I began to write this column with the sole purpose of describing a recent successful fishing trip to North Carolina while fishing with my friend and former Marylander Bill Kulp. As I gathered my thoughts and began to type the words, I realized how fortunate I was to have many friends like Bill who I have shared many outdoor adventures with over the years. As far as fishing friends are concerned, Bill ranks as one of the best. I don’t take friends like Bill for granted, and although I try to give more than I take, I don’t think I will ever get ahead of Bill.
I first met Bill at a meeting of the Potomac Valley Fly Fishers in Frederick several years ago. Since that time, he has proven to be a reliable companion on many fishing outings, from the Chesapeake Bay to the Salmon River in New York. I should mention that Bill also has a great boat for fly fishing, a Proline Bay 22. Believe me, the only thing better than owning a great boat is having a good friend who owns a great boat.
The boat isn’t the real reason Bill and I are good friends — it is our mutual devotion to catching fish with a fly rod. It is more about the enjoyment of learning from each other as well as our desire to help each other succeed. Bill won’t hesitate to share a fly or teach me something new that he has learned such as a fishing knot or a new place to fish. He has introduced me to the excitement of saltwater fly fishing and in return I have initiated Bill on the Lake Ontario tributaries for salmon, steelhead and lake-run brown trout.
When Bill and his wife, Carla, were planning to move from Maryland for retirement, they both had clear-cut priorities. Carla wanted to be close to a beach, Bill wanted to retire near a great fishing location. After visiting and researching communities from Florida to Maine, they selected the riverfront city of New Bern, near the North Carolina coast. They moved there two summers ago, just before Hurricane Florence hit the East Coast. Fortunately, their new home was spared from any damage.
I visited the Kulps recently to spend a few days fishing with Bill. They have a lovely home with a suite over their garage that they use as a vacation rental property.
The drive to New Bern from my home in Maryland is just under 400 miles and takes about six and a half hours. I arrived at the Kulps just before noon. We had lunch and wasted no time hooking up the boat trailer. After a short drive, we launched out of Vandemere Waterfront Park to fish for puppy drum in the coastal wetlands of the Bay River.
We motored into the tidal marsh looking for any surface activity that would indicate feeding fish. I began casting a small streamer fly with my 7-weight fly rod with a floating line. Our first stop did not produce any hookups, and we moved on into the narrower channels of the salt marsh.
Bill knew a channel that has produced some nice drum in the past. He kindly put me in the bow so I could get the first opportunity in his hot spot. A few casts later, I hooked and landed a nice drum. We switched positions and Bill caught another drum even bigger than mine. I finished the evening with four fish, all drum of different sizes. It was great fun.
An albie on the fly
The weather forecast for the next day predicted calm seas. Bill was anxious for an opportunity to fish the ocean side of the sound along the Shackleford Banks on the southside of Cape Lookout. We launched from a public boat ramp in Morehead City.
The morning sky was just beginning to brighten when we made our first cast into the rolling surf on the lee side of a small reef off Shackleford. I was casting my new 10-weight fly rod with a 350-grain sinking line. At the end of my 20-pound leader I tied on a chartreuse Clouser minnow. The first fish I landed was a flounder, then I caught a small drum, then a bluefish and a pompano.
After fishing the reef, we worked our way toward Cape Lookout casting into the surf toward the beach. We drifted into a school of breaking bluefish and Spanish mackerel. We caught several fish before a charter boat moved in and joined our action, so we moved on.
Then we saw the breaking false albacore.
I had never witnessed the furor of albies bursting to the surface as they crashed their way through a school of baitfish. It was remarkable. Bill had never caught a false albacore and he was determined to try. But these speed demons never stayed in one location long enough for us to make a cast into the frenzy.
In the meantime, we were landing some very nice Spanish mackerel that liked our flies so much we lost several flies on the strike. I switched to a 30-pound tippet and landed a very impressive Spanish mackerel, my largest fish of the outing.
It was late morning when Bill hooked his first false albacore. Bill knew what he had as soon as the fish hit. The torpedo-shaped fish quickly took Bill’s line into his backing. The battle continued for several minutes with multiple long and fast runs before the fish relinquished and I was able to net the fish. Bill was elated, and I was thrilled for his accomplishment, an albie on a fly is just awesome!
My turn came soon after. The albie slammed my streamer and took off. I quickly put the fish on the reel, and the battle was on. Unfortunately, it was short lived as the streamer pulled loose. The hook was slightly straightened by the power of that fish. It was still a thrill to hook a false albacore.
The surface action slowed as the day went on and we had more success hitting other reef areas. By early afternoon, we counted at least 11 different species that we landed with our fly rods that day. The listed included: false albacore, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, red drum, flounder, sea bass, grouper, pompano, spot, croaker and even a ray!
The timing of my trip was geared toward the prospect of catching trophy redfish. North Carolina has become famous for “bull reds” that average from 30 to 50 pounds. Unfortunately, our scheduled outing with a guide for the reds was canceled to a dangerous thunderstorm that ended my visit a day earlier than expected. You can bet I will be back to next year, fly rod in-hand.
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