Back to the beach!

In August my family and I took a trip to Carolina Beach for some fun, sand, and surf.  My wife introduced me to the beach several years ago, after we got married, and we have been taking family vacations there since Jack was old enough to travel.  It has been a lot of fun with trips to the boardwalk, Brett's Doughnuts, and days on the beach with nights on the Carolina Beach Pier.  This year was going to be a little different.  My wife suggested that I check into an in-shore charter to satisfy my fishing fun.

After checking the internet for some charter services local to Carolina Beach, I found Rod-Man Charters out of Wrightsville Beach.  Capt. Rick Bennett has a nice website and runs a yearly surf fishing school in Wilmington, NC.  I decided to give him a try since his prices seemed to be reasonable and his location close to our vacation spot.  I booked for a 3/4 day trip and hoped that I would catch some drum.

The weather for my trip was picture perfect, sunny skies and hot temperatures.  We left the marina early and headed out into the Inner Coastal Waterway from Wrightsville Beach.   I am not much on boat fishing, mainly because I don't own a boat.  It was a lot of fun even though it was not a very productive day.  Light spinning tackle live baiting Menhaden is a lot of fun when you get a big fish on.  The guide caught a 4 lb flounder early in the trip and I struck out during the early morning portion.  In the afternoon we switched to drum and I managed to hook a nice 6 lb slot drum.  A drum of that size on a 4000 size reel and seven foot rod was a battle, especially out from under a dock pilling.  I didn't have much luck after that but I had meat in the cooler!

Now if I can connect in the fall it will be a good year of saltwater fishing for me.  :)