A heat wave had taken over much of the nation but I didn’t
really care because I had the cool waters of the Atlantic
to look forward to. I had seven days of
family, fun, and relaxation to enjoy. We
loaded up and drove the eight hours to my brother Donald’s house and things
went pretty much as planned. We had a
deep sea charter planned for Tuesday so on Sunday we all rose and drove to Nags
Head on the outer banks of North
Carolina
The sun was
high over head when we checked into the Tar Heel Motel which was to be our home
for the next two nights. To say this motel is unimpressive at first appearance
is an understatement, but after check in we were greeted by clean rooms and a
cold running air conditioner and that’s really all I need. We gingerly made our way across the hot sand
to the cool waters of the surf and for the next two hours we soaked up the sun
and the salt water.
Monday evening
we unfolded tables iced up our coolers and enjoyed some fresh shrimp and soft
shell crabs in the motel parking lot. It
was enjoyable to feel the fresh ocean breeze while sitting in a lounge chair
and watching my children play with their cousins. Eastern North Carolina,
Patrick had
not been feeling well and on Monday night he decided he wouldn’t be able to
make it out on the charter boat for our deep sea excursion. This was without a
doubt the biggest disappointment of the trip.
One of the highlights of the trip was to be all three of us brother’s
fishing together but as life doesn’t always go by the script we write in our
heads and it wasn’t meant to be. At
4:00 am on Tuesday morning Matthew and I woke to join Aretha, Donald, and Chase
for the drive to the marina. We arrived
at Oregon Inlet to meet the Captain and first Mate and by 5:00 am we were on
our way 40 miles out to the Gulf Stream and its
fertile fishing.
We trolled
for about an hour and finally the first fish was on. Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi) was our prey this morning
and as Chase reeled the beautifully colored fish leapt from the water in
protest. Two hours on the gentle rolls
of the Atlantics swells were enough to place my stomach squarely out of sorts
but when the fish are on a sick stomach is the last thing on your mind. We fished the day and landed 40 Dolphin. It’s amazing that most of those fish came
from two schools that we passed the boat through. When the schools were found fish were on
every line and we couldn’t get baited lines in the water fast enough. We dedicated the last two hours of fishing to
Tuna but came home empty handed. We
arrived back at the marina at 4:30 like clockwork to be greeted by crowds of
people watching each boat unload the days catch. Our numbers of Dolphin were impressive but
the masses wanted to see Tuna.
The rest of
the week was spent playing baseball with the kids, smoking chicken on the
grill, and relaxing in the pool. This mountain boy could sure get used to the
“Salt Life”.
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