Saltwater Sportsman Seminar

Me, Grown Dawg and a friend, Cur Dawg attended the Saltwater Sportsman Seminar on Saturday.  It was in Bolivia, NC which meant an early rise for us to get there in time.  The panel of presenters included Mike Marsh, Capt. Rob Ferris, Capt. Jimmy Price, Capt. David Kesler, Capt. Darrin Callahan, Capt. Ray Massengill, Dennis Barbour, Harry Vernon, III, and George Poveromo.  Topics that were covered included Offshore Trolling Tactics, Flounder fishing, Vertical Jigging, Trout Fishing, Red Drum, King Mackerel, Bottom Fishing, and Daytime Swordfish. 

The seminar format was very well done!  For most of the topics, there were four panelists who had a discussion regarding the best techniques for targeting the species that was being discussed.  Each topic was between 30 and 45 minutes, so you didn't get overloaded on the information that was presented.

It was also great that there were tons of door prizes handed out.  And it was really nice stuff.  Items like Costa Del Mar sunglasses, free Sperry shoes and every form of fishing tackle that you could imagine.  They also gave away a trip for 2 to Bimini Sands.  We did not win anything, but that was okay.  We do have a chance to win a Mako boat, but that drawing if from ALL of the registrants for all of the different locations that the seminar series held.

As part of the registration, we got a free year subscription to Saltwater Sportsman magazine, a 1/4 pound spool of Suffix fishing line, OrPine boat was, a book written by George Poveromo and some other goodies.

Hopefully the weather will warm up quickly so that we can put some new found knowledge to use.

Second Christmas

Last week we were able to enjoy our second Christmas.  The few days before and Christmas day, Growndawg's youngest son Preacher Dawg, his wife, and their daughter (our granddaughter) came for a visit.  On Christmas day, my parents, Old Dawg and Mama Dawg as well as one of my cousins came and had lunch with us.

Here is Old Dawg and Mama Dawg with the granddaughter.

Then last week, Growndawg's oldest son, Scrappy Dawg and his wife, Sh'naynay Dawg came for a visit.  It was was great to see them.

We are very blessed to have been able to spend time with family over the holidays and actually got an extended holiday season! 

We both got gift cards to Bass Pro Shops as part of Christmas so we can outfit for fishing season!  Yeah for more fishing supplies.

Reel Cold Beach Time

Spent a long weekend at Cherry Grove last weekend.  Just some time away following the holidays.  It was nice to get away for a few days, but it was cold.  Reel cold.  Here are a couple of pictures of the canal behind the condo with ice in it at low tide.  Frozen salt water!

When we were going down, I had hoped that we could fish some.  Maybe for red drum or trout, but it was so cold, there is no way that I could have done it.   It got up near 60 degrees one of the days, but the mornings were still cold!

I saw a dead fish from a distance that was on the bottom.  And I think that I saw sea gulls picking up dead shrimp off the bottom of the canal.  Most likely from the cold weather.

Hopefully the weather will warm up and the water will get a little warmer for the sake of the fish.

Cold Way to Start 2011

We got more snow and ice on January 10th.  The weather folks were right when they said that our part of NC was going to get hit the worst.  Here are some more pictures of our house, yard, and road in front of our house.  There is no picture of me laying in the driveway after falling on my butt.  The camera fortunately was not injured.  Growndawg just shook his head at me.  I shook my head at me too.
 

View of our house from the road.

  

Our post light with icy driveway in the background.

 

The road in front of the house.  Still icy despite traffic.




Our old dog with his coat on.  He isn't even breaking through the ice.



Raleigh Saltwater Fishing Expo

Last Saturday, January 8th, we made a day trip to Raleigh to go to a Fishing Expo.  They had lots of one hours classes offered during the 3 day event which made it well worth the money.  It was $8 to get in, free parking, and on Saturday there were classes that ran from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.  We didn't stay for that long, but did get there to check out the exhibitors before going to the seminars that we were interested in attending.

There were two large buildings worth of exhibitors and more boats than you could imagine seeing.  We had the chance to see the Onslow Bay Boats that Growndawg had read about online.  The one boat that he really wanted to see was the The Onslow Bay 23 TE.  Here is what the Onslow Bay website says about the boat:

"The Onslow Bay 23 TE has been specifically designed for the 23 and under category of the Southern Kingfish Association. The centerline length over deck is 26'11" and a huge beam of 9'5". The waterline length is 23'."

Which basically means that you have a 27 foot boat, but can enter to compete against smaller boats.  No big deal, right.  Well if you have a boat that is 23 and under and do well in a tournament, then that can mean lots more money for your team.  Also, this boat comes with 2 motors which equates to getting where you want to fish faster and having more time to catch fish. 

And I am sure the guys who are winning bunches of money in the 23 and under category love this boat.  Just seems a bit unfair to those of us who have a true 23 and under boat.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Onslow Bay.  The first one gives you an idea of how massive this 'little' boat is.  The second one shows a 24 ft Sea Hunt being dwarfed by the 23 foot Onslow Bay.  Sorry about the fuzzy pictures - phone photos.

Anyway.  Back to the expo.

Our first seminar was by Capt. Jerry Dilsaver who was talking about catching King Mackerel.  Check out his website http://www.captjerry.com/ to see that this is a man who knows what he is talking about.  He covered making rigs, use of single strand vs stranded wire, live bait vs dead bait, the use of chum and even answered questions regarding fish bags after he was done with the lecture.  Hopefully we can use some of this information to catch king on the new boat.

The next seminar was by Capt. Butch Foster who talked about bottom fishing.  Here is his website http://www.yeahrightcharters.com/ .  This man has been fishing for over 50 years and currently specializes in targeting grouper and other bottom fish.  His seminar talked about the importance of anchoring over a live bottom location to ensure the fish stay where you are fishing.  He uses some serious terminal tackle - 10/0 non-stainless hooks on 250 pound test leader and 150 pound swivel.  He uses 150 pound test fishing line.  He prefers live bait to dead bait but says what many people say in that fish will bite what they want and it varies from day to day.

Now, if it will just get warm enough to fish, maybe we can put some of this newly learned information to good use.

Reel Snow

Fortunately or unfortunately, we did not get to celebrate a white Christmas.  But we did get a white day after Christmas.  Not exactly sure how much we got, but Growndawg measured it early in the day and we had over 8 inches then.  It snowed until well into the evening.  Thankfully it never lasts very long where we are.

Here are some of the pictures from our house.



This is looking off our front porch at our neighbors.  You can't even see the road.




Our 3 real dogs having to take care of business.



In our backyard - The two rows of border stones are almost buried.




Our Princess Dog who is NOT happy about the snow.




Early morning sun on the backyard the next day.