Surfcasting
Fort Macon, NC
Drove
back to the hotel and slept like a baby. A strong southeast wind had kicked
up, a storm was brewing off the coast, a small craft warning was out and yours
truly was to staying on land. So I got out the surf rods and went to the inlet
by Fort Macon. I was a little bummed out, to say the least. The weather can
do that to you, but it was sunny on land and hot, thank God for that. As I got
over the sand dunes, and saw that the inlet was mobbed with bait fish making
a run for it in the surf, my heart jumped. I ran down to the beach and threw
out a cripple herring lure. Two cranks and bam, I was on a bluefish. Robin,
my better half, caught a few and my son Michael wacked a few as well. There
was a young, very pregnant woman, throwing a bait net and catching mullet. She
walked over and said, "try these." So I put on a slip sinker rig and layed my
rod in the sand spike with the drag wide open. I turned my back for a second
to look down the beach when suddenly I heard a whining sound, like a racing
car tearing down the road. My brain checked in and I turned around to see my
surfcaster bent over, the reel screaming like a banshee. I grabbed the rod and
set the hook, crossing the eyes of whatever was on the other end of the line.
I couldn't stop this beast, line was peeling off and I was getting down to the
knot. So I used my thumb as a brake pad on the spool. Stop and go, stop and
go, finally I turned the monster around and pulled it in a foot here, a foot
there. "What the hell do I have on this line?" kept rushing through my head...a
shark...a baby whale...an orka maybe?! I fought this fish for forty-five minutes...rod
bent like a pretzel. As soon as the monster saw the shoreline, it took me for
a run down the beach. At this point, the other surfcasters were making a path
for me...as I yelled "coming down." A gigantic wake appeared 20 feet off the
shoreline, that was my monster. Inch by inch I pulled that Godzilla in and finally,
dripping sweat, my heart racing I got into the drink and then got out quickly...could
be a shark. All of a sudden I saw a devil spotted tail whip around, it was a
leopard stingray, over a hundred pounds...and very angry! I snapped the line
right by the lips and let mother nature dissolve the hook. Hey it's fishing,
it may be chicken or it may be squirrel...who knows?! But what a fight! It had
me going for a while. It's happened to you guys at least once...admit it. It's
almost as good as the bucket trick.
| The Trip Down | Carolina
Princess | Surfcasting | Myrtle Beach Attractions
| Myrtle Beach Fishing Pier |
Fireworks |
