedersen of No Excuses Charters and Riley Rods.
The busy summer schedule at Fisherman’s Post has had me scheduling most of my fishing trips on Wednesdays. For the first half of the summer, weather and fish cooperated nicely, but in the second half of the summer wind has been thwarting any offshore efforts and kept me inside.
Such was the case this past Wednesday before the rains came. However, thanks to a malleable Capt. Mike Pedersen, of No Excuses Charters, a blown out Wednesday nearshore gag grouper outing was able to be quickly rescheduled into a southern Cape Fear River redfish and trout trip.
Mike prefers to meet at the Carolina Beach public boat ramp for these trips, so that’s where Adam Meyer (Wells Marine Insurance) and I pulled in a little before 6:00 to try and key in on a daybreak trout bite that Mike had been enjoying in recent days.
The wind would steadily pick up on us over the course of the morning, but at 6:00 am we enjoyed an easy river ride to some oyster bumps inside a grass island down beyond Fort Fisher. At this first spot I was reminded of a few of the other reasons I enjoy fishing with Mike. For one, he has two Power-Poles on the back of his Pathfinder. He not only has the ability to quickly and quietly anchor in shallow water, but the use of two poles allows him to position the boat and point the bow of the boat exactly as he wants.
Adam and I were put in perfect position to target the areas behind and between a series of oyster mounds, both the calm water pooling behind these structures and the strong rips coming off of them with the incoming tide.
Another joy of fishing with Mike is the gear. In addition to running No Excuses Charters, Mike is also a custom rod builder, working under the name of Riley Rods. No matter whether I grabbed one of the topwater rods, or one of the subsurface rods, or any of the Gulp/jighead rods, I had in my hand a high end graphite, fast action custom rod ready to handle anything that took an interest.
My main highlight of the day was being the first to bring in a trout. A modest speck hit my topwater near an oyster bar running perpendicular to a grassy bank. The fish didn’t quite warrant a photo so we released him, and then Adam Meyer took control of the trip.
First he bested my trout, bringing in a 20” speckled trout out of the same waters that had just given up my topwater fish. Then his strong-shouldered, 27” red drum outclassed any reds that I was able to put in the boat all day. Finally, he was the only one that brought keeper flounder over the rails.
Yes, I invited my normally polite and respectful friend Adam Meyer to join me for a morning fishing escape from work, and he thanked me by not only landing an inshore slam but by besting me in every category.
Capt. Mike Pedersen, of No Excuses Charters, putting “us” on an inshore slam on a north wind in the Cape Fear River should be the end of the story, but I am worried about Adam’s ego. I am worried that just touting his inshore slam in Tidelines might make him too proud, too boastful, and simply too much for his lovely wife and wonderful coworkers to be around, so I also have to share the matter of the broken rod.
Adam Meyer, of Wells Marine Insurance, with an inshore slam while fishing the southern Cape Fear River with Capt. Mike Pedersen of No Excuses Charters and Riley Rods.
At one point the strong-shouldered red drum took a lap around one of the Power-Poles, and before Mike could raise it up to free the line, Adam tried to jam the rod tip down the water column and under the pole. Yes, about 10” of high end graphite, fast action custom rod tip broke off.
So when you run into Adam at lunchtime at Sweet & Savory and he starts crowing about his inshore slam (he will probably call it a grand slam since he foul hooked a little bluefish, too), be sure to ask him if Wells Marine Insurance offers policies on broken rod tips.
You can refer to it specifically as the “Adam Meyer” clause.
