Tidelines – March 3, 2016
I’m guilty—guilty of not making near enough effort to go winter fishing this year. The offseason got the better of me (fishing schools and boat shows and preparations for the 2016 season), but I’m telling myself that all of my early hard work will equate to more free time this spring when the water and weather warms and the fish get more active.
“That’s what I’m telling myself,” the small business owner said to himself, almost truly believing that the work load would eventually subside and he would have more free time.
Even though I don’t have a recent fishing trip to talk about on my Tidelines page, I still have a couple of fun days on the water that merit at least a little stroll down memory lane.
Since our big winter issue went to print last December 10, the Fisherman’s Post gang was finally successful at picking a day that the head boat Vonda Kay could journey out about 30 miles or so for our annual grouper trip. This is the bottom fishing day where about 30 of our closest friends head out for as much fishing and celebrating as you can handle.
The crew of the 2015 Fish Post Day on the Vonda Kay displaying some grouper and assorted bottomfish on the run back from 30 miles out of Wrightsville Beach. They were fishing with Capt. Dave Gardner.
“I wouldn’t call them all close friends,” he said to himself, knowing that a good handful of people were invited just because they were kinda idiots and would be good entertainment.
And while we didn’t catch our limit of gags as we have done on Vonda Kay trips in the past, a respectable number of us found some big fish in time to serve fried grouper nuggets at a late December holiday get together.
No, there wasn’t any female arm wrestling late in the day when the drinks and sun had worked their magic. No, there wasn’t anyone that got sick or was cut off by our galley chef J.K. for being belligerent. The trip was relatively tame, mostly punctuated with goodbyes to Max.
“We have to do a better job in 2016 picking our idiot guests,” he said to himself, disappointed perhaps just as much in himself for not stirring the pot enough that day out on the boat.
So our annual Fish Post Day on the Vonda Kay was another huge success, thanks to Capt. Dave Gardner and crew for their hospitality, and plans are already set to do it again in fall 2016. Invitations go out late summer, so I guess we should start the application process now.
It’s a Catch 22, though—to get invited you have to let us know that you’re idiot enough, but if you let us know you’re idiot enough, then you’re too responsible and won’t be considered.
Doubting that this part of his Tidelines would read well, he said to himself, “Just move on. The print deadline for this first issue is looming.”
Our Vonda Kay trip butted up against the holidays, and then by the time the holidays had settled, it was again that time in January to participate in the Cape Fear Riverwatch Striperfest. You can read about the top two finishers on page 42, but since our team wasn’t a top two, I can talk about our day here without fear of repetition.
My buddy Jerry Dilsaver and I hopped aboard with Capt. Jeff Wolfe of Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters, and though it was a hard day of fishing for us and most boats, the company was great and the camaraderie on the water strong, too.
It was clear that few teams had found a bite, as all day long boats could be seen running to and fro trying a different shoreline in hopes of finding that one school, or even that one big striper, that would put some scales on the boat and points on the board.
“I think when Christian Wolfe texted me mid-morning asking if we had caught any fish, I replied with a photo of a citation red drum I had caught two years ago in the Pamlico,” he said to himself, remembering that the extra blueberry pancake the morning of the Striperfest had put him in a bit of a fog that day.
And now, here at the start of March, we have all of our boat shows behind us, as well as the Wilmington and Morehead saltwater fishing schools. We will host our last fishing school of the year on Saturday, March 12, in Greenville (see details on facing page), and then move forward with our 2016 tournament calendar and cranking out a new issue every other week starting in April.
New on the agenda is a Hatteras Island Surf Fishing Challenge in September, and then most of our returning tournaments are undergoing improvements and tweaks.
For example, the Southport Inshore Challenge is no longer in June but has moved to August, when the flounder fishing is better in the area, the Carolina Beach Inshore Challenge will be our first two-day inshore tournament, and the local company Queensboro will be offering numerous hat and visor giveaways at each of our Inshore Trail events.
As for surf fishing, the Crystal Coast event will now be hosted in early October when our anglers can drive on the beach, and the Town of Carolina Beach is talking about once again helping our Pleasure Island anglers with the price of the Freeman Park pass.
And while I’m also wishful that by our next issue I’ll be introducing you to the new Fish Post App, my true hope is that my workload has waned and I have a recent fishing trip to talk about.
“I’m going to call Capt. Mitchell Blake of FishIBX Charters about a striper date and Capt. Rick Croson of Living Water Guide Service about an offshore date just as soon as I turn this article over to production,” he said to himself, wondering if he should text Max in Florida to ask him what the weather and seas forecast was for North Carolina next week.
