Grouper Fishing Tips

GROUPER

Grouper is a kind of sea bass that you can fish for in tropical or sub tropical water areas. Here, in New Bern, we like to go out to the Neuse area to fish for grouper. Grouper is a great eat and a fun catch!!

Here are a few tips when it comes to Grouper

1. Always make sure to put a good amount of weight on your line, especially when you are fishing in deeper water like the Neuse. This is so important because you want to keep the lines as tight as possible so there are no chances for tangles and you can get them in the strike zone.

2. Use live bait and make sure to hook it dead in the center of the bait. This is so you get no spin.

3. Try to find a nice reef to fish off of. 

4. It is important to always have your belt on. Be ready for this massive fish!

5. I always say to make sure you have a Seaqualizer on the boat. Release all the Grouper you are not going to use. I preferably like grouper much better fresh. Grouper is a fish I don't usually like to freeze. 

Remember these tips and enjoy your fishing trip for Grouper in the Neuse!!!

DIY Coastal Decorating

Driftwood Decor

Drift wood can really bring a coastal touch to any room in your home. I love using drift wood as books ends on my shelves. An easy drift wood favorite is a chandelier. 

What you will need:

large mass of drift wood, 2 foot of clear Christmas lights or rope lights and thick medal pot hangers (found at  any local appliance store)

Steps: Simply wrap the clear lights all around the drift woods, going in and out of all the loops and letting it hang some. Then attach the metal hangers. You can hang it anywhere. I have one hanging in my gazebo in New Bern. It makes the perfect outdoor lighting if you have an outlet outside. It's EASY and BEACHY ELEGANT! 

Another great way to use driftwood is to attach hooks to a long piece. Then by attaching it to the wall you have a great coastal piece to hang your articles on!

Starfish Mirror

At any local pottery store or michaels you can find already bleached or colored starfish. I love to decorate using starfish all the time! I found a regular mirror for $5 at a thrift shop. Then I simply hot glued starfish all around the edges. It looks great in a beach bathroom or on any wall in your house!

More Coastal Decorating to come! :)

Core Banks Camping

My favorite place on the coast to go camping is the Core Banks. My family and I spend weeks and weekend trips out there as soon as the weather gets warm. It is located along the barrier islands of North Carolina. 

One or two of us usually make a trip over with the boat. That way we can have the boat there all week to be able to fish off of it and go adventuring in the waters around. The rest of us load up with supplies and catch the ferry over. This way we can bring more supplies that the boat wouldn't hold. 

You can camp at the Core Banks with a tent or rent a cabin. We usually rent a cabin out there because they are more spacious and allow us to have a sink. The cabins do not have A/C so I recommend bringing a few fans to keep it cool throughout the night. 

The Core Banks is such a nice place to take a family outing or go camping because it is somewhat isolated and secluded. It makes such a nice trip in nature when it is so seldom inhibited and untouched. The water here is absolutely beautiful. Enjoy fishing, star gazing and water side fun!!!

Coastal Flounder Gigging

You can't visit the coast without making a trip to go flounder gigging! 

The best place to go flounder gigging is right after the Neuse River turns into the Trent river. We like to go to a little place called Duck Creek. You have to go in shallow water because you need to be able to stand and move freely in the water. 

The best time is to go at night. Since it is dark we take a couple spot lights with us. We put on waiters and venture out into the shallow night waters. Carrying a boat tube with us gives us space to put extra gear and flounder after we catch them.

It is important to have a sharp rod or shaft to be able to puncture the flounder with no problem. You can buys these at lots of fishing supply stores but since we have been doing this for so long we have our own little secrets. We take old golf clubs that are no longer being used and take the club heads off them. Then we cut the shaft at an angle to a sharp point. It does the trick every time!!!

Best Snorkeling Spots

There are so many great places to go snorkeling in the crystal clear waters of Eastern North Carolina. Be sure to pack your flippers with the rest of year gear, load up and check out some of these amazing places today. 

The first place I love to go snorkeling at Cape Lookout. You can get here by boat and if you don't have one you can take the ferry out. It is about a 45 minute ferry ride. You can catch the ferry on main street in Beaufort, NC. When you get to the island you will want to go to the east side of the island known as the hook. The hook is the best place to go because there are always less people here and more coral reefs. 

My other top pick of places to go snorkel at is off the shoals. Past the cape is Shark Island. If you continue to the shoals there is amazing snorkeling here. The best way to do it is the anchor out about a mile for the shoal shores. Here, there is lots to snorkel around. There were old abandoned ship wrecks years ago that are now buried in the deep blue with exotic aquatic inhabitants. 

Coastal Grilled Shrimp Skewers

Thinking coastal eating, the first thing that always comes to mind is shrimp! In our family we eat shrimp all the time. I wanted to share with you my favorite way to prepare shrimp.

To start, you want to make sure you have a good quality shrimp. I use the green-tailed shrimp. If you get to the seafood vendors early in the season you can buy them in bulk. This way you can freeze them and get the good ones before their all gone. Green-tails are known as the best around our area. Since I put them on skewers, I like to get a nice size shrimp. I usually get 16/20s.

Green Tailed shrimp

 

 

 

After I peel and d-vein the shrimp, I put about 6-8 of them on a skewer. You can make as many skewers as you want. I then melt a little butter and spread it on both sides of each shrimp skewer. I then use my favorite seasoning, Tony Chachere's Original, by generously shaking it across all the shrimp.

This is what the seasoning looks like and can be found out any local grocery.

 

Lastly, I lay the skewers on the grill and let them cook for about 4 minutes on each side. Then you got yourself the best shrimp skewers to serve! Enjoy!

 

 

Shackelford Island

Shackleford Island is a good island to go for the day or go and camp at. Their are lots of wild horses that roam the island. You can actually get right near them and get really close pictures of them. It is said that the horses first got to the island hundreds of years ago. There was a big ship wreck off the shore that was filled with horses. The horses were the only thing that survived the ship wreck by making it to shore. Over the years the horses have reproduced and continued to live on the island as wild horses.

It is also a lot of fun to do some fishing here! I like to use a cast net to catch little bait fish then use those on the end of my rod to catch some bigger ones! Then dinner is served! There is a local ferry that will drop you off there if you have lots of supplies and plan on camping. My favorite is to canoe over to the island from Finz dock!

Shark Island

The best place to go off the coast of North Carolina is SHARK ISLAND! It is a small island that is located a few miles of the shoals, past Cape Lookout. It is not far from the cape but has a lot less amount of people. More tourists, or as us locals call "shoobies" or "howlies", go to the cape now. You should probably have a bigger boat that is not flat bottom to go to Shark Island since the waves can be a little rough getting out there sometimes. I would suggest going if swells are between 2-3 ft.

It is called Shark Island for a reason but don't let it deter you from coming here. There are sharks that swim in the surrounding water of the island but they generally are out past the second sand bar. They are harmless and most people don't swim out that far. 

Since Shark Island is unknown by most and not populated by many, the wild life here is remarkable. On any given day you can count on swimming in the same area as dolphin. There are also starfish and sand dollars that cover the sand here. The fish and other wild life is like you would never see anywhere else. Snorkeling is great here, too, because the water is so clear. 

On the far side there are perfect waves for surfing, while on the left there is a great area to do some cast fishing. Snorkeling is great anywhere on the island! We spend the whole day soaking up the sun and water activities out here exploring the ocean. For lunch we usually bring stuff to grill. We bring a grill rack and lay it on big conch shells we find from all over the island. This makes for a perfect lunch!

Next time you are in the area, get yourself a waterways map and head out to Shark Island for the most amazing time you will ever have!

Our boat and some friends' boats beached at Shark Island.

Our grill made in the sand

Football on the Island

Dad and I doing a little cast fishing from the boat

Mahi Fishing

Mahi-mahi also known as Dolphin fish or Dorado is one of the most fun fish to catch and one of the best to eat. Mahi have beautiful coloring of blues, greens, and yellows that appear almost iridescent as they jump out of the water. Once out of the water for too long, they will slowly lose all their color and fade to a grey tone.

Reeling a mahi into our boat. 

We catch mahi in the open blue waters of the big rock; off of the waters near Beaufort, NC. It is a long boat ride out but well worth it!

Mahi taste AMAZING! The taste of mahi can be compared to tilapia or flounder. 

The best way to typically catch mahi is to go offshore and troll. When trolling for mahi you want to use ballyhoo on the ends of your lines. A good tip is to troll around reef lines in about 100 to 130 ft. Once you come across a large school of mahi you can also do a little casting. Once you hook a mahi you will discover your favorite fish to catch. Watch as the jump in and out of the water revealing all their beautiful colors.

Dad showing off  his two big catches of the day