Hatteras USA, From Sand to Snow for a Bluefin

[Nick Bowles]

After last years amazing fishing and trip to Hatteras NC, I decided with Sami to put together 2 back to back trips to Hatteras to fish on the Tuna Duck with Capt Dan and Mike. I had a really good time last year and we caught some great fish. After a very long wait finally the time started coming closer to the trip and we started to get all the final details in place.

The last couple of months have been tough with a few cancelled trips for different reasons from visas to weather, but the Hatteras trip was looking good with some fish starting to show up but then a few days before the trip we got thrown a curve ball and a big storm started moving in and the most snow in years started to be thrown around by the news channels! Great! Being from Dubai and Oman which is sunny all year road this was a very worrying situation to be having the worst snow storms in years! But after a few frantic calls Sami assured me it was all going to be alright and just to delay the trip by one day so the weather can clear. So with a whole new stash of warm clothes I got to the Dubai Airport and boarded my flight to JFK.


Dinner at the Tokyo Restaurant! Great evening!

Early the next morning we all met up at Samis place and started the long drive down to Hatteras. The trip is always filled with a lot of laughter a few jokes and the great anticipation of what the next few days held in store for us. We finally got to Oregon Inlet had a late dinner and did the grocery shopping for the next few days. Good fun trying to mix different tastes and cater for everyone! We finally made it to Hatteras late evening and we arrived at the house Sami arranged and it was amazing, right on the marina and water with loads of space, we unpacked quickly and started gearing up for the next day. We worked on our gear late into the night and finally we were ready and everyone fell into a deep but short sleep.


Packing into the new Saltywater Bus

The team

No trip is good without a good road trip!

Tosa-san and Chris taking a break on the bridge over Chespeake Bay

Our house for the next few days.

We woke up to a windy morning but everyone was excited and after a quick breakfast we headed off to meet up with Capt Dan and Mike at the Tuna Duck. It was good to see the boat and the guys again, and all the memories from last year came flooding back. We loaded up the gear and headed out for the grounds about 50 miles out where the fish had been holding the last few days. But first we had to cross the sand bar to get out of the inlet and with big sea, swell and shallow water this was quite interesting and nerve racking but Dan guided the Tuna Duck through like the seasoned pro he is! I don't think anything ever phases Dan, really comforting having such a get captain and crew with Mike.
The initial excitement and long run started to get to the team and slowly one by one we all ended up falling asleep in the saloon, even with the big swell and bad weather the Tuna Duck powered through with a comfortable ride. We heard the engines slow and we all new the time had come! We were in the middle of the Bluefin grounds!


Ready to head out with Tosa-san

This trip was going to be very interesting and exciting as Minami-san had brought 2 new prototype rods for Chris and himself to test which are the BFT73XXXH (for monster fish) and the BFT76XH (medium fish) along with a new range of jigs in the 300gr range. Tosa-san had a box full of Moutoukenmaru lures including a few prototypes, truly amazing lures and most of them belonged on a mantle piece! I was fishing with the Race Point 200 and 300 so it was a good mix of rods and lures. Mike put out some teasers to search for the tuna and before long we had a few yellowfin hammering the teasers and caught us a bit unaware but we quickly jumped into action and I had a tuna hit my Siren 250 Bad Mon clean out of the water and then missed again, Sami had a couple of hits and then on the next cast I hooked up to a smaller fish that pulled the hook after a few seconds. An exciting start to the trip.


Da Tuna Duck! Ready for battle!

Bit of rock and rolling on the way out!

New single hook set up I was trying on the Siren Bad Mon 250. Nothing to looked at but works!

We carried on moving around and marking fish and dropping jigs and casting stickbaits. On one of the markings I decided to put in a few casts as Dan saw a fish jump in the area. The wind was still pumping and with the Siren Bad Mon 250 and RP200 the lure was flying about 100m with the wind so I was covering a lot of water. On about the 5th cast I saw a splash behind the swell and was not sure if it was a fish or white horse I gave a few more pulls and I saw the fish come again and I hit the fish but still did not see how big it was! I hit the fish a few times and the fish started coming towards the boat and I thought it was a small tuna as I felt a light tapping on the line and the fish was coming easily, but then all hell broke loose and the spawn of satin was born! The fish must have seen the boat and took off for the depths!


Early in the fight when things were still fun! Wearing the fighting hat for the trip! Was supposed to give you power, don't think it works....

Leadering an awesome fish! Estimated at 280lbs

Siren Bad Mon 250 Blue

[Nick Bowles]

Another angle the fish coming around!

After a few minutes rest and reflection on an amazing fish we started looking for bluefin again and Dan would mark the fish and then we would stop and put the jigs down and try for a while and then move on, after a few times Chris hooked into a submarine which took him on the drop and he clicked the bail arm over and the fish had swum under the boat at about 120ft and pulled the rod under the boat and snapped, absolutely nothing he could have done and was another example that these fish are serious competitors and to land one you have to have some form of luck on your side!

Sami had a hit but didn't manage to hook up and then again Chris went tight on another big fish with a drift tune jig and line started flying off the reel. Chris got the fish under control and the slow back and forth again started but then on one of the big runs the line again cut into the spool at the same place as Tosa-san between the top of the line and top of the spool. Bang bye bye!


Chris bending on the Hots 56XH with a Drift Tune 330gr.

Mike trying to give Chris some help wearing the fighting hat! Always good fun on the boat!

Slowly the day started to come to and end and we started to head back to the marina but Dan said he was going to head for Oregon Inlet as the weather was changing and that in Hatteras we would not be able to get out to easily and so the ever thinking captain made a plan to try and give us the best possible option to fish. We pulled into Oregon Inlet Marina and was great to see the marina. We moored up the boat and then headed back to Hatteras about an hours drive away. Really good to have the option to run from either marina, opens up a lot more possibilities!


Coming into Oregon Inlet

Some good looking boats!

The big one we were looking for!

We stopped off at the market and bought dinner which was going to be a South African BBQ (Braai) and with a few cold beers ended an epic day. A lot of banter and talk about the fishing around the fire and table ended with us going to bed with a few new tactics and game plans.


Chris respooling in the Kitchen

Sami showing Tosa-san the Saltywater leader system

Awesome dinner of BBQ (braai) and sashimi!

But when we woke up this morning the wind had changed again and the predicted storm was coming in earlier than expected so the day was called off, but luckily with great accommodation it has been a day filled with looking and going through tackle and really spoilt to have Chris, Minami-san, Sami and , Tosa-san to pick their brains and talk about the gear they design and future products. Yes very interesting and exciting and almost as good as fishing!


Tosa-san and Sami sitting around the table eating and designing a new sneaky lure, going to be awesome!

Upstairs work area overlooking the marina, lives not to bad, even if the weather is!

We have another 2 days fishing and the weather looks like it is going to behave so a few more days reports to follow! Then we have another group next week so a lot more fishing to come! Hit it!!

[waynedejager]

Nice one cowboy!!! I thought you were looking for the 400+ fish?

[Trevor Skinner]

Looks like a great trip big guy. Well done. 

Wayno, I'm sure he told me 500+




Trevor

[Nick Bowles]

Howzit Wayno, Trev, I was looking for the 500+ but I think I'll tone that back to 200! The fish was amazingly strong and pulled like it had two tails and diff lock! When the leader was out the water the fish was still upright it never went onto its side, I think it was nuclear powered, awesome!!

Hopefully get another one to stretch the arms out again and try a different tactic to land the fish!

Cheers,
Nick

[Marc Inoue]

Hi Nick
you really get around! Nice report! Keep the pics coming!

[Nick Bowles]

It has been a few days since my last post of the trip to Hatteras with Minami-san and group. We ended the trip with no more tuna as the bite seemed to have died off a bit but we still had some great jigging and also an amazing time socially in the house and site seeing.


Local Frisco fishing shop, supporting the local fishing companies!

Love the weigh station!

Tosa-san taking a look around, really great friendly place!

The last day we woke up after a great evening around the fire making a BBQ again with fresh AJ on the fire. We got down to the Tuna Duck and received the normal friendly greeting and banter from Capt Dan and Mike. We loaded up and headed out the marina. The day before Sami and the team headed out without me due to me having a bit of work to take care of. But the day was a bit slow with no tuna being seen and so the guys ended up catching a heap of AJs. So we decided with Dan that we would head out in the morning and try to jig for AJs and then look for the tuna later in the day when the weather started to calm down a bit.


Tuna Duck in the Marina going passed

We arrived at the first spot and I went down with Chris close behind. Dan had put us on the spot and three jigs and I had a big hit, I put the pressure on as the fish was close to the bottom, I realized quickly I had a big fish and had a battle on my hands! Then Chris went tight next to me and we realized we into two very similar fish, I managed to get some line back and then the fish would pull the line off again, it was a tug of war for a good few minutes and I was starting to wonder what we had hooked up, I thought it might have been a shark as from the stories the day before the AJs had been in the 6-12kg range and this was definitely not 6 or 12kgs!


Putting max pressure on the OBX500, plenty power!

Very happy with my first big Aj in the US. Caught on the OBX500 and Gold and Pink Drift Tune 280gr, awesome color for Hatteras.

We carried on drifting and having heaps of bites and started catching a good number of AJs till the sharks showed up and started taking our fish at which time we decided to move to another spot. We carried on fishing for the next few hours and catching a lot of fish. Finally after our fill of AJs we decided to head out into the deep to look for bluefin with the weather and conditions much better.


Minami-san bending on the 56XH, great to watch a master in action, amazing jigging style.

Minami-san and Chris with a double up

Tosa-san with a easy sea bass on the pink and gold again!

Tosa-san bending.

Tosa-san with a small AJ

Sami in the action.

Sami with a good sized AJ

Minami-san with a taxed AJ.

Sami and Tosa-san with another double up.

Sami with a Blackfin Tuna, great to see one of these come out!

We ran far and wide looking for tuna and tried a few markings that Dan spotted but we had no luck and we headed for home via a few kore AJs spots. We ended the trip on a high with a lot of fish landed on the last day, not AJs but still great fun. Finally the trip had come to an end and we arrived back at the marina and the group said their farewells to the Tuna Duck, Capt Dan and Mike.

The final night we enjoyed another awesome dinner with the weather being near perfect. Chris also steam cooked a sea bass he caught and is undoubtly the best fish I have ever eaten!
The final day arrived and we headed back for Saltywater Tackle to drop off the first group and pick up the next group before we headed straight back to Hatteras for round 2 which will follow shortly!


Sami with one of the AJs we cooked on the BBQ, awesome with a bit of soy, olive oil and salt and pepper!

BBQ in front of our house for the week.

Back at Saltywater Tackle, receiving a prototype lure from Tosa-san! Very sweet!!

It was a great trip and not a lot of fish but really good fun and memories. Fishing is not always about the physical catching of fish but the experience and adventure and it was great to spend time with Minami-san, Tosa-san, Chris and Sami. We went through a lot of tackle talk, tackle design and hopefully a few of these ideas will come to reality in the next few months! We have all agreed that we will come back next year February