Had Shelley Federice with 13 yr old Toni and 10 yr old Alex and Michelle Thoup and her two children 10 yr old Westley and 5 yr old Braxton for their first ever deepsea fishing trip.  We had a perfect day weatherwise and got into the spanish quickly, ended up with 35 and that many throwbacks so lots of action and kept all 4 children busy bringing them in.  They really learned to watch the rods and did a great job with their first fishing experience while both moms did more watching except 5 yr old Braxton needed some help from mom but rest of the children were able to bring in the spanish without any help.  We saw a small shrimp boat so decided to quit spanish and head that way to see the dolphin and after talking Michelle decided she could bring one in and they would like to try shark for supper.  We hooked up quickly and Michelle brought in an approx. 45# blacknose so all aboard were quite excited.  Time to head back into the dock and with lots of help from the kids cleaned the spanish and shark (of course the kids had to take the sharks head home to try and save the shark teeth!) A really fun day!

After being down with back problems for over a week decided I would try a backwater trip.  It was a great trip with two nice guys from WV and we  had alot of action with flounder, drum and some misc. fish however had lots of undersize fish we had to release. Very nice people and enjoyable trip but very hot today.

We had a 1/2 day spanish and bottom fishing trip with three young children aboard along with their grandmother and mother from Aberdeen, NC.  It was a first ocean trip for all except grandmother Wanda.  The children were 7,6 and 4 yr old and they were sure excited!  Weather and seas were great and the spanish were biting good.  Did get alot of undersize throwbacks but sure kept the children busy and they got really good at watching the rods and trying to see who could get to the rod first!  After getting plenty of spanish we decided to take them to try and learn alittle about bottom fishing.  Mom, Jennifer and grandmother Wanda had to help the two youngest with winding their rods in but think they enjoyed the action and excitement of bringing in some black sea bass also.  RJ, the oldest was able to handle the rod pretty much by himself and loved to rebait the hooks and handle the fish.  He sure is going to become a good fisherman when he is older.  Was a great trip for all of us and so much fun watching the children.

I had D. J. Smith and Steve Burris from Lynchburg, Va for a 6 hour backwater trip today.  Weather was perfect and we kept busy bringing in several drum and flounder.  D.J. did a great job for his age of handling the rod and casting.  You can tell he certainly enjoys fishing.  A nice fishing day and nice company.

We had a group from southern Ohio for a 1/2 day charter - they just wanted to catch fish, didn’t care whether they got keepers or throwbacks - just catch some fish!  We started at the Lockwood folly Inlet and got several nice size spanish right away - as the morning went on we got more throwbacks than keepers but continued to have fun catching fish.  The last hour we did some shark fishing but like our last trip we got lots of action but sharks were taking the bait, running a short distance and then dropping the bait and were hard to hook up.  Guys had the fun experience of trying to get one hooked up and to the boat.  A nice day - calm seas and cooler temperature than the past several weeks.  Really nice guys and they are planning on having  the spanish later today. 

Had a 1/2 day charter with some young people from Charlotte, NC - they were lots of fun and never had a dull minute during the trip.  We had Mike Hung, Nick Baor, Mary Katherine Byrd, Kahe Fox, Marc Munichman - The girls ended up getting the largest spanish and the most keepers but not sure the guys agreed with that!  We got 13 spanish keepers and again today had lots of throwback spanish - about 4 throwbacks to each keeper but action.  The last hour tried to shark fish but had three hookup and lost our bait each time  but never got one to the boat.  Still a great trip and group had a fun time and plan to have their fish tonight for supper!

Had some folks that had been with us before and a couple newcomers to ocean fishing - people from WestVirginia, Rocky Riggleman, Kandra Riggleman, Earl Travis, Brent and Larry Combs.  We started with spanish to get some meat to eat and got 16 nice size spanish and about three times that amount in undersize spanish.  Lots of action but hard to get keeper size.  We started shark fishing at  about 10 am and ended up with 10 different hookups but lots of these hookup were shark taking the bait, running and dropping it.  They just didn’t seem to be hungry today.  We ended up with one keeper, a bonnethead and Earl had lots of fun bringing it in.  They all plan to have spanish and shark for supper on Thursday night they said.  Good day despite the hot weather but super nice folks and fun trip.

Had longtime charter friends Lee Casteal and Dan Bragg and their friend Maria Ward all from WV for a day of shark fishing and spanish mackerel.  We got into the spanish soon after putting the lines in but got alot of small spanish.  We headed east and into deeper waters hoping to find bigger spanish.  We found lots of birds working and fish jumping near the Cape Fear River and got some really nice size spanish but continued to get several small ones also.  Lots of fun having all 4 lines going off at the same time.  We decided to stop spanish and shark fish for awhile.  We got several hookups but only one in the boat.  We also found we had small sharks biting off our bait - they would pick the bait up and run for a short while and before we could set the hook they would drop the bait.  We moved a couple times to try and get away from the smaller sharks and finally got a nice keeper blacknose hooked and in the box.  We finished the day with more spanish.  Was a very hot day but calm seas and great company.  The brought us some homemade sauerkraut and some vension which we definitely will enjoy.  Good fishing day!

Had Tim Bambauer and son Jack from Charlotte, Nc with friends Scott Hitchens and his daughter Mattie.  Fishing was slow again today and waters remain muddy from strong blow on Friday.  We  had very little action on the spanish with just a few keepers and several throwbacks.  We tried sharks the last 45 minutes of the trip and no hookups. All the other charters out today where reporting the same type of trip as us.  The folks said they still enjoyed the trip and 7 yr old Jack watched the lines the whole trip even tho he didn’t get to see much action.  He had alot more patience than alot of us adults!!

Had some people from Wv - Dennis Bittinger and sons Travis and Justin and Scott Myers with son Travis and Keith Sherman.  We found spanish bite slow again today so at 9:30 am started shark fishing.  Got only two hook up but got both to boat - got a blacknose in box and blacktip took pictures and released since can only keep one shark of these kind per trip.  Travis enjoyed the fight his shark gave him and sure they all will enjoy having shark bites for supper tonight.  Nice group and enjoyable trip even tho it was very hot today