travbass2

Speak softly and carry a big stick. I tried to play the light tackle card on a 20lb False Albacore with a 6wt. It won. Broke my hand built in three places. Took an 8wt for what was supposed to be baby Bluefin and broke that on one well over 100. If you are hunting wahoo, marlin, and tuna, take something 12-15wt. The 'hoos like it big and fast, but the tuna and marlin can get bigger. Now I have a 12wt for the big fish and am hunting a Bluefin over 350lbs. Going to NC this winter to take a shot. Got my fingers crossed. Gonna use a big, and I mean big, menhaden/bluefish imitation. Anything that looks similar to a flying fish or a ballyhoo should do well for ya. Where ya fishing???

You have silversides down there?? If so, surf candy with some flash fished under lights at night will do well. Or a sparkleminnow, right Day5?? Other than that, your mullet looks great. Just needs some big eyes. That's all you need to set that pattern off.. that and maybe a darker back...

Excellent. Good to hear they worked for you in your neck of the woods. Keep in touch. Travis

Thanks Will. Hey, did you ever use those clawdads I sent ya?? You'll be seeing more of me around here from now on! :devil:

Last night I had a dream again that I wanted to share with yall. Anyone else dream about past fishing trips that they dream about again and again or is it just me?? This is it. I'm sitting on the boat in the Pamlico Sound in eastern NC, watching the sun set below the horizon. The slick calm waters are glazed orange from the sun sinking below the cypress and pines off in the distance. We are the only boat in sight and have baits soaking on the bottom, waiting for a passing drum. This is how it always starts but the conversation between my good friend and I sometimes changes a little, but we still land a few nice drum and then the consistant part of the dream kicks in again... The moon is full and high in the sky. We have been running in the cool, August night air and come off plane and ease into the outskirts of a shallow, protected bay. My buddy cuts the engine and we coast into the shallows. My eyes finally adjust to the semi darkness that was hindered by the nav lights. Black out conditions on the boat are called for in this case. Tarpon are up in the shallows, rolling and casually feeding on frantic schools of mullet. I look off towards the direction of the moon, over the Sound and am entranced by the little ripples from the breeze as the moonlight dances on the water. I hear a slurp off to my opposite side that jerks my head around to attention. I see the spot where it had just come up and zero in on my target. I drop my fly into the water beside me and strip off enough line to fire a shot off at the fish. One false cast and the fly lands with a muted splash several feet ahead of where the fish was, hoping it is where he will be. I pull on the line, making a small wake as if my fly were another mullet trying to flee the scene. The tarpon sees the dark fly, turns on it, and sucks it in. 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, 3 one thousand and I set that hook for all that 9wt can handle. In a flash, that 65lb tarpon breaks the surface in slow motion, clears the water, and slams back in, breaking the quiet solitude of the shallow bay. Other tarpon spook off the flat, but this one is hooked up. I clear my line just in time for the fish to head for the open water, doing head shaking jumps along the way. It might have jumped seven times, but it seemed like a thousand. It headed for the open water, right where the moon was hanging over. With each jump, the water sparkled, and sometimes in my dream, the droplets fall in slow motion. I fight the tarpon under the moonlight, it's head thrashing and making shorter and shorter runs until it can run no more. It is beside the boat and to keep from scaring it, we turn on a green headlamp (I discovered years ago that a green light seems to spook the fish even less than a red one) and keep the fish in the water. My fly is lodged securely in the side of it's mouth. I pop it out with some pliers and hold the tarpon by the tail. The fish is still powerful even in it's exhausted state. The engine fires up and we idle on into the Sound, holding the fish into the current. Finally the tarpon lets me know it is ready to go by smacking my hand against the boat a few times and I release my grip. I can still see that tail sink below the surface and it disappears from sight. Sometimes that's it. Other times, I dream about the ride back to the dock, and even less frequently, the turn around trip we made a few hours later for a break of dawn tarpon trip with clients. Usually when that happens, I wake up on the ride to the daytime tarpon grounds a good 30 miles from the dock, but the meat of the dream, the moonlight tarpon fishing is always the same, because that is how it happened in real life. I sure miss those days. How about you guys? Yall have dreams about past fishing trips more than once?

Hey Yall. Just wanted to drop in and let yall know I'm still kickin. Been moving around a bit and have settled in Richmond , VA for now. I'm fixin to pack up again soon and head to south Florida. Was gonna head down earlier this year but ran into some snags along the way (promotion @ work, women, and fish ). Been sitting at the bench lately tying flies for smallmouth, stripers, reds, and albies. Got a few fish tales for ya too. I'll post in the saltwater section as the exciting ones have to do with those football torpedos, False Albacore. Got down to NC a few times this fall with the trusty Whaler in tow and got a total of 54 for the season. Quite a good one for me. Jumped some tarpon in the summer down in eastern Carolina, hung into some bull reds, and made a few trips out to the New river valley for some fine smallmouth fishin. I may have been moving around a bit but I never loose sight of my priority, fishing! Was planning on heading to FL at the end of the month but my truck was hit by a semi over the weekend and waiting to hear if they are gonna total it out or not. That will likely delay plans to move south. Luckily, I was in a big Dodge 1500 and I made it out with only a sore neck and a bruised face, but hey, I've suffered worse injuries fishing for native brookies, much less giant tuna.... Kinda frustrating but I just gotta ride the current and have faith I'll end up in a calm pool...eventually. I usually do before I hit the next set of rapids. I'm due for a breather by now! It's been a rough ride lately, but I'm generally happy. I apologize to those I used to talk with, things have been crazy and internet access has not been always there, but now it is. So, I hope yall will welcome a fellow fly fisherman back into the boat. I'm a little wet from all the traveling but man, do I have some stories about all the things I've been doing! Anyone interested in my further studies of snorkeling with smallmouth? or chasing fast saltwater fish? or snorkeling with trout?? I even have some new patterns for the next contest...I haven't been sitting around vegging. Not my style!

Careful with that idea. Not all boats are made like a Boston Whaler! They are some of the safest boats built, hence my decision to get one that's over 20 years old versus buying new. You might be able to find some newer boats for less than a 20yr old Whaler but you get back to how much is your safety worth. Spend a little bit more on an older Whaler and you'll have one of the best in it's class. Not trying to sound biased, and no, I don't work for Whaler, but I'm hard pressed to think of a better built, safe boat. Granted mine isn't graced with storage all over it like a bass boat, but a creative angler can work with that.

The Sea Chaser might be the way to go for you. Sounds like a reasonable draft for a 20 footer and the Sea Chasers have a v bottom that ride a heck of a lot better than the Skiffs which are flat bottomed and will beat the hell out of you even with a very mild chop. I've run Carolina Skiffs before and dread running them in anything other than slick calm. They may draw a little less water than my Whaler, but a couple inches won't make me switch. My ride is comfortable no matter what, unless I happen to bury the nose, but if it's that bad out, I'm wearing foul weather gear... The good thing about Whalers is they hold their value and quality (if taken care of) much better than most other boats on the market and getting a used one usually isn't any problem. Just as you have to do research and poking around for a new boat, the same goes for a used one. As far as the used market goes, Whalers are usually the cream of the crop and if you get lucky, you can get some incredible deals and then put all that money you would have sunk into a new boat, buying the gear that fits your style. Even after I updated the electronics, fuel capacity, and trolling motor, I still made out like a bandit and used the leftovers to buy several nice saltwater combos and filled in the spaces in my tackle boxes.

16" sounds pretty deep for a 17' boat. If it's shallow water you are looking to fish in, you might want go with a Carolina skiff but there are drawbacks. They ride pretty rough and wouldn't be a very good offshore boat. That's why I went with my Whaler. It's not perfect but close enough for what I do.

Been a while since visiting but thought I'd chime in here. I run a beautiful 1982 Boston Whaler Newport 17 with a 90hp Johnson. I can slide up into about 8" and if I somehow need to get shallower, I stick the trolling motor in the sand and hop out, and only have to do that to reach a hole I can't get into with the boat or to reach Drum pushing in some truely skinny water. For me, it's the ideal setup. I mostly fish inshore in the Chesapeake Bay and coastal NC but do take it offshore from time to time. Had it out to the Gulf Stream a handful of times under ideal conditions and it handles the big water with ease. I'm a boundary pusher and know my limits, but anything other than the right conditions and I don't try to get that far out there. May be a little crazy but not stupid. A 17 footer is pushing it, even if it is a Whaler. I'd rather not test the unsinkability quality way out there. I've seen plenty of nasty water inshore and have taken quite a few waves over the nose, but this thing is a tank. Took the boat down to Ft. Myers and Chokoloskee FL for a while and it proved to be a fine flats boat although I did have to contend with some hull slap, it still fared well. Managed to haul in plenty of Reds, Trout, Pompano, Snook, Jacks, Spannish, and a few Tarpon. Good enough for me. When it comes down to it, there is no one "all purpose" boat and what works for one angler, might not be the ideal setup for someone else. All I know is I found my ideal boat for the majority of the salty places I fish. Just as I have so many friggin' rod and reel setups, I have a few boats for specific places. For where you are going and the fishing you'll be doing, I put my vote in for a Whaler of this size. A 20fter will likely keep you from reaching some of the places you might want to fish inshore. Plus you don't have to get a big truck to pull it around, I say that but I drive a Dodge 1500 with the 5.9L...yeah, this gas $$ is killing me... Before I got the Dodge, I pulled my Whaler all over the place just fine with a V6 Isuzu Rodeo. Good luck with your search for your ideal boat!!

I used to guide in NC, so I can tell you from first hand experience how incredible the fishing in NC can be. By the time you'll be down there, the Tarpon will be in the Pamlico Sound and can be caught on flies, but I'd suggest getting a guide to show you the ropes for that. Are you taking any kind of boat with you? That would open up many more opportunities for fishin if you do. If you can only fish from the beach, try fishin in the surf at low tide and use small clousers and crab flies just beyond the shore waves for Pompano, in my opinion, the best eating fish you can obtain. All you need is some butter, lemon juice, and a dash of Old Bay seasoning, wrap it loosly in foil and bake it. It will melt in your mouth! Also, get up at sunrise and try to intercept some Spannish Mackeral the run along the beaches, another tasty fish and a heck of a lot of fun on the old flyrod. If you like to wade, fish the Sound side for tailing Red Drum and Speckled trout in the shallows. Find some grass or an oyster bed and you're in good. If you come across a protected bay with a cut to let the water in/out during tide changes, the fish will stack up there in anticipation of food being flushed in and out. On outgoing tides, they will be on the outside of the little bay. Incoming, they will on the inside, waiting at the edges of the current, darting in to get baitfish and shrimp that are washed by, just like trout and smallmouth that sit in current seams in the rivers and streams. They conserve energy by staying in the slack water but have a good view of the main flow and dart out to grab food. Gummie minnows, Ultra Shrimp, Half and Halfs, Clousers, and poppers all work well. Try a red and black clouser.....oops, did I say that???? Let me know if I can be of further help...

Got out the night before last and had a great night. I got 7 flounder, 4 speckled trout over 22", some bluefish, several nice shad, too many schoolie sized stripers to count, gray trout, and a 2lb croaker, all on half and halfs and clousers. Fixed some crab-stuffed flounder for dinner last night and gonna eat the rest of the fillets for lunch with some freinds I'm visiting in Richmond and don't get fresh caught seafood very often. The water in the Bay is just now getting above 70* and the night fishing is getting better and better. Been trying to get over to the Eastern Shore for some drum fishing but everytime I get a chance to go, the wind is howling from a bad direction. I'm not trying to fish the mouth of the Chesapeake in my 17' Whaler with those ocean swells rolling in or the Bay swells making it rough when the wind is out of the SW-N. Give me a soft NE breeze andf I'm all over it. I heard it's supposed to blow softly from that direction monday or tuesday, so it looks like I'll be able to get a few drum up that way. If I do, I'll take pictures and post them, but I'll tell ya now, I'll be soaking cut baits on the bottom for those big Black and Red Drum but soon, I'll be hitting them with flies. Gonna spend some time in the Pamlico Sound later in the month to cash in on the Tarpon and puppy drum. Cannot wait for that!!!!

Yeah, any Tippman will serve you very well. I have buddies with 98's and A-5's. I personally have a Kingman TL-X with the sniper barrel and really like it. It's a reliable, durable gun. We play woods ball, so we're pretty hard on our gear, but so far so good. When my current gun dies on me, the A-5 with the cyclone feeder will be my next gun. The flatline barrel for the Tippmans is nice to have. One of my friends has one on his 98 but it doesn't really make that much of a difference in close quarters. One thing I learned the hard way as I'm sure many of you have, spend the extra money for a thermal lense mask. Playing in any weather over 70* without one will just cause too much frustration with your mask fogging up. We tried all kinds of solvents "guarenteed" to eliminate fogging and have yet to see any that actually work. The best stuff I found is anti-fog for diving masks but even that will not prevent it, it just delays the fogging. My new thermal lense has yet to fog up even in 90* conditions. Gonna shoot a little bit this evening.....lookin forward to the carnage!!

Just puttin out a message to the fella I met the other day from Richmond and had a Boston Whaler similar to mine.... ya out there??

Freshwater: Redeye Bass (not Rock bass), Peacock bass, Smallmouth, and walleye (just kidding on that one!) Saltwater: Bluefin tuna over 300lbs, Flase Albacore, Tarpon, Permit, Roosterfish, and Wahoo.