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Fishing Reports & Photos
OLD TIMERS HAVE ANOTHER GREAT DAY!
Bill & Brad Hudgins, Joe Monds, Andy McCann & crew circled birds in rough conditions all day anc caught 21 sailfish out of 36 bites, and hooked 5 at the end of the day around birds at one time, and we didn't get any of them..... quite after that and headed in for Margarita time!
ANOTHER OUTSTANDING DAY OF SAILFISHING AROUND BALLS OF BAIT
With only half the boats down here this year compared to years past, and far less boats fishing daily, we have enjoyed fishing a 4 mile area of sailfish on bait with no one around so that all day we chase unmolested schools of fish. With a crew of friends from back home, including Capt Bill Hudgins and son Brad who have a boat at Pirates Cove, and Capt Andy McCann who owns Nags Head pier, and the best part of the day for me was having Capt Joe Monds, my old captain for 7 years, partner in the original OBSESSION, and good friend ride along with me on the bridge all day, it was a super day as the crew tally for the day was 30 sailfish released and 6 cases of SOL & DOS EQUIS consumed..... can't wait to take them out again tomarrow.
YESTERDAY HENRY CLAN HAS GREAT DAY FISHING AROUND BIRDS!
Ken Henry & son Ken from Millville, NJ had non stop action around balls of bait with both sailfish and porpoise on them.....never seen it like that before where not just one or two but every ball of bait had both around it..... which made things hard cause the porpoise keep the ball of bait moving fast and erratically which made presentation of baits difficult, but the crew did a great job and released 30 sailfish out of maybe 50 bites. 
KEN & KEN FIGHT ONE OF MANY FATHER AND SON DOUBLE HEADERS
KEN & KEN FIGHT ONE OF MANY FATHER AND SON DOUBLE HEADERS
OUTSTANDING FISHING AROUND THE BIRDS
Ken Henry Jr & Sr and crew experienced their first calm day after too many rough days and had great sailfishing all day around baitballs and birds.....fish were very cooperative and we had bites most every circle and spent all day around a half dozen spots which had lots of fish around them.....Ken Sr hooked several himself and the crew caught 26 fish out of 46 bites. 
DIFFICULT BAITBALL FISHING
We found a lot of spots of birds with baitballs and birds under them, but with overcast skies and choppy seas, the fish were darting around and hard to get a good pass on them....We caught 14 sailfish out of 26 bites but had some tough luck pulling hooks on 5 fish in a row. 
BEST DAY OF THE SEASON.....SO FAR!
We lucked out with the weather, which was finally reasonably calm after a week of rough weather and the fishing was great.....we had atleast 56 sailfish bites, and caught 34 of them.... in the morning the action was mostly around birds and balls of bait, while in the afternoon we had steady trolling bite action.... plus Richard reeled in a wahoo which we thought was going to be a bonito. 
MICHIGAN LOGGERS LAST DAY!
Paul Kamp and his logging crew from Michigan had great morning action around birds, balls of bait and lots of sailfish, catching a triple and a double, but the local boats charged out to us and cut off one of our fish and took over the bait balls, so we went to trolling and inspite of a slow hour or so, had steady action, catching 21 sailfish out of 35 bites, including one quadruple header.
A BOTTLE A DAY AND HE STILL HOOKS FISH!
Paul Kamp, from Michigan, runs a logging company.....he is a Paul Bunyon type guy.....he drinks a bottle of Wiskey every day he fishes with me down here, gets a bit louder as the day goes on but today he hooked 7 of the 8 sailfish he tried, which was better than me and Richard.....he and cohort Mark caught 17 of 25 sailfish bites today as weather moderated.
MORE ROUGH WEATHER AND PLENTY OF SAILFISH
Paul Kamp and buds Mark, Mark & Jordan toughed out another rough day but had steady sailfish action all day after a slow first hour......had over 40 bites and caught 25 sailfish.....this including a wild half hour where we caught 5 in one go round.....also caught a triple header and several doubles....Paul had a great percentage hooking fish......probably better than me today. 
THEM SAILFISH AIN'T AFRAID OF ROUGH WEATHER
Only three of us headed offshore as the wind was blowing 25-30 and seas were around 7-9 ft so we only ran about 9 miles and set out in uncomfortable conditions to say the least, but Dan Homa and crew laughed their way thru the next 7 hours as we had great action, and they ended up catching 28 sailfish, had 46 bites at least, and this included a new OBSESSION record as the Jack, Eric, Dan and Steve caught 7 sailfish in one go round, as they kept hooking fish as fast as a fish was released....they also captured a quad and a few doubles and triples.
STEADY SAILFISH ACTION ALL DAY AFTER ROUGH START
Dan Homa, with buds Eric, Steve & Jack cranked in sailfish all day......we started missing the first 6 fish, but then caught 24 of the next 40 bites, most coming in ones and twos and just one triple header, but rarely did we go more thatn 10 or 15 minutes without a bite...... fish were only 9 miles off the beach and we got reports of another big body of fish 20 miles from home......things are looking good! 
LOT OF RUNNING FOR NOT MUCH!
We ran up north looking for the body of fish we had great action working on on Wednesday but could not find them and Tom Noonan only caught one up there, so around noon we ran back south and caught four more to end the day.....Tom, from Allentown PA caught 48 sailfish with us in 3 days. 
THIS PLACE IS ROCKING!!!
Fin on the Qualifier shouted into the radio 'this place is rocking', as everyone had fish on in multiples.....we hooked 4 or 5 quads (4 at one time) in succession as they were chasing us around in droves....had 5 rods bent over one time with fish still chasing teasers and baits....weather was choppy and Tom Noonan with wife Linda and daughter Christian from Allentown, PA released 24 out of 40 bites in 3 1/2 hours and then begged me to take them home as everyone was wore out......there on not many boats down here this year....only 8 fishing yesterday and everyone had stellar days..... blowing a gale today but we will be back out there tomarrow. Caught a wahoo to which we all enjoyed fried and with garlic for dinner at the BALLYHOO Bar & Grill. 
PENNSYLVANIA LAWYER WORN OUT BY SAILFISH!
Tom Noonan, from Allentown, PA enjoyed one of his best days of fishing ever, catching 16 of 22 sailfish on a calm day, with mostly trolling bites but one fish caught around some birds. Photo below taken by mate Richard.....have to work on his photography skills! 
GOOD WEATHER & GOOD SAILFISHING
After getting blown out for two days, winds subsided today....unfortunately my charter did not show up, so I grabbed my old buddy Capt Jerry & his crew of a Texas private boat heading to Panama and we went fishing.....we caught 17 sailfish out of 33 bites, but had a bit of bad luck as 5 fish pulled the hook after extended battles, which is unusual for circle hooks. 
FIRST DAY SAILFISHING
With Captain Brian Peele and his mate Lucas from the Morehead City based F/V Goombay, we went out for half a day warm up cruise, and caugth 8 sailfish out of 17 bites, mostly around some birds and fish cutting in bait. Have our first charter tomarrow and fishing is improving. The attached pictures are Capt 'Deep Drop' Pete and his boxful of grouper, snapper, tilefish caught bottom fishing in 100 fathoms...... we are gonna eat well tonite!
The big grouper as a misty grouper and bottomed out a 100 lb scale!
The big grouper as a misty grouper and bottomed out a 100 lb scale!
WE ATE GOOD LAST NIGHT!!
Rode out on a private boat yesterday.....did some deep dropping in 600-900 feet of water.....in three hours we filled the box with snowy grouper, queen and emerald snapper and tilefish.... the folks at Ballyhoo bar at the end of our dock cooked the grouper and snapper for us 3 ways.....fried, with garlic and mexican style......good damm eating! Gonna take OBSESSION out tomarrow sailfishing for warm up trip and have first charter on Friday. 
FRIDAY JAN 8: WE MADE IT!
We left Miami at 6 AM on Thursday.....wind falling out all the time as we ran down along the keys and weather forecast is less than 15 knots of north wind thru Friday night across the Gulf of Mexico, and then the shit hits the fan..... 25 knots north. Got to Key West at 1 PM and fueled up and along the the Goombay, Country Girl and Qualifier, we headed out southwest passage at 2 PM and into the Florida Straits with 340 miles to Isla Mujeres....wind fell out the whole way and we arrived at noon, Friday morning in calm seas.....ran with the curtains open the whole way and got no spray on the curtains....beautiful, calm, uneventful crossing.....after the first part of the trip we were finally able to relax.....everyone wound up tight. Cold front came thru ISLA saturday morning, and for here it is cold and windy but sailfishing has been good and weather should improve during the week.....We start fishing later in the week.
WEDNESDAY JAN 6: HOPEFULLY THE PROBLEM SOLVED!
Wednesday morning, with the help of a good mechanic in North Carolina, I was walked thru some diagnostic work and we got the generator going....for now. Have some parts being put on a boat heading to Mexico next week of me, but with the generator running, we headed to Miami.... still cold....freezing in the morning and still wearing UGS and fleece lined jeans but it is getting warmer.
The photo below last of the 'Pamlico Sound Ice on the Obsession' series
The photo below last of the 'Pamlico Sound Ice on the Obsession' series
TUESDAY JAN 5: JUST WHEN THINGS SEEMED TO BE GOING SO WELL!!
Left Hilton Head at 5 AM with intentions of getting to Ft Pierce FL 300 miles south that evening after dark, which would make up for lost time and get us in position to cross Gulf during forcast calm weather window Thursday nite to Friday morning.... still freezing (25 deg) even down in Hilton Head but seas were not bad and all was looking good....till three hours out and 11 hours to go, when my generator quit!! damm thing is old but had been doing good....and I need it for the trip to keep freezer with $3000 of bait and $1000 of food frozen....cap'n Jeff was not happy....arranged for mechanic to meet me that evening.....got to Ft Pierce fine but mechanic could not fix it then....said call dealer and hope he has a riser for it it the morning....cap'n jeff getting worried again as window for crossing is only 24 hours!
Photo below of first day's icing up.
Photo below of first day's icing up.
For older fishing reports and photos please go to our archives
OLD TIMERS HAVE ANOTHER GREAT DAY!
Bill & Brad Hudgins, Joe Monds, Andy McCann & crew circled birds in rough conditions all day anc caught 21 sailfish out of 36 bites, and hooked 5 at the end of the day around birds at one time, and we didn't get any of them..... quite after that and headed in for Margarita time!
ANOTHER OUTSTANDING DAY OF SAILFISHING AROUND BALLS OF BAIT
With only half the boats down here this year compared to years past, and far less boats fishing daily, we have enjoyed fishing a 4 mile area of sailfish on bait with no one around so that all day we chase unmolested schools of fish. With a crew of friends from back home, including Capt Bill Hudgins and son Brad who have a boat at Pirates Cove, and Capt Andy McCann who owns Nags Head pier, and the best part of the day for me was having Capt Joe Monds, my old captain for 7 years, partner in the original OBSESSION, and good friend ride along with me on the bridge all day, it was a super day as the crew tally for the day was 30 sailfish released and 6 cases of SOL & DOS EQUIS consumed..... can't wait to take them out again tomarrow.
YESTERDAY HENRY CLAN HAS GREAT DAY FISHING AROUND BIRDS!
Ken Henry & son Ken from Millville, NJ had non stop action around balls of bait with both sailfish and porpoise on them.....never seen it like that before where not just one or two but every ball of bait had both around it..... which made things hard cause the porpoise keep the ball of bait moving fast and erratically which made presentation of baits difficult, but the crew did a great job and released 30 sailfish out of maybe 50 bites.
KEN & KEN FIGHT ONE OF MANY FATHER AND SON DOUBLE HEADERS
KEN & KEN FIGHT ONE OF MANY FATHER AND SON DOUBLE HEADERS
OUTSTANDING FISHING AROUND THE BIRDS
Ken Henry Jr & Sr and crew experienced their first calm day after too many rough days and had great sailfishing all day around baitballs and birds.....fish were very cooperative and we had bites most every circle and spent all day around a half dozen spots which had lots of fish around them.....Ken Sr hooked several himself and the crew caught 26 fish out of 46 bites.
DIFFICULT BAITBALL FISHING
We found a lot of spots of birds with baitballs and birds under them, but with overcast skies and choppy seas, the fish were darting around and hard to get a good pass on them....We caught 14 sailfish out of 26 bites but had some tough luck pulling hooks on 5 fish in a row.
BEST DAY OF THE SEASON.....SO FAR!
We lucked out with the weather, which was finally reasonably calm after a week of rough weather and the fishing was great.....we had atleast 56 sailfish bites, and caught 34 of them.... in the morning the action was mostly around birds and balls of bait, while in the afternoon we had steady trolling bite action.... plus Richard reeled in a wahoo which we thought was going to be a bonito.
MICHIGAN LOGGERS LAST DAY!
Paul Kamp and his logging crew from Michigan had great morning action around birds, balls of bait and lots of sailfish, catching a triple and a double, but the local boats charged out to us and cut off one of our fish and took over the bait balls, so we went to trolling and inspite of a slow hour or so, had steady action, catching 21 sailfish out of 35 bites, including one quadruple header.
A BOTTLE A DAY AND HE STILL HOOKS FISH!
Paul Kamp, from Michigan, runs a logging company.....he is a Paul Bunyon type guy.....he drinks a bottle of Wiskey every day he fishes with me down here, gets a bit louder as the day goes on but today he hooked 7 of the 8 sailfish he tried, which was better than me and Richard.....he and cohort Mark caught 17 of 25 sailfish bites today as weather moderated.
MORE ROUGH WEATHER AND PLENTY OF SAILFISH
Paul Kamp and buds Mark, Mark & Jordan toughed out another rough day but had steady sailfish action all day after a slow first hour......had over 40 bites and caught 25 sailfish.....this including a wild half hour where we caught 5 in one go round.....also caught a triple header and several doubles....Paul had a great percentage hooking fish......probably better than me today.
THEM SAILFISH AIN'T AFRAID OF ROUGH WEATHER
Only three of us headed offshore as the wind was blowing 25-30 and seas were around 7-9 ft so we only ran about 9 miles and set out in uncomfortable conditions to say the least, but Dan Homa and crew laughed their way thru the next 7 hours as we had great action, and they ended up catching 28 sailfish, had 46 bites at least, and this included a new OBSESSION record as the Jack, Eric, Dan and Steve caught 7 sailfish in one go round, as they kept hooking fish as fast as a fish was released....they also captured a quad and a few doubles and triples.
STEADY SAILFISH ACTION ALL DAY AFTER ROUGH START
Dan Homa, with buds Eric, Steve & Jack cranked in sailfish all day......we started missing the first 6 fish, but then caught 24 of the next 40 bites, most coming in ones and twos and just one triple header, but rarely did we go more thatn 10 or 15 minutes without a bite...... fish were only 9 miles off the beach and we got reports of another big body of fish 20 miles from home......things are looking good!
LOT OF RUNNING FOR NOT MUCH!
We ran up north looking for the body of fish we had great action working on on Wednesday but could not find them and Tom Noonan only caught one up there, so around noon we ran back south and caught four more to end the day.....Tom, from Allentown PA caught 48 sailfish with us in 3 days.
THIS PLACE IS ROCKING!!!
Fin on the Qualifier shouted into the radio 'this place is rocking', as everyone had fish on in multiples.....we hooked 4 or 5 quads (4 at one time) in succession as they were chasing us around in droves....had 5 rods bent over one time with fish still chasing teasers and baits....weather was choppy and Tom Noonan with wife Linda and daughter Christian from Allentown, PA released 24 out of 40 bites in 3 1/2 hours and then begged me to take them home as everyone was wore out......there on not many boats down here this year....only 8 fishing yesterday and everyone had stellar days..... blowing a gale today but we will be back out there tomarrow. Caught a wahoo to which we all enjoyed fried and with garlic for dinner at the BALLYHOO Bar & Grill.
PENNSYLVANIA LAWYER WORN OUT BY SAILFISH!
Tom Noonan, from Allentown, PA enjoyed one of his best days of fishing ever, catching 16 of 22 sailfish on a calm day, with mostly trolling bites but one fish caught around some birds. Photo below taken by mate Richard.....have to work on his photography skills!
GOOD WEATHER & GOOD SAILFISHING
After getting blown out for two days, winds subsided today....unfortunately my charter did not show up, so I grabbed my old buddy Capt Jerry & his crew of a Texas private boat heading to Panama and we went fishing.....we caught 17 sailfish out of 33 bites, but had a bit of bad luck as 5 fish pulled the hook after extended battles, which is unusual for circle hooks.
FIRST DAY SAILFISHING
With Captain Brian Peele and his mate Lucas from the Morehead City based F/V Goombay, we went out for half a day warm up cruise, and caugth 8 sailfish out of 17 bites, mostly around some birds and fish cutting in bait. Have our first charter tomarrow and fishing is improving. The attached pictures are Capt 'Deep Drop' Pete and his boxful of grouper, snapper, tilefish caught bottom fishing in 100 fathoms...... we are gonna eat well tonite!
The big grouper as a misty grouper and bottomed out a 100 lb scale!
The big grouper as a misty grouper and bottomed out a 100 lb scale!
WE ATE GOOD LAST NIGHT!!
Rode out on a private boat yesterday.....did some deep dropping in 600-900 feet of water.....in three hours we filled the box with snowy grouper, queen and emerald snapper and tilefish.... the folks at Ballyhoo bar at the end of our dock cooked the grouper and snapper for us 3 ways.....fried, with garlic and mexican style......good damm eating! Gonna take OBSESSION out tomarrow sailfishing for warm up trip and have first charter on Friday.
FRIDAY JAN 8: WE MADE IT!
We left Miami at 6 AM on Thursday.....wind falling out all the time as we ran down along the keys and weather forecast is less than 15 knots of north wind thru Friday night across the Gulf of Mexico, and then the shit hits the fan..... 25 knots north. Got to Key West at 1 PM and fueled up and along the the Goombay, Country Girl and Qualifier, we headed out southwest passage at 2 PM and into the Florida Straits with 340 miles to Isla Mujeres....wind fell out the whole way and we arrived at noon, Friday morning in calm seas.....ran with the curtains open the whole way and got no spray on the curtains....beautiful, calm, uneventful crossing.....after the first part of the trip we were finally able to relax.....everyone wound up tight. Cold front came thru ISLA saturday morning, and for here it is cold and windy but sailfishing has been good and weather should improve during the week.....We start fishing later in the week.
WEDNESDAY JAN 6: HOPEFULLY THE PROBLEM SOLVED!
Wednesday morning, with the help of a good mechanic in North Carolina, I was walked thru some diagnostic work and we got the generator going....for now. Have some parts being put on a boat heading to Mexico next week of me, but with the generator running, we headed to Miami.... still cold....freezing in the morning and still wearing UGS and fleece lined jeans but it is getting warmer.
The photo below last of the 'Pamlico Sound Ice on the Obsession' series
The photo below last of the 'Pamlico Sound Ice on the Obsession' series
TUESDAY JAN 5: JUST WHEN THINGS SEEMED TO BE GOING SO WELL!!
Left Hilton Head at 5 AM with intentions of getting to Ft Pierce FL 300 miles south that evening after dark, which would make up for lost time and get us in position to cross Gulf during forcast calm weather window Thursday nite to Friday morning.... still freezing (25 deg) even down in Hilton Head but seas were not bad and all was looking good....till three hours out and 11 hours to go, when my generator quit!! damm thing is old but had been doing good....and I need it for the trip to keep freezer with $3000 of bait and $1000 of food frozen....cap'n Jeff was not happy....arranged for mechanic to meet me that evening.....got to Ft Pierce fine but mechanic could not fix it then....said call dealer and hope he has a riser for it it the morning....cap'n jeff getting worried again as window for crossing is only 24 hours!
Photo below of first day's icing up.
Photo below of first day's icing up.
MONDAY JAN 4...DAY 2....Windy but much better day!!
Left Wrightsville Beach in 20 degree temps and 20 knot NW wind.....got in ocean and throwing a little spray with some icing up but when sun got up, that ended and we so we got to Hilton Head by sunset in calming conditions.... still ice scattered around the boat, but things were looking up.....picture below from the day before.... kinda felt that day like the guys on the Northwestern crabbing in the Bering sea, but when they iced up they had rubber sledge hammers and shovels and blow tourches.....all mate Richard had to beat ice off the OBSESSION with was a plastic squeegee and a chamois mop!!
Obsession Sportfishing Charters
Outer Banks - North Carolina
Captain Jeff Ross
3102 S. Ocean View Ct.
Nags Head NC 27959
252.480.0094
©2005-2012 Obsession Charters, Inc.