Thursday, July 26, 2007
7/26/07 NO SHOW... THESE BOYS MISSED OUT!
Well... How's the saying go.... "There's always a few in the crowd." Folks, just incase you're wondering why we as fishing guides usually require a deposit... Well, today was a good example. After adjusting my schedule and doing an 11hr drive in one day to make sure I could accomodate some "new" clients... and talking with them yesterday evening... not to mention the preparation time... they were a no show at the dock this morning... no call to let me know... i called as I thought they were running late but, they wouldn't pick up or return my call... other than the fact that their actions are unprofessional as US NAVY personnel...and I could have been spending time with my Wife... Well, I made the best of the situation... I made a call and got a chance to fish with a friend onboard. The day turned out very good. These guys truly missed out... We fished from about 7:00am until 1:00pm and wore them out.... The action was steady throughout the morning but the highlight today was an hour long bite on 3 to 6lb Spanish Mackerel. We only had two lines in the water as we couldn't keep the Spanish off them. We had 5 double hook-ups back to back followed by about 10 more single hook-ups. The largest Spanish was 6.1lbs. Hey Drew..... congrats on your big redfish release out there.... ps.... We're catching the Spanish Mackerel on No. 6 Gold Treble hooks fished on 6 to 8in of 20 to 30lb Malin wire and pulling either a 4 to 5in mullet minnow or peanut pogie. Live chumming helps.... These fish are around the inlets and the live bottoms within 2miles of the beach (Bear Rock, Station Rock, Tom Smith Rock, Key Post Rocks). Lots of luck fishing this weekend!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE
910-326-7512 OR 336-558-5697
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
7/21/07 Flounder and Big Redfish!
7/21/07 This morning I left the dock around 6:30 with Daniel karner and his crew from Maryland aboard for some bottom bouncing in the ocean. The wind was up a little out of the North to start out so we decided to work live bottoms and ledges within 3miles of the beach. We found a few flounder on just about every stop we made using both bucktails tipped with Berkley Gulp baits and live mullet minnows on carolina rigs but there weren't many large fish today. We eventually found a spot holding some bigger fish with the largest close to 4lbs. These guys even managed to hook-up and land a couple of big redfish with the largest at 20lbs. Final count today was 27 Flounder with 14 keepers and those two big Reds which we took pics of and released unharmed. Great job everyone! See ya next season... Capt. Jeff Cronk- FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS- Dudley's Marina, Swansboro - NC 910-326-7512 or 336-558-5697 or email JCRONK@EC.RR.COM
Monday, July 23, 2007
7/23/07 Citation Flounder! Grouper!
This morning I had Mike, from Greensboro, onboard. The ocean started out a little choppy but soon subsided to under 5mph winds with less than 1ft seas. The flounder bite was a little slow and the two of us only caught 7 flounder so, we stopped on a hole that often holds grouper. We fished this hump for a short while and had several bust off but finally, we managed to pull up an 8lb and 10lb Grouper on spinning tackle.
Late in the afternoon I went back out scouting out some areas for the next couple trips. The first stop I made I had 5 redfish explode on topwater baits. These fish ranged from 26 to 34in. They were in very shallow water. The next stop I made was to check on the flounder situation along some ICW structure. I was talking with a couple on a kayak when, on the second cast, I had a large flounder thump the bait. I set the hook and got this 5.05lb flounder to the net. Several casts later i picked up one about 2lbs. I released the reds, kept the big flounder to stuff, and gave the smaller flounder to some friends looking for a few fish themselves. What a beautiful day on the water!
Capt. Jeff Cronk- FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS-910-326-7512 email Jcronk@ec.rr.com
Thursday, July 19, 2007
7/18/07 Big Flounder and Reds on Gulp Alive!
I had the pleasure of fishing with a good friend this afternoon. We tryed to fish the ocean but the seas got big quick... We put 5 flounder in the boat with the largest around 4lbs as well as a 26.5in redfish before the seas jumped up to about 5ft. We eased back into the internal waters and anchored on a hole holding nice flounder ranging from 2 to 4lbs. After hooking up about a half dozen we headed for a shoal to find a few sand dollars. Great fishing despite the windy conditions. Great job on the big fish Nikki. Capt. Jeff Cronk-FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS- 910-326-7512 or 336-558-5697 or email jcronk@ec.rr.com for availability.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
7/16/07 Afternoon Blow! 2 Inshore Slams!
Despite the 20 to 25mph blow this afternoon, my crew chose to try their luck... and luck is what they brought. (Nate, Jillian, Karen, Rogan, and Nazarel ) As soon as Karen dropped line along some ICW structure... she got a thump and set the hook into a 3.5lb flounder. From that point it was fish on all places we tryed. Using gulp shrimp and live mullet minnows our crew managed to land 3 nice flounder, 6 redfish, and 2 speckled trout. We had several other reds hooked up and tossed a mess of lizard fish and other junk back. Karen.... sorry we didn't get to take pics of all those other fish.... I know you wanted pics of everything to take back to Arizona... well, here's a few shots from the 4hr afternoon trip. Capt. Jeff Cronk- FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS- 910-326-7512 or 336-558-5697 or email jcronk@ec.rr.com
7/15/07 Plenty of Flounder !
This morning I had a regular client, Monte Winstead, onboard along with several of his good friends. We started out fishing along the beach and were catching flounder immediately. The first drop to the bottom produced a 4lb flounder. We picked up 5 more flounder over the next 40 minutes. The crew opted to head to the internal waters to work some more protected areas. As we moved inshore we found a few more flounder and wound up landing about 11 total. Capt. Jeff Cronk- FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS - 910-326-7512 or 336-558-5697 or email jcronk@ec.rr.com
7/10/07 8.4lb Flounder!
Congrats to Capt. Mike Taylor with his 8.4lb Flounder this morning landed in 2ft of water using a 4in. Berkley Gulp Alive Shrimp fished on a 1/16OZ jighead.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Mon. July 9th Big Kings and Flounder!
7/9/07 This morning I had Jim and Ethan Lann from Cummings, GA onboard. Last year 8yr old Ethan had a big Barracuda take his good sized Jack off the light line... Well Ethan was definatley over the loss of last years Jack after he fought and landedd a 23lb King mackerel which he proudly boasted that it topped his father's 18lber. After running out of the way of a massive thunder storm we fished several live bottoms and spent some time fishing boat docks in the backwaters and managed to scrape up 15 Flounder with 9 nice sized keeper up to 3lbs. Great Job guys! Capt. Jeff Cronk- FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS 910-326-7512 OR 336-558-5697 OR EMAIL AT JCRONK@EC.RR.COM
Sunday, July 08, 2007
July 3-7th Flounder/Kings/Reds/Sheepshead/ Fun in the Sun!
Tues. July 3rd- I had my father, Tom Cronk, onboard for some serious flounder fishing. We worked some nearshore live bottoms for several hours which produced 21 flounder with 11 keepers from 1.5 to 2.5lbs. Before heading back to the dock around noon, we switched the light tackle over to live bait rigs and put up a 10 and 12lb king mackerel to add to the Grill for our July 4th Celebration. Great job on the flounder Dad!
Thursday July 5th-With my father and Todd, my brother-in-law, on this morning we opted to stay inside for our morning on the water. Their were storms all over the radar and the winds were kicking off the beach. The tide was already dropping out, making it difficult to start out but... we began working docks along the ICW and quickly landed an Inshore Slam with a Speckled Trout, Redfish, and a Flounder.... and all keepers too. As the tide turned we eased over to some pylons and started landing some sheepshead. We wound up landing about a dozen sheepshead up to 3.5lbs and called it a morning around 1pm. Super windy today! Todd, congrats on your first flounder and sheepshead.
Saturday July 7th- Well after laying around the sandbars hanging out with Family and Friends off and on for the past few days.... I had to convince my neighbors, Ed and Shannon, to let me put the ski rope and tube aside for a couple minutes and pull into a flooded bay that was showing signs of redfish present. We tossed a few topwater baits for about 10 min.s and Wham! Shannon was fighting a 26 1/4in Redfish! Great job with your first Redfish Shannon....
I'd like to apologize to any folks trying to contact me over the past week. I had one of my computer systems crash (thanks to good friend Billy for getting me up and running again) and my Parents came into town followed by my Sister and her family. Also having to look at new cars and SUVs for my wife.... got that little one coming soon... anyway, again, I apologize if I've missed your call... I'm back at it again and will be returning calls, emails, and fishing everyday. Thank for all your Support,
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
910-326-7512
www.nccharterfishing.com
Monday, July 02, 2007
Mon. July 2nd Redfish and Sheepshead!
We had a four hour trip with regular client and good friend, Jack Cugle, onboard. We left the dock around 8:30am to work the latter half of the rising tide with topwater baits and spinner baits. It was an awsome morning as we stopped on the first hole and began with a flounder striking a spinner bait. A few casts later we had a 26.5in (6lb 13oz) redfish explode on a topwater bait. It was followed by several other between 19 and 26in. all on topwater baits. We moved on to land several more reds and then worked a few sheepshead using fiddler crabs. Great job Jack and John! Congrats John on your first redfish and flounder. Capt. Jeff Cronk- FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS- 910-326-7512 or 336-558-5697 or email at Jcronk@ec.rr.com
Sunday, July 01, 2007
July 1st Flat Attack!
With Rick H. onboard I left the dock around 6am and shot out Bogue Inlet. We spent several hours looking for a king Mackerel bite with no luck. We decided to switch over to some flounder fishing. We began jigging bucktails tipped with Berkley Gulp baits over some live bottoms and eventually found a mat of flounder. We headed back to the dock around noon after landing 15 flounder. We kept 11 fish from 2lbs to 4.5lbs. Congrats Rick on the big flounder today! Capt. Jeff Cronk- FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS- JCRONK@EC.RR.COM
