Tidelines – May 2022
I like, and I mean I really really like, my tradition of going fishing with a local captain/guide and then writing about that trip in Tidelines. I hop on the boat with little more than some food and drink, try my best not to make a single decision during our time together, and enjoy the benefits of being on the water with a professional that’s motivated to find fish.
This week, though, is a departure from that formula.
Ethan Hurley proudly holds up the bonito he landed on a deep diver north of the Liberty Ship. He and his dad were following the Weekender Best Play of Capt. Luke Moser in the April 14 weekly inshore reports and forecasts.
I hope you’ve noticed that Fisherman’s Post is now offering weekly inshore fishing reports and forecasts. In these weekly inshore reports and forecasts, we talk to approximately eleven captains ranging from North Myrtle Beach to the NOBX. The content is offered behind a paid wall (you purchase access on either a monthly or annual basis) on FishermansPost.com, and it’s delivered via video and audio.
Each of the eleven or so captains in the weekly reports and forecasts also offers a “Weekender Best Play,” their advice on the best way for anglers in their area to catch a fish over the weekend ahead (new content is released each Thursday). Since I live in north Wilmington, it was Wrightsville Beach’s Capt. Luke Moser, of Tideline Charters, that offered up a Weekender Best Play that seemed perfect for me and Ethan (my nine-year-old) to try out on our 22’ bayboat the Saturday before Easter.
Luke’s report had talked about spanish being a much-improved bite in the Wrightsville area. On his trips over the past week, he had been headed out the inlet in search of bonito as a target species, but more often the spanish had been the one cooperating.
The bite, he went on to inform in his Best Play, was happening first thing in the morning and was simmering down if not ending by 8:30, and both Clarkspoons behind planers or trolling weights, as well as Yo-Zuri deep divers, were equally producing when trolled over and around structure.
Ethan and I went to bed Friday night with the intention of breaking Masonboro Inlet by 6:00 the next morning, but we considered it a win when passing the end of the rocks by 6:30.
Yes, there were already a good two dozen boats when we pulled up short of the Liberty Ship to put out a couple of deep divers, but most of those boats weren’t trolling, rather they were set up and holding almost directly over the structure.
Ethan and I didn’t start strong, as our two deep divers quickly became tangled and had to be cleaned up, but soon enough they were off the back with rod tips now correctly vibrating and letting us know the baits were swimming correctly.
We had no desire to get anywhere near the boat traffic, so on our first pass we went to the north of the fleet. Perhaps 100 yards off and a little to the northeast, it was our port line, the one with the red and white deep diver, that started stripping line. We had seemingly already found our target species of a mid-April bonito.
While Ethan grabbed the rod out of the rod holder, I noticed that our second rod, the one with the blue and silver deep diver, was also hooked up. There was no line plying out, but the absence of steady vibrations paired with sudden yanks and pulls of the rod tip confirmed that there was life on the end, smaller life than a bonito, but still a fish.
Ethan’s fish came off about halfway to the boat, and I pulled in an easily-legal spanish mackerel. Luke’s Weekender Best Play, with the stated goal of helping an angler put a fish in the boat, had already worked for us.
We put the lines back out and kept heading northeast, and then on the turn to return to the site of our first strike, we had another strong bite, once again on the red and white.
Ethan grabbed the rod and stood looking a little helpless. His fish was steadily (and quickly) pulling drag, and he knew there was nothing he could do until this first big run ended. I pulled in the second line so we could put all our focus on Ethan’s fish.
After several runs and even more circles near the boat, Ethan led his bonito into our landing net. Not only had we put a second fish in the boat, we had put the target species in the boat.
That same area off the Liberty Ship produced a handful of 3 lb. class spanish (all on deep divers—we never saw any surface activity to throw to). All the action came in about 45 minutes, and then the bite went cold and we didn’t get another bite after 30 or so more minutes of trolling. We looked at the time, and just as Luke had predicted, it was a few minutes after 8:30.
Ethan reeled in our two lines, I cleaned off some blood and scales and packed away the tackle, and we headed in calling our morning a big success.
Am I saying that if you purchase our new weekly inshore fishing reports and forecasts, that also include the Weekender Best Play, that you’re guaranteed to catch fish?
Nope.
Am I saying that each month I’m no longer going to fish with my captain and guide friends on their boat and just write about a new Weekender Best Play and fish off my own boat?
Nope.
I think what I’m trying to say is that I’m like you—when you get a small window to spend some time on the water fishing, you want every advantage you can get to catch a fish, especially when you have kids on the boat.
I’m very excited about Fisherman’s Post being able to offer these weekly inshore fishing reports and forecasts, and my hope is that you, too, will try them out and find value in our efforts. To find out more information and/or to register, simply go to FishermansPost.com and then click on Member Content.
Be warned, though. Luke’s advice 100% helped me catch a fish, but it didn’t keep one of my planer rods from coming unhitched on the way out and wrapping up two of my casting rods to a point where only scissors would solve, nor did it keep me from forgetting my pliers.
