Dave
10-06-2009, 10:20 AM
When Gunnar called and he said he planned to take me up Queens Creek on Saturday... well, to say I was exited would have been an understatement. Two years I've read fishing reports about this creek, and several times while traveling past its wide entrance from the ICW, looking cautiously, I've fearing to enter with the likely prospect of getting grounded, deep inside it's notoriously shallow waters. Gregg warned me that it might be early for the fall trout, but I didn't care if we even seen a fish... I was going to finally have a chance to see and learn how to get in and out of this famous Swansboro area creek *003*
Well, Gregg was right... it was a bit too early, but the trip through the elusive channels was no secret to him, and the upper creek was something to behold... so peaceful, so beautiful, a little slice of heaven, right there, and so close to the roar of the ocean beaches and hustle of heavy boat traffic. We were so far up the creek I could hear the traffic of Hwy 24 passing close by, just through the trees ahead.
A while into our "creek" trip, I hung something on a topwater plug that thrashed about on the surface before throwing the hooks. Shortly thereafter, Gregg spotted some surface movement in a small cut along the bank and tossed his plug to the feeding fish. A swipe and miss, and a second swipe, and the fish was on... a fat large mouth bass took the bait and our first fish of the day came in the boat.
Deciding to try the creek on a later date, Gregg took us to plan B, but not before schooling me on the channels and routes out of the creek... I'll be back! For the next part of the trip, we needed some live bait so we ran to a spot on the ICW where Gregg netted up a livewell full of finger mullet and we headed for a stretch of water hopping to drift up a flounder or two.
Gregg pulled up to a corner near the bank where we were to begin our drift and we tossed over a couple live baits at the end of 3/4 oz carolina rigs. About that time, Joe (Joe25840) and his wife pulled up to say "hey" and to introduce themselves. We briefly exchanged fishing plans and Joe went on to fish near Brown's Inlet, both agreeing to radio the other if either found a good bite.
The first drift was promising, with several (suspected) flounder hits, one or two lost flounder, and a pair of small grouper and bsb to our credit. We made a few more drifts that resulted in another grouper, and one undersized flounder that Gregg quickly set free. The tide was ripping and a few more boats came in and soon left and we moved on to plan C.
Gregg said plan C was one of his favorite weakfish holes... I was doubtful, thinking it was too early for weakfish. Lesson learned... have faith in the man with the plan ;D I no more than got my bait to the bottom when Gregg announced we were just about on "the spot" when a fish hit hard and ran off drag unlike most gray trout I've caught in recent years. Maybe it's a bluefish I thought?... grab the net Gregg, it's a trout *yay* I don't remember is it was on that same drift or if we ran back for a second drift but my next drop resulted in a smashing hit, an even bigger weakfish, that ran off yet more drag before rising to the net. A 22.5" weakfish is about as good as it gets hereabouts. I'm not sure if the fish shut down or it was just too hard to repeat the same drift (with the current as it was), but we didn't catch another trout that morning, but did have fun with some nice sized bluefish before the small blues moved in to harass us with their short strikes, instantly killing our baits about as fast as we made the offer.
Back to back beautiful mornings, fishing with friends, talking of past times and future plans... and leaning... always learning... I can't think of a better way to spend the day.
Dave
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc188/djerhart/LargeMouthBass-QueensCreek_20091003.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc188/djerhart/Weekfish_20091003_001.jpg
Well, Gregg was right... it was a bit too early, but the trip through the elusive channels was no secret to him, and the upper creek was something to behold... so peaceful, so beautiful, a little slice of heaven, right there, and so close to the roar of the ocean beaches and hustle of heavy boat traffic. We were so far up the creek I could hear the traffic of Hwy 24 passing close by, just through the trees ahead.
A while into our "creek" trip, I hung something on a topwater plug that thrashed about on the surface before throwing the hooks. Shortly thereafter, Gregg spotted some surface movement in a small cut along the bank and tossed his plug to the feeding fish. A swipe and miss, and a second swipe, and the fish was on... a fat large mouth bass took the bait and our first fish of the day came in the boat.
Deciding to try the creek on a later date, Gregg took us to plan B, but not before schooling me on the channels and routes out of the creek... I'll be back! For the next part of the trip, we needed some live bait so we ran to a spot on the ICW where Gregg netted up a livewell full of finger mullet and we headed for a stretch of water hopping to drift up a flounder or two.
Gregg pulled up to a corner near the bank where we were to begin our drift and we tossed over a couple live baits at the end of 3/4 oz carolina rigs. About that time, Joe (Joe25840) and his wife pulled up to say "hey" and to introduce themselves. We briefly exchanged fishing plans and Joe went on to fish near Brown's Inlet, both agreeing to radio the other if either found a good bite.
The first drift was promising, with several (suspected) flounder hits, one or two lost flounder, and a pair of small grouper and bsb to our credit. We made a few more drifts that resulted in another grouper, and one undersized flounder that Gregg quickly set free. The tide was ripping and a few more boats came in and soon left and we moved on to plan C.
Gregg said plan C was one of his favorite weakfish holes... I was doubtful, thinking it was too early for weakfish. Lesson learned... have faith in the man with the plan ;D I no more than got my bait to the bottom when Gregg announced we were just about on "the spot" when a fish hit hard and ran off drag unlike most gray trout I've caught in recent years. Maybe it's a bluefish I thought?... grab the net Gregg, it's a trout *yay* I don't remember is it was on that same drift or if we ran back for a second drift but my next drop resulted in a smashing hit, an even bigger weakfish, that ran off yet more drag before rising to the net. A 22.5" weakfish is about as good as it gets hereabouts. I'm not sure if the fish shut down or it was just too hard to repeat the same drift (with the current as it was), but we didn't catch another trout that morning, but did have fun with some nice sized bluefish before the small blues moved in to harass us with their short strikes, instantly killing our baits about as fast as we made the offer.
Back to back beautiful mornings, fishing with friends, talking of past times and future plans... and leaning... always learning... I can't think of a better way to spend the day.
Dave
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc188/djerhart/LargeMouthBass-QueensCreek_20091003.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc188/djerhart/Weekfish_20091003_001.jpg