More Stringer Photos: Hatteras Island, NC.

More stringer photos! We ate fish for days! BBQ'ed the filets right on the grill over coals. The only regret: I should have chopped the leftovers up and made fish tacos!

Fish ON!

MLT

Deep Sea Fishing- Off Hatteras Island, NC June 6th

We chartered the Miss Hatteras and went out about 28 miles to the Gulf Stream out of Hatteras Island on the Miss Hatteras. Weather was good. Drift fished with live bait (tandem rig) about 170' deep. Got on a MESS of trigger fish at the first spot. One catch I had (2) on at the same time. My forearms were THROBBING after bringing them in- what a great fight!
Our second spot was about as deep. Stared to catch all kinds of interesting fish. Charlie caught a real colorful, exotic fish (photo above) that is you get "finned" you could die- wow! This spot also got us on some red snapper (photo above). Charlie also caught a nice grouper (I think it was the only one of the day). The boat and crew did an EXCELLENT job getting us on a ton of fish. It was one of the best fishing trips I have been on in a while. Cannot wait to go back next year.

Fish ON!

MLT

June 1st-June 6th; Surf Fishing Outer Banks, NC

Surf and sound fishing not as productive this year. Caught a couple of nice flounders on the ocean side using Berkley Gulp! Saltwater Shrimp on a light spinning rod with 12# test. My brother-in-law used the traditional set up with heavy rod, heavy test, cut bait- no luck. Weather was real good except for the first day.

Last year the shipwreck provided a lot of good redfish action, this year it was very non-productive. I think there were some active sharks in the area.

Fish ON!

MLT

Little Dixie CA, Callaway County Missouri: Friday, May 9th- Crappie Fishing GOOD!

Here are some great photos of Little Dixie CA in Callaway County, MO. (near Columbia, MO.). First off, the weather was incredible bad in the A.M. (rain, intense wind, cold, etc), but I had promised myself I was going to take some time off work to find my center and hit the lake.
If anyone is reading this, keep this in mind: The boats are $5 to rent, but some of them have holes in them- beware! (I got one of those so I had to "trade it in " after bailing all the water out for about 1/2 hour)
It started slow. This first fish I caught was the largest (The crappie measured out at around 12"-not bad). What was weird was that it hit on a nightcrawler on a slip bobber.
I then fished around for a while and finally found a crappie bed. They hit on a small spinner with a jig and small grub. Came out with about 16 crappies. During that time caught a nice slot bass (in photo- was released). This lake seems to have a lot of these. Also caught a really nice (11") red ear about 20' off a point with a slip bobber deep.

Fish ON!

MLT

Busch Wildlife Lake 33: Not much to report

Here is a great sunset photo. Fished Lake 33 about 3 times in april- not much success. I am glad to see the water level is up, but have not been able to figure out what patterns have worked. Crappie have been caught on minnows, but very sporadic. Usually this time of year, the catfish are really on, as well as the bass. Not yet.

Fish On

MLT

Montauk (Current River), Wednesday March 26th: Park a little torn up, fishing very good!

Great evening of fishing. Arrived at the park around 4:30 or so. I knew I had a limited time, but it was great to fish Montauk State Park again. I had not fished Montauk in a couple of years. I think the last time I was at the park was in 2005 during the catch and release season. Forgot how beautiful of a park Montauk truly is .

Started off in the fly area. I picked up a couple of nymphs a few days ago, so I thought I would try them out. Threw those as well as black jigs (real overcast conditions). No luck. Spoke with a gentleman who had been fishing the area all day. Montauk has so much sand due to the flood that they had a backhoe dredging the area right before the dam earlier. Probably should have throw a San Juan Worm.

Went back to the car and got my Quantum w/ 2# test and decided to throw my go-to: Spoons. Started to catch them right under the bridge. If you look at the photo, there are about 3 large trees that were uprooted and are jammed under the bridge. What is cool is that water is flowing under them. The trout were suspended underneath the trees under the bridge! So I got downstream and threw the spoons up stream so the current would take them back. Caught the largest one (measured out at 18") in the structure. Caught another good size fish (about 17") right in the current. That was the one I thought I was going to lose.

I cannot wait to go back to Montauk!

Fish ON!

MLT

Bennett Spring, Lebanon, MO: Monday, March 24th- Caught my biggest Rainbow so far this year!

Check out this NICE SIZED Rainbow Trout. Caught this one in zone 2 with a gold/red little cleo spoon on my Quantum 5' rod w/ 2# test.
Drove up to zone 1 to throw some jigs on the fly rod, but the spring is still chucking out an incredible amount of flow- most of the area in Zone one around the spring is still flooded out like last week.
Hit Zone 2 (near the cliff) with the fly rod, but with the water up, just did not feel like I was getting in front of the fish like I needed to. The water is still super murky (not quite brown, but almost) so you need to get right up on the fish- sounds like a job for spoons!
Drove the car around towards the bridge and started to throw little cleo gold spoons. Caught a nice on on the second cast. Kept missing on- could not figure out what was going on. Either it was a real small fish (as if the hook might be too big), or a really nice size fish (as if I was not setting the hook hard enough to penetrate the kipe). Missed this fish (2) times before the 3rd time. I threw it almost to the bank and brought it in REAL SLOW. When I felt the tap this time, I made sure to give it more than a wrist set. This large fish is the end result. It felt good to let it go- maybe it will become a monster someday?
Started to feel cold around 6:30 so I took off. Great couple of hours of fishing!

Fish ON!

MLT