|
|
|
|
|
SEASON'S GREETINGS & A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
|
My apologies for this belated season's greetings and for not sending out Christmas cards this year. The OBSESSION has been in the boatyard this past month getting re-powered. Took advantage of a good deal on a new motor, the same type I have had excellent service from the last 15 years, 30,000 hours and who knows how many miles. I have followed my government's lead of getting into way too much debt. Hopefully I will soon find a buyer for the old motor. Anyway, with 14 hours days in the boat yard 7 days a week, I have had little time (or money) for other things, so no cards this year. SORRY! I would like to thank those of you who have fished with us over the years for your business. Hopefully you had a great fishing trip, an exciting adventure offshore, some tasty delectables to bring home, and maybe a truly memorable catch. This past fishing season, I feel we generated some great memories and a lot of good eating! Your support has helped the OBSESSION to survive and even grow in these challenging times. We would not be here if not for you as well as your wonderful referrals and recommendations! Thank you!
|
| HIGHLIGHTS OF APRIL-NOVEMBER FISHING SEASON | Fishing out of Oregon Inlet in 2010 had its ups and downs but, overall was a pretty good year. Cooler waters last spring produced a protracted bluefin tuna season but delayed the arrival of dophin and yellowfin tuna. We had a great stretch of late spring blue marlin fishing, some of the best white marlin fishing ever in late August and September, and good dolphin fishing from mid May thru September. The fall yellowfin tuna season was a bit disappointing, but we had some unbelievable action on small blackfin tuna.
On April 1, our first trip of the spring season, Debbie Rosselle's crew boated 550 lbs of 30-50 lb yellowfin tuna. The rest of April produced scattered catches of yellowfin tuna but excellent bluefin tuna fishing which surprisingly lasted into early May. In mid-April, Rael Hurwitz & friends boated a 148 lb bluefin, released 4 150-200 lb bluefins, and Brian Gianfagna released his first blue marlin (400 lbs)... 6 guys and 6 citation earning fish better than 150 lbs !!
Bluefins in early May led to excellent 'gaffer' dolphin and blue marlin fishing in later May, with some good yellowfin tuna fishing mixed in. The first week, Don Wright boated a 246 lb bluefin; the next day Clayton Helms, after a grueling 1 1/2 hour battle boated our biggest bluefin of the year (271 lb whooper). As late as May 7, we caught 7 bluefin out of 10 bites, all 150-200 lb and including a 180 lb bluefin boated by Kevin O'Brien. On May 15, Jim McCurtain, the late Bill Thomas, Charles Cantrell & crew boated their limit of yellowfin tuna. Dolphin finally showed the third week in May, and Dave Craven's crew boated a boxful of 10-20 lb fish along with our first wahoo of the year. Richard Lee's crew boated 20 'gaffer' dolphin and "lucky" Bobby King caught his first white marlin ever. The last week in May, Rudy Middleton's crew filled the box with dolphin, while Stephen Buell released a 450 lb blue marlin. The next day Richard Dixon released a 300 lb blue marlin; and the next day, John Lawrence, who has fished with me for years both here and in Mexico, and has caught both white marlin & sailfish, released his first blue marlin, a 350 lb fish, giving him a lifetime Grand Slam for east coast marlin on the OBSESSION.
We had excellent 'gaffer' & school dolphin fishing, along with good catches of blue marlin, yellowfin tuna and a few bigeye tuna in June. The first week, Bob Henry & crew boated 8 yellowfin to start the day and then hooked a double header of big blue marlin... Calvin Ennals released his 300 lb blue & Ronald Elbertson released his 450 lb fish....That is action! In late June, Carl Wallace's crew boated a limit of school dolphin and ended the day with Juston Smithson(140 lb), Paul Casey (145 lb) and Carl Wallace's (182 lb) triple header of bigeye tuna! The next day, Greg Carter, John Houck, Michael Levenson, and Paul Hartman boated a quadruple header of bigeyes (116-130 lbs); later that day, Joe Kennedy released a white marlin.
Dolphin fishing was excellent in July with some tunas and billfish mixed in. The first week of July, Ron Householder released our season's biggest blue marlin, a 550 lb fish. During the mid-July Oregon Inlet Boat Builders marlin tournament, Peter Zeliff, Larry Waite & Vince Cocciolo caught 10 sailfish for the tournament and we placed 5th overall. In late July, 13 year old Will Morris, with no big fish experience did a great job fighting and releasing a 225 lb blue marlin the same day John Hannell boated a 70 lb wahoo, our seasons largest. 
White marlin and dolphin fishing was great in August. During the Pirates Cove Billfish tournament, Larry Waite & Peter Zeliff's crew, after two days were tied for third place with 6 white marlin. Frustratingly, the last day we were in the right spot but could not raise anything and fell right out of contention. Everyone worked hard and all in all it was a good tournament. Next year we will get them! The last week of August, David and Spencer White released 8 white marlin and a sailfish including two double headers. We fished the Hopewell, Va. angler's club 5 boat tournament; Charles Marks, Sheriff Anderson, and Craig Stronsnider all hooked and caught white marlin to put us in first place. The last day of August, John Eick's crew boated a limit of dolphin, yellowfin tuna weighing 58 & 68 lbs on very light tackle, and David Rust, Sean Sullivan & Rick Bollich released white marlin while Bob Goldstein released a sailfish.
We had unbelievable white marlin fishing and very good dolphin fishing in September. On September 6, Ken Henry & son Ken had the best day of white marlin fishing ever on the OBSESSION; they released 24 white marlin, including three triple headers and one quadruple header.... never seen anything like it.... the white's came in the spread like hungry wolf packs.... probably had 40 chances; unbelievable action for two outstanding anglers! The next day's 'make-up' group released 14 white marlin and the next day, Joey Tillman's crew released 19 white marlin! The next week, Kimberly Coats, wanted husband Jeff to catch a marlin for his 50th , and her plan went better than expected as he released 6 white marlin and Kim caught 2 herself. On Sept 26 Grover & Hunter Bower along with John Knight, released 8 white marlin.
Although there was a good sign of yellowfin tuna up north this past summer, water conditions never got right for us this fall. Nevertheless, we ended up with nice catches most every day, though not always what we were looking for. October was a mixed bag of hordes of small blackfin tuna, some nice catches of yellowfin tuna, along with some dolphin, wahoo and tilefish. We had some good catches of yellowfin tuna in November, and if they weren't biting very good blackfin tuna fishing. In early November, David Tooker's crew boated: 3 wahoo, including Barry Jollier's 48 lb and Charlie Lillis' 51 citation earners; 6 yellowfin tuna up to 25 lbs; 7 dolphin (7-15 lbs); and a bunch of blackfin tuna for an 'Oregon Inlet Triple Meatfish Super Grand Slam". The following week, Ray Delusa's crew boated a limit of yellowfin tuna as did Rich Watkin's crew a round Thanksgiving.
For the season, customers on the OBSESSION earned citations for releasing 207 billfish, our best year ever, including 171 white marlin (best ever), 10 blue marlin, and 26 sailfish. Citations were also earned for 27 bluefin tuna, 7 bigeye tuna, 1 blackfin tuna, only 1 70 lb yellowfin tuna, 5 wahoo and 3 dolphin.
|
| THE OBSESSION IS GOING TO START THE YEAR OFF FISHING FOR SAILFISH IN MEXICO AS WE HAVE FOR THE LAST 7 YEARS..... |
Deckhand Richard Wright and I will be leaving for Mexico, weather permitting on January 2. The OBSESSION will be available for charter from January 13 thru March 10, 2011 at Enrique's Marina, on the island of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. At this time I still have several very good dates open, including: JAN 16, 22, 24 - 26; FEB 2, 9, 15, 24-28; MAR 2, 4-10; You can reserve dates by email ([email protected] ) or phone 252-480-0094. If you do not have a full group and are looking to split some days with others, let me know. I will be posting fishing reports on my website Obsession Fishing Reports while in Mexico and checking & responding to email on a regular basis.
|
|
WHEN WE RETURN FROM MEXICO, WE WILL BE RUNNING FISHING TRIPS OUT OF PIRATES COVE FROM LATE MARCH THRU EARLY DECEMBER.......
|
I am currently taking bookings for the Oregon Inlet 2011 fishing season. We will return from Mexico in mid March and be available for charter in late March out of Pirates Cove Marina. You can reserve dates by e-mail ([email protected]) or phone (252-480-0094). A summary of the types of fishing at various times of the year is available on the OBSESSION website (Fishing Calendar). The cost of chartering the OBSESSION out of Pirates Cove Marina in 2011 will be $1650 for 1- 6 people and this includes all fishing licenses, bait, tackle, and ice for your fish.
|
| HOPEFULLY 2011 WILL BE THE OBSESSION'S YEAR IN LOCAL TOURNAMENTS...... |
The dates for local tournaments next year are: Hatteras Village Blue Marlin Open Wed-Sat May 11-14; Oregon Inlet Tuna Roundup Fri & Sat June 3 & 4; Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament Mon-Sat June 13-18; Carolina Boat Builder's Tournament Fri-Sun July 22-24; Pirates Cove Billfish Tournament Tues-Fri Aug 16-19; and the Virginia Beach Billfish Tourmanent Thurs-Sat Aug 25-27; At this time I have a group scheduled to fish the Tuna Roundup but only tentative commitments for a few of the other tournaments. If you have a full group or are interested in being part of a group for any of these tournaments, please contact me by email [email protected] or phone 252-480-0094.
|
|
WANT TO GO FISHING BUT NEED A FEW MORE TO SHARE COSTS???
|
Need a few more to fill out your group or want to join a group to share costs for a charter, please email [email protected] or call me (252-480-0094) and I will discuss several options with you and hopefully hook you up with a full group. Most years I put 4-6 'makeup' groups together composed of folks that did not have enough people to book the whole boat.
|
|
RUTH ANN AND I WANT TO WISH EVERYONE A HEALTHY, HAPPY AND PROPERIOUS NEW YEAR!
| Best wishes and tight lines.... Cap'n Jeff Ross.
P.S. PLEASE feel free to forward this to any of your fishing buddies.... we need all the business we can get!!
|
|
OBSESSION SPORTFISHING CHARTERS
| |
Captian Jeff Ross
3102 S Ocean View Ct
Nags Head, NC 27959
252-480-0094
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
