whichwaysup Posted September 6, 2017 Report Share Posted September 6, 2017 Hey folks - I know a lot of you are glued to the Drama . . er . . .Weather Channel right now and for good reason, but since it's still too early to know what to do, I thought I'd offer a bit of a distraction. A little backstory - I've lived in FL and fished from the Keys all the way up to Cedar Key on the West Coast and Amelia Island on the East Coast. I've lived in Georgia and played with Bass, Virginia and played with Muskie, Smallmouth, and Trout. A couple years ago, I spent a year in Eastern NC (Greenville NC, not Greenville SC) and fished a body of water known as the Pamlico Sound. In all of that fishing, I've never EVER experienced fishing like what the Pamlico Sound has to offer. It's hard to believe. Do a little research and you'll find that it's an 80 mile wide bay that has an average depth of about 10-15 feet, and 10 million acres of largely unpopulated shoreline. It is so big, that you often can't see from one side to the other . . . of each of it's bays. I saw this report today on a site I frequent and I know this guy and I know that what he is describing, while a pretty good day, isn't all that exceptional up there. My friends up there whine and complain BITTERLY when they catch less than 50 fish in a day. It's the hardest body of water I've ever seen to figure out, but when you do . . . it's nothing short of amazing. Anyway, enjoy the post and dream a little dream while you are waiting for the 5:00 Hurricane update: My dove shoot over, I sneaked off to Ponzer on Monday afternoon. Launched boat and headed for an area that had been productive earlier this year with matching water levels, previous winds, existing winds, direction of wind, water temps, barometric pressure changes, yada, yada, yada........and instinct. Was able to fish 1 1/2 hours before sunset. Tennis shoe sole came unglued and I busted my butt. 12 flounder caught with 2 keepers. My friend from Knightdale was to fish with me the following morning, but he found a screw in a tire and had to wait til next day to get it fixed. Without a computer and only a smart phone, I tried to find a boatmate. I PMed an NC Angler that had posted on a previous post of mine and asked him to come on down. No luck, so I went solo. Taped tennis shoe with yellow electric tape. Got to first spot at 6:30. Had a plug that was unproven to me, but what the heck, I had acted NOW and gotten 2 for the price of one, plus an additional shipping charge. First cast to stumps was unproductive, but I saw a slight swirl in the water 20 yards to my left. I cast. First twitch and I had a striper. In 18 casts, I caught 15 stripers. Sun rising, I left them, in search of reds. I caught 3 reds (dinks) and parked the plug, since all the surface action had stopped. I hit the bank that I had caught the 12 flounder the previous afternoon. No luck, so I headed for a shoreline that had some wave action against it. Before I could get to my 200 yard move, a boat came flying by and they started exactly where I wanted to start. I started in an area that I have never had any luck. The wind was blowing straight into the bank, so they fished it fast and worked around a point to the leeward side. I worked my way to where they had started and caught 2 flounder in 2 casts. I turned my trolling motor into the wind and dropped anchor (I still don't have a power pole). The wind was whipping. The boat was bouncing. The waves were foaming against the bank. And I caught fish. 31 flounder in one spot. I caught 5 in 5 casts. Tried to video with this phone that takes 4 hands to operate, but forgot to touch that little spot that reverses video capture direction, set it on seatback cushion and got videos of my windshield and grub pouches on dash. But I did some really good narration. I pulled anchor and worked some more of the shore and 2 more boats cut me off at 75 yards. I had just picked up a couple more flounder, so I dropped anchor, stopped fishing, got a water and watched them fish around the point. After flounder #61, the bite quit and I started searching. I finally sucked it up and hit the shore that never has anything. Boom. Flounder. I caught 15 more in this spot. I noticed some topwater action within 75 yards of where I had caught the stripers. I eased over and grabbed a popping cork with a DOA shrimp. No luck. I grabbed another popping cork rig and threaded a white gulp swimming mullet on it. First cast, a trout. In 30 minutes, I caught 12 trout and another striper. Friends called and wanted to eat at Fish Hooks, so I wrapped up my day with 76 flounder. 16 stripers, 3 drum and 12 trout. 4 keeper flounder and 2 keeper trout. Gulp shrimp, swimming mullet and Zman shrimp......... and a WHOPPER PLOPPER. Attached Thumbnails Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Troy Posted September 6, 2017 Report Share Posted September 6, 2017 You didn't catch a single Snook so your game up there is weak. They may show up next week in the eye wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whichwaysup Posted September 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2017 Hah! I will let you know if we see some!! But, in fairness, our striper are your Snook - I mean, the two are almost identical in habitat, patterns, etc. The only difference is that striper don't jump and they may be a little meaner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bernieNC Posted September 6, 2017 Report Share Posted September 6, 2017 Been fishing the Pamlico for over forty years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rckeat Posted September 7, 2017 Report Share Posted September 7, 2017 Awesome story. I wish I understood the Hatteras side of the Pamlico that well. Been fishing it for 15 years and never had a day like that one. But hopefully one of these days I will get it figured out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Grissom Posted September 7, 2017 Report Share Posted September 7, 2017 Sorry whichwaysup : Capt. Troy reply way priceless ,one other really big difference is stripe bass has a whole bunch more stripes!!!! .You are most certainly right thou, , and it did brake that Mary go round we've been on so Thank You , how could anyone ever complain about a day fishing like that. Enjoy the trip ,and be watchful of clowns shooting at birds on the deck good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Troy Posted September 7, 2017 Report Share Posted September 7, 2017 Just be careful fellas as no fishing or joking around will distract me. I surely hope for the best scenario. There are a lot of folks in harms way. We can all prepare all we want but the only thing I have prepared today is to have some assets to help others. My near and dear things were covered weeks ago the best I can. Oh, almost forgot. Hook a striper to a snook tail to tail and a snook will jump over him and rip his gill plates off. The thought of that will keep your mind off the storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whichwaysup Posted September 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2017 12 hours ago, rckeat said: Awesome story. I wish I understood the Hatteras side of the Pamlico that well. Been fishing it for 15 years and never had a day like that one. But hopefully one of these days I will get it figured out! Rickeat - if you want to figure out the inner banks side, hire a guide named Richard Andrews (TarPam) - I hired a few guides up there to learn the waters and of all of them, he was by far the best, most knowledgeable, and just a fun guy to fish with. He runs a Pathfinder too, so he has good taste in boats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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