Tide Lines – Winter 2010-2011
Welcome to our end-of-the year, the-staff-could-really-use-a-break, this-office-seems-to-be-getting-smaller, Big Boat Show December issue. This is easily our largest issue of the year (and our biggest ever in our eight year history).
And this year’s Boat Show issue is our first incorporating fishing reports from our new, expanded coverage area. From now on Fisherman’s Post will be bringing you comprehensive, timely, and accurate coverage of all the fishing action from the Outer Banks (Northern Beaches and Hatteras/Ocracoke) and the Pamlico region.
More fish reports and more fish photos and more fish articles from more of NC’s coast will truly make us Carolina’s official saltwater fishing newspaper.
In addition to coverage, we’ll also be distributing our newspaper to this new turf, so look to pick up copies of Fisherman’s Post Newspaper in tackle shops, marinas, boat dealers, restaurants, convenience stores, and other high traffic sites in such areas as Manns Harbor, Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, Frisco, Buxton, Hatteras, Ocracoke, New Bern, Washington, Havelock, and more.
Our expansion, though, doesn’t stop there. You’ve been asking to have the paper delivered to inland locations (we’ve been getting this request from both readers and advertisers), and we’ve been listening. Look for Fisherman’s Post to hit the stands in Raleigh, Kinston, Fayetteville, Sanford, and Goldsboro, with more to follow.
Enough of the expansion talk (except at the end of my article when I plug our Fisherman’s Post Saltwater Fishing Schools). Let’s talk fishing.
Taking a break and catching our breath isn’t the only reason why the staff of Fisherman’s Post looks forward to the December issue. We also like it because it’s full of ads. Yes, the advertisements pay our bills and fund our paychecks, but more ad copy also lets us run more text. And when there’s a need for more text, we get to do more fishing to write more articles.
This issue contains the culmination article of the “Road to Redfish” series with Capt. Jon Huff of Circle H Charters. Huff delivered. He taught me how to fly cast, then worked with me on improving my technique on the water, and ultimately put me in a position to catch my first redfish (actually my first two redfish) on the fly.
Our trip was a memorable morning in so many ways (for starters, we must have spotted over 20 redfish tailing on a flooded flat), so memorable in fact that it called for a three margarita lunch. You can read all about this fly experience starting on page 46.
Then there was the cold December morning where we headed out pre-dawn in search of a big Swansboro-area trout. Capt. Rob Koraly, of Sandbar Safari Charters, joined by his buddy Capt. Robbie Hall, of Hall’em In Charters, executed the game plan perfectly.
Rob’s thought was we could get out early and have a decent shot at a big trout, and then we would spend the rest of the day touring area waters and catching as many spike trout as we wanted by throwing just about anything at them.
And that’s exactly what happened. This article can be found beginning on page 54.
On the offshore scene, Capt. Tommy Rickman set the bar at an all time high in the department of Guide Time hospitality. He put us up in our own personal condos with a front row view of Southport Marina. I don’t mind the adventure of waking up ridiculously early to drive to go fishing, but I also don’t mind drinks on the porch, dinner two blocks away, passing out early, and waking up with just a walk across the parking lot to get to the boat. This article—full of scamps, gags, American reds, and a very ugly fish—can be found on page 62.
We’ll have a booth at the boat shows, so please come up and say hello. And if you really want to make us smile, then make plans for you and a friend to join us at either the Wilmington Fishing School (Saturday, Feb. 12) or the Morehead City Fishing School (Saturday, Feb. 26).
Or you can attend both schools and catch twice as many fish in 2011. Our saltwater fishing school instructors are so good they’ll soon have you celebrating with your own three margarita lunch. Maybe four.
