My brother, Bryan and my son Randy fished offshore for two days (6/23 and 6/24) with Capt. Jeff Ross on the Obsession up in NC on the OBX. We have fished with Jeff for many years in NC and Mexico.
Anyway, day one: started with a white marlin release for Bryan. Spent most of the morning boating 25-60lb class yellowfin (ended up with 10)and a couple dolphin. My son had a white marlin on for a few minutes but it unfortunately threw the hook. The quest for his first billfish continues…
The mid day lull was interrupted by the man in the blue suit! I saw it as it entered the spread and yelled “there he is!”…it charged the short rigger, knocked it out of the clip…then lunged on the long rigger, which just happened to be manned by my own personal rod. HOOKED UP BLUE MARLIN! Since I have a 450-500lb blue to my credit (I caught and released that fish back in 2003), I handed the rod to my brother who did a great job fighting the big blue on 80lb test and a light 130lb tuna leader. My rod was built at Haddrell’s Point Tackle and I have a Shimano Tiagra 50w LRS on it. Great rig but not the 80w rod we wanted it to be on, but it worked out and he got the release on his first blue marlin after an exciting 40 minute fight. The fish jumped at least 20 times and really put on a show. Got some decent pics considering I was taking them with one hand while turning the fighting chair. Pics don’t do it justice though…that was a big marlin. The Captain called it close to 500lbs.
Day two: We ended up with 7 yellowfin to 60lbs and about 30 school to barely gaffer dolphin. No billfish for us on day two, but we had to buy 2 more coolers! Good problem to have.
I also pulled my boat up there and we fished the inlet out to about 5 or 6 miles. Took my nephews (Ages 4 and 6) and my son to put a bend in a rod on anything we could find. The bluefish were around and we caught several along with a couple small dolphin. Needed to be a little south of where we were to get into the Spanish apparently, but we l
Just FYI - The pic of the boat behind us is of the True Grit. We had a 15-20 NE wind on 6/23 and he followed us pretty close to get a better ride out of the inlet. I took a ton of pics of his boat…I’m a bit of a shutterbug offshore…That Carolina “flair” on the True Grit is effective. Was cool watching it work.
E/NE wind kept us from going too far out in my boat unfortunately so our options were pretty much limited to bluefish on the beach. We caught the little dolphin on a rip maybe 5 miles or so outside of Oregon Inlet. Had 4 on at one time, but only managed a couple. I heard reports that some dolphin were being caught off the PIERS!
My boat handles the rough stuff pretty good and we could’ve gone offshore farther and looked for some bigger dolphin but I wasn’t going to get too adventurous with the kids on board. I heard that gaffers were 10 miles off the beach.
That’s an awesome trip! We did it in our boat twice a few years ago. Both times happened to be on a full moon and the bite was much slower. I agree thought that the sound was much scarier than than the inlet itself as well. Congrats on the fish!!
Nice work. That fishery is awesome up there. Just an FYI though, there is a 20" minimum size limit on dolphin nowadays.
Good to know. I’ve never seen them measure bailers up there and plenty of them on the docks had to be close to that 21" mark if that’s the case. They didn’t measure any of them on the charter boat…I only ever heard of the # limit on dolphin up there. We did measure plenty of tuna and release a few that didn’t hit 27". Definitely don’t want any issues with tunas. I always do my best to follow all the rules (which seem to change quicker than the weather) and release fish if there is any question. The kids caught these and it didn’t even cross my mind to be honest. I would’ve let them go if the little guys weren’t bear hugging them. I heard guys on the VHF talking about boating some small dolphin on the same weed line.
Either way, thanks very much for the info - we’re not killers. We are fisherman and I want to make sure we respect and conserve the fishery.
Nice work. That fishery is awesome up there. Just an FYI though, there is a 20" minimum size limit on dolphin nowadays.
Good to know. I’ve never seen them measure bailers up there and plenty of them on the docks had to be close to that 21" mark if that’s the case. They didn’t measure any of them on the charter boat…I only ever heard of the # limit on dolphin up there. We did measure plenty of tuna and release a few that didn’t hit 27". Definitely don’t want any issues with tunas. I always do my best to follow all the rules (which seem to change quicker than the weather) and release fish if there is any question. The kids caught these and it didn’t even cross my mind to be honest. I would’ve let them go if the little guys weren’t bear hugging them. I heard guys on the VHF talking about boating some small dolphin on the same weed line.
Either way, thanks very much for the info - we’re not killers. We are fisherman and I want to make sure we respect and conserve the fishery.
Hey Skinnee - I looked it up and while there is a commercial limit of 20’ fork length for some states, there doesn’t appear to be any size limit regulation on dolphin either commercially or recreationally in the state of NC. The recreational limit is 10 per person, no size limit (see link below).
Good to know. I’ve never seen them measure bailers up there and plenty of them on the docks had to be close to that 21" mark if that’s the case. They didn’t measure any of them on the charter boat…I only ever heard of the # limit on dolphin up there. We did measure plenty of tuna and release a few that didn’t hit 27". Definitely don’t want any issues with tunas. I always do my best to follow all the rules (which seem to change quicker than the weather) and release fish if there is any question. The kids caught these and it didn’t even cross my mind to be honest. I would’ve let them go if the little guys weren’t bear hugging them. I heard guys on the VHF talking about boating some small dolphin on the same weed line.
Either way, thanks very much for the info - we’re not killers. We are fisherman and I want to make sure we respect and conserve the fishery.
Ha! Just checked the regs and it doesn't apply to NC??? It's only for SC, FL, GA... Learn something new every day. I guess the NC guys have better political pull!!!
Hey Skinnee - I looked it up and while there is a commercial limit of 20’ fork length for some states, there doesn’t appear to be any size limit regulation on dolphin either commercially or recreationally in the state of NC. The recreational limit is 10 per person, no size limit (see link below).
We were looking it up at the same time! You are partially correct. It's not just a commercial limit. Both recreational and commercial limit is 20". That being said, you are right about it not applying to NC!!!
Hey Skinnee - I looked it up and while there is a commercial limit of 20’ fork length for some states, there doesn’t appear to be any size limit regulation on dolphin either commercially or recreationally in the state of NC. The recreational limit is 10 per person, no size limit (see link below).
We were looking it up at the same time! You are partially correct. It's not just a commercial limit. Both recreational and commercial limit is 20". That being said, you are right about it not applying to NC!!!
Skinnee - Great minds think alike. Yes - it applies to both in other states. Guess those boys in NC bail too many dolphin and lobbied successfully not to break out the tape measure. Either way, worthy exercise!
BTW - I think your Taco 250 Outrigger bases now ride on my boat. Pretty sure the guy I bought them from said they were yours at one point.
Skinnee - Great minds think alike. Yes - it applies to both in other states. Guess those boys in NC bail too many dolphin and lobbied successfully not to break out the tape measure. Either way, worthy exercise!
I wouldn’t doubt that is what happened! If they ever ask to reduce the limit from 60 dolphin to something smaller, NC would probably be the last stand.
quote:
BTW - I think your Taco 250 Outrigger bases now ride on my boat. Pretty sure the guy I bought them from said they were yours at one point.
Skinnee - Great minds think alike. Yes - it applies to both in other states. Guess those boys in NC bail too many dolphin and lobbied successfully not to break out the tape measure. Either way, worthy exercise!
I wouldn’t doubt that is what happened! If they ever ask to reduce the limit from 60 dolphin to something smaller, NC would probably be the last stand.
quote:
BTW - I think your Taco 250 Outrigger bases now ride on my boat. Pretty sure the guy I bought them from said they were yours at one point.
Nice pics and well done. We have fished with Jeff a couple times up there and his buddy Captain Rom Whittaker out of Hatteras Is also as good as they come. A job well done indeed. We’ll be up that way in August for the tournament.
The fishery up in Manteo area is just plain awesome. In July, August, when we are all trying to figure out what to do in Charleston, those guys are dropping the hammer on sails, whites, and blues and the occasional 100+lb big eye tuna. Bi-op-sea caught 51 whites and 1 blue in a 24 hour period a few years ago! They are still nailing dolphin and yellowfins up there. Also, did I mention the grueling 30 mile run to the fishing grounds?
Nice pics and well done. We have fished with Jeff a couple times up there and his buddy Captain Rom Whittaker out of Hatteras Is also as good as they come. A job well done indeed. We’ll be up that way in August for the tournament.
2001 Regulator 23 Classic
2014 Yamaha F300
Very cool and thanks. Good luck if u fish the pirates cove tourney. I've fished it 3 times and released some whites and a sail but haven't got the big bite. It's a great atmosphere and fun week. The whites are usually snapping big time by then and the august full moon is known for big blues. I caught my blue the first week of August in 2003. I targeted that full moon, scheduled two days around it and it worked out. The Mimi's 1227 lbr from a few years ago was incredible but I've seen two fish weighed in at the tournament over 700 too and one over 600. The big ones show up in August!
