Deep Sea Fishing 50 Miles Off the Coast of North Carolina

November 05, 2020

Deep Sea Fishing 50 Miles Off the Coast of North Carolina - Catching the Elusive Wahoo

My sister -in -law (Hi Mimi!) had deep sea fishing on her bucket list. Not just deep sea fishing on a large boat with lots of people, but an intimate experience with a large boat and few people. And I'm glad she did. We had a very cool experience with Captain Mike and First Mate Chris on the Pelagic Sportfishing Charter out of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. If you've ever wanted to go deep sea fishing, then this might be for you. Come along 50 miles out in the ocean as we chase the elusive wahoo!

Captain Mike of the Pelagic Sportfishing Charter came recommended by a friend of my sister-in-law's. He's based out of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina on his 61 foot fishing boat. (He also runs charters out of PuertoQuetzal, Guatemala in February and March) He has been fishing the waters off the Southern Outer Banks Coast since 1987 - so he knows what he's doing. We scheduled for a Friday in October and arrived at our hotel - Palm Suites - in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.

It was just a short drive to board the Pelagic the next morning at 5:15am. We headed out to sea and enjoyed watching the sun rise. Captain Mike and his first mate, Chris, do everything for you - they set out about 8 lines and give you a safety talk first. We were primarily fishing for wahoo - one of the meanest fish around - at the time of year that we were there. The wahoo is a lone fish - no schooling for them - and has such sharp teeth that someone had to be airlifted off the boat in the past as they were cut by them. When a fish is on the line, then each fisherman takes turns sitting in "the chair" to reel it in. Or if a fish is on one of the side lines then they'll reel it in from there.

Chris baiting the lines

In total, we caught 4 fish - I say "we" but I didn't catch one - which was 70 pounds of wahoo and blackfin tuna. There could have been many more but the wahoo are so fast that they could bite the bait clean off - and did many times - without getting caught.( Hence, their elusiveness) Our first catch came at 9:30am and the next wasn't until around 1pm. Then the two tuna were caught immediately after and one after the other - they school so we were amidst a school.

The waves were getting pretty fierce and we were bouncing around pretty good after catching the fourth fish so Captain Mike decided it was time to head in. We started with 2 to 4 foot waves but by the time we headed in some were up to 8 feet! We were tossing around so badly that I decided the only way to get around was to scoot on my behind - it was funny looking but effective. Thankfully my sister-in-law was smart enough to order the seasickness patch - which came in a pack of 4 - and gave one to me and another of our crew. I highly recommend this idea - and put it on the day before (they last for up to 3 days)

Once we returned to the dock - it took about 1 1/2 hours of riding to get out and back from shore - at about 5pm, we unloaded and paid to have our fish cleaned and cut up. (The lady that did this also flash froze some thin slices and served it to us as sushi with some soy sauce which was really good.) We had brought coolers with us per Captain Mike's instructions and we proceeded to split the 70 pounds by the 3 couples we had on board. Captain Mike also gave us some cooking suggestions and we were told that the restaurant across the street would cook it to order for $15.95 per person but we decided to haul it all home. Fish was on the menu upon our return home for quite some time!

This was a very cool experience - heading out to sea some 50 miles, seeing the whole fishing process and learning about the different types of fish, hanging out with some of our besties and just enjoying the scenery. I would do it again but probably a bit into the future - it's not an inexpensive day. And I'd love to take my kids to experience it, also. So maybe someday I'll be heading out on the Pelagic again.