[LEADDRAFT]

Good Morning Folks. Late report, I know; assuming most of ya'll are out Fishing today..
All I can assume,,,, is All that fresh water, has now Mixed into the Ocean Proper..
Coffee or Texas Tea Colored...
Water Temp, (as of yesterday) is still 74.5
Lots of Black Drum are in the Surf Zone.. A Few 30" plus Reds in the surf..
Flounder Bite was pretty good yesterday, seen several 15 to 20" flounders come over the rail.
Plenty of LARGE blues caught, (on the south side of the pier)..
NO Mullet (popeyes running the beach at all)..
Lots of bait balls of tiny grass shad are everywhere..
Bonito were ALL over!
No Spanish seen, just One caught all Day.
Not much else, a spot here & there, They were SMALL...
King Bite was....
Despite the Tea Colored Water.. Was on FIRE..
There ONLY 3 of us Kinging, I just cannot say how many Kings were Missed, lost & caught yesterday UNTIL We got some Help in the afternoon..
the 3 of Us Limited out..
After that, I'd call a Tourist, or a young Kid To come up & *fight* the Fish, while We would Gaff it, hooking several Kids/Familes & Fathers, Mothers on King Fishing.. :fishing:
Several went home with fish.... Of a Lifetime
Epic Kinging yesterday..
As I opined got My Limit.. 2 & 1/2... Gave the 3rd & 4th... 5th away...
Don't ask about that 1/2 King, all I can Say the toothy critter left Me with the Better half, (the Tail End), behind the stomach, all I gotta do is steak the guy...
SOMEHOW the Critter ATE the Head, all the way to the stomach, leaving Me with about 3 feet of the rear half.. THAT part weighed by itself @ 23 pounds..
King ate the Whole bait, one Hook way downin it's Stomach, allowing Me to reel the better half in. ONE Bite, It was a BIG CRITTER.
How it missed all that Wire is beyond Me...
Wife has been on Me to get a shark, (shark Meat) so I teased Her I was using Whole King for bait.. :fishing::beer:
Looking at todays conditions, dress WARM.. Winds are NW @ 20 to 30MPH. Temps are in the 60's
Seas are pretty much FLAT.. Water temp fell by a tenth [/b]74.4[/b] Tight Lines all, I'm finished with Kinging for the year I think..
Will become More FOCUSED on bottom fish, surf, Whiting etc for the rest of the season...

.

 

[gshivar]

Great report. You gotten dialed in. Best - glenn

 

[LEADDRAFT]

Sorry..
Thanks for the Kind Reply, gshivar, Looking through the Forum some days, are akin to reading a Cat-fight..
I'm not here to type one handed, & read that carp.... Not a good way to, type your thoughts & post on a Family/kid friendy (I assume) fishing board.. NOT a good way to teach, new-comers & Kids etc, entering the Sport..
I GUESS some fish stories are allowed if Properly told

I couldn't help myself yesterday, around NOON, these Guys showed up to King...
Brand new gear High dollar reel/rod, stuff, they were from Waaaaay upstate.... Mountains like...
Had that store-bought coated wire, some Large J-hooks, rigging their bait, as if they were in a boat, or Bass fishing...
After a few.. :beer: .... (s)
I got,,, err to the point of watching a GOOGIN,,, I just had to... just had to.... :beer:
I walked up to Him, Gave Him a (Once-used) King Rigged that I was about to Junk.. Had Him use,,,, THAT, while explaining the Importance of the Treble-Hooks & Stinger hook, hanging & attached..
Totally NEW guy, (using old-school style cloth pins, He must "goggled" Kingfishing & got that Idea), but I knew better, cause the Clothpins were Spanking brand-new... then, gave Him a decent,, Break-away..
Told Him how to rig the bait... more explaining...
His wife caught a pin-fish on that Zebco...
Lord they were fishing off the side Using a Old Zebco 202? getting bait..
The instruction & result? He got His very first King...
Yes,, the Traditional Shirt cutting was applied.. opcorn:

 

[LEADDRAFT]

Around 4:30 PM, My legs are swelling up, I was feeling Discomfort...
Called the Misses, telling Her I was coming home Early...
Wind suddenly switch outta the SW fairly hard, 10~15...
looked back inland, saw the cloud on the Horizon,,
Spoke to another guy,told Him,,,, the Sun Drops below that cloud, Kings will go crazy...
See I really didn't read the WX report for Late in the Day... I didn't realize those "clouds" were a Cold Front fast approaching...
The sun didn't "drop" behind those colds, those clouds were COMING, & they were COMING & Fast...
THEN, the wind picked up, it was a Cold Blast 30MPH....
Then Reels started screaming off...
We had 5 Kings on @ once....
Everyone is either trying to get their gear in, OR manning their stuff, as those Kings were being caught..
It was worse than 15 Monkeys conducting a Chinese Fire drill... Slinging wire, King Rigs, half-dead bait.. Anchor Rods, trying to come in...
Mayhem, isn't the word,,, it was ALOT worse..
Then those clouds got were,,, We could SEE they were over Wilmington...
Then.... The lighting started...
Gaffing Kings was commencing...
Though all that, I had forethoughtt, as I was supposed to be leaving EARLY
I managed to get part-way down the pier,, Just as 10's of TOURISTS realize what was coming... Picture this with ALOT of folks NOT fishing,just out on the Pier from the Bar, and are Half-Lit.. :beer:
Oh! some-one misplaced the Pier gate Key,, causing a back-up, at to the PierGate...Folks, with Pier carts, people, coolers etc... Rods, BEER, Gear..
I took this picture walking, Hobbleing towards the pier house..
It suddenly got DARK
I could go on... though I hope you get the Idea.....

 

[pmcdaniel]

Great report LD. If I ever try my hand at Kings I hope there's someone like you on the Tee to set me straight! I was up in Kentucky when that mess rolled through and it was pretty wicked up there in the hills. I definitely wouldn't have wanted to be surrounded by water on an elevated structure dragging a metal cart with several lightning rods!

 

[Garboman]

Epic

 

[DaBig2na]

Unbelievable !!! I'm glad you got to be a part of that..... They don't come often enough.
It's been many many years since I've seen more than ten kings landed in a day.
Not much going on up north at OBX , Drum Bite is way off this year it seems. Seeing mullet,a few spots, and puffers

 

[Drumdum]

MORE THAN AWESOME REPORT!!! Not only kings like the ole days,but flounders as well??? WOW!!! NICE JOB LEADDRAFT!!

 

[abass105]

Great report. Man I wish I was fishing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[LEADDRAFT]

This is the guys Lady catching bait with that Zebco..
I HAVE more pictures, I'm trying to recover them,, My camera & SD card took a beating after the Pier house Bum Rush.. It got kinda Wet..
this flounder was 15" and some over length..

Her second one a few minutes later, it was 17"

Catching them on Days Old shrimp & squid off a double-drop rig..
A store bought one at that..

 

[LEADDRAFT]

DrumDum, We had to WAIT until Monday & Tuesday Morning waiting for a I beam to shore up one side of the pier near the Tee, Slight damage from the storm.. So We couldn't get Kinging/Pin-rigging until mid-Tuesday.. Tuesday through My Friday it was reported that it was said at least 35 Kings were decked up to Friday afternoon.. How many lost? ALOT..
Before this report I fished some on Monday, as I took a Block & Tackle, (rated 10 tons), down for the Pier Owners to use to Help crank up that side of the pier that fell by 2 feet, what a dip!. So they could get that I-beam installed..
Usual table-fare coming over the rail that day.. Pogies, (Menheaden) as far as you could see, all the way down to Riches Inlet, (Carolina Beach Inlet),, What really surprised Me though.. We were catching LARGE Blowfish, in 75 degree water! I mean biggins too! that blow-up Soccer-ball size... I got Me about a dozen of those guys... In the freezer cleaned & ready to .. :spam:
Some of Us, were practically beating feet racing each other to some colored folks, whom didn't care or know what they were, they were after spots,, (Until someone dumb-arse showed them how to clean them).. opcorn: It was worse than 4 guys begging for a Candybar size Blue during a super-hot King bite..
Yesterdays Saturday Report All I can say is ,, If you stayed home to watch football, golfing, Or watching your Misses clean house..
You had a better chance catching your misses,:redface: than fish yesterday, as I understand.. Told to Me second hand..
Early Morning WX Report..
Dress WARM.. 55 degrees
Wind(s) are out of the NorthWest @ 15 to 20+ or OMG I shoulda stayed home and watched the race today (Or the Misses)
Seas are ALOT less churned up than yesterday... knee-high breaks..
Water Temp FELL over night, it is now 72.7 down from 74.5 yesterday..
Folks, I don't know how most beaches fared north of Carolina Beach et al..
But I can tell you this
We lost ALL of the re-nourished sand from the spring
About 8 FEET of it..
There are NEW *super-slews, (troughs), & Sand bars* up & down the beach(s).. I mean like Slews, (troughs), that are exposed with one or 2 feet of water during low tide then under 5 or 6+ feet of water @ High tide.. If you don't Know how to read a beach,,,, Better learn QUICK for some super productive Fall Surf Fishing...
I'll post this video to Help those Folks that really don't have a Idea.. It cannot be stressed enough here
Learn how to read the Beach! For Productive Fishing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlF_Hy3kNLY

 

[LEADDRAFT]

Heres a couple more pics from Friday..

Kings are still here, just got a report from Kure pier...
One decked @ 8:30am
Snake about 10 pounds
here it is..

 

[LEADDRAFT]

Decked 8:30AM on Kure Pier..
Edit, My buddy just called from Carolina Beach Pier.. 5 on the deck this Morning as of 11AM smallest is 11 biggest is 33 pounds

 

[LEADDRAFT]

Pic from My buddy at Carolina beach pier..

View attachment 26746

 

[Drumdum]

Yes sir,just like the old days.. The fish were mostly 15-20lb? With a couple nearing 30?? 35 decked?? Exactly.. Would love to see them here.. We are minus Frisco which was THE BEST!! I'm hearing from netters they are waylaying them in areas near there....

As far as your pier getting damaged.. I'm super sorry that happened,BUT THEY DID GET RIGHT ON FIXING IT!!! Which is ALWAYS a good thing!

GREAT REPORT!

 

[dlpetrey]

What awesome reports Leaddraft! Thanks!