3.0 OBX 2012

It’s that time of the year again! Summer solstice is upon us and the OBX fishing gods are calling for the RF team to head south. This year a different spin, venue, time set, new faces, but same objective… RIP FISH! The past few days I have been filling my garage with food, beer, beach toys & fishing equipment. Last night I spent 4 hours organizing all my saltwater fishing gear and getting it all ready for this weekend. I upgraded my gear this past winter trying to spread out the expenses and habit of being over prepared for the trip. I upgraded rods, reels, tackle and tackle bags for year. All great things to help the trip go more smoothly. More hardware was added over the winter in the electronic department: I upgraded my camera and photo department. Kodak Playsport Zx5, Canon Rebel t2i with Wide Area & fish eye lens. I hope to be able to capture better photos & videos of the days events on the water.

Venue

Past years we have stayed in Buxton & Nags Head. This year we will be heading in between the both to Roanoke, NC. A small town just north of Hatteras. We are staying at Saphire Dreams house that sleeps 16 just off highway 12.

Time Set

Previous trips have been late May extending into the beginning week of June. Fishing has been good to us in the past but we always have fought mother nature delivering the warm weather up the coast late. After last year I wanted to come up with a plan to come down later to insure we could have a better chance at fishing warmer water in hopes to up the chances of catching bigger and more fish. I have been keeping a close eye on the fishing reports and water temperatures and its looking good for us. Pier reports at Jenettes pier is: FLOUNDER, SPOT, SEA MULLET, CROAKER, SKATE & Water Temperatures at 71 degrees. Avalon Pier: 70 Degrees, Nags Head 68 Degrees, Rodanthe 72 Degrees, Frisco 72 degrees. This is excatly what I want to see. Water temps last year were well into the 60’s from Hatteras and down. The days we got 70’s is the days we got into fish. Fingers crossed!

Rich Ireland's Blue Fish

 New Faces

Faces in the game will be family oriented but still fishermen on the trip. (Previous faces Mickey, Mic, Doug are planning a trip this fall) I will be back of course, Rick (my dad), John Helton (uncle), Austin (brother), Trent (nephew) and rest of the crew will join the squad. Fishermen making this trip has decreased incredibly but I plan on making up ground with my nephew Trent in the surf. While the girls will be holding down the fort most of the time, I do expect Danielle to make a few showings on the surf trips to tackle some fish. John plans to bring down his boat from Maryland which will add a different spin. It’s no telling what we will get into fishing wise, the weather will need to corporate for us in the ocean but I do expect big things sound side either way.

Trip Objectives / RIP FISH

Rip Fish, that’s always the plan. Search and destroy will be the model of the trip starting Sunday morning at 5am. Cup of coffee, beers packed, fishing rods rigged, ORV permit purchased and bait shop plan in tact will be the theme for start off. Lets see if I can hold true to lines in the water at 6am (video kick off coming). As of now I plan to start my trip off by surf fishing in Hatteras then I will get a better plan to boat fish with John as the week goes on. Sea Mullet, Blues, Spanish Mackrel, Pompano and citation Flounder are hitting hot so hopefully……………..  I will be RIPPING FISH!

Fish on!

Videos:

Check out our Saltwater fishing videos from the past.  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8E330D464A71155A