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After last Monday, the weather sure got nice for a few days, didn't it? Waking up to sunshine and seeing stars at night was a real treat. The good weather even held for most of the weekend. What sounds good though is that after a few messy days at the first of this week, the weather will settle down again. As I write this, the forecast for the weekend is not posted yet, but it is for less than 10 knots of wind through Friday. Maybe we will get lucky again? Mother Nature sure owes us after all the wind and rain so far this summer. If the rain would stop the dirty water along the beaches and in the lower sections of the coastal rivers might clear up. Right now, the water isn't muddy; it's reddish brown from all the rainwater that has been coming down from inland. There might just be something to the upwellings theory that several marine scientists said were causing the cooler ocean water temperatures. In just a week of normal winds, the water temperature at the Cape Fear River Sea Buoy has risen over five degrees and is almost back to normal. The reports from the inside waters are mostly red drum and flounder. There have been some large flounder reported in the Turning Basin at Morehead City and at Yaupon Reef (AR 425) off Southport. The tarpon and large drum bite has slowed in many parts of Pamlico Sound. All the rainwater coming down the rivers is probably the culprit here also. A couple of the ocean piers reported some king strikes in the last week, but none were landed. There were some nice Spanish mackerel caught and some keeper flounder managed to find a few baits. Over the weekend, I spoke with an old friend, Kelly Small, and he said he had been having some excellent speckled trout catches off Yaupon Pier on Oak Island. Mullet minnows fished live on a Carolina rig, were his recommendation. In a bit of strangeness, there has been a run of cobia in the surf at Cape Point, Cape Hatteras. There are many caught there during the spring, but none in mid-August. Last week that all changed as there was one or two caught every day and a high of 10 on Friday. The cobia were mostly keepers, with several approaching 50 pounds, and a few shorts. Remember, the minimum size for cobia is 33 inches, fork length. The African pompano bite, off Southport, shut down this past week and weekend. However, the kings moved in and created their own excitement. For most of last week, the weather wasn't a factor and there were some excellent catches of kings. The action does appear to be better off the southern coast, but there have been some pretty consistent catches of kings about 10 to 20 miles off the beach almost everywhere. These are mostly smaller kings, but there are some 15 to 20 pounders and an occasional smoker mixed in. Dolphin continue to be the mainstay of the offshore catches, but some wahoo and a few tuna have also been caught. There were quite a few sailfish release flags flying in the Cape Lookout area over the weekend Congratulations to Capt. Albert Springs and the crew of the Anticipation for catching a 671.5 pound blue marlin to claim the win at the Pirate's Cove Billfish Tournament. This weekend the Topsail Offshore Fishing Club (TOFC) King Mackerel Tournament (910-270-2441or www.tofc.com.) will be held at Topsail Beach. Capt. Jerry Dilsaver
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