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

Well, it's been nice this week. All of the high water has brought a few Speckled Trout inside. The high water has also offered up some good redfishing action. Here's a recap of Friday and Sat. trips.

Friday AM. - Donald S. crew onboard. We got on a decent trout bite early and landed about 12 Troutfishing from 14 to 18in. Then, we ran back to Swansboro and got on a quick Sheepshead Bite and kept 4 about a pound each.

Friday PM- This afternoon a had a group of 4 onboard for some backwater action. Conditions quickly got tough and we had to deal with 25mph winds but fortunately the tide was extremely high and offered up some good locations to catch a redfish. We wound up pounding out some shorelines using live bait and landed 4 nice slot reds, and 8 under slot reds along with a big black drum. And enjoyable day on the water!

Sat. AM- This morning I took out the Umstead crew. We pulled up on my hole early and worked it over for a while. We were able to hook up with about 15 Trout and Kept 9 pretty trout and a few other fish to mix it up including 3 black drum, a couple nice chopper blues, and 4 Black Tip Sharks.. Great Job Guys!

Mon. AM- I had good friend Nicole onboard for a morning of fun. She's been working too much and needed a serious break. We busted through the inlet in search of some big fish. Just as soon as we got our lines out Wham! we layed into the Mahi. We picked up 4 Mahi and a few Kings... Then, we made a few quick stops back inside and had fun on some Redfish. Fun Day... Glad you could make it down N. Quit working so hard!




Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174

Well, it was Dad's last day in town and we decided to take it easy and work a few holes inside. We spent some time getting some live shrimp and then moved from spot to spot easing the powerpole down and working a few shrimp then moving on... by lunch time we had a good mess of fish we had to clean up for him to take back to GA. We wound up landing 28 Speckled Trout and kept 14 from 14in. to 19in. We were also able to pick up a black drum, a 2.55lb flounder, and a 23in and 25in Redfish. What a great morning on the water with Dad!
Capt. Jeff Cronk

WOW! Well, Capt. Mike Taylor, Myself, Dion Lynn and our Camera Man headed offshore on this pretty weather day in our 24 Ranger Bay Boat and shot a bottom fishing show from morning till just after lunch. What a Bite! We wound up with 15 Grouper and kept our limit of 8 to 15lbers, 61 Trigger fish (left them biting every drop), a nice Mahi, a few Spanish, and a mess of Amberjack! We were absolutely wore out by noon! Great day on the water and should be a great show... look for it this Sunday or the next on Carolina Fishing TV! Guess it's time for a cookout!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FIS'N4LIFE
252-764-2174 336-558-5697

Capt. Mike Taylor
Taylor-Made
252-725-2623

Tuesday, 6/23 - Finally, I got a chance to relax with family and do some fishing! Ha Ha, anyway, My Father (Tom) and brother (Brian) were in town for the week and it didn't take much asking on their part to get me on my new boat and cover it with blood. Dad, myself, Brian and his friend Justin left Dudley's around 6am loaded down with menhaden hoping to get on a good nearshore bite. We targeted some ledges and AR's between 4 and 10 miles offshore and had some good luck! We wound up hooking up and releasing quite a few Amberjack, boated a few Kings (and lost a good sized one to a Cuda) picked up a couple Spanish mackerel, and culled through 28 flounder to keep 9 from 1.5 to 4.85lbs. Congrats to Justin and Brian on their Big AJ's and all those flounder. Congrats to Dad on his 4.85lb Flounder (sorry it was a couple oz. shy of a NC Citation).

This morning I had the Vinson group onboard for a 6hr trip and we opted to take advantage of the calming seas.... Well, it wasn't so calm at daybreak but I got much prettier as the morning went on. We started out with 3 to 4ft slop and chop and a 12 to 15mph wind but by 10am it dropped out to under 10mph winds and a 2 to 3ft sea. We worked some live bottom near the beach and got on a decent bite considering there were 40 or more boats around that were complaining about not a single bite all day. We were fortunate enough to land a couple King Mackerel, a Spanish, a few 25 to 30lb AJ's and nice Gaffer Dolphin. We had a handful of short strikes and fish that pulled the hooks too. Koodos to Angela today... this chic battled a 30lb AJ for 15min. with a locked drag... didn't complain... and when the battle was over and she landed the fish... she said she was ready to go again! Most folks complain about worn out arms after a battle with these brutes! Way to go Guys! Thanks for your support! It was great having you onboard!
-Capt. Jeff Cronk

Well, with Chris, Tony, and Travis aboard I pulled away from the dock this morning around 6am. We were hoping to fish the ocean but, with seas at 4 to 5ft and one of the crew having just gotten knee surgery, we opted to stay in the internal waters. We started out working for Redfish on the higher tide. Over the course of several hours we found a few locations holding reds and landed 10 reds along with 3 flounder using jighead tipped with Berkley Gulp and Powerbait. We also landed a few on Spinner Baits. Later we moved on and tried some boat docks for flounder. We released 9 flounder that fell just short of the 15in mark. The tide made its change and we decided to try the sheepshead bite. We spent about an hour and had dozens of strikes putting 6 in the cooler with the largest at 2.5lbs. Great Day Guys! See ya again soon.
-Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174
336-558-5697

This morning I had the Charles Walker Crew onboard. We attempted to fish the ocean but the seas were tough. It started out at 2 to 4ft. and we eased out to an area that's been producing a good surface bite. Well, not long into fishing and the storms began rolling in from the approaching front. We hooked up a king mackerel and a 4lb Spanish along with few sharks, then the seas picked up and our crew wasn't feeling the best so, we headed inside to finish up the morning. Slow morning with the East Winds.

This afternoon was a little nicer than the weather man predicted. I headed back out with Rick Meyers, his son, and brother. We went and loaded down the livewell with shrimp, tied on the popping corks, and worked some nearby bays for Reds. We started out picking up a few black drum about 2lbs. Then, after working several pieces of Shoreline we got on a school of reds ranging from 17in to 24in. We picked up about 20 redfish before heading back to the dock. Great Job Guys!
-Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174
336-558-5697
ps. I apologize for the lack of photos this week. My new "waterproof camera" wasn't so waterproof. After two weeks, it quit and Best Buy said it'll be 2 to 3weeks before they can get it back to me. Fooey! Anyway, several of my clients are taking photos and I'll post the pics with these reports as they arrive via email.

6/13/09
This morning I had Mike J. and his father in law, Bruce aboard. These guys made a long haul from Richmond to get some qaulity fishing time in. We started out in the morning chasing down some reds. We located a decent sized school of fish that weren't wanting to cooperated. We followed them for a while, landed a couple, then moved on. We hit several other locations to boat a few more reds and a couple flounder then, we finished up the morning locking up the convicts (sheesphead) in the cooler! Great fishing with you guys as usual!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174
336-558-5697

6/14 Chris White, his wife Erin, and her Father were onboard this morning wanting to hunt Redfish. We spent several hours in the early am. following a school of redfish that were being very picky. We caught one out of the school and decided to switch things up a little. We went and put about a dozen sheepshead in the cooler then, went back to looking for reds. We found a good school of fish and caught a few up to 28in along with a nice flounder before the storms chased us to the dock at 2pm. Great Job today guys! Lot's of luck on the water!
-Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174
336-558-5697

Dr. Brian Anderson and his sons onboard for a late afternoon trip on the 12th. We had a ball catching Sheepshead and Redfish! Congrats on your first Red! Send me a picture when you get it mounted!
Capt Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE Charters
252-764-2174
336-558-5697

Bob Branch and his father showing off a pair of Redfish they landed during an afternoon, backwater trip. Thanks for fishing with us! See ya again soon.
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE
252-764-2174

Ryan Pruit's crew stepped aboard Sat. late afternoon to do some inshore fishing. We wound up landing 8 redfish, and a couple flounder. Congrats on that first ever redfish in the backwaters Ryan! I'm glad you guys had a good time. Very enjoyable afternoon!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174

Hey Folks, I want to take a minute to thank all of our clients for fishing with us again this 2009 season. You've certainly kept us busy! If you're looking at possible dates for a 2009 trip, be sure to call asap as June and July dates are going fast. Tourism is picking up here along the Crystal Coast and we want to make sure that our returning/ regular clients get their first choice of dates!

Here's what's been going on! The nearshore waters are holding plenty of Spanish Mackerel 1 to 5lbs, Kings 5 to 15lbs, Cobia 20 to 60+lbs, AJ's, Mahi and the flounder have shown up on our nearshore ledges. Mike went out this week and put 14 ocean flounder in the box during a 5hr trip. The Mahi have been thicker than ever!

The backwaters are holding plenty of Redfish, Sheepshead, and good numbers of Summer Flounder... and, the minimum size limit on flounder has dropped to 15in. this season from the 15.5in min. that was in effect last season. There are also some Black Drum and Blues mixed in.

Thanks for all your support,
I hope you've been enjoying the show on www.carolinafishingtv.com and fox 8,14,26
We've got new episodes ready to hit the screen.
We look forward to having everyone back onboard again this year.
Capt. Jeff Cronk
252-764-2174
336-558-5697