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.