Spring time in North Carolina is gut check time. It’s a time when mother nature and old man winter are in negotiations as to when to push out the cold and bring in the warm. It’s a time when you sit at work day dreaming of that perfect slick calm spring morning when the prevailing winds cut you a break. A time when you’re not sure how the fly fishing is going to be but instead of being the guy reading a fishing report you’re reporting one. For the past three months I have been checking all my favorite sites in hopes of catching that one report that forces you to get the boat off the yard and into the water. It came last January when Kary Via (aka. Natural Fly, Capt. Chaos, Shad Daddy) and I left early one morning for a three hour run to Virginia Beach. We had a great trip. Banged out 9 fish over 30″ and one over 40″. Probably one of my greatest trips ever. The winter doldrum was over. Or was it?After catching the tail end of the striper run the days got long. The fishing was poor and my mood became poorer. I’m not known to have much patience. Waiting for the next run gets me all worked up. Tying flies helps. Talking fish to buddies gets ne by, barely. So when that time comes and it seems like the fish gods are finally throwing you a bone, you’ve got to take advantage of it. Nine weeks later. Looking at the weather everything looked great. Variable 5-10 knot winds out of the north. Nice. I met Kary and his boat the “Natural Fly” in Morehead City, NC at 7am. We were on the water at 7:30 and out of Beaufort inlet 10 minutes later. We ran along Atlantic Beach in search of birds or breaking fish. It brought back fond memories of last fall when RA Beattie and I chased pods of breaking albies and capturing the first of many film sequences for a Northeast saltwater fly fishing film that Jeremy, RA and I are putting together throughout the 2007 Northeast fly fishing season. The three of us are amped up to do a lot of saltwater fly fishing this year together in places likeNewport, Rhode Island, Marthas Vineyard, Montauk and down here in my home waters of North Carolina. We are all going to be fly fishing and working together to try to capture the essence of Northeast saltwater fly fishing from Maine to North Carolina. It’s going to be killer! We already have a lot of great content and 2007 will hopefully produce some more Bluefin, Albies, Bonito, Skip Jacks, Stripers, Sharks and more. Anyway, back to this springs Albie trip. As we scouted the North Carolina coastline, I could not wait to feel that pull again. There is nothing like the pull of an Albacore! We zipped across the shipping channel to Shackleford. Nothing. We then worked our way to the Cape Lookout shoals. Kary weaved his boat, “The Natural Fly” across the dangerous shoals toward the Cape Lookout light house. Once we crossed the shoals the water was slick calm and perfect for spotting Albies. But, were there any around? Slick calm conditions and not another boat in sight. We feathered our way east when I saw a fish break. Kary whipped the boat around. He asked what I saw. I told him I saw an Albie. We saw it again, and I started second guessing myself. The fish were surfacing more like dolphin, very slow and methodical. Nothing like the albacore we saw last November, slicing through bait like lightning bolts. These fish were moving very slow. We worked up to them while peeling fly line off of the reel. First shot was a no go. Kary maneuvered the boat perfectly on the next pod of fish as we wondered if these fish were keyed in on something in particular. It was not the case, I tossed my clouser immitation amongst the herd. Two strips later my T3 10 wt fly rod was bucking and my Mach 6 reel was screaming. After a long pull the hard tale of 2007 was on deck. What a great feeling. Pulling five more Albies in between Kary and I was like winning the Stanley Cup. These fish were eating everything in there path. Kary’s fish was even kind enough to throw up on him while I was getting the camera. A nice way to match the hatch. That fish threw up a handful of tiny micro baitfish about an inch long. My next fish left us a nice 3″ silverside in the boat. As long as you could get your fly in front of them I believe they would have eaten it. We chased a few more pods down the beach before the sun pushed the fish down. The wind started to crank up so we headed in. We stopped on the way to the ramp picked up a burger and a few beers. The trip was a success. Another sweet adventure leaving a lasting memory I will never forget. Just a little food for thought. Three years ago a good friend of mine in Colorado found a tumor in his brain. After many surgeries and countless amounts of chemotherapy and radiation, fighting everyday, Rich became blind and half his body was paralyzed. We are talking about a 36 year old guy like you and I who absolutely loved fly fishing and bird hunting. Anyway, Rich died last week on his twin boys second birthday. A lesson for all of us just how precious our lives are. Take advantage of every opportunity you have. Don’t just live your life through posts. Get out there and make your own!
seth — man, our hard tale film project is gonna be killer! hard tales from maine to north carolina .. fast boats, fast fish, and fast filming .. my kinda stuff! got your bonito pics .. can’t believe you’ve already got albies on deck .. and now the bonito are coming in… see you end of this month for SPRING BONITO fly fishing and filming down in NC … man, i get so amped up on albies and hard tales late august and sept and into oct … then when they leave waters of rhode island, marthas vineyard, block island, montauk etc.. i get so bummed out … not this year though .. the game will continue down in NC … gonna be a killer tuna season! .. can’t wait for you and RA to come up to my house in Rhode Island and chase some hard tales around up here too! …. later bro .. any good bonito reports today???
most importantly – i am truly sorry for the loss of your friend rich, and his two twin boys. absolutely, “a lesson for all of us just how precious our lives are.” ….
Jeremy, I too am so stinkin jacked for this season I can’t hardly control myself. Kary and I are planning our “trial” bonito run either friday or sat. depending on weather conditions. Today was crap and the morning does not look any better. Albies should still be around so we may get lucky with some shots. RA is in Texas filming a small mouth trip. Hopefully he gets some sweet footage. Plan on being down here in two weeks. I will send you all updated reports as I recieve them. Great job buddy. Can’t wait to straighten out some lines with you. Seth
Hey — just wanted to also give a shout out to RA … in a world these days where everyone has a website and and a blog is created every half a second .. and video is just another common form of content is a saturated information overloaded society .. the one thing that tends to stick out is quality content! … and when i crossed paths with seth and RA, we seemed to have a ton of stuff in common and it was obvious to me that these guys were producing a higher caliber of content than the norm … and when I saw RA’s film work on The Drake Magazines website .. i said to myself, “that is some quality content .. artwork really.” … so, another benefit of the web is it’s ability to connect people with similar goals, objectives, tastes and fly fishing styles …. and i am really looking forward to fly fishing with seth and RA and learning and sharing some tricks with both the fly rod and the camera and the software ….. check out RA’s film on the drake mag website … it won an award for something or other … but, above all else it is really impressive fly fishing flim artwork ….
ANGLING ADDICTION – BY RA Beattie
Great story. i enjoyed reading it. Sounds like those albies are something else. I have never gotten the chance to fish for these, although I have heard much about them. Great video work as well, I can’t wait to see the series. Keep it up.
j-
Those slick calm mornings creep into your dreams. It is amazing how in tune you become with the environment. I have seen Jeremy spot birds working and fish busting 1/2 mile out. Killer content guys! Keep those cameras rolling.
Looks great and will try again this year but from a boat this time!
Does it get any better than this. How much fun is too much fun. Jeremy, RA, Kary and I are jacked for this season to begin. Not that it already hasn’t, but its only going to get better. Kary and I are geared up for a shot at bonito this weekend. Small window on sat. looks o.k. Hopefully this weather trend gets pushed out on the next blow. Jeremy, if I were to break out my magic ball….I would say you need to be here 2 weeks from today. We’ll keep an eye on the weather, but the bonito are showing up strong. Hopefully I can rub it in your face sat. night. I know how much you love the hard tail game. Oh Ya Baby!! RA is in texas filming so he’s MIA till next week. He may have a good story to share. Thank you all and good fishing! Seth
Ya MAn! ……… was talking to some of my salt buds here in maine and rhode island and said, “dude, i finally got the missing piece of the puzzle … the North Carolina connection” … i have been looling for an “in” down there in NC for a long time …. so as to extend my hard tale binges .. cuz quiting cold turkey in mid oct .. is tough .. some serious withdrawls .. and then waiting until late aug. or early sept. for them to show up here again is tough …. NOW YOUR ALREADY CATCHING ALBIES AND BONES … and will be in late oct and nov … game on! oh ya, i want to see the bonito this saturday NIGHT dude from you and kary’s outting … nothing get’s me more jealous and green with envy than than other peoples hard tales … love it.
Those fish are the saltwater fly fishing roadster!!!!
Great story and video. The first part make me think that you have a piece of Africa (Gabon) in your part of the world. Running on the beache while false casting to finaly stop and cast the fly in the chase…looks like Gabon fly fishing for Jack crevalle chase.
Keep running!
Seth, what are you guys experiencing for water temps right now? I’m stoked for the striper, albie, and bluefin season to commence in the northeast.
Wilkie, Water temps are finally above 60 degrees and going up fast. This weekend on the west side of the shoals the water temp was 62-64 degrees. On the east side of the shoals it was a few degrees higher. It won’t be long buddy. Right now you all need a break from this weather.
Hi boys…RA here…the site looks great. just got back into town and gearing up for the fishing season. time to break out the boats, get new line on the reels and break out that camera gear!
Hi boys…RA here…the site looks great. just got back into town and gearing up for the fishing season. time to break out the boats, get new line on the reels and break out that camera gear!