The seventh annual Gordie McAdams Speckled Trout Surf Fishing Tournament, sponsored by Emerald Isle Parks & Recreation and The Reel Outdoors will run from Oct. 24 to Dec. 5. Registration is free. Pre-registration is required and the deadline is Wed., Oct. 21 at 5pm. All trout must be caught by fishing on foot (surf, pier, inlet, sound) from Fort Macon to EI. NO BOATS.  The official weigh-in station is The Reel Outdoors. For more info.  contact Brittany Wood at 252-354-6350 or bwood@emeraldeisle-nc.org.

I promised myself an afternoon on the water, and it will be one that I will remember for a long time for a number of reasons.

First off the weather was about as perfect as it could get.  You could have sailed a bathtub out Bogue Inlet into the Atlantic yesterday.  The water was amazingly quiet as you can see from the picture of Emerald Isle  that was taken well off of Hammocks Beach.

The White Oak River was even smoother.  There was hardly a ripple as we approached Swansboro.  When we came home three hours later, it was the same.

More importantly it was just as quiet after we left the inlet for the ocean.  A good fishing buddy had told me to go out the Inlet and fish in the channel just where it was filling in with sand.
 read more »

Yesterday was a busy day.  I had to attend a sales meeting in Pine Knoll Shores at 9 AM.  I left from Bluewater Cove at about 8:25 AM and made it with time to spare.

I took the scenic route up the beach.  It is a measure of how quiet it is now that I made the 22 mile trip in thirty minutes or less.  We all know better than to speed on the beach road so there has to no traffic to make it that far in such a short time.

I did hit all four Emerald Isle stoplights on green so that helped a little.

On my way back down the beach just before noon, I called my fishing buddy, Brian, and asked if he was still okay with going fishing in the afternoon.  He asked if his dad could come along, and of course I agreed.  We decided to leave our dock at 2 PM.
 read more »

When I headed to work this afternoon, I passed the house of Brian, one of my fishing buddies.  He had his skiff in the driveway and was ready to head out.

He told me another friend was driving a couple hours so they could try the fishing over in the Inlet.

I wished him well, and headed off to work.  Work was pretty dull as real estate can be these days.  I knocked off a post about What is so special about the Crystal Coast and set up the showing for one property.

I left work five minutes early so I could meet my wife at our church, Cape Carteret Presbyterian, to have our pictures taken for the church directory.

That took longer than expected so we headed off to gas up both vehicles and then to Andy's to grab a burger for dinner.  Dinner was great and quick, and we motored off towards Bluewater Cove as the last of the day's light started to fade.
 read more »

Yesterday was a busy day for me.  I had a closing and a couple of other real estate things to do, but the whole day I kept in the back of my mind the idea that I was going over to the beach to fish a little.

I had a form to be signed to extend a listing which required a trip to the island.  Then I had another meeting where I was dropping off house warming gifts for a recently closed house that required driving back up highway 58.

By the time we were done with all of that the clock was ticking towards 6 PM.  Still we made it over to the beach with plenty of time to fish.

The full fishing story is here.  The summary is that I hit one of my favorite beaches just as the Bluefish were jumping just beyond my casting range.

As luck would have it, the Bluefish moved closer to shore just as the sun was setting, and I managed to meet my goal of a catching a nice 16" long Bluefish.

It was lots of fun since I caught the Bluefish on the light rod that I bought for trout last year.
 read more »

The Third Annual Flounder Surf Fishing Tournament will be sponsored by Emerald Isle Parks and Recreation and The Reel Outdoors. Contact Brittany Wood at 252-354-6350 or bwood@emeraldisle-nc.org for information. Registration is free (Aug. 29-Sept.23) and excellent prizes. All flounder must be caught by fishing on foot (surf, pier, inlet, sound) from Fort Macon to Emerald Isle. The tournament will run from Sept. 26-30, Oct. 1-10, 2009.

The NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores offers "Fishing Fanatics" surf fishing classes every Tuesday through Sept.1. They also offer pier fishing classes every Thursday evening and surf fishing classes every Friday morning throughout the fall as well as a variety of other fishing programs year round. Visit the web site at www.ncaquariums.com or call 252-247-4003 for more information.