John Russ and his three sons were given a choice this morning. Run a long way out and try to find the Tuna or down the beach to reports of a good Cobia bite. They choose the latter and did not regret it. Arch and Lee found the fish and landed 14. 3 of which looked close to 80 pounds. Makes you hungry just looking at John’s photo of his largest. Nice weather day on top of it!
The Tuna bite is improving along with the conditions. In addition to 3 nice Yellowfin The Pelican found calm seas and schools of gaffer dolphin as well.
Chris Schope and a group of friends from Canada enjoyed a productive and choppy day offshore. They landed a nice Tuna and a few gaffer Dolphin.
David Barringer and his son had a good day on board the Pelican. Captain Bracher ran south of east and found a bit of life. While not as thick as yesterday, Dolphin provided all the action. Carter Barringer shows off this nice 51 pounder after about an hour of fight on light tackle.
The rest of the fleet fared well with more Tuna showing up.
Mike MaCarty and a few of his buddies fished on board the Pelican today. Arch sniffed out the Dolphin in a big way. Lee made sure all hands were on deck and let the bailing begin. William spanked everyone with his 44lb bull he shows off in this picture.
After a couple of shy Tuna bites a 250 lb Mako pulled on a bait for a while and then cut it off. The fleet overall reported at least 3 Blue Marlin and boxed their share of Dolphin. Conditions are great.
Lee is looking for that ice block.
The Pelican has made it’s way off shore and found some meat!. Frank and Connie from Maine had the pleasure of pitching bait to several schools of hungry dolphin. Many of which they put in the box.
The Gulf Stream pushed in a bit providing a warm slug of water which produced a Marlin bite yesterday. The pattern is beginning to change and we look forward to much more catching than just fishing.
Both the Cobia count and pictures are too numerous to post. Besides they all look the same. Instead check out one of the few Stripers remaining in the Potomac above Washington, DC. Arch will be fishing offshore OBX in 2 weeks. He has a couple open dates for meat in prime time. If you’re interested in some 2014 Yucatan Sailfishing next January a few days remain. Email us at arch@fishthepelican.com
With the Pelican back in the water and tied up at the fishing center Arch, Summer and Bailee have headed south for a few days. Based on Captain Bracher’s new found fondness and extensive studies of NOAA long range weather forecast models his timing for the trip turned out to be perfect. Yesterday Arch caught the first Cobia of the season off a local Destin pier earning him a season pass!
The Pelican and crew begin OBX offshore fishing in earnest the end of April. While the best bill fishing dates are booking up fast there are still some prime time meat days available. Email us at arch@fishthepelican.com or call 252-919-3197 to secure one!
After a few weeks in dry dock and some cosmetic refinements the Pelican is going back in the water next week. Lee managed to miss all the boat work fun claiming he had some off shore obligations in a neighboring country that needed tending to. BTW Sonny continues to slowly recover at home at this time.
The winter weather of late should help make for a normal spring as far as marine life and there migratory habits are concerned. Arch and Lee will start entertaining guests the last week of April. They will target Tuna, but anything that will bite is fair game. We are beginning to fill up the prime time dates so you may want to look at your offshore fishing plans soon if you have specific dates in mind. Make sure to engage Arch in a dialogue regarding long range weather forecasting. He seems fascinated by its reliability factor. arch@fishthepelican.com
Arch is back in the OBX and about halfway through scraping, sanding and painting different sections of the Pelican. Joe Kaylor sent us this photo of Pat Bracher and a catch on a fly rod in 2008. Contrary to popular belief Captain Bracher will allow them on board. But only to be used when the box is half full and or they are really thick.
