Our time on Ocracoke is drawing to an end. We cannot believe the summer is over and our time here is nearly at an end. It certainly has been wonderful. What a treat for me to be able to enjoy the island for several months and not have to think about going back to Raleigh to work. We did another fishing trip last week since the weather was good (make hay while the sun shines applies for fishing off-shore as well). We had good fishing. There were blackfin tuna around and we hooked 4. There were also some monster bonito out there. The bonito is a fish related to tuna and mackerel, however they are a much stronger tasting fish and unless you bleed, filet, and put them on ice right when you catch them; they can taste quite fishy. Many people throw them back or use them for making bait. We kept one to make bait strips. We also caught a King mackerel. So overall it was a pretty good day of fishing.
Our fish in the handy-dandy fish bag
Here are the fish we caught. Top to bottom a King mackerel, 4 blackfin tuna, and a bonito.
Keith used the bonito to make bait strips that I then froze for our next fishing trip
Pelicans hovering in hopes of some scraps
Even the birds are fishing. I photographed this guy on the dock a few days before when we were having a little rain shower.
Below are the bait strips in brine (basically, non-iodized salt). This dries the meat and makes it more durable when put on the rig for fishing. Adding baking soda also helps preserve the color, making the bait more appealing to the fish. Since doing our own brine, Keith has ordered a ready prepared brine. This might be even easier.
Our ready made brine
We had some very shallow water getting out the inlet on this last fishing trip. There was a small area where we even touched the bottom, but made it out OK. On the way out in the morning around 7:00 AM a tug pulling a barge contacted us via the VHF radio. He was just getting ready to come in the Ocracoke Inlet and wanted some information on the depths. His draft (how deep his boat sits in the water) was deeper than ours. We told him we did not think he could get through the channel at low tide. Even at high tide, it could be very tricky. He thanked us for the information and decided to give it a try anyway. When we came back in the inlet that afternoon around 3:30 PM, the tug and barge were still there. He was just finally getting through the channel and heading up the sound. We called him and he said he had quite a long day. He had been stuck for hours and was finally loose and moving.
Tug and barge finally underway in the channel with the ferry just off to the right in the picture.
We smoked the kingfish and made fish dip. It was awesome. We have gotten the recipe for smoked fish dip down pat.
In addition to fishing we also decided to do a beach day. Pengi was begging for a day at the beach and the weather was perfect for it.
View down the beach
View up the beach
There were several dune buggies on the beach the day we were there.
We also got to spend some time on Portsmouth one afternoon. Keith caught several flounder, unfortunately the season is over and we could not keep them.
He also caught a small black sea bass
We walked the inlet beach and found some treasure there. Some Scotch bonnets as well as a large helmut shell and large welk shell
It has been so nice to have several days of good weather. The upcoming week looks pretty windy. Probably no off-shore fishing this coming week. At least it does not look like there will be rain, so hopefully we can come up with some other things to do other than fishing. Keith might go into withdrawal.
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