MHC 11/22/10

Tim, Brent and I had the pleasure of having MoonyMe on board with us Sunday. That was the first time we've been out since the last full moon so we had questionable expectations for sport fish. Left the dock about 5 and was able to make 28-30kts out to 90ft drop where I'd heard the 'hoo bite was hot on Thursday. There was still about a 10 degree temp break in that area. We hit 81.5 degrees about 6:30 and put the spread out. Trolled around there a couple hours and no knockdowns. Decided to pull up and cruise over around the Rise. On the first pass south we had a good knockdown in about 230ft of water. It didn't stick. One demerit for Brent.

On the way trolling from the Rise to S'boro Hole we had a pod of bottlenose dolphin escorting us for a couple miles. Brent and MoonyMe immediately made friends and the dolphin obviously enjoyed their attention.

We did the troll for another hour and a half without another hit. It didn't appear anybody else in the area was doing much better. So we decided to go bottom bouncing for a while.

We headed over to a usually reliable spot and marked a few bottom dwellers so we started a drift. Brent immediately snagged a nice little trigger. Then we got in to a bunch of tile fish. I also caught my first queen snapper. What a beautiful fish. MoonyMe put one of the biggest grunts I've ever seen in the box. Then we got in to a school of ramoras. They were thick around the boat. After catching a couple we decided to just feed them bait we were going to throw overboard anyway. Thus, Brent has even more offshore friends now.

It was a beautiful day out there. Hopefully we can repeat soon when the moon is not quite as bright. It was great to have MoonyMe aboard since we've been trying to hookup all summer. It was a great exchange of excellent fishing information all day.

I heard that there was an 85lb Hoo that came from the Swansboro Hole on Sunday !