July 26-27 2008

Bobby came down Saturday afternoon and we motored through the ICW to the Neuse River. From there we found Garbacon Shoal and set up to try our hand at fishing for old drum. I hadn't heard of anyone catching any this year yet, so I thought maybe we'd be pioneers. Turns out there may have been another reason I hadn't heard of any successful reports.............

In this shot you can see how we're setting up, two heavy rods out the back with 2 oz. weights and a big cut of fresh mullet. We also set up a chum trap to get the bait scent out behind the boat

Here Bobby shows how to cast with a baitcaster reel (I was very impressed), and we get an immediate bump; but sorry, no fish; the bumps we were looking didn't happen this night. Most of you probably do not remember the Southern Sportsman Franc White, but that tune I'm trying to hum is from an old local hunting, fishing, and cooking show that was on for many years in eastern NC. I think most of the recipes I use today were learned from watching his show and reading his cookbooks. Happy Jack of Kinston NC was a sponsor, they made pet supplies and their slogan was "ask for it, {sound of a dog barking} your dog would!" Always thought that was rather clever

We had a little rain come in, the wind shifted as it got dark, and messed up our chum trail; we never got the big knockdown we were hoping to see. Oh well it was a good time. So now it was time to head home, my biggest concern was finding the Adams Creek entry, and then making it to the Highway 101 bridge; from there I have the markers in my GPS, just have to make sure not to hit the unlit ones. Of course as we headed South the bow nav lights petered out as they do sometimes. As there was a miltary supply ship in port with battle-ready gunnery positions, I had a good feeling we would get stopped, and we did. I had trouble finding some of my paperwork, the whistle wouldn't work, my flashlight played out; I think the Coasties had a good chuckle. They cited me for the light but not the whistle; after I couldn't find the extra whistle I thought about stomping on Bobby's foot and telling them that was my noisemaker, just as well I didn't.

Below is a video coming down the ICW by the Haystacks area, and going through the Radio Island bridge. The phosphate port is lit up on the starboard side, the front deck is illuminated when I use the spotlight to make sure I'm lined up correctly, you can see car lights as we approach the bridge, and as we go between the reds and under the greens you can hear an astute observation from the FishinOptishin:

We fished Sunday AM with only trash fish results. As one of the Coasties said "there is no bite on" No kidding

Off to Sanford this weekend for Cooper's 2nd birthday!