'Lil John and I pulled out of the slip this morning at 4:15 Am for our last day of fishing as the season closes tomorrow at midnight and we decided earlier in the week that this would be our last day. We left the slip saying “Just one more!“ so we set up where the bite was yesterday outside the Big 10.We did mark some bait and a few fish deep the water was clean. Working along the outside edge we had our first bite on our down rod. It was obvious it was not the right one as we reeled in about a 25lb Red Drum .We got things set and kept working SW with a few other boats that were on the break. We started checking baits. When I was letting out the bridge rod it went off and didn’t come tight. I cranked it in and John was quick to rig a fresh bait as we set it back and in about 1 minute he was on. What a great feeling on our last day “He’s Tight!” 8:07 AM, we had him on an 80w. The first run got us down more than ½ way through our backing and he was still going. The first 10 minutes or so was fought from the bridge cranking and keeping him tight with the boat. Once John had everything cleared below I handed the rod down and we got to work. He was at the boat 30 minutes later .The seas were pretty calm and the fish was beat and laid over and John was able to crank him close as he swam right alongside the boat. The Flyer was in him shortly after and we got it secure and started swimming him. We put the lines out as we swam the fish and during this time we had a rigger go off. It turned out turned out to be a small shark. We cranked in the lines and prepared to bring the fish aboard. The fish was on the deck at 9:30am, 81” & 325 lbs. It seemed like things were slowing down so we decided to get back early, fuel the boat and prepare to leave. Great day, we were happy to finish off with a bite.

When you are here it becomes a grind and you can’t wait to get home. Now that it’s coming to an end you get mixed emotions. The bite gives you an addictive rush that’s going to be hard to replace. There’s always next year.

Thanks to everyone in Morehead especially Dennard and Kay at Portside,Sean Welsh and Joe Shute. We appreciated the help and hospitality.
Tight Lines
Capt Keith