30 June 2014

Today I went fishing with Francis Sr., Francis Jr., Alex, Hank, and TJ. They were hoping to catch some flounder. I took them to Oregon Inlet and we found some. We caught close to two dozen flatfish with four keepers up to 18 inches. There were a bunch of fish just short of 15 inches. It was a good bite. We also caught all the Bluefish we wanted, three Weakfish (two keepers), and a couple of nice Spot. Of course there were the ever present Pinfish and Pigfish making their appearance as well.

The guys were all hard core anglers and never took a break. It was fun for me to see them fish so hard. Great job of angling guys. It sure paid off when they carried home a cooler loaded with fish.

We got very nice looks at dolphins on the ride out but the highlight nature treat of the day was a Loggerhead sea turtle. I had seen it surface briefly three or four times during the trip and a few on board got a glimpse of it. Suddenly, Francis Sr. yelled out "Turtle!" A beautiful turtle surfaced literally just inches from my stern and lingered long enough to get excellent looks at the claws on its flippers. The water was just that clear. It capped off a great day on the water with a bunch of fine fellows.

Summer flounder, Bluefish, and Weakfish
Summer flounder, Bluefish, and Weakfish