Full Moon Sweep

Left early Saturday with a full moon as bright as the sun and seas as flat as can be. Breathtaking!
Had our 2 teens so we headed to the navy bouys first to ball some mahi. Not much there except some small Jacks. Trolled to the Norfolk with a White Marlin release and 2 yellowfins. Good time had by all!

Nita Drean Deep Drop and

Nita Dreams weekend of July 15, 16 and 17 was good fishing and good weather. On July 15 Holland party caught tuna and had a chance at a couple of White Marlin but could not keep them hooked up. On July 16 Uphold party went Deep Dropping and caught limited tilefish and nice seabass ranging to over 3 lbs. While out there we saw a large Finback Whale and hundreds of Pilot Whales, sea turtles, two tone dolphins and even a big Hammer Head Shark there was alot of sea life.

The Deep Drop fishing is a lot of fun but it is hard on your arms they had a hard time holding their fish up for a picture
Give me a call to set up your fishing trip on the Nita Dream
Good Fishing Capt Frank
www.nitadream.com
540-297-2307

30th Anniverary of Eastern Shore Marlin Tour.

There is no better time then this year to enter the Eastern Shore Marlin Tournament.

30th Anniversary and the Marlin bite the last couple of years has been off the hook!

It is held in down town Wachapreague on July 22, thru the 26. The Thursday 23rd is the captains meeting and Monday 26th is the awards banquet, both at the Island House Restaurant. This is a great opportunity to show your angling skills and enjoy the camaraderie of the fishing fleet. Nowhere else will you enjoy the fellowship of fishermen more than right here on the shore. Each night at "way in's" is a party in itself. Friends, family and tourists gather just waiting to see what will come to the scale next.

Without the support of Fishermen and women this Tournament will be a thing of the past. So get a boat and form a team, you owe yourself some time off shore and a break from reality.

UNITE Eastern Shore fishermen and be one with the Sea!

Contact the Wachapreague Inn for info and sign ups 757 787 2105

Of Tiny Bugs and Giant Hammerheads

Of Tiny Bugs and Giant Hammerheads

A little bug popped out of the water of our bow wake and flew about 50 feet. Then another and another. After seeing the third, we decide that they weren't invertebrates, but small flying fish. Perhaps they are common at these latitudes in the summer but we had never noticed them before.

Today was a day to see them. Though there was a four foot swell, the air was completely still and not even a hint of ripple on the sea surface. We decided to troll to a set of numbers we were given where a wreck we hadn't found previously should be located. At times, this strategy works but often the location is off by a little.

The rod/reel on the port side started screaming and looking back we saw the sea erupt about 100 yards behind our stern. Ruta grabbed the rod but the fish which was obviously a mahi continued to strip line. Martin was reeling in the other rods and steered the Sea Wyf. After about 10 minutes, the fish was brought along side and landed. Was a 14 pound mahi.

That was the beginning of a perfect day. We continued trolling to the wreck site and it was there. Took a couple drifts over it to see if there was life below. There was, we immediately caught a few seabass though only one was of legal size, 12 1/2 inches.

We decided to anchor and spend at least a few hours. Dropped a chum bag over to see what we can attract. After a few hours we had caught a good number of legal seabass though maybe only one in 10 were larger than the minimum size.

Then Martin noticed that our surface line back in the chum started moving toward the boat. He picked up the rod and struck. The fish ignored the strike and kept coming and turned a bit toward the starboard side. It was obviously a very big and strong fish.

We thought it was probably a cobia. However, when it came along side, we saw the fish was half the length of the Sea Wyf and was a hammerhead shark. At that point it realized it was hooked and ran off 200 yards of line. We fought the critter almost back to the boat before it broke off.

We were sure happy that Martin didn't have to go overboard today like he did a few trips ago.

A few hours later, we decided that we had caught plenty of fish for this trip and began trolling home. We did pick up a nice bluefish on the way in and had a few other hits. Probably blues.

This was just another day in paradise: The Eastern Shore of Virginia.

We forgot the camera today, the day we have a 10 ft hammerhead next to the boat, so the pic is one from our archives.

Cobia on the hill

Like a brown flash the fish charged our starboard side picked up the outside line at a 90 degree angle. It took the green/yellow feather and kept going across to port. Amazingly, it did not take the other five lines with it. Ruta grabbed the rod and we strapped the belt on her.

Soon it became apparent that the this was something different: Didn't jump like a mahi and didn't dive like tuna. The critter ran off a couple of hundred yards before Ruta was able to turn him. It was obvious that she had ahold of a very strong fish.

However, 15 minutes later, it got close enough for identification. After a few harrowing moments attempting to net the critter, a beautiful brown suited man, a cobia was flopping around on the deck.

This was quite an unusual catch for being so far offshore, on Sam's Hill 31 miles from Wachapreague Inlet. For us it was particularly weird because we spent six days last year fishing for cobia in the Bay without getting a single hit. And now caught one by accident.

This was just part of of great day. We also caught a 21 pound mahi and another about 8 pounds. We also had quite a few other hits but they missed the hook.

On the way in we stopped at a wreck and topped off the day with a good mess of beautiful cbass.

Have a great 4th everyone.

Mssa Tournament and Tuna Fever

The MSSA Tunament was an awesome time on the water! The tuna were thick and the Gaffer Dolphin and Marlin were great additions. Only 4 or 5 boats left from Wachapreague but they accounted for hundreds of pounds of tuna and TWO of the winning boats.

Sam Fisher and his crew took top honors and Dale Dirks placed as well.

Goes to show that Wachapreague is small but we are Mighty !