My family has gone to Rodanthe on the Outerbanks for the last two years in a row for vacation. On both visits, my Dad and I made an attempt to see if we could get in some good fishing; either something big or lots of little somethings. Our first year we were not very successful because we apparently didn't know how to fish there and only caught a few little fish and crabs to small to keep. But this year, we came back determined to catch something, with the locals advice.
To start out, we went to the boat docks on the sound side where there is a channel dug into the sound for boats to travel along. As it so happens, fish like to cruise along the sound until they hit a deep channel like that and follow it on back to shore. And so, we set out with a few poles and a cast net to try out this new spot. Dad went and caught bait with the net, and using that and store-bought squid we baited up, not knowing what we would catch. In only a few minutes, we were catching dozens of robins, which are cool looking, spiny little fish that lose there appeal quickly. At least they taste good. But thats not all. We started catching bluefish and seatrout, and what we thought was a long on the line turned out to be a seaturtle!
That was the coolest catch of the day, and we were able to let it go unharmed. Later that night we went out to the pier and put on some bluefish as bait. We had our fingers crossed for something big, but could never have beleived our success. Thirty minutes in, a pole suddenly whippeddown with line flying. It broke off, but that was only the start. The next pole did the same, and we were exhilarated to find we had a shark! We went on to catch 2-3 sharks that night, and more each night after that. They were all about 38 inches (the size of the one in the picture) and we ended up keeping several of them. That week, we ate shark in every way you can possibly think og. Fried shark, grilled shark, shark soup, shark and spaghetti....
And the last night, what we expected to be a shark turned out to be a stingray! we would have kept it, but there wasn't enough room in the freezer. A local estimated it to be about 70-80 pounds. I beleive it, cause two different guys at different times could not lift it up. That was the best vacation ever.
