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Obsession Charters Fall 2009 Newsletter
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPRING & SUMMER FISHING SEASONWe had some outstanding fishing this past spring & summer during what in several ways was an unusual year. Bluefin tuna hung around later than usual. Yellowfin tuna showed signs of improvement, with good fishing for larger fish, but they were late showing up; a good sign of small yellowfin could bode well for the fall. As usual, big 'gaffer' dolphin fishing was excellent from early May thru June, but the hordes of school dolphin we typically see in July & August were a no show, likely due to the lack of Sargassum weed they hang out around, which for some oceanographic reason was stacked up on the east side of the gulf stream with little on the west side..... fall northeasters may push them in here this month, as we found large numbers concentrated on a few floating objects last week. Blue marlin fishing was slow, but sailfish were more abundant than ever seen along the Outer Banks. White marlin fishing was good in July, but the main body moved north and we caught only a few mixed in with the sailfish in August. As the northeasters roll in, September and maybe even early October could see some great white marlin fishing. Nevertheless we have had some spectacular catches this season. In April, instead of good yellowfin tuna fishing, we had excellent bluefin tuna fishing. Tuna 2009 On April 10, Bill & Phil Hinze and crew boated a 117 lb bluefin and released 8 others in the 100-150 lb class range. A few days later, Tony Kreihbel & crew boated a 108 lb bluefin, and released 6 others. April 18, Chris Maze and Paul Riley caught a double header of sailfish, the OBSESSION's first billfish in 2009 out of Oregon Inlet. And the next day, Keith Avant's crew caught 4 bluefins, including a 125 lb fish boated by son Daniel.
In June, big 'gaffer' dolphin fishing was excellent most of the month with more 40-60 lb yellowfin mixed in. On June 15, Chris Rurak boated the seasons first bigeye (127 lb). We did not fish the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament this year for only the second time in the last 20 years, but hope to get back into it next year... if interested give me a call as I need to start putting a crew together. Zachary Danner, from St. Louis and Brent Southerland & Tony Barajas, from Texas all boated 107-116 lb bigeye tunas after grueling 1-1 1/2 hour battles. James Miller earned a citation for a 36 lb dolphin caught on light tackle.
In early July, the big yellowfins were still biting on trolling baits, and when they got boat shy, we resorted to flying kites to get bites. Ron Householder and Chris Brown filled the box with 40+ lb yellowfin tuna Independence day, and Chris boated the years largest, an 82 lb whopper which he is getting mounted. Decent tuna fishing lasted thru the second week in July, and then the billfish showed up. July 18, Demetrius Atkins released a 250 lb blue marlin, and his father and son each released a white marlin. A few days later, with an eddy off Hatteras, I ran down to the Rock Pile... John Proctor and crew released 8 white marlin and 5 sailfish, including a triple header of sailfish before we even had our whole spread out, then a triple header of white marlin soon after. We had excellent white marlin and sailfishing the next few days, but then during the Boat Builders tournament, we couldn't buy a bite, catching just a few; Peter Zeliff did catch the tournament's biggest dolphin to win a cash prize and trophy.
Sailfish were the story in August. Ruth Ann & her lady angler team caught 3 white marlin and a sailfish to put us in 8th place out of 80 boats in the Alice Kelly Memorial Billfish Tournament. AK ladies 2009 We did not fare so well during the PIrates Cove Billfish and the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournaments. During both, after the first day or two we were on the leader board and in the top 10, but the last day of both tournaments we just could not get on the fish. As luck would have it, our next fishing day after both tournaments we had outstanding days!! The day after the PCBT, 14 year old William Ayers, from Greer, SC, who had never caught anything larger than a 3 lb largemouth, released a 100 lb blue marlin, a white marlin & a sailfish to give him a personal grand slam, only the second one ever caught on the Obsession, and the only one I am aware of out of North Carolina this year (talk about beginners luck)! Father Jerry Ayers and crew released 2 other white marlin and 2 other sailfish, giving us 1 Blue marlin, 3 sailfish and 3 white marlin for the day! Our first fishing day after the VBBT, we caught & released 13 sailfish, of which Brandon Ruggiero, age 16, Brett Freidman, age 13 and Chris Ruggeiro, age 12 , each caught 2 sailfish in an epic day ...had three triple headers, of which we only caught one each time... must have seen 100 fish tailing on the surface. Four boats in the fleet caught 10 or more.....none of us even had enough sailfish flags .... several old timers stated it was the best sailfish bite ever out of Oregon Inlet. flags 13To date, we have released 135 billfish off North Carolina this season, including 73 sailfish and 59 white marlin and 3 blue marlin, for which folks will receive citations, and 23 others individuals will receive citations for large dolphin, bluefin and yellowfin tuna caught on the OBSESSION since April 2009.
LATE UPDATE...... Saturday, Sept 12, the first day we fished after 3 day storm, we caught 9 white marlin, jumped off 2 others and missed a few others..... White marlin were also caught of Virginia Beach and Ocean City, so we should have another week or two or good white marlin fishing!!
MAKEUP GROUPSIf you want to go fishing, and need additional people to fill out your group, or you want to join a group to share costs for a charter, please call 252-480-0094 or email me captjeff@mindspring.com, and I will discuss several options with you and hopefully hook you up with a full group. This season, I have put together 5 or 6 'makeup' groups composed of folks that did not have enough people to book the whole boat. MEXICO 2010My plans are to again run the OBSESSION to Isla Mujeres, Mexico for the light tackle sailfishing season in winter 2010. Richard Wright, who finished the season with me in Mexico last year, and has done an outstanding job fishing with me this summer will be mating for me in Mexico this winter. The waters off the northern Yucatan Peninsula hold the world's greatest seasonal concentration of Atlantic sailfish, and provide some incredible light tackle billfishing. The OBSESSION will be available for charter from January 9 thru March 15, 2009. You can reserve dates by email captjeff@mindspring.com or phone 252-480-0094. If you do not have a full group and are looking to split some days with a few others, let me know....in the past I have had good luck putting groups together. At this time, I have the following dates available: JAN 9 - JAN 13 The OBSESSION provides all bait and tackle. We use Shimano TLD 20's with 25 lb line on light action stand-up trolling rods. We encourage angler participation and enthusiastically work with everyone interested in hooking their own fish. We use exclusively circle hooks to reduce injury to the sailfish. We will leave the dock at 6:30 AM and return around sunset (6 PM). We provide lunch, including sandwiches, munchies, fruit, yogurt, and drinks including a case each of water, soda and cervezas! All you need bring is polarized sunglasses, sunscreen, rubber soled shoes, hat, camera, and good luck! I would be happy to provide more details upon request by e-mail captjeff@mindspring.com or phone 252-480-0094.
NOW AND THENThis year and last, as we all have experienced, my business has taken a downturn due to forces beyond our control. Nevertheless, while my trips in the states have dropped from around 150/season to around 120/season in 2008 & 2009, we are not getting ahead, but we will stay in business. I would like to thank those who have fished with us for your business. Hopefully you had a great fishing trip, exciting adventure offshore, and maybe even a memorable catch. We guarantee 110% effort to show you a great time and hopefully catch you a bunch of fish and maybe a fish of a lifetime! Check out my website for more information on my boat, myself, my fishing operation as well as fishing reports and pictures of recent catches. Ruth Ann and I will be happy to provide more details upon request by e-mail captjeff@mindspring.com or phone 252-480-0094. As well, we are always glad to offer any assistance and/or recommendations for your travel, lodging and dining on the Outer Banks
Best wishes and tight lines.... Cap'n Jeff Ross. P.S. PLEASE feel free to forward this to any of your fishing buddies.... we need all the business we can get!!
Obsession Sportfishing ChartersOuter Banks - North Carolina Captain Jeff Ross 252.480.0094©2005-2010 Obsession Charters, Inc. |
