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12/27/2009
The Yeah Right II made way from South Harbour Marina this morning with Adam Lone from Laurinburg,
NC and Ashley Rorie of Concord, NC on a 1/2 day journey to catch some fish for the dinner table.
Capt. Butch's first move was to some coral structure about 12 miles offshore in search of
some bottom fish but with the dirty water having moved in from all the rain earlier in the week and the current moving at
a fast pace the marks on the colorscope looked great but the fish didn't want to bite. After a few drops Capt. decided
to move to another spot on the East side of the shoals to hopefully find cleaner water.
In the midst of cleaner water there were several schools of Grey Trout with some small Black
Sea Bass mixed in that seemed hungry. Ashley even caught a Stingray that really put up a good fight.
Several others were Bluefin and King Mackerel Fishing and there were several reports of big
Sharks and a couple of Kings and "boneheads" being landed but no Bluefin to my knowledge and the Kings were limited in numbers.
The fish are here, if we can get the weather to cooperate and the winds to lay, then the bite
should be on!
Til' next time, Fish ON!
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
12/22/2009
Today we were joined by Bob Williams of Arlington, VA on an offshore bottom trip in search
of good eating fish and maybe a Grouper. We did manage a Gag but measuring 22" he missed the keepable length by 2" and
we had to release him. However, the "knot head" Black Sea Bass were plentiful and willing to bite. In short
time we were limited out on Black Bass and Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks and went in search of something different.
The NE wind was starting to blow a little stronger and the shoals were beginning to get a
bit sloppy and with the new regulations closing B-Liners, Capt. Butch and I feared that moving to deeper water would prove
to be dissappointing in having to throw back everything landed. With all this considered we decided to move back in-shore
a bit and see if the Grey Trout were willing to bite.
At first the action was slow, but the trick to Grey Trout is pin-pointing the school and getting
anchored right on top of it. Capt. Butch is a master at this skill and soon we were jigging up Trout 3 at a time, most
were 11-11 1/2" just shy of the 12" size limit, but in the end the crew was able to pull out several keeper sized Greys and
some Croakers for the frying pan.
I heard of several Bluefin Tuna being hooked up today, and Capt. Walley Traya put the first
one on the Southport docks this year, measuring in at 83". We are headed out tomorrow in search of a Bluefin,
so we'll have a report again tomorrow evening covering that trip as well.
FISH ON!!!
Capt's. Butch and Chris Foster
11-22-09
Yes the winds have been blowing and there's been some rain here on the coast lately, but just
because you can't run 30 miles offshore in the rough stuff, there are still fish that can be caught closer in!!!
We fished the NE winds today on the WOFES, and the Grey Trout, Blues, Crokers,
Whiting, Sharks, Sting Rays, and Red Drum bite was nothing short of fantastic!!
Capt. Chris and I fished the first half of the day with Hayes Thompson and Shera Menier from
Charlotte, NC.
I don't know how many fish we caught, way to many to even try to count, although most were
released to fight another day, we kept a few for some fish dinners, the bite was on, big time!!
Shera hooked up the only big Red Drum today and even though it nearly spooled the reel we
managed to gain most of the line back before she made a sudden turn and charged off proving to be more that the line could
handle. You know the old saying "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat" is a good title for the outcome on this fish!!
Now moving to the second half of the day. The seas were a lot calmer in the evening since
the tide was falling, going with the wind instead of pushing against it as it was earlier while rising.
However, the falling tide produced a very strong current, something we have had to learn how
to fish this past year if we were going to catch fish, and by the way the fish were caught this evening, I think we have learned
well!!!
This evening we were fishing with Scott Rudolph and his son Noah. Jack Brown and his son Tyler,
and Zakk Sheen. All these guys were from High Point,NC.
If you aren't familiar with Scott, you need to get to know him. He owns the Bar B Que House
on Oak Island. Myself, being from Lexington,NC know the meaning of good BBQ, and in my opinion, the BBQ House has the best around.
He even has the Lexington style sauce and red slaw in house for you to try!!!
I was hoping that the tide change had not shut the bite off. We went back to the same spot
we fished earlier and just as I had figured, the tide change had caused the fish to relocate.
A slight adjustment of our previous location to the back side of the structure, and the bite
was on again.
This evening's crew didn't want to keep any fish, so even though 99% were released, Capt Chris
and I kept a few for us for some fish dinners.
A lot of people think that Capt Chris and I get a lot of fish, but they all go to
our fishermen. What you catch on the "YEAH RIGHT II" belongs to you!!!
We had hoped for another Red Drum this evening but Noah,Tyler, and Zakk were just as happy
with great fights the Shark attacks provided.
We fished with some Great people today and hope we can share the boat with them again sometime
soon!!!
Till next time, God Bless Everyone!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
PROVERBS 20:21 A fortune can be made from cheating,
but there is a curse that goes with it.
11/08/2009
Today we were joined by Jeanetta Dixon, Micheal Anderson, Deneaka Nicks, Darnell Greenway
and Henry Greenway, all from Baltimore, MD on a bottomfishing excursion. Shortly after reaching the offshore grounds
the crew found themselves hooked up on Grey Snapper, Black Sea Bass, a few Triggerfish, and Silver Snappers.
The picture tells it all!
Jeanetta even managed a large Almaco Jack and Deneaka a Scamp Grouper. Heard reports
of King Mackerel biting pretty well and the sight of a whale on the way in foretells the Bluefin Tuna will be arriving soon.
The bottomfish seem to be showing up in good numbers again and the fall bite is on!
Let's go Fishing,
FISH ON!!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
11-5-09
The Northerly winds has had the beach as slick as a baby's butt this week. Offshore
at times, well that's been a different story.
However, there are plenty of fish to be had near shore this time of year. King Mackeral have
been biting from the Old Sea Buoy out to areas like Light House Rocks, 15 and 18 Mile rocks, Shark Hole,etc;.
Inshore, there have even been a few Spanish Mackeral around. Only thing I can figure is that
the near shore waters are a little warmer than usual for this time of year so some are still hanging around before they head
on offshore for winter.
The Blue Fish have been plentiful!! Grey Trout have been on the WOFES, AR420 & AR425.
The Grey's have been on the smaller size but as the water cools more, you can expect the larger ones to start showing up.
These same areas are also holding some of the fall citation sized Red Drum that invade the
beaches each year. We have hooked a few while jigging for the Grey Trout, but no one has been able to stop one yet on the
lighter tackle we use for the trout.
False Albacore were being caught close in a week or so ago, haven't heard anything about those
lately down our way. Capt. Jerry reported in the paper that they were up on the Carolina Beach, Masonboro areas.
A report of spots in the Cape Fear river was apparently heard by many. Last weekend if you
broke down in the river, you could have walked boat to boat back to land.
On the inside, Speckled Trout, Red Drum, and Flounder are the catches now.
The weather this weekend looks good at this time. It's Fall season, cooler temperatures, low
humidity, hungry fish..... What else could you possibly ask for?
Till next time,God Bless!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt. Butch Foster
PROVERBS 20:3 It is an honor for a man
to stay out of a fight. Only fools insist on quarreling.
11/01/2009
Had a 1/2 day trip today with Jean Church and Chris Wright of Midway, NC alongside his dad, Gene
Wright from Quinwood, WV. We left the dock in search of any fish that would bite! First stop was on the Blues
and quickly the crew landed about a dozen or so and then as soon as the tide went "slack" they quit biting.
Next up was a search for some Grey Trout. They marked up on the AR 425 and AR 420 but all that
would bite were a few small Black Bass here and there. Capt. Butch navigated the Yeah Right II to another spot known
for Greys and sure enough after a little searching and lure testing the combination was put together and the Greys started
coming aboard.
With a mess of Grey Trout and a few Spanish Mackerel mixed in accompanied by a nice catch of Blues
we decided to head in before the front that is forecasted to move through this evening got here. Another great day of fishing
with a great crew!
FISH ON!!!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
& Bodie says hi!
10/30/2009
Had a 1/2 day trip today with a great group of guys from the Fuquay Varina, NC area. Joined
by Nathaniel Wood, Garnell Heggie, John McNeill, Steven Thorpe and his brother Tim Thorpe from Apex, NC. We started
out with hopes of King Mackerel and anything else that would bite but the winds blowing NNE at 20 knots had other plans for
us and we ended up staying nearshore.
First lines in and the Blues were on hot and heavy, as a matter of fact, the crew landed a limit
of 75 in about 2 hours!!! No Spanish Mackerel were mixed in this trip however, seems the water may be on the way to
being to cold for them to be near the beach. I did hear one report of a few Spanish being caught around Yaupon.
After limiting out on Blues Capt. Butch decided to venture a little offshore to some numbers in search
of the Grey Trout like we caught the other day. They marked up on the colorscope once again, however; the Easterly
winds had given them lockjaw and all we could manage were a few "too small" Black Sea Bass.
A great trip with some really great guys, fishing! Makes anyday a great day!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
10-27-09
Today is the 27th of October. I was going fishing today but decided not to go.
Well, that was a BIG Mistake!!!!! I got a phone call that I really was missing the action
today. The seas were so flat that they only had one side. Now that's flat!!!!!
Flat seas usually means that the fishing is subject to be a little slow. Not today!!!!
About 18 miles SE of the Cape Fear river there was a King Mackeral bite today that like we
wait all year for, and I did not go fishing today.
I know that the Grey Trout, Blues, Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks, and Red Drum are biting
near shore. Some whiting, Flounder, and spots are being caught as well.
And now this, the kings are starting to school up as proved today with a hot King Mackeral bite.
Hey, it's Fall fishing time and the fish are starting to realize it as well!!!!!
OK, it's predicted to blow for the next couple of days, hopefully by the weekend the weather/winds will
co-operate again.
If it does, IT'S SHOWTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blessings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fish On!!
Capt Butch
PROVERBS 19:8 He who loves wisdom loves his own best
interest and will be a success.
10/23/2009
Joined by Ron Monroe of Mt. Prospect, IL and his daughter, Tracy Monroe of Chicago, IL we
went in search of Spanish Mackerel and the other near shore species. As soon as the Clarkspoons were deployed in the
"rip" the Spanish and Blues started coming in at a pretty quick clip, only problem...there were many more Blues than Spanish
so after catching enough for bait Capt. Butch steered the Yeah Right II toward the shrimp boats in search of a big Shark!
Seemingly the water has gotten to cold for the Sharks to be hanging near the beach any longer
this year and after no strikes in short order, we decided to see if the Grey Trout and citation Red Drum had shown up yet.
Soon we were into the Grey Trout and small Black Sea Bass. They are not here extremely thick yet, but if you work at
it there is no problem at finding a few limits. There are a few Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks still around near the beach
and Ron managed to land 3 of these but we decided to release them all today.
Heard reports that there were some King Mackerel caught at the 15 mile Rock area as well today.
'til next time! FISH ON!!!
Capt's. Butch and Chris Foster
10/21/2009
Capt. Butch and myself were joined by a wonderful group of guys today! George Currin, Bob Smathers,
Donald L. Sellers, and Sutt Alexander all from Charlotte, NC alongside their friend, Bubba Howle from Darlington, SC went
in search of King Mackerel. After catching bait offshore of the lighthouse in deeper water, we made our way to Lighthouse
Rock.
After no luck at the Lighthouse Rock area we made way to the Sharkhole and began to troll some CIgar
Minnows with pogeys, once again the Kings seemed illusive then came a report of the Kings firing off around the
"old Sea Buoy" area.
Soon after the Yeah Right was in the area and began deploying various colors and rigs for
the Kingfish. A "naked" rig seemed to be the trick today, everyday is different in fishing out on the ocean!
The Kings decided to bite and Bob landed one really nice King Mackerel. A couple of
Sharks were the next bites we had!
Just as the Kings decided to bite real good, our time for a 3/4 day trip was up and with the
bite really getting into action, the decision was made to call it a day anyway.
The weather looks great for the next couple of days and the fish are here for now. They
will be retreating for deeper and warmer waters soon. Better get 'em while they are on the beach now, Let's go fishing!!!
FISH ON!!!
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
10/17/2009
Finally a trip offshore has been managed! In search of King Mackerel we went joined
by Johnathan Williams of Ramseur, NC and Kevin Hiatt from Archdale, NC and started working our way offshore until we found
the bait stacked up on some structure around the 18 Mile Rock area. The Kings seemed reluctant at first but after landing
a nice 4 pound Spanish Mackerel and a couple of Sharks, we found a King that wanted to bite.
After trying multiple skirts and colors with Cigar Minnows finally the "secret link" was discovered.
A blue/pink Pirate Plug made by South Chatam Tackle, http://www.southchathamtackle.com/Pirate_Plugs.htm was this weapon and soon after we had at least a half a dozen Kingfish on the line.
They were seemingly short-striking because the hooks were pulled on all but two of these. Two Kings around 12-15 pounds
were boated.
Lastly we decided to try to find a citation Red Drum so we moved to some nearshore rocks and
found a few decent Gray Trout but no Red Drum wanted to bite today. With a good mess of fish for dinner we decided
to head back to the "hill" for the day.
FISH ON!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
10/15/2009
Once again the stiff NW winds kept the Yeah Right on the beach today. We had a full day offshore
trip in the plans; however, the 5.9 foot seas every 6 seconds report this morning deemed it to be a Spanish and King Mackerel
excursion.
Joined by Gary and Tonya Fossett of Charlotte, NC alongside Sue and Bob Fossett of Union, KY we began
by dropping planers and spoons for some Spanish Mackerel but with the cold fronts stacked against us the Spanish simply wouldn't
bite, we did end up picking out a couple nice Blues. After trying the Spanish for awhile we went in search of a King
Mackerel. Capt. Butch had reports that there was a little bit of a bite between the two piers so in search of pogeys
we went.
The pogeys were thick just east of Ocean Crest Pier and after a couple of casts the tank was loaded
and the cooler full for chum. The sun decided to come out which we thought was a great thing except for the fact that
the bite completly shut off when this happened. Finally after a couple of hours the cloud cover returned and we had
in total 3 bites. One of which took the line under the boat and the prop cut, the second was a short strike, and the
third pulled the hooks almost immediatly! With reports of the Spanish being Extremely scattered and the King bite having
shut down with the fronts moving through we decided to make for a day with better weather and more willing fish! The
fish are here, now we just need to get Mother Nature to cooperate so that they will want to bite!
FISH ON!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
10-13-09
With the stiff NNE winds today we just did a 1/2 day on the beach. When the crew called yesterday,
they had decided to do a full day, but we had already booked the second half of the day.
We started off netting some pogys and then went after some king Mackeral. This decision
was based on the good bite we have been having lately.
With us this morning was Mike and Chris Lowder from China Grove,NC., David Threatt from Kannapolis,NC.,
and David Shaver from Rockwell,NC.
The recent winds had the water on the beach muddier than it had been the past few days and
the cold front that went through had the King Mackeral in a slower than normal bite than what had been experienced lately.
After slow trolling live baits with no takers for nearly 2 hours and the radio talk confirming
the slow bite, I made the call to try for some Spanish Mackeral.
I figured this was going to be easy, especially since they were jumping every where you looked.
But, just as they do sometimes, they too were slow to bite.
I kept moving from one area to another with the same luck. Ok, lets go over to a shrimp boat
and catch a shark!!!
We gave that a try, no sharks and no bites. Back to the Spanish Mackeral fishing, at least
they were showing themselves, so, we knew they were in the area.
Now, we did finally get into the Spanish Mackeral and Bluefish. And you'll never believe where.
Just goes to show that you can't figure these critters out!!!!
We caught them in the dirtiest water we could find. The dirtier the water was, the better
they would bite. It never ceases to amaze me how things can be so different every day on the ocean!!!
This was going to make our evening trip a lot easier on me now that I had found the fish.
Don't ever think that all your plans will work as planned either. Got a call from our
afternoon trip guys. Before they made it to South Harbour Marina, they experienced vehicle trouble and had to go to the repair
shop instead of fishing, now that's a terrible way to begin and end a fishing trip.
Things happen in our lives that are unavoidable, and when they do, we just have to deal with
them the best we can!!!!
Capt Chris and I had a great time this morning with this crew and even though we found the
fish late in the morning, we gave our charter free extra time until we caught enough fish to make up for me having
to find them!!!
Oh yeah, we also had another first today, we caught a legal size Flounder on a Clark Spoon
while Spanish Fishing. I told you every day is different on the ocean!!!!!
Till next time, God Bless Everyone!!!!
Fish on!!!!
Capt's. Butch and Chris Foster
PROVERBS 17:4 The wicked enjoy fellowship with others who are wicked; Liars enjoy Liars.
10/10/2009
We started off with the initiative to run offshore on a full-day trip today; however, the
winds gusting 20 knots this morning out of the SW had a different plan for the Yeah Right crew. Brandon Byerly, Jeremy
Williams, Martin Almond, Ben "Big Fish" Smith, Darrel Smith, all from Concord, NC and Ron Woodruff of Wilmington, NC decided
to give a 1/2 day a go and see if the Spanish Mackerel would want to cooperate.
The day started off slow with alot of trolling and not a lot of catching, we even loaded up
on Pogys and rode in behind a shrimp boat trying to get a Shark. One nice Shark circled the baits twice and turned away
both times making the idea that the encroaching frontal boundary had created "lockjaw" amongst the ocean's beasts. The King
Mackerel action seemed just as slow as the Spanish action and Capt. Butch decided to make a last ditch effort. He made
the run to the rip where the Cape Fear River meets the Ocean and found some Spanish and Blues that wanted to bite.
Within 2 hours the crew had landed nearly 2 dozen nice Spanish and about a dozen Blues along
with a couple of Ribbonfish! #00 gold and pink Clarkspoons on #1 planers proved to be the "dynamite" today.
Til' next time,
FISH ON!!
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
10-9-09
The fishing is in the fall pattern pretty much now. We are to have some above average warm
weather the next couple of days, then getting back to more cooler conditions. This can only make the fishing better.
Had a trip to the stream yesterday but it was too rough to go then, so they went
with Dickie today to the stream. They had a Blackfin Tuna and three Mahi Mahi from the stream then came back inside and caught
5 or 6 King Mackeral, a Bonito, and a couple of Hound Fish.
The king Mackeral bite is doing good now close to the beach. Bait was reported thick today
at the Big Hill today. The Spanish Mackeral should bite good with the expected warm temperatures the next few days.
look for the Spots to make another run next week with the cooler temps coming in. They have
already made a couple of runs last week, but I think that was just to get things warmed up for what's to come in the coming
weeks ahead.
There's lots of other fish biting this time of year, You have the Reds, Flounder, Grey Trout,
Speckled Trout, Whiting, Spots, Sharks, King Mackeral, Spanish Mackeral, Blue fish, Many species of bottom fish, Grouper,
Bonito, and the species of the Gulf stream.
I'm sure I forgot some, but that's all I could think of at a moments notice!!!
As for the weather tomorrow, here's a copy from NOAA at 9PM Friday night;
TONIGHT
S WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SW 15 TO 20 KT AFTER
MIDNIGHT. SEAS
AROUND 3 FT...BUILDING TO 4 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
SAT
SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT.
SAT NIGHT
SW WINDS AROUND 10 KT...BECOMING NW AFTER MIDNIGHT.
SEAS
2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 TO 3 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT. A CHANCE OF
SHOWERS AND TSTMS.
SUN
N WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 2 TO 3 FT...BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT
IN
THE AFTERNOON. A CHANCE OF RAIN.
SUN NIGHT
NE WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT. A CHANCE OF RAIN.
It's
Fall Fishing Time, be safe out there and go catch a fish!!!!!
God Bless You All!!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt Butch Foster
PROVERBS: 12:17 A good man is known by his truthfulness, a false man by deceit and lies.
10-5-09
Today's trip with Shawn, Darnell, Henry Greenway, along with Clarence Dixon all from
Baltimore Maryland, was supposed to have been offshore.
But, the 20 to 30 knot NE winds changed all that, instead, we had to take the safer waters
provided by the blocking effect of the land and fish close to the beach.
I captured some Pogys and we went after some King Mackeral. We went to the old sea bouy area
where we found it to be real sloppy. There were a couple other boats in the area, and one boat did hook up a few Kings.
From the talk on the radio though, he was the only one that had his bait at the right place at the right time.
I came down from the fly bridge, and the seas had picked up to the point where you could
barely stand up, so with the event of safety in mind, I decided to leave and head back to calmer water on the beach.
The water on the beach was calm, so here we went fishing for Spanish Mackeral. The bite
was slow. It was one of those times that many fishermen have experienced if you have fished much for Spanish.
The fish were there, I know they were, they were jumping every where, but most of them just
would not bite our lures. They just do that sometimes!! The one's we caught were nice fish though, and a few were real nice,
several pounds!!
With a few Spanish for dinner in the box, we headed across the Jaybird shoals to do some
shark fishing. First line in was attacked in a matter of less than a minute.
It was a good fish, pulling line and screaming drag and the 130 class rod was bent like a
fish hook. Then the line went slack, the hooks just pulled out.
This scenerio was repeated several more times, just could not get a solid hookup for
some reason. We finally did get a Lemon shark to the boat around 30 lbs. for a photo shoot.
By this time the winds were getting colder and stronger and rain seemed to be getting
heavier and wetter, so we decided to call it a day.
No, we didn't 'bout sink the boat with fish today, but we had a great day of fishing
and comradre with some new made friends from the Maryland area. Hopefully, the next time the weather man will be a little
easier on us.
Thanks guy's, it was windy and wet, but I still enjoyed fishing with ya'll today!!!!
Congratulation to Larry Deal who fishes the boat "MAKO WARRIOR"
from Oak Island who caught a 40.30 pound King Mackeral to win the U S OPEN KING MACKERAL TOURNAMENT this past weekend. GREAT WORK
LARRY!!!!!
Till next time, God Bless All!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
PROVERBS: 16:4 The Lord has made everything for his own purposes ---- even the wicked, for
punishment.
10/04/2009
Today we went in search of bottom fish with Peggy and Gib Lyttle from Raleigh, NC, David and
Adele Haney from Whiteville, NC, alongside Greg and Suzanne Schumaker of Clinton, NC. Capt. Butch set the course
and we were off to the Southwest. First couple of stops proved that the fish were further offshore and we continued
on the southerly course until we finally found a good accumulation of fish on some rocks about 40 miles out. The Black
Sea Bass were big but scattered and seemed somewhat reluctant to bite, but the crew were able to pick out a couple dozen along
with a nice Triggerfish and a couple of Grey Snappers; then the Sharks moved in and the bottom bite shut down.
With a limit of Atlantic Sharpnose sharks onboard, we pulled anchor and headed to the southeast.
The next few rocks once again proved tough to fish and although the fish were there, they simply acted as if they were "full
to the gills" and were very reluctant to bite. We continued to move and got into some shallower water where we found
some Grey Snappers willing to bite and a nice Silver Snapper. A Gag Grouper was lurking and took the wrong baitfish
as well! Capt. Butch even put out a 3lb Grey Snapper on a 6/0 and had something hit it that stripped off 100# test line until
it finally pulled the hook!
We saw some nice schools of Spanish Mackerel jumping about 6 miles off of Bald Head
on the way in and heard several reports that the King Mackerel were "chewing good" at Lighthouse Rocks. Pogeys once
again showed up this morning all over the beach.
With this front passing through it is sure to put the feel of Fall in the air and we all know
what that means, even the fish do... It's time to eat!
FISH ON!!
Capt. Butch and Chris Foster
10/03/2009
This morning the winds were blowing 15 and gusting 20 knots offshore so it was a great event
that we had a 1/2 day trip and were met by such a great crew! Phil Bouchard and his wife, Alma, from Southport, NC,
were accompanied by Phil's brother, Lee Bouchard and Lee's wife, Ellen from Trinity, NC.
At first things seemed like a 180 degree flip from yesterday morning and the water had gotten
dirty again and the wind had switched directions; however, soon there were Spanish Mackerel in the 2-4 pound class on the
line! The crew knocked out about 2 dozen Spanish and then we decided to hook something big! Luckily the shrimp boats
were still dredging just offshore and soon we were deploying Shark baits in their wash. Almost immediately there
was a bait crashed and 30 minutes later an 80 pound Blacktip was hanging boatside!
I redeployed our baits and within 20 minutes Ellen found herself tied into a 40 pound Lemon
Shark that was pictured and then released--everyone needs to be a celebrity for one day! We went back to Spanish fishing
but they didn't want to be very cooperative with the day heating up and we were only able to pull out a few more. All
in all a wonderful morning spent with some really great people catching fish!
I haven't heard any reports from the US Open today, it sounded on the radio this morning like
the Kings weren't biting too much. Here is the link to the official site, I'm sure they will post the results asap!
http://www.usopenkmt.com/
FISH ON!
Capt's. Butch and Chris Foster
10/02/2009
This morning we were greeted by Richard Collmar, Brandon McGee, Don McAndrew, Jack Barnes,
and Craig Caudle; all from Charlotte, NC in hopes of an offshore trip, however with the weather forecast being altered this
morning calling for a "squall" to form this afternoon, Capt. Butch decided to go for the sure bet and try for some fish nearer
shore. October is one of the prime fishing months in Southport, NC for many reasons, one such being the fact that a
large variety of species and some very good sized fish move within sight of land to feed on all the bait fish before the water
cools and they have to migrate.
We started the morning by hitting the Spanish Mackerel, approx. two limits (30) on #00 gold
and pink Clarkspoons on #1 and #2 planers. Sure enough the storm clouds began to move in around 10am and with a good
number of Spanish fillets in the box and the prospect of a bigger fish led us to move off and drop some baits in search
of a big Shark. First two baits in the water yielded about a minute wait and the balloon line took off; however, the
fish pulled the hook! Then within minute number two, the flat line went off and just as the rod was picked up the
line went slack again, however this time the 14/0 Stainless Steel hook came back straightened!!!
With such large Sharks in the area I got a couple of our VMC Extra Heavy Duty welded eye 12/0
Tuna hooks and Capt. Butch made up a couple heavy duty rigs and soon after deployed the crew found themselves hooked up on
a 100+ pound Blacktip Shark! After nearly an hour and a half fight and everyone on board getting at least 2 turns to
fight, the Shark surfaced and I was able to leader him to where Capt. Butch could get the gaff in 'em and I was able to get
a tail harness on and the fish was enroute to the dinner table!
We attempted King Mackerel fishing next but couldn't find any willing to bite for us.
There were reports of several Kings being caught today. The US Open KMT is in full swing down here and I heard a report of
a 42 pounder leading, but I haven't confirmed this information yet and there is still one more day of fishing tomorrow so
the big one may be yet to come! We soon switched back up and caught a few more nice sized Spanish Mackerel and then
decided to call it a day.
A great day of fishing with an absolutely outstanding group of guys! The fish are biting!
FISH ON!
Capt. Chris and Capt. Butch Foster
SHARK!!
10-1-09
Today we were on a 1/2 day trip with Fran Daily from Oak Island,NC, Mike Sullivan from
Southport,NC, Michael Bayles from Quincy,IL and Terry Howell from Smith Mountain Lake, VA.
The water is cleaning up nicely, the bait is reappearing on the beaches, and there were reports
of more Kings being caught today.
We got a King and a couple of Sharp Nose Sharks today about 16 miles out. I personally
think the other cold front that went through last night didn't help the cause any, but I do believe that it is just going
to be a very short lived nuisance!!
The weather man is starting to change his mind about Saturday, or at least that's what I heard
the last time I checked. At that time Saturday was looking good, we'll see what they say tomorrow!!!
The fall fishing is finally starting to take form, and you can look for the bite to explode
any day now. The cooler temps can only mean that it's time to go fishing!!!!
Will be offshore tomorrow, check back tomorrow night (if I can get Capt Chris stirred up enough
to make a report) and see what we do!!!!
Till next time, God Bless!!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
PROVERBS 13:16 A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn't, and even brags about it.
9-30-09
I have been as busy today as a blind dog in a meat house. I was going to go to the stream
today, but decided to give the seas another day to settle before heading out.
I was able to round up a little info on the King mackeral today. Althhough
it wasn't great news, it was better than yesterdays.
There was a few Kings caught today, now from what I collected, they were very few.
The bait, I was told was still on the West end in about 30 feet of water and holding near
the bottom. The Big Hill was where it was yesterday.
Friday right now looks like it might be OK, but every indication at this point doesn't look
favorable for Saturday. But, as you know, down here, nothing is written in stone.
I will be out tomorrow, so I will have a "hands on" report for you tomorrow night on how the
fishing and water is improving.
Talked to one captain who was trying to catch some blues for bait and he was complaining that
they only caught about a dozen. Well, that's great news from Tuesday, when you couldn't hardly get a bite from anything.
I think the water will be ok for the U S Open, one thing about it, the conditions will be
the same for everyone, so it's anybody's tournament to win.
Right now it looks like Friday will be the day to get that big king to the scales so you can
coast saturday if it blows like they are predicting!!!
Dutchman Creek Bait and tackle (at the airport) had some real pretty and fresh ribbon fish
for sale. Stop by and see John or Angie and get some for the tournament. You can call them at (910)457-1221 and see if they
still have some. Tell them Butch sent ya', Thanks!!!
Good luck to everyone and be safe!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Butch
9-28-09
What I am about to report isn't what you want to hear, but, remember, it is what
it is!!! But, Hey, it's just Tuesday and the weekend is four days away and a lot can change until then, and it will as it
always does!!!
After the good bite we were having just two days ago, I would have never thought
that a one day blow, not to mention 20 inches of rain up stream, could have such an effect on the fishing, well, it did!!!
Capt Chris and I were fishing with Mike Callen from Glassboro,NJ, Paul Callen
from South Philly,PA., and Joe Boland from St. James,NC.
The water was dirty today and no one I heard on the radio was doing anything. I
decided to head offshore a little way to find some cleaner water.
I found cleaner water but no fish or bait. We did finally catch several "throw
back" Black Bass plus two keepers and an Atlantic Sharp Nose shark at the AR-445.
Capt. Dickie on the Get Reel reported only three Spanish Mackeral for the morning.
Capt Ryan on the Fugitive had three sharks before his trip was cut short due to uncontrollable circumstances, and
as we were leaving, Capt Lyndon on the Gracie Mae reported a Bluefish, Capt Kevin on the Fish Hunter reported no bites.
It was tough to say the least. Bait was at the "Big Hill" in around thirty feet
of water and as far as I know, there was not a King Mackeral caught today.
But, rejoice!!!!! Tomorrow is a new and different day on the ocean. It will get
better!!!! In a day or two, this will all be ancient history and the fish will be back to biting just like nothing ever happened.
Was going to the Gulfstream tomorrow, but decided to give the seas a little more
time to calm. That's a long run this close on the heels of all these fronts and I want to be sure things are safe before taking
off that far!!!
I'll start back fishing Thursday, weather permitting and will report my findings
here for you to read.
Thanks for taking the time from your day to read our reports and visit our
website. If not for ya'll, all this would be useless!!!
Till next time, God Bless!!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
PROVERBS 13:19 It is pleasant to see plans develop. That is why fools refuse to
give them up even when they are wrong.
9-26-09
Better late than never as they say. Saturday was a real rainy day but the fish didn't
seem to mind at all.
Just ask Rocky, Aaron, and Carla Barnes along with Jean Gunter from Sanford,NC. We were scheduled
to head offshore but that wasn't an option Saturday.
The NW winds however did have the beach flat as a pancake and the Spanish Mackeral were jumping
on the Cape Fear end of the beach.
Strange as they can be sometimes, when they were jumping, they were hard to catch. Find a
school of bait down in the water column around 22 to 24 feet and you would catch some.
Also, around that bait were some King Mackeral. More than once we would get a spoon slammed
only to break it off. A real tell tell sign that Kings were hitting the Clark Spoons.
Oh yeah, did I mention that it rained, well it did later in the morning and by the time the
hard rains had decided to settle in for the day we had caught around 45 fish, enough Spanish Mackeral for several
great fish dinners.
Even though we did not fish for the King Mackeral, there were some caught on the reef and
near shore Saturday. Pogys were not as plentiful on the beach as they have been in the past. But, that was last week,
things change here nearly daily!!!!
So, around lunch time we called it a day, went to South Harbour Marina, cleaned the fish and
boat, and again we made some more new friends and had a great morning of not just fishing but some catching as well.
Hope all the winds and recent rains haven't shut the Spanish or King Bite down. We will be
trying the Spanish again in the morning. Check back tomorrow evening, I'll let you know what happens with them and
if I hear of any King Mackeral and/or bait, I'll let you know that also!!!
Don't forget, the U S OPEN KING MACKERAL TOURNAMENT is this weekend!!!!
Till next time, God Bless!!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
PROVERBS 10:18 To hate is to be a liar; To slander is to be a fool.
9-25-09
You guys are going to have help me "light a fire" under Capt. Chris. I have noticed lately
that since I have mostly let him take over the fishing reports here, they aren't being kept quite as up to date as I would
like.
Guess he too thought that there was nothing to keeping all this up. "Yeah Right", it's a lot
of time and work to keep it all up, sometimes, you just have to make yourself do things!!!!
Every year when school starts back in September, the fishing trips slow for us. However,
October is a great month for fishing and to mirror that, we are booking trips now daily for Oct and Nov.
All weekends are booked (our next available Saturday at this time, is the 21st. of Nov.)
but we still have a few weekdays left open if you would like to get in on some great fall fishing on a weekday!!
The calls are starting to come in to me that the King Mackeral bite on the beach has finally
started off with the usual fall gusto that comes with the cooler water temps.
The bait (pogy's) don't seem to be as prevelant as they were before the water cooled some,
but I hear that Mullet are still here, and that makes for great bait this time of year as do Blues.
Spanish Mackeral are still thick according to reports. Talked to Capt. Chuck yesterday and
he told me that the only problem he had with the Spanish was trying to keep them off the hook while trrying to catch a King
Mackeral. I'll take that problem any day!!!!
Reports are all the Blue Fish you ever want as well and the Flounder bite has been good to
great!!!
It's time for the Grey Trout to be showing up, I have already heard of some being caught.
Big Red Drum are here already, and will be here more as will the Grey Trout as we get more into October.
The offshore fishing for Grouper, bottomfish, etc; only needs some calm seas to get out there.
They are there, they live there!!!
Want a muscle aching fight, AJ's are still biting offshore, hook up one and be reminded real
quick why they are called "Reef Donkey's"!!!!
Gulf stream action has got to be getting heated up for the fall run. Wahoo's and even some
Mahi-Mahi along with Blackfin Tuna, and even possibly the recent elusive Yellowfin Tuna just might be on the line!!!
Also, don't forget, the Monster Bluefin Tuna season will soon be here. Get your gear in first
class condition before you tie onto one of these monsters. These fish can humble even the best of the best!!!!
Was headed offshore tomorrow, but the threats of 15 to 20 knot NE winds will most likely change
that to a near shore fishing trip.
I also was told that the evening King Mackeral bite was much better than the morning bite,
and the bite has been happening right near the beach.
Let me know if I missed anything!!!! Till next time,God Bless!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt. Butch
PROVERBS 23: 12 Don't refuse to accept criticism; get all the help you can.
9-20-09
Ok. enough is enough. The winds and seas have been rougher offshore than I like to try to
fish in so we switched gears.
I called Captain Chris last night and we talked about another plan. We decided to make a trip
to one of our crappie fishing holes here on the East Coast.
It proved to be a good plan!!! It didn't take us long until we had all we wanted and were
headed back to Southport with a great evening meal in the cooler.
And we just got up from the table, and boy were they ever good. I fried up some House -Autry
Hushpuppies with onion and breaded the Crappies in House-Autry seafood breader, dropped the into hot canola oil in my trusty
cast iron frying pan, enough said.
Anyhow, I know it's not an offshore or not even a near shore report, but the fish bit real
good, plus, sometimes it's a lot of fun to just kick back with your best friend and Son and take it a little easier sometimes.
It was a great change of pace, And I think I could get into doing this a little more often.
I'll have to work on that!!!!
Till next time,God Bless All and get outside and enjoy all the wonders that God has give us!!!!!
Fish
On!!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
PROVERBS 16:11 The lord demands fairness in every business deal. He established this principal.
9-18-09
Jeff Peoples who charters the "JAYBIRD" out of Carolina Beach,
you can reach him at (910)279-6072, told me today that Yesterday the Spanish Mackeral bite was on fire. His charter had
68 Spanish for the trip. That's some good fishing and even better eating.
He told me that today he went offshore into the 300's and
even though the seas were rough with a 19+ knot NE wind and 4 to 7 foot seas, and the current was "screaming" again today,
they still had a good day of fishing.
Even though he was faced with tough conditions his crew brought
to the dock today a full limit of BIG Vermillion Snappers,(B-Liners) 4 Grouper,a 42 pound Barracuda, and 2 citation Amber
Jacks.
Not a bad day at all for the conditions he had to fish
in, and believe me, I know what he had to deal with out there, some tough fishing conditions today!!!
Now Jeff has a great boat for nearshore and offshore fishing, not
sure of the size, but somewhere close to the 40's. I'll have to find out for sure when I talk to him again.
He is a great captain and fisherman, and when you are in the
Carolina Beach area, he would be a good boat to charter for your fishing trip in that area!!!
Don't have any pictures, he said his charter took some, but he didn't. Maybe next time!!
Till next time, Good fishing and God Bless Everyone!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt. Butch Foster
PROVERBS 18:17 Any story sounds true until someone tells
the other side and sets the record straight.
9-16-09
10 Years ago today we were all wondering if we would have anything left tomorrow. You see,
today is the 10th anniversary of hurricane Floyd's landfall. Some of the worst flooding in 100's of years was recorded with
this storm, but we are still here.
You would never know we were in a hurricane area with the weather we have been having lately.
The seas have been as flat calm as they have been all year, the currents have subsided some, and the fish are biting.
The cool mornings and warm evenings are the makings of fall weather on the horizon. With this
comes some of the best fishing of the year, and the fish are holding true to form.
Just because we haven't been fishing does not mean that the fish aren't biting. The king Mackeral
are biting very well at areas like the Shark Hole, 15 Mile Rock, 18 mile Rocks, and there are some on the beach as well.
In fact, I think before I ran offshore to those areas, I would have to try areas like
Yaupon Reef or light House Rocks first. The fish are here, the bait is thick so the fish will be with the bait.
Spanish Mackeral are at the same areas as just mentioned. I have been hitting some big schools
jumping lately while coming back from offshore trip about 6 to 8 miles out. So, that tells me they are scattering out
now with the water starting to cool, but there is still plenty around to be caught., and some have been big!!
Blue Fish are making their fall run towards the beach now, and some have been right good size
too!!
Flounder, that bite has been awesome lately, but with the cooling water, that too will slow
in the not to distant future. But, it's the Fall Season coming upon us, it's supposed to slow, but right now the
flat fish are biting!!!
Talked to Dave at Ocean Crest Pier today and the bite there is starting to reflect the cooling
water with the bite there starting to pick up.
He told me that Monday they had some small to medium King Mackeral to bite, so that
tells you that they are on the beach now. There have been some 20 to 30 pound Kings Reported being caught a little farther
off the beach, like the reef and Shark Hole, "hint;hint"
Also on OCP there have been Bluefish, Spanish Mackeral, Black Drum, Flounder, and even some
whiting and spots being caught in the evenings and at night!!
The near shore reefs and rocks will soon be host to the Grey trout that visit out beaches
every fall. There have already been some big Red drum caught on the reefs.
The other day while trolling for Spanish Mackeral about 6 miles off South Beach of BHI i was
marking so good schools of fish right on the bottom, I'll just about bet they were the schools of Grey trout and Red Drum
making their way to the near shore structures.
And while I am at it, remember the "world class" Bluefin Tuna fishing we now have off the
Beaches down here now. The first Bluefin Tuna that was caught and sold (as far as I know anyway, I hope that if
I am wrong someone will correct me)here was caught in sight of land by Capt. John Quattlebaum, Capt. Chuck Gambino, and Capt.
Alex Humphries aboard Capt. John's "Sea Witch", and ever since then, it has been a good fishery down here which
generally happens in the months of December and January.
If you are fishing the U S OPEN KING MACKERAL TOURNAMENT and want some very pretty hand caught
Ribbon Fish, and some are huge, you need to get by DUTCHMAN'S CREEK BAIT AND TACKLE (910)457-1221, and get some before they
are all gone.
He only has a limited supply, they have been brined in BIONIC BRINE and BIONIC Brined in the
"belly" area and hand wrapped, I know they have because I wrapped and brined them for John. They really are pretty and as
fresh as you can get unless you catch your own!!!!!!
Gulfstream right now should get you some Blackfin Tuna, and Mahi-Mahi, October should pick
up the Wahoo bite and hopefully there will be some Yellowfin Tuna's cruising through that time of year.
Just wanted to give you a brief up date on what's been happening down here. Yeah, the fish
are biting and the seas have been "Slick". It's supposed to start raining here tomorrow and be spotty through the weekend.
They are not talking about a "washout"!!!
But, if the winds stay calm like they have been lately, and no lightening is in with the rain,
what the heck, the fish are already wet and a little rain won't phase them a bit.
Fall fishing, It doesn't get any better than here on the SE Coast of NC!! God Bless Each And
Everyone Of You, and if you come to the beach this weekend, be safe in your travels!!!!!
P.S. I have some more great news, Mike Coffelt, who had operated "Supply Boat Co." for years has
gotten bored with retirement. He said that it wasn't for him!! Those of you that know him like I do know that he is one of
the best, if not the best mechanic I have ever known when it comes to anything marine.
Well, Mike has gone mobile now, give him a call at (910)523-2628 and he can come to
you. How can you beat that for convience!!! If you want the job done right the first time, at a fair price, by a fair and
honorable man, then Mike's your guy. He truly is the very best that I know!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt. Butch Foster
PROVERBS 13:13 Despise God's word and find yourself in trouble,Obey it and succeed.
9/12/2009
Today we were priveledged to be fishing with Martin Shaw and his son, Mark from Greenville,
NC. Martin and Mark have been with us many times over the past several years and have been in dire need of a good weather
day offshore! Well today was the day that we were fortunate to have this accommodation and Capt. Butch, myself, and
the crew made our way to the Amberjack hole and once again the Pogeys seemed to do the trick.
Mark and Martin both fought and landed a couple Amberjacks and then we decided to move on
off in search of some bottomfish. At first things seemed bleak due to the fact that all of our good bottom fishing holes
were "dry" but at least the current wasn't screaming for the first time this year! Capt. Butch continued to push further
and further offshore checking locations the whole way and finally once we neared the Gulf Stream and reached 100+ feet of
water the bottom began to mark up with an abundance of bottomfish.
The first lightline deployed proved deadly for a teenager King Mackerel and then we started
dropping Pogeys and Cigar Minnows and cut bait to the bottom and the Gray, Vermillion, and Silver Snapper began to role in
alongside a few Black Sea Bass and 4 decent sized Grouper! Several times the Amberjacks reappeared under the boat and
then we had a school of 40-50 pound Barracuda's come around the boat.
Capt. Butch hooked a couple of the 'Cuda's but with their teeth they were both lost in the
battle and lived to swim another day! Capt. Butch even dropped down one pole with two live Pogeys on it and hooked a
Grouper that snapped 100 pound Ande mono. like it was nothing!
On the way back in the schools of 2-5 pound Spanish Mackerel were all over the top about 5
miles off of Bald Head the same way they were this morning and seemed to be willing to bite from the radio talk. #00
gold and pink clarkspoons behind #1 and #2 planers will usually do the trick, make sure you use a long 20-30 foot leader from
the planer to the spoon and lots of ball-bearing swivels.
Martin and Mark, as always it was great fishing with you guys and the Capt. and myself definitly
look forward to the next time.
Fall fishing is on the brink, and is really starting to kick off! Here in Southport you can even
feel it in the air!
FISH ON!!!
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
9/11/2009
Capt. Butch and myself started the day out with skepticism due to the persitent
NE-E winds and the transitions in the weather and temperatures with the coming of fall!
We were joined today by Stephanie Woods, Stacy DeShields, and their brother,
Blake Cogdill; alongside Jeremy Teague, Seth DeShields, and T.L. Owens in search of the "Captains' Choice" as long as it was
big fish that pulled hard and something to eat.
After much searching the south beach on Bald Head for some pogeys,
the Mullet Minnows were abundant, we finally made our way almost to the shoals and in deeper water where we located the Pogeys
and after one solid cast the livewell was full and the Yeah Right II was underway to the offshore grounds in search of big
fish.
Thankfully our crew did not want any one particular type of fish and was
able to leave it up to Capt. Butch because the reports indicated that the Spanish and King Mackerel was starting off
slow this morning.
After getting to our first stop and getting set up, it didn't take
long, in fact, first line out, and the crew found themselves hooked into the "Reef Donkeys" and trying to hold on to
the rods for dear life as the line was ripped off them!
They successfully boated 9 Amberjacks in the 25-40 pound range, we
released 3 and the only bite on the lite line was a Remora.
Soon after everyone's arms were sore from the jacks hard fights, we
opted to try to catch some bottomfish. After trying for a couple hours in the hard currents, and pulling out some Black
Bass, a Pinky and a Triggerfish, Capt. Butch decided that it would be best to move back inside and try to find some Spanish
Mackerel that would bite.
On the way to the beach Capt. spotted the schools of Spanish all over the
top in the bait about 8 miles offshore of Bald Head Island, and the bite was fast and furious as long as we could stay in
the schools of Spanish!
It was a great day on the water with a group of really great new-found friends!
FISH ON!!!
Capt's. Butch and Chris Foster
PROVERBS 10:17 Anyone willing
to be corrected is on the pathway to life. Anyone refusing has lost his chance.
Stacey Deshields and Blake Cogdill
Stephanie Woods "Giant fish"
Seth Deshields and Blake Cogdill fight 2 amberjacks at the same time.
9/06/2009
Once again the wind was blowing 15-20 knots out of the NE this morning and we had to make
our excursion with Rickey Bullins and his sons: Rich, Matt, and Luke; joined by their good friend Kurt Scotton, all from
Madison, NC into a 1/2 day trip in search of Spanish and Blues that wanted to bite.
The day started off slow picking up one Spanish Mackerel here and there but we were feeling
pretty fortunate that with all the ENE winds lately, we were still catching some fish.
After much trial and error I finally figured out what they were wanting and Capt. Butch
found a school of Blues and everything came together beautifully. The Spanish and Blues we were catching were nice fish,
and as Capt. Jeff said, the Spanish were "Turbos"!!!
Doubles and triples were common, and one time Luke caught 4 blues on one "Mackerel
Tree" rig at one time on one rod! It don't take long to limit out when you catch them 4 at a time!!!!! The action was
hot and heavy and we were able to see some really good fishermen in action!
The King Mackerel are beginning to show up on the beach, one here and there, but I
haven't heard any stellar reports yet... but with all the bait that's on the beach now, it won't be long, will let you know
as soon as I hear that the bite has fired off!
FISH ON!!!
Captain Butch and Capt. Chris Foster
Catching Blues on Yaupon Reef
9/05/2009
Today we were joined by John and Michatia Phillips from Spring Lake, NC (celebrating their
10th anniversary) in search of big fish that pull hard.
Capt. Butch and I agreed Amberjacks were the target and hopefully some Kings as well...so
we set out in search of some pogeys. The South beach on Bald Head was absolutly covered with bait, only problem was
that they were 3-4" Mullet Minnows by the tons! The decision was made to head on offshore.
About 8 miles out the NE wind had the seas kicked up to about 3-5 feet and building
along with the winds picking up so we made the choice to head back in to calmer waters near the beach and see if there
were any hungry Spanish Mackerel or Blues.
With the winds blowing from the East, NE the fish were very reluctant to bite
but we did manage to find a few Spanish Mackeral and Bluefish. Then we decided to go and try to catch a Shark.
Unfortunatly, the water has began its fall transition and the Sharks don't seem to
bite quite as good when the water starts to cool. They are still around and can still be caught, just don't bite as good
as in the warmer part of the season.
While we were drifting I could see Spanish cutting through the Mullet Minnows and proceeded
to try to catch them by casting a Hopkins spoon to them, but they didn't want to bite that either!
Spanish Mackeral can be very picky eaters at times and wind, wind direction, and
dirty water conditions can have a significant influence on the fact as to wheather they will bite or not. And today the
conditions were not in our favor!!!
We still caught some fish before the weather and winds started getting worse.
And with the worsening weather, the call to make it a 1/2 day trip was made and we headed the Yeah Right II
back to her slip at South Harbor Marina.
FISH ON
Capt. Butch and Capt. Chris Foster
9-3-09
With the NE winds blowing the seas up offshore, we decided
to stay in close today and fish for some Spanish Mackeral since the NE winds will have our South facing beach calm.
Our first stop was just east of "Oak Island Pier" and with
me today was Clint and Scott Wilkins from Smyrna,SC, Justin Switzer from York,SC, and Peggy Adkins from Rock Hill,SC.
The fish were jumping everywhere but were reluctant to bite
on the incoming tide. But, we stayed with it, and when the tide turned and started to fall, the bite started up.
Also mixed with the Spanish Mackeral were some nice
Blues. This, along with the Mullet that has shown up on the beach can only mean that the fall fishing is starting to get under
way.
I am glad, it means less humidity, cooler temperatures, and
hungry fish. Fall fishing is some of the best fishing of the year!!!
Fall fishing also means that the King Mackeral bite will get
going right off the beach, grey trout and blue fish will be on the near shore structures along with some huge Red Drum.
Then shortly after that, the Black Bass and Grouper will follow
suit!! I have waited all summer for this time of year!!!!!
Check out the pictures of the 42lb.13oz. King Mackeral that
Frank Wallace emailed to me, Thanks Frank, that's a big King Mackeral!!!!! That would have been a good catch for the U S OPEN!!!
Also, Reid Goodman sent me pictures from a Red Drum fishing
excursion in the Orential area, check out those pictures as well. Thanks Reid!!! btw/ Reid, I am ready for another Brat
with peppers and onions, it don't get no better than that!!!!!!
Tomorrows offshore trip has been cancelled due to strong NE
winds which will mean rough seas. The crew is trying to decide if they want to fish close in for the Spanish and Blues. If
we do, I'll let you know right here!!!
Till next time, God Bless Everyone!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt Butch
PROVERBS 10:27 Reverance to God adds hours to each day, so how can the wicked expect a long, good
life?
8/20/09
Lee Kahler and Suzanne Griffin of Knoxville, MD alongside her mother, Margaret Griffin
of Glyndon, MD ventured for their first time offshore with us today in search of big fish that wanted to PULL!
After hearing reports of "no bait" and searching the entire south beach of Bald Head
to discover, no bait, Capt. Butch aimed the bow to the South and we headed toward the Horseshoe in search of King Mackerel,
Mahi, Sharks, Amberjacks, and whatever else wanted to bite.
We briefly contemplated bottom fishing, but after anchoring up on a school of bait
and watching the 16oz weights "fly" 100 feet behind the boat just trying to get them to the bottom, we knew that this was
out of the question.
While at anchor Capt. Butch and myself jigged up some Tomtotes and some live CIgar
Minnows and soon after deploying the Amberjack lines Lee was hooked up on a reel arm-stretcher!
After landing the first fish the lightline began to scream, mind you we are at anchor
on a school of fish because the current was screaming so strong that when you pulled up and stopped the boat, by the
time I would get the lines out the Yeah Right would be .5 a mile off the #'s.
So the lightline is screaming off line and after awhile a False Albacore surfaces with
several nice AJ's behind him, who choose to eat him right off the hook, so I suppose in that situation everyone won!
The AJ's seemed to shut off at this point, they were under the boat about 30' deep
but wouldn't hit any of our live baits, so I decided to jig a gold jig from Eastern Tackle, soon after the Jacks
were following it but wouldn't hit. Then as I took it away from them they decided that the live baits did seem appealing
and the battles were on! The crew fought and landed several more brutes!
and I only jigged it twice before I hooked something that was enormous!!!
The fight lasted for about 10 minutes but the 120lb braided line simply couldn't
turn the fish and he eventually got down in the rocks and broke the braid. I was close to the bottom so I think it might have
been a massive Grouper, as I said, he broke off so I don't know, what I do know is that these jigs WORK GREAT!!
Captain Butch also said he had been waiting a long time for a test like this on the
jigging rod that he had custom built for him by Captain Rick Bennett of "Rod Man Charters" last year.
Well, Captain Rick, I can tell you this, the parolic rod you built for Capt Butch can
definately take the stress of a big fish and never let up. The rod worked flawlessly!!!
I couldn't have expected it to do any better than it did, Capt. Butch said; It
truly exceeded all of my expectations!!! This beautiful rod was definately built by a master craftsman to excel at the
job it was designed to do!!!!!!!
If you are into jigging up big fish, you owe it to yourself to get one built for yourself,
just contact Capt. Rick Bennett at (910)799-6120, I couldn't believe such power can come from such
a light weight and small rod, it's amazing!!!!
Sorry about all the advertising, but good products can sometimes be hard to find, and
when I find some good ones, I want to pass the info. to you!!!! Good quality products results in more fish for you!!!
After fighting all the Amberjacks that their arms could withstand the crew opted to
begin to troll for some Kings and Mahi.
I deployed a dead cigar minnow spread using some of our custom king rigs topped with
some pink skirts from Bluewater Candy lures www.bluewatercandylures.com and soon after the Diawa's were screaming!
We had 3 rods go off, however, only one King hooked up and was landed, the other
two proved to be short-strikes. I was in the process of re-deploying the lines whenever the decision was made to head
back inshore and see if we could catch a few Spanish Mackerel.
Once again pink and gold #00 Clarkspoons proved to be the selection and several
nice 16"-18" Spanish were boated in short time.
After creating a successful fish catching day, the crew were frazzled and decided that
it was time to "call it a day" and Capt. Butch navigated back to South Harbour Marina.
Thank you again Lee, Suzanne, and Margaret for a wonderful day on the water and great times
established amongst friends!
It appears as if Hurricane Bill is going to limit our fishing over the next few days due to high
swells, but hopefully we will see you out there again before too long.
til' then, FISH ON!
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
ps...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Because you are special to us and Eastern
Tackle, Jim has authorized a special deal for "Yeah Right" customers only. From now until the end of the year, use the code
"YeahRight" when you order from www.easterntackle.com and recieve 10% off your order. Another
way to say Thanks from us and our sponsor's for being a part of the Yeah Right Fishing Family!!
Fish On!!!!!!
Capt's Butch Foster & Jim Currin
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Fish that "pull"
8/19/09
Today's crew was from Richmond, VA; Terry, Caleb, and Carl Henshaw along with Thomas Woody
and Kody Sharp ventured in search of Spanish Mackerel and Sharks on a morning 1/2 day trip.
The Spanish opted to make themselves visible today coming up here and there in the schools
of pogys on the beach and we soon had a good mess of about 30 or so. After catching enough for the dinner table the
crew decided they wanted to try to catch something a little bigger; therefore we headed to the shark fishing grounds.
I deployed the shark baits and quickly we hooked up a 40lb Lemon that was landed and pictured
then released. The other sharks didn't seem to want to feed to much this morning. One more Atlantic Sharpnose
was caught, but reports were that the Sharks simply did not bite this morning for most anglers.
We had a great time and watching the smiles on the boys faces as they landed Spanish
one right after the other sure did make Capt. Butch and my day! The spanish seemed to want gold clarkspoons when it
was cloudy and pink when the sun was shining this morning.
Hope to see you on the water,
FISH ON!
Capt. Butch and Capt. Chris Foster
8/18/09
Today was a day of Firsts! Hassel Stacy and his daughter, Ashley Stacy from Zebulon,
NC made their way offshore today in search of a first big fish, first Mahi, first King Mackerel, in general, firsts of big
fish! With the bottom fishing nearly impossible due to the currents Capt. Butch and I were relieved to hear the
desire for BIG fish and we made our way toward the south beach of Bald Head to catch some live pogys.
After netting a load of bait we headed about 30 miles offshore and soon after deploying the
Amberjack baits and a lightline the reels began to scream. First fish was Ashley's first King Mackerel, soon followed
by her first Amberjack. Just as Ashley landed her AJ, Hassel found himself hooked up on a nice 35+ pounder! The
action was fast and furious; then just as quickly as they had started to bite, the AJ's decided to turn off.
I deployed a dead cigar minnow spread and we began to troll the area. A couple more
short strikes and another King was hooked up and landed, soon followed by Ashley's first Mahi-Mahi --a nice 12lb cow.
After several more knockdowns and a couple of Atlantic Sharpnose sharks later, we were back on the Amberjacks. Hassel
and Ashley fought and landed several more Jacks and then we began to troll again.
The bite slowed during the hottest part of the day but there was a little excitement when
Ashley and Hassel fought their first False Albacores; however, Hassel only got 1/2 an Albacore due to a hungry Barracuda!
Just as we were getting ready to leave I spotted a floating object and as we approached there
were Mahi in the 10lb class all around it!!! I pitched a bait and one nice Dolphin nailed it, then after a couple of
jumps he got free and the school left, all execpt one. I have never witnessed a Mahi that would not eat anything until
today. After repeated tries with live bait, squid, and minnows, we had just about given up and then as we started away I pitched
out a cigar minnow on one of our custom dead bait rigs and sure enough, Hassel was hooked up on his first Mahi, the fish was
landed and the trip was set in stone as "perfect"!
Heard reports of the Sharks and Spanish Mackerel doing very well on the beach although the
African Pompano report did not sound favorable at all! Only heard of 2 AP's today. On the way in I saw a guy in the
waterway gaff, yes Gaff, a Flounder that probably would have went close to 10lbs and he was fighting another large one.
Although the bottom bite is not even noteworthy, there are many many many fish to be caught,
great memories to be made, and lots of great fillets to be put on the table, so lets' go Fishin!
FISH ON!!
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
"Firsts"
8/16/09
Capt. Butch and myself were accompanied today by a group of great fishermen and fisherwomen.
Cindy, Dan, Chase, and Lauren Soper of Parkton, NC along with Carl Powell and Chris Reader of Fayetteville, NC went in search
of Big Fish!
After heading down the South beach of Bald Head Island and catching some nice sized
Pogeys we headed toward the Tower. With reports of African Pompano and Amberjacks from yesterday we thought that it
would be a good choice for a good pull!
Well, the word of Pompano is out, the area down-current (which again today was
pushing 7-8 knots!!!) of the Tower looked as described several times today as "a parking-lot." I heard of several African
Pompano and Amberjacks coming out of this area by freelining live pogeys under the Tower legs.
We had several "knockdowns" that failed to get the circle hook set; however,
the lightline produced 1 and 1/2 nice King Mackerels! With the crowd around the Tower getting larger, Capt.
Butch decided to try to go find some Kings and Dolphin at the rocks we fished yesterday.
Pretty quickly we had another nice King Mackerel in the box and the hooks pulled on
a couple more. Capt. Butch really wanted to fulfill this crew's wish of catching a fish that would stretch their arms;
therefore, we headed to the west toward some rocks that hold AJ's regularly.
The Amberjacks were there, and a BUNCH of them but they were wanting to be finiky!
The crew landed two nice Amberjacks, one weighing nearly 35 pounds and had several in the 40-50 pound class sniff the baits
but wouldn't eat them!
Heard of large catches of African Pompano and AJ's from under the Tower that
the guys who got there before the "parking lot" filled up managed to boat.
Good catches of Spanish Mackerel were reported from Lockwood's Folly, up to Ocean
Crest Pier, and around the Oak Island Pier and on the schools of bait around the HotHole and offshore of the Oak Island Lighthouse.
The bottom report today was much like it's been being, I spoke with a really
good Grouper fisherman today and he said that he fished the East Side all day and that the current was so strong that the
lines were 50-75 foot behind the boat before the weights ever got to the bottom!
The Flounder are biting on the nearshore artificial reefs and inside; pogeys
being the bait of choice but there are plenty of Mullet Minnows to be found cruising the ICW.
I was messing around with a jigging spoon the other day and even found a few Gray Trout
lingering on the bottom about 6 miles off the East Beach of Bald Head. The fish are biting guys, hopefully the storms
will remain "at bay" and the fall fishing blitz is going to really shine through!
The way things are shaping up, it appears that there is potential for the best
fall fishing that we have seen in these parts in a long time! True only time will tell, but the fish are definitely biting
now!
So come on down and catch some fish while they are accommodating!
Best of luck to everyone!
FISH ON!!!
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
P.S. Richard Croom has sent Capt. Butch a great looking Red Snapper recipe that he has posted
on the "Recipe Page" here on the website. If you try it, let us know how it is!!!
8/15/09
Had a bottom fishing trip today with some old friends from Fayetteville, NC. William
and Wendell Owens, Herb Campbell, Benn McDonald, Albert Craig, and Tony Cameron joined Capt. Butch and myself in a quest for
tamed currents and prospective bottom fish.
We started out on a search once again due to the fact that the bottom fish were trying to
prove their illusiveness that they have seemingly mastered this year. After checking several of our good #'s and dodging
the heavy rains that were encroaching (not to mention a large and beautiful waterspout) Capt. Butch made his way onto a new
set of rocks that proved to have some nice Vermillion Snapper and Gray Snappers.
I quickly deployed a lightline with a dead cigar minnow and soon after we had a decent Mahi-Mahi
on --i'm not dilusional, the dolphin are still here in August, scattered but here!!! The light-line produced 4 Mahi
in all today and a nice 25lb King Mackerel and a couple of other strong runs that I assume were Kings that pulled the hook.
All the while Capt. Butch was deploying live baits to the Amberjacks feeding
under the boat and in-turn the crew were able to land a couple nice AJ's as well! We fished hard today for the fish
that we were able to pull off the bottom, and even used as much as 32oz of lead to get the baits to the bottom!
With the strong currents, 6+ knots, and the reports of African Pompano, King
Mackerel, and Mahi... trolling may be the best option until the currents decide to calm once again. The seas are calm
and the fish are biting, better enjoy these nice seas, seem as if they may be the "calm before the storm." I guess we'll all
have to wait and see!
Til next time...
FISH ON!!!
Capt's. Butch and Chris Foster
8/14/09
Captain Butch and Myself had the honor of meeting the Martin Family: Don, Myles, Phillip,
and Brandon (from Milton, Delaware) and Brandon's college roommate, Dan Pulis from Wixou, Michigan! The offshore seas
appeared calm this morning however, the weather forecasts of storms lingering and building throughout the day with potential
downpours and severe lightning compelled us to make the decision to stay close to shore so we could run if needed.
Needless to say, Capt. Butch made the right call again, the Spanish Mackerel
were willing to bite rather aggressively and after about an hour of hauling them in (several nearly 3-4 pounds) the crew decided
to make the run for Shark waters.
The approaching frontal boundary must have made the sharks hungry as well because nearly
instantly we were hooked up on a 40 pound Blacktip. I rebaited the lines and put them back in and soon after found that
we were hooked up on two more sharks, a small Blacktip and another Lemon about 50 pounds.
All in all we were thankful at the end of the day that we kept as many Spanish
as we did because we nearly ran out of shark bait! They were biting fast and furious to say the least! The crew hooked and
landed nearly 15 or so Sharks, all Lemons and Blacktips that were under the 54" size limit but we did manage one Atlantic
Sharpnose that made it to the cooler!
With the storms approaching and building around noon we decided to call it a
successful half day trip and make our way back to the dock to celebrate the morning as a sincere success in both making friendships
and fishing memories! Til next time...
FISH ON!
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
What is it??
8/13/09
Had two half day trips today and we decided to stay on the Oak Island beaches.
After hearing that the Spanish were not wanting to show their faces on the beach, Capt. Butch decided to venture to new waters
a little bit further offshore and soon we discovered the Spanish (and some nice ones) were there!
Pink and Gold #00 Clarkspoons behind #1 planers seemed to be the colors
of choice today and the cloud cover and rain seemed to help the bite as well. This morning we were joined by Capt. Jim Noel
and his two sons, Jeremy and Jason of Madison, Conn. along with Neil Condon and his son, Seamus from Centerville, VA and John
Collins of Davidson, NC.
We were soon in search of a nice Shark after we had secured about 15-20 Spanish
Mackerel in about 30 minutes. Not long after setting the lines we had a double hookup with a Lemon Shark of about 50
lbs and a small 25lb Blacktip Shark.
Then Capt. Jim, Neil, and John found themselves hooked into a BIG 100+pound Stingray!~!
This was a great crew and we enjoyed having them aboard,
On the second half of the day Capt. Butch and I were joined by Gary Carpenter
and his son Kyle of State Road, NC along with Brandon Seal from Dobson, NC in search again for some Spanish Mackerel
and a big Shark.
We headed back out to the Spanish grounds and shortly had about 2 dozen in the
box --a few nearing 3 pounds or better.
We then decided to go find a big Shark. I deployed the
baits and soon after the crew was hooked up on a 50-60 lb. Lemon Shark and several other hits and landings of smaller sharks.
We hooked another 100lb Stingray and landed it. About 20 minutes later the day
ended with the hooking and leadering of one last 100lb Stingray!
The crew had a great time and I know we really enjoyed having Gary, Kyle, and
Brandon's company on board today.
Capt. Butch and I were blessed with 2 great crews and an ocean with fish that were willing
to feed today! Everyday on the water is a great day, but every day is different! Come on let's go fishing!
FISH ON!
Capt. Butch and Capt. Chris Foster
What is it??
Even little boys can catch sharks!!
8/12/09
We left out today with reports of Spanish Mackerel biting up off of Carolina Beach so with haste Capt. Butch and myself
along with Bill Donald and his two sons, Nick and Lucas from Lexington, VA with Ben Hieser from Fairfield, VA made our way
across the shoals and into calmer seas on the East facing beaches. To our dismay the cold water had moved into the area and
the bait and spanish were simply Gone! After trolling for awhile there were a couple of small baitfish picked up and the crew
decided to try to catch a Shark since the Spanish didn't want to cooperate. We fished the shoals and ended up hooking one
very large Bull or Spinner Shark that kept spinning in the air until he finally threw the hook! The fish were definitely hard
to come by today, but we did manage to have a great time with some returning friends of Yeah Right Charters. Bill, Nick, Lucas,
and Ben, you guys were great and we apologize once again that the fish bite wasn't better today, nonetheless, I want you to
know that we really enjoyed your comradeship as well as we do all of our friends of Yeah Right, and we look forward to the
next time of making lifetime fishing memories aboard the Yeah Right!
Til' then,
FISH ON!
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
8/10/09
Capt. Butch and myself were joined by yet another group of friends from back home in Lexington,
NC. Tim Jackson, Kim Jackson, along with Kenny and Jacob Jackson were accompanied by Dylon and Katie Lester on
an offshore adventure today. After fishing the SW areas and the SE areas in the previous days, Capt. Butch set out for
new waters that we haven't yet probed this year. The results, strong currents and BIG fish! Initially the bite
was 2-4 pound Vermillion Snappers mixed with Grey Snappers and Black Bass; however, after deploying a 2 pound B-Liner on the
"Jack Rod" there was soon after a 40+ pound Amberjack on and in the process of wearing Tim out! The day continued with
several nice Triggerfish and a few sharks along with more bottomfish. Twice the lightline screamed with Mahi-Mahi on
but the first one was eaten by a Barracuda and the second threw the hooks while "dancing" for us. One of the last hits
of the day was a 23 pound King Mackerel that hit a black sea bass on the jack rod. This goes to
show you never know what you're going to get on any bait put out!
Another great day in great company having a great time catching some fish!
FISHON!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
Tim Jackson, Lexington, NC fights a large amberjack
Scott Bivens, Capt of the "Fish Nuts" took Meg and Scott Michaud of Elizabethton, TN, on
an inshore fishing trip. They caught a total of 7 flounders, ranging in weight from the 9 pounder that Meg is holding, down
to 5 poundsalong with 4 reds. They were fishing in the Cape Fear River out of Southport.
8/09/09
Today we welcomed Garry Adkins of Winston-Salem, NC and Randall Leonard, Eddie Queen, and Keith McGee
all from Lexington, NC. Once again we went in search of bottom fish and fish that pulled hard. Several Amberjacks showed
their faces multiple times and the crew successfully landed two nice sized ones. A Mahi-Mahi was landed and there were
several Barracuda Strikes. Two nice Triggerfish, some Black Sea Bass, Silver Snappers, and some Beeliners
all found their way onto the Yeah RIght II. The seas are calm and the fish are bound to start biting full force again
soon. You need to be there when they decide to turn on and ready to wear your arms out.
Fish On!!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
PS. Capt Chris forgot to mention they had several thresher sharks that made it to the boat, but not
ON the boat. They averaged 80 to 100 pounds.
8/08/09
Offshore today with Robert Williams of Pennington Gap, VA and Louise Strange of Clear Field,
KY in search of big fish and fish to eat. Louise started today with a 43 pound Amberjack that proved to be the fight
she was looking for on her maiden voyage into the deep blue! The bottom fish proved once again to try to be somewhat
hard to catch. We were on large schools of them but they simply didn't want to bite. The day ended with a catch
of nice Black Sea Bass, Beeliners, Triggerfish, Sharks, and a few other bottom fish, along with Louise's Amberjack.
A great day with great company and even some fish to go along.
FISH ON!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
8/07/09
Capt. Butch and myself once again had two 1/2 day trips with some great people; however,
the winds had switched to the NE and allowed us to stay on the Oak Island beach.
We were joined by Mark Lester from Shawness, OK along with Gary Kellen, Dan Kellen, and Sara
Kellen from Rhinelander, WI and Abby and Kevin Grenson from Anoka, MN on a Shark Adventure. After floating the castnet
with fresh pogeys, Capt. Butch headed off in search of a shrimp boat. Once found, a 40lb Blacktip didn't take long to
be boated. We had a few more knockdowns but they were all short-strikes so Capt. Butch decided to head towards different
fishing grounds in search of a bigger Shark. A couple more 40-60 pounders were hooked up and there were multiple short-strikes
as the Sharks seemed to not really want to feed aggressively. The day ended with many happy memories
made and discussion of the fish to be caught on the next trip!
On the second trip Capt. Butch and myself were pleased to welcome David and Kevin Nadeau of
Newton, NC along with Suzy and Sophie Cook; Doug and Gavin Boileau, all from Thomasville, NC aboard. Our first target
were the Spanish Mackerel spotted near the beach. The crew "picked" at the Spanish and ended up with a nice catch for
the frying pan and then decided to try to hook one of the Sharks like earlier in the day. Capt. Butch navigated to the
feeding waters and just about the time all hope was lost a huge Bull Shark nailed the bait and began to strip off line!
The estimated 200+ pound shark was fought to boatside and then ran up under the boat at full speed and cut the line on the
drives; but proved to be an awesome experience and fight nonetheless! Not long after that we had a report that another
boat fishing the same area hooked up on an 8 foot Hammerhead shark!!! I dropped the lines back in and we began to drift
for another shark and in short time a 40 pound Blacktip was boated for pictures and then released to grow bigger for the next
time. We had several more Shark hits this evening but they simply were not feeding as aggressively
as needed for a mass multiple hookups, but as stated those that were caught were nice sized!
Another Great day on the water with 2 groups of Great people!
FISH ON!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
8/06/09
Two 1/2 day charters dictated our decisions today, even though the wind was a stiff 15 knot
SW blow! Capt. Butch headed to the waters off of Carolina Beach in order to get out of some of the wind along with the
fact that last week the Spanish Mackerel were in there thick! Will Craddock, Harvis and Patrick Salheon and Kent Brizendine
all from Lynchburg, VA were joined by Fank Vest from Nashville, TN and Rob Vest from Charlotte, NC comprised the crew of the
1st half day. The Spanish and bait were all around the boat but we simply could not get them to bite as fast as we would
like. The crew picked at the Spanish and ended up with a good mess to eat. We picked up the lines and ran in on the
beach in search of a shark. After about 20 minutes we had a strong strike but the shark did not take the bait!
The second half day trip today once again made us find our way to Carolina Beach in search
of Spanish Mackerel and a break in the wind. Evelyn and Sean Carpenter from San Diego, CA along with Alicia and Gus
Mayer of Karlesruke, Germany and their good friends Brandy and Geoff Dail from Greensboro, NC. were our crew. The
Spanish once again proved to be illusive. The bait was thick and the Mackerels were cutting all through the bait they
just didn't want a clarkspoon. We ended up with a handful of Spanish and the prospects of a big shark. After drifting
shark bait for a while there was a storm brewing just inshore of us and we decided that it would be best to escape the turbulent
seas before they were upon us and head back toward the dock.
A good mess of fish for the dinner table!
Fish ON!
Capts Butch and Chris Foster
8/05/09
We ventured offshore today with Art and Rita Kalimore from Pittsburgh, PA along with their
daughter, Amanda Mastrean from Mooresville, NC and their grandson, Tyan Kowalski from Chesapeake, VA in search of BIG FISH
and good eating fish.
After Capt. Butch searched the offshore ledges we got anchored up on a school of Black Sea
Bass, Grey Snappers, Silver Snappers, mixed in with a few nice Triggerfish and B-Liners and the crew picked up a good
mess. Capt. Butch noticed that there were some AJ's under the boat and shortly thereafter Art was hooked up on a line-stretcher!
He landed it and then Amanda got her turn on an Amberjack as well! Art even landed his first Mahi-Mahi! Congratulations
Art!
The day was ended with Amanda's 150-200 pound Bull Shark and Ryan catching fish 2 and 3 at
a time off the bottom!
We went after Big fish and good eating fish...
FISH ON!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
Art Kalimore's Mahi-Mahi
Art Kalimore's amberjack
8/04/09
Today Capt. Butch and myself along with my mom, Barbara, and Admiral Bodie were accompanied
by some really really good friends from wayyyy-back. Dale and Ella Foster along with Ella's son, Travis Justice
from Lexington, NC joined us in an offshore venture.
After all the rain and fronts and wind over the past week the search for offshore fish began
and shortly Capt. Butch had us on some nice Black Sea Bass and Vermillion Snapper. We were even blessed with a nice
Mahi-Mahi...yes a Dorado in August off Southport, that Travis was happy to claim as his first! Congratulations
Travis! It seems as if the winds are beginning to calm down again for a little while, we hope to see you on the water.
Fish On!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
Travis Justice's first trip offshore nets him his first Mahi. Admiral Bodie watches and waits.
8/3/2009
We met this morning with Aaron Jasko and Brion Jasko, both from Wheeling, WV, and set up an
action plan to head to Carolina Beach in search of Spanish Mackerel and a few Sharks.
The action was slow at first only picking at a Spanish Mack. here and there and then the birds began
to work and the Spanish started coming to the top. Not long until we had them on 4 and 5 at a time. Most were in the
1-2lb rangewith a couple 3-4 pounders mixed in. After limiting out on Spanish we decided to try to get a shark
before the incoming storms hit.
Capt. Butch neared the shrimp boats and it wasn't long before Aaron and Brion had landed several
40-60lb class Lemon Sharks.
It appears as if the winds are contemplating the thought of maybe beginning to settle down again.
Hopefully there will be some offshore reports coming soon.
Til then,
FISH ON!
Capts' Butch and Chris Foster
8-2-09
Capt. Chris and I met Dustin Sutphin, Leslie Hunter, Mike and Lisa Waters all from Greensboro,NC.
The winds were howling from the SW so our offshore trip today wasn't going to happen.
I told them about the good Spanish Mackeral bite that has been going on at Carolina Beach
all week , and the fact that a SW wind is mostly blocked by the mainland making it calmer up there.
Everyone decided to give it a try. Upon arriving, the winds were more South than West and
the seas were a little rougher than I had figured, but still fishable.
Much better seas than we had on the South facing beach down the river. I trimmed the tabs
up and put the stern to the seas and we had a very comfortable ride at 15 knots on the "Yeah Right II". We soon reached
our destination and deployed the lines.
It wasn't long until things got pretty exciting in the cockpit below. Capt. Chris hardly knew
which way to turn for a little while, the Spanish Mackeral had everyone very busy, as they were jumping and running bait clean
out of the water.
Hit the school just right, and every line in the water would hookup. It didn't take us long
to limit out on some nice sized Spanish Mackerals!!!
The Mackeral "tree" rig today had several doubles and triples, but today was the first time
I can remember getting a quad hookup, check the picture below.
Yes, the winds have been blowing, but down here you can usually find something to catch somewhere,
and right now, Carolina Beach is the place to be.
Talked to Capt. Lyndon today on the "Gracie Mae", he was at Carolina Beach as well, and hooked
up king mackeral on some live bait there as well.
So, until things settle down here, give the guys a call at Carolina Beach, or book a
trip on one of the boats here in Southport,NC, that fish that area as well!!
Don't know yet what the weather will let us do tomorrow, but as I said before, we should be
able to find something to catch here off the South East Coast!!
Till next time, God Bless Everyone!!!!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
PROVERBS 10:24 The wicked man's fears will all come true, and so will the good man's hopes.
8-1-09
Today the seas were really fishable on our beach for what has seemed an eternity now. But,
the winds have taken their toll on the fish on our beach at this time.
Today we were fishing with Erik Colquitt from Southport,NC and Erick was spending the morning
fishing with his dad Wesley Colquitt from Weddington,NC.
If it continues to be as calm as it was this evening, the fishing will get back to normal
in a few short days.
There are plenty of Spanish Mackeral to be caught right now on the East side and at Carolina
Beach.
I made my second mistake in as many days by deciding to fish our beach so close to the end
of the blow.
I marked lots of bait and even seen a few fish jump, and we caught a few fish and of course,
the big ones always get away as did today. Not sure if we had big Spanish or small King Mackeral, and we'll never know!!
Going to try to get offshore tomorrow if the winds will let us!!
Till next time, God Bless All!!!
Fish
on!!!!
Capt's. Butch & Chris Foster
PROVERBS 10:14 A wise man holds his tongue. Only a fool blurts out everything he knows; that only
leads to sorrow and trouble.
7-31-09
We had a full day offshore trip booked for today and with the winds we have had
all week long and still have, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen today, so we tried a 1/2 day close in trip.
Well, Jake Dennison and Ashley Matheny from Parkersburg,WV. Danielle Vealey, Jackie Vealey,
and Kelli Poling from Ripley,WV and Rod Dennison from Mineral Springs,WV decided to give it a try anyway.
We had a great fishing trip with some very fine people although the catching was nowhere what
I would like to have seen.
All our trips had been offshore for the entire week, so I had not fished in seven days and
had lost contact as to where the fish were.
With our policy to try and treat you as fair as possible, my decision today was to only
charge for fuel and a 10% charge for the mate.
Till next time, God Bless All!!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt's. Butch & Chris Foster
PROVERBS 10:20 When a good man speaks, he is worth listening to, but the words of fools are a dime
a dozen.
7-24-09
Boy the weather man from last night sure didn't call for this one! This morning we woke up
to a steady 15 knot SW wind that only increased as the day progressed...finally about 10am this morning the forecast was updated
to reflect this fact. As with anything I don't guess you can always get them all right! Capt. Butch and myself
were greeted by some friends we have made over the past few years; Steve Baker and his son, Sam Baker, Bryan Baker and his
son, Robert Baker, and Jon Baker and James Parsons in the hopes of an offshore adventure. However, the winds and heavy
seas made for a 1/2 day Spanish Mackerel and Shark trip.
We started out by deploying the Clarkespoons and covering ground to only find a couple of
spanish that were willing to bite in the dirty water. After trolling everywhere the Spanish should have been --the bait
was everywhere with fish, they simply didn't want to bite again today-- we decided to go try to catch a shark. Finally
we had one strong hit but he pulled the hook and we ended up catching a Blacktip and Hammerhead about 12" long each.
Hopefully the current and weather will stabalize in the next few days allowing for the fish to turn back on!
FISH ON!~!~!~!
Captain Butch Foster & Captain Chris Foster
7-23-09
Rickey and Allen Woodell, Debbie Johnson, John Matos, and Justin Caulder from Dunn, NC along
with Lyndsay Lee of Raleigh, NC joined us today on a mission for big fish!
We started out by catching live pogeys at the tide guage in hopes of hooking into some big
Amberjacks and off to the south we went. Mass amounts of bait were everywhere and the Amberjacks weren't far behind,
the only problem was that they were seemingly full and didn't want to eat anymore. Several times the live pogeys were
put in front of the Jacks and they would only look at them and turn away, even pogeys without a hook in them were safe from
attack!
Bottom fishing was contemplated for awhile, but after the report that using a 20oz. sinker
wouldn't get the bait to the bottom until it was 50 feet behind your boat created concern that the "new moon" current
was running to strong to even be able to bottom fish. The currents and tides are extremely strong around the full and
new moons this year, and are making bottom fishing nearly impossible during the days just before and after the moon extremes.
After hearing of a few King Mackerel deciding to want to bite and of a couple of Sailfish
hookups Capt. Butch decided that it might be best to switch it up.
The crew ended up boating 3 nice King Mackerel and the hooks pulled on half-a-dozen more.
'Fish On!
Capt. Butch and Chris Foster
7-22-09
We were joined today by Lou Duke of St. James and Greg White along with his son Garrett and
daughter Tess, as well as Raymie Perfett, all from Mars, Pennsylvania. Capt. Butch went in search of the fish and we
started out trolling some minnows for Kings and Mahi. We were blessed with a nice King Mackerel skillfully landed by
Lou and then a Mahi hit and brought an entire school up under the boat with him. The crew ended up by bailing 4 more
Mahi and Raymie found a hungry Remora to bring on board for pictures.
Shortly after the Kings and Mahi seemed to shut down and we decided to go after some
bottom fish. The current was "screaming" and it was nearly impossible to get a 16oz weight to the bottom but the crew
ended up pulling about 100lbs of bottom fish up from the deep. Then Greg hooked into a 35lb Amberjack that stretched
his arms!
Tess hooked into a Nurse Shark that nearly pulled her out of the boat; but after a tough fight
the shark was brougt aboard and the superb crystal white meat was harvested! A great trip with good fishing!
Fish ON!
Capt's Butch and Chris Foster
The crew of Richard Clark, Marissa Game, Steve Smith and Capt Ricky Holden, recently placed
2nd in the GOT-EM-ON tournament at Carolina Beach. Here's a picture of the winning crew (Steve Smith is missing) and
their winning fish. Way to Go!!
7-21-09
We were met this morning by some friends from West Virginia, Pat Kee and his two sons Ben & Hayden
Kee along with Jim Parrish and his son Kyle and we made our decision to go after what was biting... King Mackerel and Mahi
and hopefully an Amberjack!
As Capt. Butch came around the bend at the tide guage he saw the pelicans hitting the water hard
and soon there was a livewell full of pogeys and the crew of the Yeah Right II were off to the waters offshore. Our
first stop produced a nice mahi (about 15 lbs) right off the bat that pulled the hook. The lines were re-deployed and
the King Mackerel decided to co-operate. We ended up with 3 nice Mahi and 11 1/2 King Mackerel, yes that is 1/2 (Barracudas
have to eat too. :) We saw several nice Amberjacks following the Kings up today but to all our efforts they proved to
be not interested in hitting one of the live pogeys.
We had many more Mahi-Mahi on today on dead cigar minnows and live pogeys that simply pulled the
hooks jumping and making long runs. There was even a curious Cobia that nailed a pogey at boatside, but found someway
to kink the wire leader and break it during the fight.
About 1:30 this evening the bite began to shut off and the crew decided that they would like to try
to catch a shark before ending the day. Capt. Butch fired up the diesels and we shot into the Hot Hole and after deploying
the first bait, Kyle found himself hooked into a 40 lb Blacktip Shark! Definitely a great fight
to end the day on!
Capt. Butch and myself will be back at it again tomorrow. Hopefully the current will have slacked
off enough that we can actually bottomfish, the past few days the current has been running so strong that bottomfishing is
nearly impossible!
'til next time,
Fish ON!
Capt. Butch and Capt. Chris
p.s. Admiral Bodie says "Hi" and he misses you all.
7-20-09
Morris Caldwell, Chris & Grant Deal, Jeff & Paul Jacob Shortridge from Hickory,
NC and David Teague of Taylorsville, NC joined us today on a bottom fishing expedition. Almost immediatly Paul Jacob
found himself hooked up on a nice 35lb Amberjack that proved to be the fight that he had been looking for!
The day continued by Capt. Butch in search of a location where you could bottom fish
without the persistant 5 knot and greater current that made feeling a bite nearly impossible. We fished water from 50
foot ranges to almost 200 foot over a 25 mile span and never were able to locate a place where the current would break.
Capt. Butch did find a school of fish on a ledge where we were able to pull off about
100 lbs of Gray Snapper, Vermillion Snapper, Jolthead Porgy, and a few nice Black Bass. The lightline proved once again that
the Kings and Mahi are in closer now than the bottomfish.
The Spanish Mackerel were reported to be biting fast and furious on the beach this
morning and there were acres of them jumping and cutting schools of bait about 6 miles off of Bald Head Island.
A great day with a great crew. Even when the fishing is tough, the tough keep
searching til the feeding fish are found and caught!
Capt's. Butch and Chris Foster
7-19-09
With the winds finally deciding to calm down and the seas deciding to smooth out we were back
at it again today in search of King Mackerel and "something that pulls hard." Fishing with Steve Norris of Fayetteville,
NC along with Dana Vorholt of Charlotte, NC and Nikki, Kim, and Jerry Vorholt of Charleston, WV was to say the least
exciting and a lot of fun.
First stop it appeared as if the bait had moved on but after a 30 minute search Capt. Butch
found the bait that he had been looking for and the downrigger reel started screaming as line began to be peeled off at a
high rate of speed. By noon we had pulled off 14 King Mackerel and decided to try to find an Amberjack or
two.
Capt. Butch went offshore a few more miles and after jigging up some live bait the
crew soon found themselves hooked up with a 25lb Amberjack. We got another AJ in the boat and missed one more.
The fish are biting and it almost feels like fall in the air in the middle of July with
these mid 80 temps and a nice breeze. Let's go fishing!
Fish on! Capt's. Butch and Chris Foster
Nikki Vorholt's King Mackerel Experience
7-18-09
There were some Spanish Mackeral caught on the beach Friday morning, then the winds picked
up and stopped boats from going out.
I had offshore trips both Friday and Saturday and it was too rough to go out and fish, so
I took advantage of the down time and installed a new anchor system and windlass on the "Yeah Right II".
This should greatly improve our ability to get on the fish even better now!!!
Hope to be able to head offshore in the morning, if we can, we will have the results here
in the fishing reports!!
Check back and see if we went!!!
Till next time, God Bless Everyone!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
PROVERBS 10:5
A wise youth makes hay while the sun shines, but what a shame to see a lad who sleeps away his hour
of opportunity.
7-16-09
Today we went in search of King Mackerel with Larry Schmehl from Bethel,PA.,
Larry Schmehl,II from Bedford,VA., Eric Schmehl from Baltimore,MD., and Jason Moyer from Annville,PA
Our first stop this morning was on the Raritan. There was
plenty of bait but no signs of fish feeding in them.
I left there after a while and checked all the local spots in the area, no bait on any of
them. I figured that the absence of bait was going to mean the same for the predator fish, so I elected to make a major move.
We reel the lines in and I headed 15 miles to the Shark Hole. Here we picked up two kings
right out of the gate. But there wasn't much bait here as well, and the bite we thought we found didn't materialize!!!
So, I headed to the 15 and 18 mile rocks, no bait here as well. About that time we got a call
from Captain Keith Logan on the Charter Boat "Stand N' Down". Due to "professional courtesy"I won't give his spot away, but
he put us on the fish today.
This is the way it's supposed to work, I surely hope I can return the favor soon!!! Thanks
Keith for your professionalism!!!!!
The Cigar Minnows were deployed and within a few hours the crew aboard the Yeah Right II had
limited out with 12 King Mackerel all in the 10-12 lb range.
The Kings today were biting on frozen cigar minnows rigged on a 1 ounce lead head with a Blue
Water Candy Lures "HOT SHOT" skirt in pink!!!
Amongst catching a limit of King Mackerel today we also tested a prototype of a reel that
will hopefully be coming to market soon.
Manufactured by Innovative Reel Technologies, these custom spinning reels have extremely smooth
drags and have the muscle to pull in some really big fish, all the while maintaining a beautiful finish and very nice reel
overall.
Hopefully you will be seeing these soon on the "Yeah Right II"!
Another great day of comradery and friendship shared on a beautiful ocean!
Tight lines and Fish On!
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
PROVERBS 10:1
Happy is the man with a level-headed son; sad the mother of a rebel.
Jason Moyer reeling in a king using a reel manufactured by Innovative Reel Technologies
7-15-09
Today we were fishing with Jeff Bragg and Joe Lamm from Stow, Ohio along with Allen Hindley and his
son, Austin Hindley from Massillon, Ohio. We left the dock in search of a "mess of good eatin' fish" and found ourselves
on the bottom fishing grounds around Frying Pan Tower shortly thereafter. The bottom fish tried to play hard to get
but in the end we rounded off the day with a nice catch of Vermillion Snapper, a few Black Sea Bass, with a couple of Triggerfish
and Silver Snappers and several Grey Snappers.
While pulling these up Capt. Butch noticed some Amberjacks cruising
through on the colorscope and as soon as a live bait was deployed the crew found themselves latching onto the elusive "reef
donkeys." We ended up landing 3 of these and breaking one big one off. The light-line was not extremely productive;
however, it did manage to pull of a Mahi-Mahi in the 15lb range at the last minute that Allen took the honor of landing.
"Fish-On"
Capts. Butch and Chris Foster
PROVERBS 10:4
Lazy men are soon poor; hard workers get rich.
Allen Hindley, Massillion, OH caught this Mahi-Mahi while fishing off the coast of Southport.
7-14-09 AM Trip
Today we ran two 1/2 day trips on the beach. the 1st trip was with Larry Schmehl from
Bethel,PA., Larry Schmehl,II from Bedford,VA., Eric Schmehl from Baltimore,MD., and Jason Moyer from Annville,PA.
We found the Spanish Mackeral bite decent this morning, but when the sun broke through the
clouds the Spanish shut down to just a trickle.
We stopped off to try for a shark before heading back to Bald Head Island Marina, and was
rewarded with a nice Black Tip that we were going to release but it was gill hooked and our best efforts to revive her was
not successful.
Fortunately, she was legal size so we prepared her for the grill instead of letting her go
to waste.
Weather permitting, Capt Chris and I will be heading offshore Thursday with these guys for
a full day of fishing. Will have the results of that trip here as well!!
Check out the pictures, some of the Spanish Mackeral were big ones today!!
Till next time, Remember PROVERBS 10:2 Ill-gotten gain brings no lasting happiness; right
living does.
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
7-14-09 PM Trip
The Afternoon trip was with David Beck, Taylor Beck, Carter Beck, and Homer Curry from Lexington,NC.
We went looking and hoping that the Spanish Mackeral were biting better this evening than
when we left at noon.
They were not, but we still tried to get some, but the stiff East winds had shut the bite
to nearly nothing although we did pick up a few.
The high lite of the afternoon trip is Carter Beck's Shark. We got a video of this battle
that eventually involved three on the rod. They were Carter, the young man in the "Drivers seat" with his dad David helping
him stay in the boat and Taylor helping hold the rod up.
It was quite a battle, but Carter got his shark, and that made everyone's day. Check out the
video of this fight right here on this report!!!!
Great job Carter!!!!!!
Till next time, think about this PROVERBS10;3 The Lord will not let a good man starve to death, nor
will he let the wicked man's riches continue forever.
Fish On!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
07-11-09
Yes, I know the date says the 11th and today is the 13th.
That just means that I am only two days behind right now.
I have had two days of winds to strong to have comfortable fishing trips, so, I have
taken advantage of the down time and have finally got all the nit picky things on the "Yeah Right II" done.
Today I even got all the engines, transmissions, and fuel systems completely serviced.
But, I still think a lot about our offshore trip we just had on the 11th with Joe
West and daughter, Sammie Joe from Sanford,NC, J.J. Cheever and daughter Hailey from Sanford,NC, Brad Byrd from Lillington,NC,
and Ralph Crowe from Charleston,SC.
We went bottom fishing and lite lining. The fish were biting pretty good and watching
those two young ladies hanging in there with the grown ups and catching fish one on one is what it is all about.
But, the high lite of the whole day as far as I am concerned was watching these two
gals have the chance to land their first Mahi-Mahi each and I was able to video both scenes.
You watch these two videos, and you will know why I still do what I do even at my
age. This type stuff is priceless!!!!
Hope you like the new "navigation bar" on the left side of the home page. Capt Chris
had even suprised me when I logged on this evening. I really like it, hope you do too!!
We are/have added a video page now, have ideas on some "how to videos" coming soon
as well. If you like the new feature, please, let us know!!!
We have some more ideas in the works here at "Yeah Right Charters", I think
you will be very pleased and very surprised when we get all the details worked out and put the results here on the web site.
Watch the two videos of these two young ladies and how they handled the rods while
fighting the two Mahi. They looked like seasoned pro's, and this was their first time offshore.
I was honored to be the Captain that their dads chose to take their daughters offshore
for the first time, I know I'll never forget it.
Till next time remember, Jesus said, "I AM THE WAY AND THE ONLY WAY" God Bless All!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
Hailey Cheever's first Mahi-Mahi
Sammie Jo West's first Mahi-Mahi
7-9-09 PM TRIP
Today's afternoon trip was with four of the guys we fished with on the day before, the 8th.
They were Sean Mulligan, T.J. Mulligan and Andrew Caple, from Elsmere,KY. Bill Faulkner from Erlanger,KY. was with
us as well.
Even though the Sharks were biting much better in the PM, we started off with the Spanish Mackeral.
The bite started off slow, but between the "Big hill" and the area of where the Long Beach
Pier used to be, I found some bait holding a good bite with the Spanish Mackeral.
There for a while the bite was really good, but we continued to "pick" until we got all we
wanted for the pan!!
After getting enough Spanish Mackeral we finished the day dropping down to the sharks.
Sean wanted T.J. to catch a shark and we made his wishes come true with a nice Black
Tip that we released after getting a photo.
However, the Atlantic Sharpnose shark we caught was prepared by Capt. Chris for the grill.
Some Butter, Lemon Juice, mixed with some "Tiger Sauce"(found at the marinades and sauces
at the grocery store), makes for some great eating!!!
I am writing this report on the 10th. Didn't go out today, serviced the boat.
Winds permitting, we will be on a mission offshore tomorrow, check back and see how we do!!!
Till next time, remember in EZEKIEL 7;verse 19 : God says, "Toss your money out like worthless
rubbish, for it has no value in the day of wrath. It will neither satisfy nor feed you, for your LOVE OF MONEY is the REASON
for your sin.
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
7-9-09 AM TRIP
The 1st trip today was with Dwane and Tanner Boyle from Ponca,Nebraska, Richard Benson
from Stanley,NC, Rich Benson from Oak Island, NC, and Steve Trumpy from Franklin Square,NY.
TheSpanish Mackeral were biting good for the 1/2 day trips but today's fishermen opted for
a bigger quarry.
We went chasing after sharks. The bite was slow for some and better for others, you
know, the old "right place at right time" scenerio.
We did hook up with a nice Lemon and had several other runs without a hook up. I decided to
go to a place where we usually catch big sharks.
I told the guys I was either going to be a hero or a zero, thinking all the time that we would
get some big boys where we were going.
Well, it's called fishing for a reason, with that I don't need to go any farther. Big fish
get big for a reason and big fish fishing is like big game hunting, you don't always get your quarry, but when you do, you
forget all the times you went searching to no avail!!
Till next time, God Bless!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
7-8-09
It's late and I am running behind schedule, will make this one quick.
Today we were fishing with Bill Faulkner from Erlanger,KY, Kenny and Scott Harney from Independence,KY,
and Andrew Caple, Sean Mulligan,and T J Mulligan from Elsmore KY.
When I asked what they wanted to catch today and they told me that I was the Captain and they
just wanted fish, well, when that happens, that is usually a good day fixin' to happen.
I am out there every day and I pretty much know what's happening and where. I knew that the
bottom fishing had been tough lately, so we went towards the King Mackeral and Mahi-Mahi area.
We hadn't been at the first stop long when the clicker on the reel went to screaming. From
that point on for the biggest part of the day we had steady action.
Got a nice Mahi-Mahi and lost another, also, had a big Cobia just about into gaff range when
he jerked his head real hard and broke the leader.
The AJ's bit good that morning while we were catching King Mackeral, but by the time we went
after some later in the day they had all but quit biting.
We did get one AJ to the boat before the bite shut off completely.
We all had a great time on the water today. The guys enjoyed themselves good enough that when
we got to the marina this evening, they booked again tomorrow for an afternoon 1/2 day trip after Spanish Mackeral and some
big sharks.
And you can bet the farm that Capt Chris and I will get them some if any way possible!!!!
Till next time, remember this "The way of transgressors is hard", God Bless All!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
WHY IT'S CALLED FISHING NOT CATCHING
7-4-09
Today we had a short day fishing with Pete Deluca from St. James,NC and his son, Darren
from Bashing Ridge,NJ.
We went after the Kings because that was what was biting the best at the time.
We put the baits out and I was making a turn back to the bait I had marked in the water column
when the down rigger rod went off.
It didn't run like a King Mackeral, so I was figuring a Sharp Nose shark.
Well, it wasn't either one, it was a Gag Grouper about 15 pounds. You never know what you
will catch in the ocean, and it was a very welcomed suprise!!!
We limited out on the King Mackeral today and the Grouper was an added bonus.
Capt. Chris even got his limit of Kings today to put in the freezor, so he got in the picture
as well..
We have some pictures, Capt Chris brought a camera today, although, I didn't use the video
right, so I don't have a video.
I was upset in the report on the 3rd. I am having security systems installed in and on my
property, but, lets all pray for the ones that perform these evil acts, only God can put them on the right track, and if we
ask, He will do it for us!!!!
Till next time, Ask God Daily For Your Favor, He Will Take You Places You Never Dreamed Of!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
7-3-09
Today we met Tim Holland, Howard Moore, Gregory Potts, and Terry Johnson from Spring Lake,NC,
with them was Eugene McPhaul from Cameron,NC and Fredrick Potts from Fayetteville,NC.
The winds were still blowing this morning, and I was very hesitant about venturing offshore,
But I had fished with these guys before and I knew they could handle the rough seas.
The forecast was for the seas to settle out and calm by evening and they did get it right,
by evening, the seas were nearly flat calm.
The fishing/catching for bottom fish was tough today. The week long blow we had along with
higher than normal tides and a screaming tide made my job as tough as it has been in a long time.
I found plenty of fish, but by the time you dropped and got your baits to the bottom, the
current had pushed you 500 feet off the fish. That is impossible conditions to bottom fish in.
We tried anchoring, but the plow anchor would not hold the boat, if it even got to the bottom.
And the few times it did hold, you couldn't get your baits to the bottom from all the
current. But the guys wanted bottom fish so I searched everywhere for less current.
Went to the edge of the Gulfstream, still the same. We didn't catch very many bottom fish,
and I had logged over 200 miles trying to get better conditions.
The guys saw the trouble I was having and were very understanding and praised Capt Chris
and myself for our efforts, For this I am very humbled and grateful.
We really did all we could do, it was just one of those days that you can't bottom fish.
I even heard the Captain of a "Headboat" talking about having the same trouble, so I know
I wasn't living a bad dream, we were just trying to fish in the real world on one of those days that the conditions was not right
for bottom fishing, it happens sometimes and I know that I should have pulled off, but these guys wanted bottomfish, and I
wanted them to have bottom fish!!!!
We finally called it a day, and on the ride back, I heard of some King Mackeral and Mahi-Mahi
being caught in an area, so I set a new course and headed to the rock that was holding these fish.
At this time, I threw the clock out the window, and if you fish with us, you know we will get
you fish if possible, we don't go by the book always, may not be exactly what you want at times, but you will have something
to show for fishing with us if I can possibly make it happen!!!
I checked to see if anyone was expected back at a certain time, nobody had a set
time, with that info, I was going to get these guys some fish to take home with them if I had to fish all night.
When we reached the 18 mile rock area, we were immediately rewarded with screaming drags and
fish on the hooks.
So, as I have said before, never give up and change your tactics when you have to.
That can turn a good day of fishing into a great day of catching!!!
Thanks guys for your gracious attitudes and understanding that today God was giving the bottomfish
a break, still, we didn't go home empty handed.
With the bottomfish that we did have we also had a great catch of King Mackeral
to go with them.
Till next time,God Bless All!!
Fish On!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
P.S. No, I don't have any pictures or video of todays catch. I forgot to lock up the camera
we have on the boat so another thief decided to help themselves to our camera.
P.S.S.THIEVES BEWARE, I AM INSTALLING SATELLITE SECURITY SYSTEMS
IN MY BOAT, ON MY PROPERTY, AND VEHICLE, KEEP IT UP, AND YOU WILL BE CAUGHT AND I WILL EXPOSE YOU TO THE WORLD HERE
ON THIS WEBSITE PLUS PROSECUTE, I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOUR STEALING!!!!!! PEOPLE, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD, I AM SERIOUS ABOUT
THIS ONE!!
7-2-09
Today is the second day in a row that the winds have the seas in a rough condition.
It's supposed to be the time of year when the weather patterns are a little more stabilized,
guess someone forgot to tell mother nature that.
Tomorrows another day, we'll see about the weather/winds then!!
Till next time, God Bless!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt Butch
6-30-09
Went out on the beach this morning for some Spanish Mackeral and Shark fishing.
With us was Bob Lytle from Beverly Hills,FL, Rob and Leah Lytle from Jacksonville,FL.
Adam and Jessica Yelkovich from Columbus,GA, and Maara Lane from Clarksville,TN.
The Spanish Mackeral bite was again around the Lockwood Folly area so we made our way to the
west.
They were scattered and the bite was slow when we got to the area but we were persistant
and got several before we went after a shark.
The Shark bite today was nothing like I had ever seen before. The sharks were literally fighting
over our baits.
We would drop in a bait and before it was 5 feet from the boat we would be hooked up. They
were feeding so fast we couldn't get two lines in, it was wild and wide open for a while!!!!!
We never got pictures of the Spanish Mackeral, they wound up as bait!!!!
All the sharks were released to fight again another day except for one Atlantic Sharp Nose
that we kept for the grill.
It was a great morning of fishing, although it started off slow, believe me, it didn't stay
that way.
We got several pictures and some good video's, now just got to see which ones or how many
we can put here on the report.
Leah told me this was the best Charter trip they have ever had, can't wait to get them offshore
next time, you know what I mean, where the fish really bite!!!!
It was a great trip and lots of fun, they made Capt Chris and I feel as though we had known
them for years, a real nice group of folks, and we were honored to share our boat with you today!!!
Heading offshore tomorrow bottom fishing, weather permitting, check back and see how we do!!!!
Till next time, remember" Without Him, I Will Be Nothing. But With Christ, He Strengthens
Me"!!!!!
(Phil. 4:13)
Fish On!!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
SHARK FISHING OFF OAK ISLAND BEACH,NC
6-29-09
Ok, the party's over as they say...... Tomorrow it's back to work/fishing.
I got some things done I wanted to get done. Did get the permits and Licenses updated, but
spent the last two days fixing my truck.
The wife and I stopped for lunch Sunday in Wilmington and the truck wouldn't start when we
came out.
Called Capt Chris who lives in Ogden now (don't ask me why, I don't know nothing) and he came
by and gave me a jump.
Had new batteries (about 6 months old) and a new alternator, but turned out one battery had
a dead call. Takes two for a diesel, and they have got to be charged well.
Well, today I was coming down 211 heading to the boat to finish up some odds and ends when
my truck started loosing electrical power and finally just cut off.
Well now what? Guess those odds and ends will have to wait now for a later time!!
Called the wife and she came and took me and both batteries to Advance store to have them tested.
The old battery tested good. So I was trying to think what avenue to take next.
The other battery that was being tested was put in new yesterday evening and a new premimum
NAPA Alternator, had to be something in the wireing in the truck I figured.... Surely, the new battery was good!!!
Turns out that the new battery that I got yesterday was bad as well, replaced it and all seems
well for now.. Would have never thought it!!!!
Anyway, it's back to the water tomorrow, so I will have some reports coming again soon, "reel"soon!!!
Tomorrow is a 1/2 day, hope the Spanish Mackeral are still biting, I'm sure they are somewhere,
now if I can just find them!!!
Till next time, Blessings to everyone!!!!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt Butch
6-27-09
Here's why I haven't reported lately. Friday, June 26th, the seas were too
rough to go fishing, so we didn't go.
Today, June 27th, you could have gone fishing, but I didn't feel it would be comfortable
to go, so why risk it. Besides, if you can't be comfortable and have fun, why go? There will be better days!!!!
Tomorrow, I am taking the day off to spend with my wife and the Admiral...
Monday the 29th, I have got to go renew my blanket license permits as they expire on June
30th.
Without these you would have to buy a fishing license, but I will have them renewed Monday
morning, so you will be covered to fish on the "Yeah Right II" under my license for another year.
Regardless of who you are or where you are from, you will be provided a N C Saltwater
Fishing license for free while on our boat!!!
After that, weather permitting, we are going to be cranking it back up to fishing every day.
If you want to book a trip with us in July, you had better call soon, real soon,(910)845-2004,
as we don't have but 5 days left open in July, and one of those was a cancellation.
August and September is starting to book up as well!!
I wish there were more days in the year to offer but there's not, and when they are
all booked, you will have to wait another year before you can go fishing on the new "Yeah Right II".
Don't confuse this boat with boats we have had in the past, those that have fished the
new "Yeah Right II" will tell you this sportfisherman, with the new twin turbo Cummins diesels, rides like, well, as
some have put it, "A CADDY"
Sorry about the reports, I can put here what I think is happening, but I won't make predictions
here.
You have come to expect what's really happening here and a "hands on" report is what I'll
give as soon as the winds calm and we get back out fishing.
Till next time, Remember, God loves You And Wants You To Prosper, look at what he has done
for us and our charter service!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt Butch
6-25-09
Today’s charter cancelled at the last minute, so we don't have a report,
but we did get some much needed maintenance done on the "Yeah Right II" so we are ready to head out again in the morning.
The weather doesn't look to promising for Saturday at this point, in fact, tomorrow is questionable.
Keep in touch, we are back up and running now, so we will try to keep you updated on what's happening off the coast from
here in Southport, NC.
Till next time, Blessings!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
6-24-09
Went out for a little variety fishing today with Michael and Frank Salinger
and Doug Lufkin from Cleveland, Ohio.
This was the 4th time they had fished with us and Michael said that we nearly killed them with all the fish we had caught
in the past, so today they wanted to catch some fish, but not as many in the past.
Ok, I can handle that!!!
We started off at the Horseshoe area where we caught some King Mackerel and Mahi Mahi.
After we got all the Kings we wanted we moved over to a wreck where the guys were absolutely surprised at the power and
brute strength the AJ's had I put them on.
Everyone had a try at one, and with the kind of fight these "reef donkeys" produce, one was enough!!!
From there we moved off to the SW and caught enough bottom fish for dinner, and then we called it a day and went in a little
early.
It was a different style of fishing than I am used to doing, and I must admit, it was quite nice and we didn't come to
the dock totally give out!!!
You don't come back with all the boxes full of fish, but like Michael said, all the fish we had caught in the past was
more than they could eat before they freezer burnt.
So, if you would rather have a day like this, just let us know when we leave the dock in the mornings, and we will try
to make it happen for you as well.
Of course, if you want to fill the freezer, just let us know that too, and we will do our best to accommodate you!!!!
Our goal is to be sure you have a trip you will remember good things about, have fun, and even catch some fish as well!!!
Till next time, May God Bless Everyone!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
6-23-09
What happens when
your computer goes haywire and you are in the charter fishing business? What happens is you get behind, way behind in your
reports.
I will try to get caught up here some now since we are back up and running!!
The picture on top is that of Mike, Katie, Kyle, and Ryan Pignatiello from Tipp City, Ohio with them was David
Casasanta from Kimbolton, Ohio and Alex Weber from Louisville, Ky.
We had a great trip on the 23rd of June with these guys and everyone got in on the action today as the fishing
was pretty good.
The bottom pictures are from our trip on 6-22-09 with John and his son Jake Baker from Cosmel, IN. With them were
Paul Sherry from Cambridge, OH. and Matt and Faith Sichman from Dayton, OH.
This was another great trip and we caught a lot of fish.
But none of the fish caught was as important as the King Mackeral that Jake Baker caught.
As it says on the picture caption, "His smile says it all" That fish and that smile was the highlight of my day
right there.
If you aren't touched by that picture, you had better check your pulse!!!!
Thanks guys for letting me be the one to get Jake his first King Mackeral, a day I will never forget!!!
Till next time, God Bless All!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
A King Mackerel fisherman is born
|
| His smile tells it all. |
6-21-09
I had a special treat today. I finally met the man who has a lot in common with me, even the
same birthday. That would be Mark Pisano from Holly Springs,NC, with him was Skip Cooke, and Byron Bishop from Holly Springs,
NC and also John Bigger from Southern Pines,NC
Little did I know just how special this day was going to really turn out for me. Very unexpectedly,
Mark started off by giving me a card for my birthday and Capt Chris had presented us with birthday cup cakes and me with a
new digital camera so I could take pictures of the fish we catch.
How could it be any better, well, as you all know "Admiral Bodie" the fish dog had fished
with me for many years. He was always ready to go fishing every morning.
That is until that fateful day when he got hurt really bad on the boat by a very large cooler
that was not noticed to have been untied and it slid and nearly ended his life.
After that he decided to retire, well today, "Admiral Bodie" was presented a "Distinguished
Service Award" from Mark.
I have been so deeply touched and am all but speech less. This little dog means more to me
that anyone will ever know, and to have someone like Mark to honor him like this has made my Charter/Fishing career one step
closer to "full circle"
Until I can find the words to express how I feel, All I can say right now on behalf of me
and "Admiral Bodie" is Thank You Mark so very much!!!!
Now as for the fishing, we went after Grouper today. Rough seas and screaming currents made
it tough to get to the bottom, but we did it!!!!
The first stop we made was fun, it was loaded with Jacks. But it didn't take long until we
had fought those brutes long enough.
The next couple of stops rewarded us with some nice Scamps and Gag Grouper. Then the next
stop we got a nice strawberry and Black.
We didn't get many bottom fish, but that's the way it is when you are fishing just for
big grouper.
By the way, ask John Bigger just how hard a "BIG" Grouper can pull, I don't think he will
forget that for a while.
It was great fishing with you guys today, I hope Capt Chris and I met and possibly exceeded you expectations!!!
Till next time, God Bless!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capts Butch & Chris Foster
6-19-20-09
We fished two days with Nell Gadrinab,M.D. from Chicago,IL Lou Gadrinab from Durham,NC,
Roland Gadrinab fromChicago,IL, Mike Henry from Raleigh,NC, Rolly Gadrinab from Chicago,IL, and Anthony Criscenti from Chicago,IL
We were on a bottom fish and everything in between mission. The first day was the
best day of catching with just about everything biting.
The second day was a bit tougher with the east winds and excessive tides, but we kept
picking until we got a box full.
As always guys, Thanks for choosing us for your charters and we will continue
doing our best to get you fish.
Hope your flight back to Chicago was uneventful and hope to see you again next year.
Till next time, God Bless All!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
Amberjacks at the Frying Pan tower area
Mahi SW of Frying Pan tower
Good video of a bull shark SW of Tower
6-18-09
I am trying to keep this all going, but remember, I am not as young as I once was. It's late
at night, came off a full day trip and had to change oil and filters and service the fuel system this afternoon, so I am just
now getting to the report.
Bet most of you went to bed thinking I didn't go today, well we did it's just the days aren't
long enough right now, but I feel like they are getting too long the older I get.
Enough whining, today we were fishing with Rick Schenck from Erlanger, KY, Tony Schenck from
Cold Spring, KY, John and Clint Kappesser from Ft. Thomas,KY, and Bob and daughter Lindsey Schenck from Arlington,TX.
We started off at the Raritan where we picked up a dozen or so King Mackeral. But as soon
as the sun broke through the clouds the bite shut off so we left and went bottom fishing.
Our first stop was just NW of the tower where we found some fish biting and we also got some
more Kings and Mahi-Mahi on the lite line.
Caught a nice AJ, but it didn't measure up to legal size so we put her back for another day.
Check the pictures and video and I'll be back here tomorrow night with details of tomorrow's
trip.
Till next time, Give God Thanks for what you are about to receive!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
Doubling up on Kings at the Raritan
6-17-09
Today was a 1/2 day trip out on the beach. We were fishing with Mike and Martha Oconner
from Circleville, Ohio, with them were Fred Lewis from Chillicothe, Ohio and Jeff Lewis from Wellston,Ohio.
The winds were from the East and blowing pretty strong, but this didn't seem to bother
the Spanish Mackeral too much once we found them.
Well, we actually didn't find them, Buster on the Sea Hawk III is the captain who had them
corralled down towards Lockwood Folly.
We headed that way and were soon rewarded with doubles and triples on the Clark Spoons. Thanks
Capt. Buster for sharing the info.!!!
After we caught 50+ Spanish Mackeral, we tried our hand at some shark fishing.
We caught a few smaller Black tips, but most likely the one that Mike will remember the longest
is the one he hooked up and couldn't turn or stop..
This shark made short work of the 100 pound line that was on the reel. He snapped it like
a twig, that was a real big shark!!!
It was a relaxing time and plenty of action with the fishing. Not to mention all the fish dinners
that are in the future!!
Not 100% sure about the weather tomorrow, but if we make it out, we'll have the results right
here.
P.S. Didn't get any video today, the camera was acting crazy, may be time for a new one!!
P.S.S. To the person who stole my sign, Thank You. That's one of the best forms of flattery, it lets
me know I am still doing my job good enough to worry you. I won't call any names here, you and I know who you are, and
there's no need to add "insult to injury".
Now I am wondering if you are the same one going around town stealing my and other Capts rack
cards and holders. It's only a matter of time until you are seen and you will be found out. Remember this, You WILL reap what
you sow, and that's a promise from God.
But you shouldn't worry about me , you better worry about yourself because
this type of actions will show through, also, you should be more careful that no one sees you next time. Can't believe you
would lower yourself to that level, guess you never really know some people......
Sorry about the P S S's, I try to keep to myself and just run my own business, but this
type of action lowers the credibility of everyone!!!!
Till next time, God Bless Everyone, yes, even the sign thief!!!
Fish
On!!!!!
Capt's
Chris & Butch Foster
6-16-09
It's late so I'll make this one short. Today we were fishing with Bud Abbott from Burlington,NC
and David and Gary Wyatt along with Darren Kenyon from Mebane,NC.
This trip was a trip I had donated to the Piedmont Chapter of CCA to auction off to help raise
money for the CCA.
Various reasons beyond our control took us a while to get this one in, but we got it done!!!
In case you don't know, CCA stands for "COASTAL CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION", they do great things
for the coastal enviornment and fisheries.
Well to say it rained this morning would be an understatement, I mean it poured offshore,
but the King Mackeral bite was on, until it quit raining, then the bite stopped.
We left there and hit several spots until we found some fish that were in a feeding mood and
finished the day out there. With a strong current and the dreaded East wind we had, the guys did real good on the bottom fish
such as Grouper, Triggerfish, Vermillion Snappers, Silver Snappers, Jolt head porgy, grey snappers, sharks, calico bass,
black bass, Amber Jacks, Cobia, Almaco Jacks, Barracudas, Bonito,and King Mackeral.
It was a great trip with some great guys and with people like this in the CCA, it can't help
but be a success!!!
Till next time, God Bless!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
Cobia and baraccuda double
6-16-09
Today we went after bottom fish and lite lining with Carless Lee, Willie Shepherd, Clifton
Fulmore, Robert L. Dalton, George Simmons, and Ferman Hairr from Fayetteville,NC.
We found plenty of fish and the bite was real good until the tide fell out and that always
has a tendency to slow the bite.
We made several moves later in the day and the results were slow everywhere we went.
I was not satisfied with the amount of bottom fish the guys had so I ran to where
we had caught some King Mackeral yesterday and gave the guys some extra time on me to help them fill their coolers with fish.
We found a great King Mackeral bite still there and we were getting doubles on regularly
and were having trouble getting more than one line out.
I would have liked to stay a little longer, but I told the guys that it was almost criminal
to leave a bite like we were having, but I had another trip tomorrow and I had to get back to the marina before they
closed so I could fuel up.
But, the cooler was full of fish now and we had acheived our mission today even after
the bottom bite shut off, we were versatile and pulled the preverbal "rabbit out of the hat" anyway.
The Fayetteville guys are always a pleasure to spend the day with in the boat. If I don't
see you before, I'll see y'all in October!!!
Till next time, God Bless All!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
6-15-09
Today we were fishing withsome locals Jason Hunt and Jim Vansaders from Bolivia,NC and with
them were David Hunt from Raleigh,NC and Melissa Shearin from Eden,NC.
Today was a short (3/4 day), I had to make a decision on what to do to get them some quality
fishing in the amount of time I had to do it.
I decided to make the run offshore and go for King Mackeral and Mahi-Mahi, turns out I made
the right choice.
We didn't hook up any Mahi, although there were some caught in the area, our number just wasn't
called today, but we did limit out on King Mackeral and Sharks and even got a big 'Cuda.
Even though we had limited out we still had an hour of fishing time to go before heading in
so the guys tried their hand at jigging up an AJ.
I was showing them how the technique was done and immediately hooked up with a big 'un, which
proceeded to immediately break me off.
Hey Jim at EasternTackle.com that was my last "AJ colored jig" I need some more!!!!!
We had a beautiful day, perfect seas, perfect weather, perfect fishing and catching, and great
people on the boat, it does not get any better than it was today!!!!
Will be heading offshore tomorrow in search of bottom fish, check back to see what we did.
Till next time, Blessings to everyone!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt Butch
6-14-09
Today we were fishing with Rick Chester, Pheobe Chester, Travis Chester from China Grove,NC,
Jason Chester from Cleveland,NC and Dana and Eric Yost from Mooresville,NC.
The seas this morning were rough so we decided to hang close to the beach and fish for some
Spanish Mackeral.
As we were trolling and the bite was slow to start I might add, I noticed the seas getting
better, so we picked up the lines and headed to the 15 mile rock.
Upon arriving, I talked to good friend Gene Coble from Lexington,NC and he said that as soon
as he got there he hooked up a couple fish and that had been it. I assessed the situation and after noticing the absence of
bait and fish I headed East.
The horseshoe today was slow as well, in fact, everyone everywhere was talking about it being
slow. It was one of those days that a select few happened across the right place and caught a few more fish than others, but,
no one burnt them up today, that I know of!!
I finally settled at the "wreck" this evening and we actually lost more fish than we caught,
but we did OK with some King Mackeral and two Jacks that we got to the boat. The others got away!!
Oh Yeah, the seas didn't stay calm, it was down right nasty coming back in this afternoon,
a good 5 to 7 feet from the SW.
The bait has been in the area of OCP lately and some are on the beach at BHI, occassionally
and a few around the hot hole from time to time.
The good King Mackeral bite we had on the beach yesterday wasn't there today, but tomorrow
is a different day.
Also, I heard on the radio that I hadn't gone far enough west this morning to get the Spanish
Mackeral. I was told they showed up on the Lockwood Folly area of the beach later in the morning.
Don't know yet what tomorrow is going to bring, got a offshore trip planned, but the way the
weather has been lately, we will see what happens!!
But we still had a great day of fellowship and a good day of fishing. It's not always about how many
you catch, but the quality of the trip.
And with people like we had on the boat today, you can't help but have a 1st class trip, it
was fun guys!!!
Check out their pictures & video!!!
Till next time, God Bless Everyone!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch& Chris Foster
Amberjacks put up a good fight. Just ask Rick
6-12-09
Today we were fishing with Dustin Sutphin from Greensboro,NC and Michael Sutphin, Chase Pierce,
and Josh Smith from Randleman,NC.
Capt Chris and I were given the "green light" to put them on what we thought would give them
the most fish for the day that were good eating and good fighting.
This pretty much sums up a bottom, lite line trip. A lot of memories were made today
and we are headed offshore again tomorrow.
It's getting late and I too am pretty tired, so I'll let the pictures and video of today's
trip do the rest of the talking.
Check back tomorrow night and see how we did .
Till next time, God Bless All!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
Dustin and Michael fight amberjacks
06-10-09
Story will follow later.
6-9-09
Today we were fishing with Bob Tartisel, Wayne Parrish, Dick Townley from Heathsville,VA and
Joe Hicks from Fredricksburg,VA.
The guys wanted grouper so I went to the East side and stopped on several of my numbers until
I finally found some.
And find some we did. Only problem I don't think the guys were really expecting a grouper
to have the strength that they have and all of the grouper that were hooked up won the battle this time.
But now they know the power these fish have and tomorrow we are going to reload and go after
them again. This time I think they will be more ready now that they know what to expect.
We did get some nice bottom fish for some fresh fish dinners. Sounded like bottom fishing was
about the only thing happening much offshore today. Didn't hear of any Kings or Mahi caught today.
Seems like every year around the full moon in June the fish seem to disappear for a little
while, looks like this year is following suit.
This might be something to think about, maybe a clue, I don't know, may mean nothing I don't
know. But we did catch a King Mackeral on a grouper bait today in 110 feet of water!!!
The "lite line" never produced a fish!!
Maybe we need to fish deeper right now. That King Mackeral was on the bottom at 110 feet.
If you try fishing deeper with success, please let us know so we can pass it on!!
Anyhow, we are heading out again tomorrow in a new direction and going to try once again to
put the puzzle together. Check back and see how we did!!!
The Spanish Mackeral are still biting on the beach on 0 and 00 Clark Spoons pulled behind #1
and #2 planers.
Till next time, Blessings!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
6-8-09
Went to the stream today with Todd and wife Melinda Hicks and their friends Scott and Sonya
Rissmiller from Charlotte,NC
I hate to report that the hot bite that has been at the Black Jack was not there
today. I trolled several ledges and made it out to the 100 fathom line and never saw the first sign of bait or fish.
There was another boat in the area, and we never saw him hook up either!!
It looked like the dead sea!!! May not be that way tomorrow, but it was today. Around 1:00
PM I suggested that we run back in to where the Kings and Mahi have been lately to save the day.
We didn't have bait for this type fishing as we were going to the stream, but Capt Chris jigged
up some baits and we pulled some small ballyhoo's and managed a few King Mackeral and Mahi-Mahi along with a Bonito we caught
pulling a cedar plug on the ride out.
It was a good day with great people to spend the day with on the boat. We were reeling the
lines in to head to the hill when a Mahi hit the bait and it was Melinda's turn at bat. I got the whole thing on video, be
sure to check it out right here under this report.
Will be on the bottom grounds tomorrow, check back tomorrow night to see how we did!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt's. Butch & Chris Foster
Melinda's big Mahi-Mahi video
6-7-09
The fish continue to bite offshore, just ask John Eskridge from Shelby,NC, Mitchell Smith
from Greensboro,NC, Danny Clemons from Gibsonville,NC, Leon Williams,Jr from Fayetteville,NC, and Jerry and Johnnie Little
from Greensboro,NC.
The first stop this morning was around 40 miles out and the action started immediately. Fish
were flying in the boat so fast that I had to set up shop to help Capt Chris keep up with it all.
As we were fishing we managed two nice Mahi-Mahi on the lite line. As the tide started to fall
out, the fishing slowed so we made a run to where we have been doing good on the King Mackeral lately, and yep, they were
still there.
We most likely would have caught a limit of kings, but Mitchell hooked up with a big fish that
he fought for nearly an hour before we could see it was a shark in the 200 + - pound range.
Mitchell had visions of shark steaks on the grill, problem is he must have telepathed that
vision to mister shark, because one swift turn and the line parted and he swam away with the last laugh, this time!!!
We have a new feature that we are now putting with the pictures on the fishing reports page.
Be sure to check out our "YOUTUBE" videos that I will be shooting on our trips.
Will be in the Gulfstream tomorrow, hope to have pictures and some video on here from that
trip. Check back often as we continually try to make our website your one stop shop for fishing info.
Till next time, God Bless Everyone!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
6-6-09
The seas were in a big 5 to 6 foot swell this morning and by the evening, the NE winds had
her pretty nasty in a 5 to 6+ foot chop with white water everywhere.
But the "Yeah Right II" handled it with no reservations, just ask Richaed Batson, Vince and
son Jonathan Mounts, David Shields from Thomasville,NC along with Steve Hauser from Trinity ,NC and James O Wall III, from
Greensboro,NC.
We started off SW of the Tower where we found the current screaming, but again Capt Chris
and I put the plan together that we have used many times in the past and it wasn't long until the guys couldn't keep the fish
off their hooks.
By mid morning we had filled a 150 quart cooler with some big Black Bass, Triggerfish, Grey
Snappers, Silver Snappers, Vermillion Snappers, Sharks, Almaco Jacks and had the opportunity at several Grouper but today
they won the battle.
One of the guys brought his long time favorite bottom fish rod even after I warned him that
we fish for big bottom fish. First bite of the day for him was a grouper that snapped it into like a toothpick. I really hated
to see that happen especially after I was told that he had caught bottom fish with the rod for 30 years.
But like I told him, nothing last forever!! We decided to move since the lite line wasn't
producing anything where we were at. I made a run to where I thought we could catch some King Mackeral and Dolphin, turns
out, I was right.
The action on the Kings and Mahi was almost as hot as the bottom fishing, I said almost, however,
along with the Kings and Mahi we also got a nice cobia and a 'cuda.
The weather and sea current conditions we had didn't hold the boys from the piedmont area
at bay. But I really didn't expect it to because I too am from that area, and we don't know the meaning of the word "can't"!!!!!!!
Till next time, God Bless All!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
His first king on youtube
6-4-09
Today we were fishing with Howard Ayers, Moses James, Lorenza Donnell, and Clarence
Foulks from Greensboro,NC.
The weather and seas were not what we had yesterday. The current was running real hard today,
we couldn't get 16 ounce weights to stay on the bottom at anchor.
A lot of people have told Capt Chris and I that we were a natural team when it comes to fishing
and figuring out how to catch them. We know what the other is thinking sometimes before the other even thinks it!!
Today we strengthed those comments with our ability to synchronize into a well oiled
fishing machine. We figured out the pattern and what we needed to do to get the fish in the boat, and in the boat they came.
The lite line was only producing sharks so we quit bottomfishing early and ran in about 20
miles and picked a few King Mackeral before heading in!!
Again today Capt Chris and I knew we had did our job when the crew decided to call
it quits early, they were just too tired to catch anymore fish.
I love it when that happens, come on down, let us try to put you on fish until you get
tired of catching them!!!!
The long and the short of it is that the offshore bottom bite is hot right now, and so is the
inshore Spanish Mackeral Bite, and everything in between!!!
Small craft advisories posted for tomorrow, cancelled trip, will be at boat all day changing
oils, filters, and servicing transmissions, stop by and see me if you have time!! (slip 25, Dock "A" South Harbour Marina)
Till next time, remember, there are "NO Old Bold Captains"!!
Fish
ON!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
6-3-09
Today was a new day and every day on the ocean is different. We were fishing with Joe Brown
from Saulton,NC, Carl Kirkland from Farmville,NC, Don Edmunson and his son John from Fremont,NC, Sonny Brown from Fremont,NC,
and Jason Price from Greenville,NC.
There's not a whole lot to say except that the fellowship today was the only thing better
than the fishing, and the fishing was Great!!!!
The day was about as perfect for fishing as it gets. Light winds, calm seas, very little current,
and hungry fish.
Captain Chris said he cleaned so many fish that when he woke up this morning his arm was locked
into "clean mode" whatever that is!!!
We had a great time fishing with these guys and hope we can do it again soon!!!
Till next time, God Bless!!!!
Fish On!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
6-2-09
Went to the Raritan/Horseshoe Tuesday to try and hookup a King Mackeral. A couple other
boats were there and just like us, didn't have any luck.
The fish were there, you could see them under the boat, (no, they wern't jacks) you could
see the King Mackeral as they swam under the boat, they just wouldn't bite.
Came back to the beach and caught a few Spanish Mackeral for dinner. The guys and gals we
were fishing with today didn't give their names so we figured they want to stay anonamous.
Till next time, Blessings to all!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
6-1-09
A brief summary of some of what's going on at this time:
The inshore bite is hot now with good catches of Spanish Mackeral being caught on 00
and 0 Clark Spoons pulled behind #1 and #2 Planers.
The Shark fishing on the beach has been good, we have been catching them up to 200+
pounds lately on cut bait.
King Mackeral are showing up again on the beach. Pogys of any size have been hard to find
lately, but the bigger ones are starting to filter in on the beach.
Flounder are being caught on the near shore reefs using the smaller pogys.
Spade fish are on "jellyball" pieces.
Offshore, the King Mackeral, Cobia, and Mahi-Mahi are being caught on the "lite
line" while Grouper and bottom fishing. Using frozen cigar minnows on a live bait King Mackeral rig is a sure fire way to
catch the fish on the "lite line"!!!
Live bait such as pogys, cigar minnows, Spanish Sardines is great for the grouper, but
don't overlook the cut baits and jigging spoons, this will catch all types of bottom dwellers, including grouper!!!
The Gulfstream has been on fire lately. Wahoo, Mahi, Blackfin Tuna, a few, but very few, Yellowfin
Tuna. Here your ballyhoos pulled behind your favorite Blue water candy lures Skirt will get the job done.
Plus, there are some billfish out there. Just last week we leadered a Blue Marlin in the 900
to a 1000 pound range. She jumped all over a pink and white skirt with a ballyhoo being pulled around 7 knots at the Black
Jack Hole.
Should be back on the water by at least wednesday or before. Will have a "hands on" report
at that time!!! Till then God Bless!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt Butch
5-28-09
Today started out as a regular day of fishing in the Gulfstream, but, that's where it all
ended, just after it started.
The first thing started when I was at the mouth of the river and I remembered I had left
the camera in the truck. OK, I'll just take the pictures when we get in, right, well Yeah Right, you'll see what I mean as
this unfolds.
We were fishing today with brothers, Bill Argenbright from Harleyville,SC Sherman Argenbright
from Roanoke, VA, and Will Argenbright from Sneeds Ferry,NC.
We had a very nice calm ride to the Blackjack hole where we deployed the lines and almost
immediately we had a "Green Machine" destroyed by what looked to be a big Wahoo. I mean literally destroyed, cut up by sharp
teeth and broke in half.
I'll sacrifice a "Green Machine" anytime for a hit like that was. Only problem, we can only
speculate what it was, it pulled the hooks before we could see it!!!
Shortly after that, the starboard outrigger clip snapped and the fight was hard into a 35
pound bull dolphin. After that we hooked up a smaller cow and a barracuda.
Little did we know we were about to spend the rest of our fishing time mostly on one fish.
(remember the forgotten camera)
It was sight you see on "National Geographic" or "Fishing Costa Rica" . We put the lines back
out and the water on the far rigger bait turned white, and the reel was nearly emptied of topshot line and braid in
a matter of seconds!!!
I started backing down hard to regain the line when on the horizon a gigantic Blue Marlin
jumped and someone yelled, I think that thing's on the other end of this line!!!!!
Now, I can't say this was a 1000 pound Blue Marlin, but I will say everyone agreed that it
was somewhere between 900 to 1100 lbs. This was a huge fish. Her eye at boat side was as big as a coffee cup saucer!!!
Turns out, who ever yelled out that it was on the other end of the line was right!! For the
next 21/2 to 3 hours it was man against beast and on Penn IGFA 50 lb. class rods and Penn International 50 STW, it was the
fight of a lifetime.
(I know some guys that are glad we weren't fishing the Bald Head Island Rodeo!!!!)
All three brothers "harnessed up" and took their respective turn with the fish as one by one
the big Blue Marlin wore them down. A Blue Marlin fight on stand up tackle is awesome!!!
The decision was made that since Sherman was the rod man when the fish hit, that he would
be the one to try to bring the fish to "leader".
Capt Chris leadered the giant Marlin and set her free. Not all was a complete loss,
we did get some shots from a cell phone camera, not very good ones, (the nature of phone cameras) but better than I got
with the camera back in the truck at the marina.
After the Marlin was released I presented Sherman with the windon leader, (that I make myself,
what a test for durability) and the Pink and White Ailean Lure (that I also had custom worked) to make a better "smoke
trail") as a souvenier for the catch to go with the citation he will be receiving!!!
I did get the pics of the mahi and things when we got back to the marina. I'll have all the
pic's on here hopefully by tonight.
All I can say is if there was ever a fishing trip of a lifetime, this has to rate at the top
of the list. Congratulations to Sherman, Bill, and Will for a fishing trip I know I will never forget, and never want to forget!!!!!
Till next time remember, You have "old captains" and you have "bold captains", but there are
not any "old bold captains", Blessings to all!!!!
Fish
On!!!!!
Capts
Butch & Chris Foster
5-27-09
Went out on the beach today with Art Washburn, Parker Washburn, Frank Holder from Greensboro,NC
AJ Bocchino, Phoebe Washburn from New York City, and Cole Davies from Atlanta, GA.
The first stop we found the Spanish Mackeral biting rather well and some were of good size,
several pounds!!
We caught all these we wanted and then put out the lines for some sharks.
We didn't get one to the boat that met the 54 inch legal limit, but we did land a legal Atlantic
Sharpnose and fought and released a small Blacktip.
We had a few more runs from some bigger fish, but were not able to keep them hooked up. That's
fishing!!!
We were back at the Bald Head Island Marina at mid day and everyone had a great morning
of fellowship and caught plenty of fish.
Thanks guys for fishing with us, we hope we met your every expectation and possibly
exceeded it!!!
Till next time, God Bless!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
05-25-2009
Today we set out offshore with Bryan Detandt, Matt Schell, Mike Amidor, Mercer Moyd from Greenville,SC
and Ray Wiggins from Fountain Inn,SC.
Even though I had informed them this morning that the only way I would purposely go offshore
today was to go to the aide of a fellow fisherman or boater in distress and needing help, not to go fishing, but they decided
they wanted to go fishing, so I told them before we left that I had warned them.
It was rather nasty when we finally pulled the throttles back some 40+ miles out on a grouper
rock. The first drop immediately resulted in a nice red grouper. After getting on anchor, the bite was strong for a little
while.
We fished until the current got so strong that we couldn’t get the anchor to hold and
eventually the 24 pound plow anchor would not even get to the bottom in 130 feet of water.
I then had to keep the boat moving while the current was backing up into the stout winds to
the point of balancing things out to be able to get our rigs to the bottom.
After a while of this and the seas building now to around 7+ feet, we opted to troll some and
were rewarded with some nice Mahi-Mahi, a Bonito, and on the way out, Capt Chris deployed a cedar plug and we hooked up with
a nice Blackfin Tuna that managed to pull the hooks just out of gaff reach.
The big Bull Dolphin was fought perfectly
and brought to the gaff by Bryan Detandt. This fish gave Bryan a time, fighting all the way to the boat and even after getting
into the boat. These fish are powerful fighters that do not give up!!!
With the seas getting bigger and nearly
everyone’s breakfast seeming to want to attack, the decision was made to run back inside and finish the day on a big
shark.
We made the run to the hill and set up
for a shark. We got several nice one’s hooked up but they were able to throw the hook before they were brought to boat
side. They just wanted one legal keeper to eat. We kept one last year and they said that the way we prepared it made it absolutely
delicious, and they are as good as they fight, Great!!!!
We were beginning to think that it wasn’t
going to happen today. We had been so close to victory that I decided to make one more drift before heading to the Marina.
It was Ray Wiggins turn to be the “Rod
man” and it wasn’t long before the 130 lb. class rod doubled over and the fight was on. About 45 minutes to an
hour later a “BIG” Bull Shark was at boat side.
We had to put two 150 quart coolers end to end to get this big boys picture. Someone said that
gives the term “Feel The Burn” a whole new meaning.
The conditions were about as tough for
fishing that I have been in in a long time. But with Capt Chris in the cockpit working the rods, it made my job up on the
fly bridge a lot easier.
Everyone has always said we made a great
team and the conditions we had to endure today to get fish into the boat only reinforced those comments as far as I am concerned.
We have done this to the point that we know what the other is thinking before we each think it, and that is what it takes
to make it happen when the conditions are tough!!!
Captain Chris is my best friend, my best
buddy, and my Son. I love him more than life itself and I am so glad he is back in the world where he belongs at this time
in his life. Hopefully, he will figure the rest out soon!!!!
Till next time, be safe on the water and
God Bless Everyone!!!!
Fish On!!!!!
Capt’s Butch & Chris Foster
P.S. Admiral Bodie “The Retired Fish Dog”
Say’s HI!!!!!!!
05-24-09
Trevor Bolton, Liberty,NC, Jason Marchisette, Preston and Trevor Pierce, Chris Butthe,
Greensboro,NC, and Dustin McMasters, Liberty, NC joined Capt Chris and Capt Butch today off Oak Island since it was
still pretty rough offshore. As you can see by the pictures they caught plenty of keeper spanish and lots of sharks that were
just a little short of keeper size, so they were released to fight another day.--Barbara
Nice size bull shark on youtube
05-23-09
With the water still rough offshore, Capt. Butch and Capt. Chris had to stay close
to the beach again today, but the crew of Patrick Springer, Matthew Williams, Ethan and Bobby Davis of Wayneswille,NC,
Victor Namotka, Sylvia NC, and Kenneth Mcdowell, Whittier, NC had their hands full catching spanish and large sharks.
They even managed to land a nice stingray. Below are the pictures of the charter. Enjoy. --Barbara
5-22-09
Went out on the beach today and did a near shore trip. We were fishing today with Ira Strouse,
Tissa Strouse, Isaac Strouse, and Anne Faulk from Fayetteville,NC.
I had the honor today of helping 4 year old Isaac catch his first ever fish, a nice Spanish
Mackeral. Although the Spanish Mackeral were biting the huge sharks that were cruising the surface with their dorsal fins
out of the water was more suspense than we could handle long.
So, we went after them and were rewarded quite nicely. The first couple of hook ups
proved to be more than our 80 pound class tackle could handle, and the line was broken first and the second one pulled the
hook.
The next bite was from a short Black Tip, we took his picture and released him.
The next Black Tip was a keeper at nearly 57 inches fork, but we also released him to try
to get a bigger one, yeah, they were biting good!!!!
It wasn't long before the rod bent over and the clicker screamed mercy on the reel and the
fight was on again, this time it was another Blackfin Shark 60+ inches. This one was headed for the table!!!
We have been told that the way Capt. Chris and I prepare your shark when caught, make for
some of the finest eating you can get. Even those that have had a bad experience with shark meat in the past tell us that
they are absolutely delicious the way we do them.
A great fight all the way to the boat, and then a great fight at the boat. Always in sight
of land and only a 1/2 day trip that won't spoil your dinner plans plus some of the best fish dinners you will ever have in
the near future. How can you beat that!!!!!
Well, we at "Yeah Right II" have added another innovation to the charter experience here out
of Southport,NC.
On days that the seas will allow, how about being spoiled
by your Captain by having one of our recipes on our website prepared for your dining enjoyment!!!
Yes, I love to cook, and I have equipped the "Yeah Right II" with a full galley to prepare
some of your catch right on the boat for lunch. But, what else would you expect from a charter service that thinks of you
first.
Another way to say Thank You for choosing us as your charter boat provider and in the tradition
of our company, we like to stand tall above the average.
Hope you will be able to enjoy this added feature soon!!! Till next time, God Bless Everyone!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
5-21-09
We were scheduled to go offshore today but the persistant winds kept Capt Chris and I close
to the beach again today.
With us was Dan Rush, Scott Rissmiller, from Charlotte,NC and Ken Rush from Pheonix, Arizona.
Wish I could report better water conditions today but the truth of the matter is they were
worse.
The dirtier than yesterday water had the Spanish Mackeral at a near standstill. We did catch
a few, but, unlike yesterday, we seen some sharks playing near the surface so we gave up on the Spanish Mackeral and went
for the Sharks.
It was the right decision for today. We never got a legal size one for the table, although
we got close, the 54" fork length eluded us today so all were fought and invited to a photo shoot and released to fight again
another day.
Around lunch time everyone was tired of fighting sharks so we headed to South Harbour Marina
and called it a day.
Maybe next time we can get offshore,maybe tomorrow, we will have to see what the weather is
like in the morning but if we go, we will let you know what happens right here be it good catching or bad catching, regardless
of the catching the fishing will be great as usual with even greater folks on board!!!!
Til next time,Blessings to all!!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
5-20-09
Yep, I'm behind again, but I'll see if I can get caught up here!! The winds have been a real
factor as of late with gale warnings posted offshore and small craft posted near shore.
Only good thing for us is that we have a South facing beach which means that the NE winds
won't make it rough right on the beach.
Today we were fishing with Gabe Westhafer from Ohio, Roy and Cydney McFillan from Newcomers
Town, Ohio, Kevin Walters from Caldwell Isle, Ohio, Mike Cain from Somerdale, Ohio and Rick Conner from New Philly, Ohio.
We were fishing in some tough conditions with dirty water, cooler water, and an East wind.
About as tough as it gets!!!
We were persistant though and tried everything until we hit on what they wanted at the time.
The deciding factor was more weather related than anything else.
The winds calmed for a little and the sun broke through the clouds and we went from slow to
just as fast with the Spanish Mackeral until the clouds took back over and the winds picked back up, and then it was over
just as fast as it started.
We tried for a shark today as well, but they were not willing to bite.
Cydney didn't seem to mind, as she caught most of the Spanish today.
This young lady is the champion Pole Vaulter at her school and is reaching for a higher goal
in the sport.
I was also told she was a pro shot put thrower and was talented in the field of music with
being able to play several different instruments and was a good singer as well.
And on top of all this, she's a dang good fisherwoman to boot!!!!
Remember the name Cydney McFillian, I think you will be hearing more about her in the
future!!!!
Hopefully the winds will settle soon and we can get back offshore and if it's God's will,
they will!!!!
Till next time God Bless All!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch & Chris Foster
5-17-09
With the north winds to be blowing 20 to 30 knots today, I called to cancel today's trip offshore.
But, also, with the winds being from the north also means that the beach would be flat and the guys wanted to stay on the
beach and catch some fighting fish.
Well, nothing else fits that bill like a shark and that's what they wanted to do. And the
sharks were pretty co-operative despite the dirty water from all the winds lately.
We were fishing today with Joe West, Bobby Sharpe, John Sharpe, Tony Wallace, Jimmy Wallace
from Sanford,NC and Bobby Barker from Caswell, Co.
We were heading out this morning and at the mouth of the Cape Fear River the birds were
working the "tide rip" and this is a dead give away that the blues and spanish mackeral are in there feeding on baitfish.
We had some frozen baits in the cooler, but for sharks, the fresher the bait the better, so
Capt. Chris deployed the Spanish Mackeral trolling tackle and we started picking up Spanish and blues for some bait. (A few
of the Spanish were just too big to use for bait, they had to go into the keeper box)...
We made a trip to a good shark spot on the beach but found no activity this morning so we
turned the "Yeah Right II" to another favored spot just off the Jay Bird Shoals.
Here we hit the jack pot. Everyone got to do battle with a shark today, and Joe got the biggest
with a very nice legal Black Tip.
A few of the sharks we hooked up we just couldn't do anything with them. They fought so hard
that they pulled the hooks and one put on a show on top of the water like a billfish does until it finally broke the
375 lb. wire leader!!!
Seemed that the best place today to hook up with the sharks was when we got the "Yeah Right
II" in the middle of the Dolphins that were playing and jumping on the beach today.
Shark fishing can be some awesome fishing with huge fish and fantastic battles with powerful
fish, and you don't ever loose sight of land, what more could you want, IT'S GREAT FISHIN'!!!!
If you haven't tried shark on the grill or in the frying pan, you are missing one of the best
eating fish in the ocean. Don't believe me, just ask Joe what happened at the fish fry when he fried up seperate pans of bottom
fish, grouper, and sharks.
The Grouper and bottomfish was left with fish in the pans, he ran out of shark and everyone
was wanting more shark, and after trying the shark, they didn't want the bottomfish or grouper, what else can I
say!!!!
If you say you don't like shark, it's probably because it was not handled properly in the
field, just like a deer, it has to be "field dressed" or it's not fit to eat!!!!!!
And the crew on the "Yeah Right II" knows how to prepare your shark catch for some of
the best eating you can have!!!!
Once again, I knew I had done my job when we returned to South Harbour Marina that evening
and the talk was about getting some Tylenol for the sore muscles the shark battles caused, but as we know, that's a good kind
of sore!!!
As always Joe, it's a real pleasure fishing with you guys, hope to do it again soon. Till next
time, God Bless All!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
5-18-09
What can I say but yes, I have been a little slack lately with the reports. But, I can't take
all the blame, the weather (winds) has had a hand in it as well, a lot of cancellations going on this year due to rough
conditions. I won't go if I don't feel it's 100% safe and I hope you can respect that.
However, we did get to go offshore on a bottom fishing trip on the 16th with Andy
Edger, Bill Edger, Drew Edger, Kirk Rankin, Bart Rankin, and Brian Hall from Saint Marys, Maryland.
We caught a lot of fish, however, the new size limits that were imposed last year made
a pile of them undersized. Plus, If Drew Edger would have had time to instruct the rest of the guys on how to catch
fish we would have had a lot more.
Drew was the youngest one in the crowd, and obviously the best fisherman. It was his
first time offshore and he showed everyone how it was done with catching Mahi-Mahi, king Mackeral, and most of the keeper
bottom fish.
The Black Bass that were big enough were very respectable and were some of
the biggest we have caught all year. We also had some nice Grey Snappers, Triggerfish, Silver Snappers, and the "lite line"
produced some nice Mahi-Mahi and a King Mackeral.
It's been tough getting out this year with the windy weather, but when you can go, the
fish are there. You may have to do like we did today and keep moving to find feeding fish. We marked a lot of fish today.
but only a "handful" of spots had fish on them that were actually feeding.
I knew it was going to be tough today by the radio talk, everyone was having trouble
finding fish that were feeding, so I "threw in the towel" and headed to my Gulfstream numbers, that's what saved the day for
us. Sometimes you gotta' do what you gotta' do, and that's what we did today.
My promise to you is this, "If there are fish out there to be caught, we will do what we have
to do to try and find them" and again, we found them!!!
Thanks Guys for fishing with us, it took several tries but we finally got a break in the weather.
Hopefully, it will be calm again next month when we do it again!!! God Bless All!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's.
Butch & Chris Foster
MAY 10, 2009
Fishing with Capts
Butch and Chris Foster today were Junior Bragg and Austin Compton from Mississippi along with Dever Compton, Scott Morris
and Mike Neighbors from Virginia. We were supposed to be headed offshore; however, as the winds and storms building would
have it we were forced to make the decision to stay near the beach and see what we could dredge up. First we found that the Spanish Mackerel and small Blues are here and there seemed to be a few nice 2-3
pound Spanish mixed in that were hitting a #1 Green Clarkspoon behind the planers. After
boating about 30 of these we decided to try to find something with a little more fight to it.
All morning we had been noticing sharks in the 5-8 foot length feeding in the 3” peanut pogys that are scattered
around the beach at Oak Island and we decided to try our luck at
hooking one of these beasts.
It didn’t take long and we had a Bull Shark in the 150 lb range boat side. Shortly after that we put another shark, this time a Lemon weighing in around 100
lbs, boat-side and removed the hook for a live release. The day progressed with
the strikes from 2 more sharks (I’m assuming) that “buried the rod” and never let up until they pulled the
hook. With black clouds approaching from the south and west we decided that it
might be best to avoid the bad weather and we headed for the hill to ensure we could fish with our friends . … . ..
. . . .. . another day in the hopeful near future.
5-6-09
Although the winds have kept us from going offshore lately,
we did get out on the beach yesterday with Javan Whitt, Cory Whitt, Cameron Whitt, and Kerri McMahon who all live in Winston
Salem,NC but have a home also in Ocean Isle Beach,NC.
The beach was very fishable Wednesday morning although the water was kind of dirty.
In fact, I thought when I saw it that we most likely wouldn't catch anything!!
Just goes to show you that you never know. The Spanish Mackeral and Blue fish were
pretty cooperative despite the dirty water and the action was real steady.
We had caught enough of those for several fish dinners so they wanted to try to get
a bigger fish. Something that will fight.
As I have said before, be careful what you wish for in the ocean!!! We rode over to
the hot hole and set out a couple lines for some sharks.
Almost immediately we were bit by an Atlantic sharpnose shark. Yes, this was a shark,
but not exactly what I was looking for.
In the boil of the hot hole were some big sharks casually swimming around feeding on
the unfortunate bait fish that get disoriented in all the current at the boil!!
I would try to motor in and they would leave, so I got above it and we drifted silently
into the rolling water and that did the trick.
A big bull shark left the boil to investigate the blood that Capt Chris was slowly
pouring into the water from bleeding the bluefish.
There's the one were after Capt Chris replied, and he's going towards the bait. Not
only did he go towards the bait, he ate it!!!
The rod doubled over and the fight between Cameron Whitt and the big bull shark was
on!!! I was on the fly bridge keeping the "Yeah Right II" in position while below the team of Cameron and Javan were on
the rod while Capt Chris coached the whole scenerio.
It was a fight to the finish and Cameron came out victorious!! Capt Chris slipped the
"Shark Harness" (that he has invented) over the tail of the beast at boat side and it was a done deal.
We had to use the block and tackle to get this one in the boat, there was a lot of
fine shark steaks on this one and some even finer eating!!!!
If you haven't tried shark, you don't know what you are missing. Just be sure to check
your sizes and legal types before keeping one!!!
If you think sharks taste bad and stinks, it's because it was not handled properly.
Just like a deer, you have to "field dress" a shark. Let it die and not "gut" the fish and the urine secrets all through the
meat, therefore it's strong and stinks and taste worse.
Gut the shark soon after it passes and pack in plenty of ice, also, when you dress the
fish, be sure to fillet it and remove the skin and any dark red meat. If you will do this, you will have some great eating
and the meat will have no odor at all. A little butter, lemon juice and tiger sauce salt & pepper to taste, basted
on the grill is hard to beat.
Be sure to grill plenty, or it will never make it to dinner!!! Also, there are some
good shark recipes on this website on the "Recipe Page".
Thanks for fishing with us guys, you had a lot of choices and you chose us, Capt Chris
and I hope we met and exceeded your expectations!!!!!
The fish are biting, we just need the winds to settle so we can get offshore. Reports
today of chopper blues, whiting, and another King Mackeral came off Ocean Crest Pier.
The baits here, the Spanish Mackeral are here, the blues are here, some King Mackeral
are here. It's time, as soon as the winds settle and the seas calm, Let's Go Fishin'!!!!!
I want to take a moment and THANK everyone that has fished with us and all those
that are going to fish with us and everyone everywhere that has helped to make "Yeah Right Charters" what it is today.
Without God's Blessing and your help and committment, we would be nothing, and we will
never forget that!!! Till next time, Thanks again and God Bless each and everyone!!!!!
Fish
On!!!!
Capt's
Butch and Chris Foster
P.S. "Admiral Bodie" the fish dog says HI!!!!!!!
| Admiral Bodie says, "HI!!" |
|
5-1-09
The ride out this morning was straight into a SSW wind and normally I would have
to report a rough ride. This was the first real "head on" conditions for the "YEAH RIGHT II" and I am proud to say that everyone
was dry and comfortable below in the cockpit of what has turned out to be a fine fishing machine.
The weather was beautiful albiet quite windy and some rather wavey conditions, but the
new Turbo Cummins Diesels we just put into the boat never missed a lick and ran smooth as silk!!!
Capt Chris and I were honored once again to have with us "cousin" Perry Carter from Pinehall,NC
and "cousin" David Thornton from Walkertown,NC (the "cousin" deal is a thing from waaaayyy back, athough it's my misfortune
these guys are not related to me)
Also, we had Blake Ashburn from Rural Hall,NC Randy Sydnor from Lewisville,NC, Robert Strupe
from Lexington,NC and Craig Stevens from Clemmons,NC.
We headed SW of the tower today for some bottom fishing. Upon arriving at the first spot we
were greeted with some nice black bass and snappers then the sharks found us and immediately took over the action.
With all those we wanted we made the move to another place only to find the same scenerio.
To make a long story short, we kept moving until we hit a spot where we finally got away from
the sharks and from that point on it was Black Bass, Silver Snappers, American Red Snapper, Triggerfish, Vermillion Snappers,
Grey Snappers, Calico Bass, a few sharks, and King Mackeral on the lite line.
Another great day of fishing (and catching) with even greater folks on the boat,
The Lord has blessed us well!!!
Today's trip (Saturday 5-2-09) was cancelled due to small craft advisories and the winds. To
those who don't know, a "small craft" is considered anything under 60 feet.
So, you might want to think before heading out in those conditions!!! Plus, if you do go out
in those conditions and something happens, forget about your boat insurance, they will NOT pay a claim!!!!
The fishing is good from the inside to the Gulfstream and the winds are bound to let up soon,
I hope!!
If you have any pictures you would like me to post here of your trips just send them to captainbutchf@earthlink.net and I will be more than happy to put them here with your credits that you send. We would appreciate it
and be honored to post them for you!!!
Got another trip Monday but as for now, the winds do not look favorable, but as we all know
that's two days away, and the weather will change several time before then.
Till next time, God Bless Everyone and Everything!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
4-25-09
Today we headed to the 100/400 and the Blackjack. With us today was Neal Johnson and Lee Essick
from Wilmington,NC, Frank Hendrickson from Southport,NC, Jon Wolfe and Matt Cranford from Raleigh,NC.
This trip was an adventure to say the least and upon arriving at the 100/400 we found the cooler
water had pushed into the area so we headed more to the Blackjack where we found warmer water.
Today, it was more being in the right place at the right time. By this I mean the bite was
erratic.
We did get two Blackfin Tunas for our efforts and before we headed in we stopped on a bottom
rock and picked up some nice bottom fish to finish out the day.
The new engines in the "Yeah Right II" are purring like a kitten, load up the crew and come
on down and let's go fishin'!!
Till next time, Blessings!!!
Fish On!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris Foster
4-24-09
Got to get caught up here on the fishin' reports.
Friday Capt Chris and I met up with Gil Steadman, Rick Rowe, Matt Rowe, Quint Hougge from Raliegh,NC.
We met at Gill's house in Wrightsville Beach and took Gill's 27 Boston Whaler "Outrage" to the Same Ole'.
The bite was slow for everyone there Friday morning but we did hook up with a couple nice Mahi
Mahi before we left and went to a grouper rock and put into play what I was talking about at the Fisherman's Post School this
year.
I think I was taken sorta light on the power of a grouper until Gill and Rick hooked up on
what proved more power than they were expecting. To make a long story short, the grouper won those battles.
We ended the day with Mahi and various bottom fish and Capt Chris and I spent the day fishing
with some great guys and I look forward to the time we can do it again!!!!
Till next time, God Bless All!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's Butch & Chris
4-19-09
It's a little early, but the indications are that this year is shaping up to
be what we hope is going to be a "banner year" for us here on the Southport beaches. The Spanish Mackeral have already
started showing up. I talked to William Deal at the Frying pan Tower get together today and he said they caught some Spanish
Mackeral off Yaupon Reef today. The Bonito's, the good eating one's are here somewhere. Hopefull we will find them before
they are gone. They do not hang around long in the spring. Trout and whiting are reported being on the near shore reefs.
The traditional bottom bite is always the deal here.
You just need weather and winds that will let you go and that has been at a premium lately. But get a calm day and head out
with bottom rigs and a bucket of bait and you too can have a banner day of bottom jerking various great eating fish.
Just rig up and fish the drops, rocks, and ledges on the down current side and fill your cooler with Black Bass, Grouper,
Silver Snapper, Vermillion Snapper, Trigger Fish, Grey Snappers and keep a lite line out and you should get some King Mackeral
and possibly some Mahi and or Cobia. The big Blue Fish were at the Tower just recently. Don't know how long they will stay
but usually they will be there until the Barracudas run them off.
If you haven't tried the "jigging technique" for fish you are missing out on one of
the hottest and best fish producing tactic that has come into play here in a long time. This type of offshore fishing is gradually
winning over new anglers every day. And it should, you need to see what these jigs are doing for the fish. It is a dynomite
fish catching tactic. And, from what I have seen, no fish is safe around a deep dropped jig. The results have been awesome!!! Go
to www.easterntackle.com for some great deals on jigs!!!
There is no doubt that the winds have been a problem for us offshore and Gulfstream Fishermen
this spring. But when you can get there the fishing is improving every day. Reports of Mahi-Mahi, Blackfin Tuna, and Wahoo
are common from the Gulfstream. Trolled lures like the Braid high speed in Black and purple have been hot for the Wahoo. Deep
divers have even produced Mahi from one report I got. Cedar Plugs are an old standby and one of the best trolling lures you
can use in the blue water. Rigged Ballyhoo's on your favorite color of Blue Water Candy Lures Skirts will usually draw some
reel screaming, rod bending action!!!
It's fishing time here on the SE Coast. The fuel is down this year and the economy
is looking better each day, so come on down and catch some fish, it's that time again!!!!
The announcement that I spoke of earlier last week is supposed to be happening tomorrow. I'll
go ahead and let the perverbial cat out of the bag now.
A lot of you know that I have worked hard this winter to get the "Yeah Right II" in great running
shape for this season.
Everything was replaced or repaired from transom to bow. I knew the engines in her were a little
tired but I figured they would run a few years before they needed to be rebuilt.
Well, I went out with the guys from the Frying Pan Tower site and we had an engine issue that
day. My opinion of that was "enough is enough", either get in or get out.
Well, I nearly quit the charter business when this happened. I had a tough year last year and
it looked like it wasn't going to get any better this year.
I had to make a big decision!!! The new boat rides like a cadillac and everything in her was
new except for the engines.
Do I let all the work I put into her this winter go or do I continue moving foreward!!
Well, I made my decision, we ain't going nowhere as long as you want to go fishin'!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow morning she is being fitted with two "BRAND NEW" not rebuilt or remanufactured, but
(2) BRAND NEW Turbo Cummins Diesels, all new wiring from the fly bridge down and all new gauges.
We are excited about our decision to continue with the charter business, and hope you
will enjoy the "Cadillac Ride" of the new bigger boat and have the peace of mind knowing that she is now equipped with the
latest technology and engines that money can buy.
This has been a very expensive endevor for us here at "Yeah Right Charters" We haven't
had a price increase in four years now.
We even absorbed the high fuel prices last year to help you be able to still go fishing.
And you were never hit with hidden charges like "fuel sur charges", we don't play that game,
you always know where you stand with us!!!
And now, with the continuing effort to help our customers out so they can go fishing, we are
not having a rate increase this year either.
How can we do this, you ask?
Because we love you and we love what we do and we are not money driven!!!!
It's a new year with a new boat, let's go fishin' and may God bless you all!!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt Butch Foster
4-14-09
Yes, the winds are still blowing here at the beach. But the Speckled Trout and Red Drum are
biting better as the days continue to get warmer.
Live Shrimp is undisputedly the best bait if you can get them. But, the imitations are doing
good now as well.
I had the priveledge today to visit a store I had heard a lot about lately and I must say that
I was in Awe!!!
I visited the "ISLAND TACKLE & HARDWARE" store in Carolina Beach today and I must say that
this is the place to go for whatever you need in the fishing, boating, clothing, hardware, supplies, you name it and they
will have it somewhere.
We all know that "Boaters World" is just days away from being no more, so if you have to go
to Wilmington anyway, just go on to Carolina Beach and get everything you need with just one stop.
If you haven't been there yet, then do yourself a favor and go by and see Dennis, Wanda,or
Wes Barbour at Island Tackle & Hardware. This place is awesome!!!!
I would say that if they don't have it either you don't need it or it's not been made yet!!!
I also was treated to another fine business there today. It was around lunch time so I asked
where was a good place to eat while in towm. I was definately pointed in the right direction!!
It was agreed by all at Island Tackle that "BOWMAN'S At The Beach SEAFOOD RESTAURANT"
was the place to go!!!
I gave it a try. So, if you are in Carolina Beach and you get done shopping at "ISLAND TACKLE
& HARDWARE" just two blocks from there is "BOWMAN'S SEAFOOD RESTAURANT" I will have to admit these are two fantastic places
that you have got to patronize when in the Carolina Beach area.
Carolina Beach, that's a clue as to what we are doing here at "YEAH RIGHT CHARTERS". The announcement
will be really soon!!!!!
This Sunday will be the "FRYING PAN TOWER GET TOGETHER" and pig pickin' I along with several
other captains will be doing seminars on various fishing situations.
Mine will be on offshore bottom and grouper fishing mainly, but we can talk about it all if
you like!!
This is to be held at "INLET WATCH MARINA" (another clue), if you need any type boat work,
motor work, or what ever it is pertaining to boats you need to call Dwayne DeHart at (910) 452-7878.
From what I have seen, Dwayne really cares about you and your boat and he strives hard
to be fair, honest, and thorough. I think Wilmington's a short drive for this kind of service!!!!
Be sure to tell Dwayne that Capt. Butch told you about him. If you'll do that, he won't charge
no more than 10% extra!!!
Till next time, go catch a trout, then go get some more baits, get your boat fixed, and
have lunch in Carolina Beach!!!! Blessings!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt Butch
4-12-09
I wish I could get an offshore fishing report for you, but, just as it does every year between
the transition from winter to spring and then to summer, the winds will blow.
Seem's to me they have been a little worse the past few years though. Must be something to
this "global warming thing after all"....
Just looked at the "Reef Cast Ensamble" on the "Fishing Reports" page right here on this website.
Yeah, you too can see what the weather is predicted to do just as I can.
Anyway, it looks now like the winds are going to be howling again this week. Looks like some
Speckled Trout and Red Drum fishing may be in order. Maybe even another Bream and Crappie trip..
The Speckled Trout, Red and Black Drum are biting and on the beach front some Virginia Mullet
(whiting) and Grey Trout on the near shore reefs have been reported being caught.
Has anyone seen or heard of any Spanish Mackeral yet?
If I get the chance this week I will try to get a "hands on" Spec Report for you. Can't make
any promises though, got a lot to try to get done this week.
The weather/winds are going to break soon and I have got to be ready to roll when it does,
and I will be!!!!!
When the seas settle out some we will be back offshore with some more reports. The
winds haven't been a total loss for me though!!!
Stay tuned for a suprising announcement very soon here at "Yeah Right Charters" on how I have
used the winds to my advantage!!!
I'm not even going to drop any hints about what it is, but I will say this, it has been an
"executive decision" that's going to make a "BIG" Statement here at "Yeah Right Charters"!!!
I promise it will be posted here very soon!!!
So, till the winds die down keep fishing inside, don't worry about the "announcement" coming
soon, it's a good thing, and you have a Blessed day and week!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt Butch
4-9-09
I mentioned yesterday I had another fishing
report and I do. Yeah, I know the winds have been blowing the seas up, but that isn't where we went fishing!!
Capt. Chris and I made our annual springtime run to
one of our favorite bream fishing spots at Tabor City.
We had a treat today because we met up with our good
friend Mike Marsh from Wilmington,NC. Now, if you don't know Mike, he is a well known Outdoor writer and photographer as well
as a Fish and Wildlife Biologist, plus he's also the Author of several books on the outdoors, and writes outdoor articles
for more magazines, newspapers, and other publications that I can began to name here!!!
The cold weather had slowed the bite as it had cooled
the water down some. But, that didn't matter, we were having a great time and proving again that it doesn't matter the size
or quantity of fish as long as friends and family can get together once in a while and share some quailty time away from
the rat race we call life!!!
We ended the day with a decent catch of bream and crappies,
this trip is our annual "kick off" to the charter season and as soon as the winds settle and the seas calm some, we will be
back on the ocean bringing you up dated and accurate fishing reports.
So keep in touch, it's fixin' to start happening here
at "YEAH RIGHT CHARTERS" Blessings to all!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Chris, Butch, & Mike
4-8-09
Thanks to Reid Goodman for sending us this fishing report. This is a good one
with a lot of info. to help you find the fish next time you head out.
I have another report for today 4-8-09 I'll have it here sometime tomorrow, but for now here's
Reid's report!!!
Thanks again Reid!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, yesterday a buddy and I decide to do a bit of recon on the fish.
> I was
wanting to see where the fish were holding as far as depth along
> with what the water temps were doing. I usually make
a few hook &
> line runs in the beginning of the season so I can nail down what is
> where. To make a longer
story shorter, loaded up the 28 Regulator with
> fishing gear and off to the races we went. (Get this out of the way
up
> front, fed permits in hand for kings and grouper on board.)
Our plan for the day is to hit different depths,
see what is there, target scamp and reds.
We stopped for about 5 minutes at a place or two on the way out to the
>
tower to see what the reef fish were doing. In 55' of water, the black
> bass(toads) and other standard stuff like grunts,
triggers, pinkies,
> etc were chomping heavy.
Had 4 buddies call on the radio saying the kings are stacked. Ran out
>
to the "fleet" and put a dozen in the box in about 20 minutes all in
> the 8 - 10 lb range. We started spooning for
them and then made the
> corp decision we weren't going to do this all day. We are going to
> bottom recon. All
of our buddies ended the day with 600 to 1000 lbs of
> kings........ We quit king fishing after 25 - 30 minute
>
At all of the spots we are getting hit by the elusive "brown marlins" otherwise known as dogfish. (those brown sharks) Headed
to 70' - 75' water. There the bottom fish are still chomping but
> no groupers not legal. Bottom bait fish are killing
us, the groupers
> cant get to the bait fast enough.....
Head to 85' - 90' range, same thing, bottom boys are
chomping, just not
> the size we are looking for. Got a couple of keepers, we are after
> toads...Bottom bait
fish are killing us, the groupers cant get to the
> bait fast enough..... Head to 95' - 105' range, chaaaaa ching....
Reds are here and so are
> the scamps. I start hitting decent reds on my side of the boat, he is
> hitting brown
marlins on his.......
Obviously he is having to listen to all my BS about how he needs to
> pull his weight,
I can't keep carrying him,,,,,blah blah blah. He puts
> 8 BM's in a row, I am busting a gut listening to him swearing
while I
> am pulling back to back reds. His rod doubles....... he is saying "
> this isn't a F'ing BM, there is
no way, this is a big red or black". I
> am calling bs and telling him he is on crack, he can't catch a big red
>
to save his life. (He is a really good grouper fisher) I get the FU
> comment 3 times while he is grunting and moaning
horsing this pig off
> the bottom to the boat in under a minute.........electric reel is
> moaning, rod doubled........
he is guessing 50lb black or toad
> red....... gonna take the "big fish" title from me for grouper
> today.............
>
Well, as he hosts the 6' 1/2 black tip shark, I am really wearing him
> out..... couple more FU's from him and he pulls
the hook to move. All
> it takes is for me to look at him and he tells me to STFU....... I just grin.......... I like
those days when it is going my way.....
> Next spot I hit some toads back to back 3 - 4 times and was putting
28 - 31 lb reds on the deck........ Average weight was probably close to 20lbs over all for the reds.
>
End of the day, we ended up with your mixed bag of typical bottom fish,
> grunts, black bass, b liners, red grouper,
scamps, speckle hind, aj,
> kings, bonita yada yada yada.
>Buried up to the elbows in fish guts, I took two pics
on the boat and
> snapped a few at the fish house were we are dropping off the catch with
> my phone.
if
I just knew a few guys that wanted to go......
4-2-09
I will have to say that Capt Chris and I fished
with some tough guys today. Never heard the first complaint and no whining at all, ("except from me, I don't like getting
wet!!!")
The rains may have been intermittant as forecast
on shore, but let me tell you offshore it was a solid downpour that would have made any rain forest proud.
Although it was a 3/4 day trip, I elected to run out
because the fishing in closer is not real good at this time. I figured fishing in fish for 1 1/2 hours would be better
than fishing for 3 hours where the catching would be of lesser quality and everyone was in agreement, so off we went!!!
With us today was Chris Pheorusso from Scottsville,Va,
Boston Craddock from Charlottesville,Va, Christopher Arston from Resten,Va, Patrick Dollar from Rome,Ga, and Mark Dickerson
from Richmond,Va.
To say these guys were tough is an understatement.
It was pouring rain and the 3 foot seas that were predicted must have taken place in the Bahamas somewhere.
The 3 foot that we were supposed to have turned into
5 to 7 foot about the time we reached our destination. But, what can I say, the new Chris Craft handled them at
21 knots without a problem and she rode them so well that the ones that were not asleep on the bean bags were at the dining
table eating lunch on the way in, with that taking place, I'll have to say she must have a pretty good ride in rough seas!!!
Yeah, we were all soaking wet, but the fish kept us
busy and warm and even in these conditions we had another great fishing trip with some even greater fellowship!!!
You guys are, to say the least, tough and Capt
Chris and I enjoyed the day with you on the "YEAH RIGHT II"!!!
If the weather permits we are heading to the Gulfstream
tomorrow, check back and I'll let you know what we do!!!
Till next time, May God Bless You All!!!!!
Fish
On!!!!!
Capt's
Chris & Butch Foster
3-28-09
Yes, I know you want a offshore fishing report and I want to give you one.
But the truth of the matter is that it has been to rough and windy to head offshore this week.
I can tell you this, the Speckled Trout and Red Drum are biting. The Drum have been biting
some all along and with the water warming up inside the Speckled Trout are starting to bite a little better. A lot of them
are small but some good ones are being caught as well.
Even a few Flounder are starting to be caught. Starting to look like a great year taking form this
year!!
Heard of a few Yellowfin Tunas already caught in the stream, now we just need the light winds
and calm seas to return to the area.
We have a lot of trips already on the books for this year, so as soon as the weather permits
us to get offshore we will start having reports here nearly daily!!
Keep checking the reports page, it blows like this every spring, but soon the weather patterns will
change to calmer conditions and things will be wide open in the fishing world once again!!!
We are booking up pretty fast now, so if you want to make a fishing trip this year on the bigger,
better,"YEAH RIGHT II" at rates for a boat this size you can only find here at "YEAH RIGHT CHARTERS" give us a call before
all fishing dates are booked up!!
Hope to see you soon, God Bless You All!!
Fish On!!!
Capt Butch
3-19-09
Today we headed offshore with Darren, and Rose Ellis, from Westphalia, Kansas along
with Raymond Head also from Westphalia,KS and Vance Hodgden and Jodi Bollig from Chanute,KS.
We headed towards the tower in hopes of avoiding most of the sharks that inhabit the
waters closer in this time of year.
We did avoid the Spiney Dog Sharks, but that's not to say we were able to hide from the Atlantic
sharpnose sharks.
It seems these guys are virtually everywhere and the Tower area was no exception.
But, we didn't mind, they are good to eat and we got our limit of one each, fought the rest
and released them.
The bottom fishing was good, although we caught a lot of fish, the keeper size was at a premium
today. The current was running hard, which makes for tough fishing, but we got the job done in style.
The lite line kept us busy today, while we limited out on King Mackeral. Raymond Head was
the "man" today. He caught the biggest King Mackeral which weighed around 25 pounds and he also caught the biggest black bass
at around 31/2 pounds.
You know you have done your job when you go to the fish cleaning station at the marina and
Darrin says "my cooler isn't big enough to hold all the filets".
His cooler was at least a 48 quart and he had probably enough filets to fill another 48 qt.
Let's see, two 48 qt. coolers, that would equal a 96 quart cooler full of filets, yeah, we had a good day of catching. Now,
that's just a bonus when you add it to a great day of fishing with friends!!
Darren fishes with us every year and it was good to see him and family and friends again.
It's a long drive from Kansas every year, and I am honored he drives that far to fish with us!!!
OK, looks like the winds are going to blow for a few days, but as soon as it settles again,
we will be back out and will have another report.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt Butch
3-8-09
We headed offshore in what was a little different conditions that were experienced on land
today. I don't know exactly why, but it was a little more "sporty" than expected or predicted.
It was a tough way to start the new charter season off, but it "whipped" me into shape real
fast. I was challenged with finding biting fish in not only rough seas but also in cold water.
The warmest water I found yesterday was 53 degrees and I was well past the Tower on the SW
side.
Capt Chris and I were fishing with Troy Hamm, Victor "Papa Vic", Kerwin Steele, Randall Knapp,
Mark Flemings from Fayetteville,NC and Bryan Gedeaux from Maryland.
Not only was the conditions less that preferable, (rough seas and cold weater) I was also
faced with a "screaming current".
I guess going fishing offshore more years than you want to admit has its advantages, we caught
some limits of the biggest Black Bass of the year, Grey Snappers about as big as they get, Huge Pinkies(silver snapper), two
"door mat" flounders, sharks out the ying yang, and as for the grouper, today they all won the fight.
There were some big grouper hooked up. Some got back to the rocks and some others came unhooked
about half way up.
The ones that got back to the rocks, there is no way to tell how big they were. But, the ones
that came un-hooked about half way to the surface had the 50 lb. class rods bent almost doubled over.
Just a short note as to how the new Chris Craft did in the seas yesterday.
I was riding in yesterday evening thinking about the way she was handling the 3 to 5 foot cross
sea. Everyone was comfortable and dry, and with that, I realized that all the money and work I put into her the last 5 months
will soon be forgotten and we will be fishing this year, as Ed Griffin put it, "In a new caddy"
Yes, I had a tough and extremely expensive year last year. But by the grace and favor of God
we are back bigger and better than before, still at the old rates, and ready to go fishing with you.
I and my wife Barbara along with Capt Chris will keep all of you in our prayers that God will lighten
these tough times we are in right now and place His favor on you all!!!!
Hopefully you can go fishing soon, till next time remember, God Loves You and wants you to
prosper, just give Him a chance to show you!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt's. Butch & Chris Foster
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