NCCHARTERFISHING-Capt.'s Jeff Cronk and MIke Taylor-Crystal Coast, Swansboro, Emerald Isle

9/29 Morning. WOW! is all I have to say about this mornings trip. I had regular client Tim F. of Swansboro onboard with a couple of his friends. The weather was blowing a gale out of the NNE which usually presents an aswome opportunity for some hot action on big fish along the beach while protected from the big seas by the beach. We loaded down the 60 gal. livewell in about 15min. with 4dozen 10-12in pogies and our limit of 3-5in fingermullet and shot out the inlet. We dropped our lines out shortly after sunrise on a good live bottom along the beach in 45ft of water. Then, we began bailing small fingermullet over the side as live chum. We dropped two lines back with 4in fingermullet on no. 6 gold trebles and two lines back with big pogies on no. 4 gold trebles with one down 25ft. All the mullet we threw over got the big spanish turned on and ripping the surface around the boat almost instantly. We began putting 2 to 4lb spanish in the boat. Shortly after, we saw a large dark area off the starboard side. I tossed a live bait to it and the fish ripped the surface and started tailwalking.... it was a Big Sailfish... He pulled off, hit the water, and circled around like a freight train and hit it again... this time he was hooked up and heading offshore. Tim fought him for 35min. and 3/4mile on spinning tackle before we brought him broadside. We had him in the boat for about 30 seconds for a photo and then revived him for about 10 min. until the fish shot out of my hands unharmed. This was Tim's first sail ever and it measured 75in. If that wasn't enough, we got back over our mark and continued non-stop hook-ups with big spanish with about half of them pulling the hooks on the run until about 10:00am when the kings turned on. We popped a 24lb King, followed by a 20lb, then a 15lb, and a 10lb.... We lifted the last king into the boat at 12:20 and headed for the dock. What a Great morning and back to the dock by lunch time! Really enjoyed having you guys onboard today. Capt. Jeff Cronk- FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS- 336-558-5697 or email jcronk@ec.rr.com