Had John/Phil come down from NJ and Brian from Raleigh to take advantage of the flat calm ocean in Wilmington, NC. After a 38 knot ride out the made their 1st drop and John hooked up in 10 seconds. A decent fish 35 lbs. There was zero current and the boat seemed to be going in circles when we hooked fish. Phil had a nice Almaco and then a couple more. Eventually the sharks found us and took a few fish. Moved to a different area and John caught a 10 lb Yellow Mouth Grouper. We marked the tuna but couldn’t get the jigs through the False Albes. The Black fin were there because the guys trolling next to us were hooking them along with Wahoo. We also saw 3 different Sails free jumping. Then we found the big boys but the guys didn’t stand a chance. Brian was the 1st to hook one and she striped 100 feet off the spool before shredding the leader in the rocks. John hooked the next one with the same results. Things seemed to slow down later in the day so we moved inshore for some grouper. Brian started with a 20 lb Red, then a 4 lb Lion Fish and then a huge Queen trigger. He had the hot corner for a while. Worked our way inshore looking for a gag but no luck. It was a mixed bag with plenty of nice fillets for the coolers.
Captain Mike Jackson
LiveLine Charters
910-686-7271
