Twister Charters - Fishing Reports

The pogies have been thick along the beach from Ocean Isle all the way east to Bald Head.  Most of the pogies are small to medium ranging from 4″-6″.  Some of the schools are not poping as much as usual summer pogies; but the gannets, pelicans, and brown mud balls still give them away.   

Over the past few days I have been concentrating on an awesome grouper and cobia bite.  The live pogies have been a key in getting the big bites that it takes to have a successful day.  Most of the rocks we checked today were home to several cobia’s.  The cobia, usually two at a time would mysteriously appear under the props.  Usually one pogie tossed in unhooked would be all it took to get them into feeding mode.  We ended up the day with cobia ranging from 45, 40, and several in the 30’s.

Cobia were not the only one’s biting.  The grouper were also making a good showing.  We stumbled across a good school of scamp and within 20 minutes had 5 all over 18 pounds, one pushing 25.   We ended the day with a limit of Cobia, Scamp and Gags, several kings, Mahi,  and a basket of jumbo bass. 

After hearing good reports of grouper and cobia southwest of Frying Pan Tower I had to give it a try.  I fished today with Chris Hutchenson and Rob Campbell.  I had heard that many fisherman were catching pogies around the hot hole, and they were definately there.  Most of the pogies were around 5″, perfect size for the groupers.  After catching a livewell full, we headed the Twister at 150 degrees toward the ledges south west of the tower.  At our first stop we caught several nice cobia, red grouper, and a african pompano.  Once the bite ended there, we checked several more ledges and ended the day with several more  cobia, grouper, and a cooler full of nice 3-5 pound black bass.  If you interested in catching a bunch of fish, now is the time.  Give me an email and we can book the charter of your life.   

Its bad when a trip starts unlucky, but this one surely did.  Alan, Jeff, and Shane left Holden Beach on Sunday in hopes of getting to Florida several days early to do some prefishing.  These plans were drastically changed when the truck decided that Walterboro, S.C. was where it wanted to stay for a few days.  I met the guys in Florence, S.C. with another truck, and they proceeded south.  They were two days behind schedule, but at least they were underway.  I arrived early Thursday morning thanks to the crew of the “Watch This” and with three hours of sleep was up for the final day of prefishing.  We didn’t catch much Thursday that would increase our confidence, but heard some good information and was baited up for Friday. 

Friday was a beautiful day with light winds and calm seas.  This allowed for a great start and some easy running.  Its awesome to see 100 boats blast off in a shotgun start, all heading in the same general direction.  The first day we caught plenty of fish, but not the big daddy that we were looking for.  We ended up the day with a 26 pounder, not a great fish but good enough to keep us in the running for day two.  Our good friends on the “Mining My Business” were sitting in the drivers seat at the end of Friday’s competition, with a 61 pound king. 

The weather forecasters called for some wind and seas on Saturday, but they were dead wrong, and we again had a great seas for running.  Thanks to Alan and some good driving we were one of the first boats to the spot.  We had the long line already out, and was working on setting the other lines when the way back got smoked.  Right off the batt I knew that this was a good fish, when she almost dumped a Diawa Saltist.  Within fifteen minutes we were on top of the fish and Jeff made a good gaff to bring her to the boat.  We didn’t take any chances and let Alan stick her with another gaff for some security.  Once in the boat the crew knew it was a good fish but wasn’t sure how good, we called it 42 pounds and stuck her in the bag.  Well the action didn’t stop there, within five minutes after redeploying the lines we had another good fish on.  Jeff was on the rod and had her to the boat rather quickly.  I got a good look at the fish and and first thought it might be bigger than the first so I stuck her too.  Lying the fish side by side we could tell that my fish was a little bigger, but it wasn’t by much.  With two good fish in the boat, our nerves subsided and we could enjoy the rest of the day. 

We were one of the first boats to weigh in and weighmaster called the fish 49.23 pounds, my biggest king to date.  The other fish ended up weighing 45 pounds.  The 26 from Friday and the 49 from Saturday held on for 4th place, our best finish in a pro event.  The crew of the ”Mining My Business” caught a 38 on Saturday clinching them the win and a awesome payday.  Congratulations to them  on a hard earned win.  We will be fishing the third leg of the SKA Pro division in Fourchon, Louisiana June 14-16. 

Back at Holden Beach the weather has been terrible and very few people have ventured out.  Maybe by the weekend the seas will have laid down some and I will have some local reports to tell. 

After a slow winter, fishing drastically picked up during the month of April. The groupers were the fish that started the month off. We went several days and had limits of Red and Gag Grouper. Most of our fish were averaging around 8 pounds, but had several that pushed 18 pounds. While grouper fishing the fleet found the king mackeral.

They were very late arriving in their normal spring areas, east of Frying Pan Tower. The Twister had several days when the bite was constant most of the day, allowing for good catches. This past week the king bite slowed down alittle. We could only round up a couple fish on Sunday, making it for a slow day.

Have been hearing good reports of the mahi showing up around the 100/400 area. These fish are averaging around 20 pounds, with a few stragler wahoo in with the mix.

I will be in Florida the remainder of the week fishing the second leg of the SKA Professional Kingfish Tour in Jensen Beach, Florida. When I return I plan on fishing several days and hopefully having some good reports.