Tidelines – May 2024
What’s a Bubba Thing? It’s a promise made among close friends to name the first ocean-going boat bought in the group “Bubba Thing.”
What’s Bubba Thing Charters? It’s Capt. Dale Rich not only making good on that promise, but turning that boat into the next chapter of his life where he gets to take people fishing, put them on fish, and show them a fun time on the water.
Encouraged by his wife to “chase his dream” after a career in concrete, Capt. Dale Rich, of Bubba Thing Charters, has been fishing Morehead/Atlantic Beach for years but just recently started a charter business in the area, and Rocky (Fisherman’s Post staff writer, among other job titles) and I were joining him on his Sea Fox 248 Commander with a 300 Yamaha for a morning of catching sheepshead on nearshore ARs.
“Nearshore sheepshead fishing was Joe’s idea,” Dale told me as we idled through Morehead’s no wake zone on the way to the inlet. The Joe is Joe Pisano, an 18-year-old from Jersey that has already amassed quite a resume, recalling fishing stories from Alaska to the Keys to Costa Rica and up and down both the east and west coasts.
Joe Pisano and Rocky Damico with some of the sheepshead they pulled up from 50′ of water off of Atlantic Beach using mud crabs. They were fishing with Capt. Dale Rich of Bubba Thing Charters.
In January and February, Dale noticed this kid fishing regularly from one of the bases of the AB high rise bridge, paddling himself out there on an inflatable kayak. Dale also noticed that the kid was catching sheepshead, even when Dale and other boats weren’t finding the bite, so he introduced himself and the two have been fishing together since.
Their first trip together offshore was taking some clients bottom fishing about 20 miles out in 85’ of water. Joe had brought mud crabs with the other standard bottom fishing bait options, and when they finally dropped some crabs, the sheepshead cooperated almost immediately.
Mud crabs are easier to find in the colder months than fiddlers, and Joe had about 300 mud crabs of mixed sizes in a bucket as we pulled up to our first stop, an AR easily in sight of land with a 20’ ledge most likely created by a ship’s hull and changing the depth from 52’ to 28’.
“I like mud crabs,” Dale explained as Joe started prepping some of the crabs by removing claws and legs and placing 6-10 of these cleaned crabs in cup holders built into the top of the gunnel. “Mud crabs stay on the hook better, and I like the bigger profile, myself. If I use fiddlers, I put about three on.”
The rig was something of a modified Carolina rig with two hooks, and Joe showed us how he liked to attach the crabs by going in two of the now vacant leg holes. Both hooks are pushed out towards the back, and then the crab is cut just a bit to make sure juices flow out once on the bottom.
Dale prefers to use mud crabs with the claws removed but the legs still intact, and we all dropped down with the boat holding on the west side of the ledge via the trolling motor’s spot lock.
Sheepshead fishing inshore on such structures as docks and bridges can be a frustrating task, as sheepshead have made a reputation as bait stealers, and that reputation holds true in nearshore waters as well.
Dropping for sheepshead becomes a mind’s game, as you are trying to decipher a tap tap that is just a fish’s initial encounter with your bait, from a tap tap that is an undesirable species, from a tap tap that signals it’s hookset time.
My main battle? I kept trying to set the hook like I do when grouper fishing with circle hooks—reel reel reel—instead of “swinging for the moon,” as Joe described.
Rocky’s main battle? He couldn’t figure out when to let the fish keep tapping and when to set the hook, a problem that every sheepshead angler experiences, as every sheepshead bite can be different.
Dale offered Rocky his advice, “You want to keep the line tight, and you don’t want to be setting the hook all of the time. For me, I don’t want to just feel the taps. I want to feel that fish. I can feel when he’s on there, instead of jerking and missing or jerking and getting hung.”
Joe brought up the first sheepshead, but the size of this first fish was smaller than our aspirations. A minute later, I finally timed my hookset correctly and brought up what would be our first keeper sheepshead of the morning.
We landed another, but we also started bringing up some undesirables, such as pinfish and small sea bass, so the captain wanted to make a small move. He eased us into the wind and over to the east side of the structure.
Capt. Dale Rich, of Bubba Thing Charters out of the Morehead/Atlantic Beach area, with two of the sheepshead that hit mud crabs dropped beside an AR ledge that went from 52′ to 28′.
On the east side, our lines were no longer perfectly vertical. We were now on the side of the ledge where the current wasn’t being blocked, and our rigs and baits were angled a little towards the ledge. Dale also noted that the same current was now carrying the juices and stink of our cut crabs back towards the ledge and enticing fish to follow the scent trail.
Rocky’s first fish in the boat seemed to confirm the better conditions of our new location, a mere 30’ from our first, as did Dale’s first and second fish in the boat. Joe added more to the tally, as did I, and all four of us enjoyed the action of a lively nearshore sheepshead bite, passing the net from side to side and repeatedly calling for more crabs and the scissors.
Capt. Dale Rich, of Bubba Thing Charters out of the Morehead/Atlantic Beach area, would love to take your party on a nearshore adventure and show you the technique and results of dropping crabs down on large and small structures and in water depths anywhere from 40-80’. Bottom fishing is his specialty, as well as the type of fishing he personally enjoys the most, so expect there to be target species other than sheepshead to pursue once you’re outside Beaufort Inlet.
You can find out more information on Dale by visiting his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BubbaThingCharters, or call him direct at (919) 868-2924.
I hope your “Bubba Thing” resembles mine—Dale chasing his dream, and Rocky and I driving home with memories, photos, and delicious sheepshead fillets in the cooler.
