Memorial Day Weekend 2013...Late Report
 

Better late than never right?

Stayed in Hatteras Village from 5/21 - 5/27 with 3 of my good friends. Such a wonderful place. Someone once said if you listen to the weatherman there you would never go fishing. It is rare to ever see anything below 15 knot winds and 3 - 5 ft seas in the forecast - unless you are leaving that is.

We went through all four season while on the island - cold, rainy, cloudy, sunny, hot, WINDY....seems it is that way every year. We had 5 days to fish and we fished mostly all of it but only made it offshore twice. The first time resulting in 5 dolphin from slinger to gaffer. The next outing we managed 8 with mostly gaffers up to 19 lbs and a couple slingers mixed in. In between we watched it rain....and rain....and we tried to go flounder fishing, and cobia fishing, as always when we cannot go offshore due to weather. We also had two excellent meals of fried dolphin (that's mahi to some) coleslaw, mac n cheese, hush puppies, and cold beer.

Another really cool thing about our annual Memorial Day trip to the OBX is there is a group of guys who make the same trip from Va. every year. They are die hard cobia fishermen and do very, very well at it every year. Some of the nicest, friendliest, fun, folks you could ever meet. We always look forward to seeing them each year.

Alright, one last thing - I want to thank all of those who paid the ultimate price for us and our country. The true reason why we celebrate Memorial Day.

Now for the pictures. I hope you enjoy them.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Y...2/IMAG0197.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-s...6/IMAG0512.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8...2/IMAG0518.jpg
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https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-n...2/IMAG0181.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-r...2/IMAG0183.jpg
We think this was about a 30lb Mako? He broke off next to the boat and swam off with his new piercing.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4...6/IMAG0525.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-K...6/DSC_0029.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-I...6/DSC_0032.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4...6/DSC_0038.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-W...6/DSC_0036.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-T...6/IMAG0186.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A...6/DSC_0050.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-W...6/DSC_0054.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Q...0/IMAG0189.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j...6/DSC_0068.JPG

I think I caught that same mako off of Jersey this Saturday!

Blue and white ilander hanging out of the left corner of the mouth? Yep, that's him....can you please mail my lure back? :beer:

I'll trade it for a mahi sammich!:beer:

Excellent Shane, look forward to reading about your trip there each year.
Great pics

Love that BLUE water!!!
Sweet trip!

Thanks guys. It was a great trip. Just wish we could've had pretty weather the whole time but that is how it goes when you plan a fishing trip around a certain date. We've been doing this trip since 2005 and it has consistently produced for us so we'll keep on as long as we're able and as long as the fish continue to cooperate.
:beer:

Nice fish brotha, I missed out this year. Dolphin run always coincides with my spring rush. I sell the 40-70yo women their "crack".........(plants)

Thanks buddy....

nice

very good my friend!!!! them mahi's look delicious!!!!!did ya fish inshore for the cobes at all? theve been stacked up on the beach. them makos sure are good to blacken, to bad you missed that one!!! awesome pics.

Yeah we were right there were we were supposed to be for the cobes. Apparently did not hold our mouth right or something? On the shark, I didn't know anything about the length requrements and also those things scare the **** out of me, so I was happy to see him go. Not so happy about the lure. Same lure I caught 44 lb YFT on a couple years back down there.

sharks have to be 54" nose to fork. 1 per boat per trip. Also need a HMS permit

Ok lets assume I brought an obvious keeper mako beside the boat. What's the procedure for getting it in the boat without losing any digits? Gaff in face, tailrope, shotgun blast to head, tape mouth shut like a gator, hop on its back and slit throat? LOL

I give em a good look and say, "yep, thats a shark alright" right before lettin em go......

You can always tail-loop em and drag em backwards for a little bit, just drown em.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I do too...haha

assuming you are trying to keep a well worn out mako in the 150+ range flying gaff makes it safer, then shoot it then tail rope it, then if it don't move try to boat it real careful, 5 gallon bucket over the head, assume it will try to bite you thru the bucket after 2 hours.

or snap a photo & cut the leader