A quick camping trip to Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina. Rosy Red, our vintage VW Beetle, always makes weekend trips more adventurous. In this case, the trunk with our groceries inside wouldn’t open. Of course, it opened when we got back home at the end of the weekend. Enjoyed Wilson’s interactive ghost stories […]
Topsail Beach Water Sports
Cleaned some of the old footage out of the GoPro from some time we spend at our beach house, After Party. Made a couple of videos to capture the memories at Topsail. When I think about missing home while we’re in Chile, the memories and longing often involve Topsail, boating, and fishing.
Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament
Since I was an early teenager, I had as a goal to fish North Carolina’s Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament on my own boat. I had a chance over the years to be an angler on other people’s boats, and the goal was to fish the tournament on my own boat. I didn’t strive to […]
Offseason Camping at North State
Though nothing worthwhile to hunt is within season, taking the kids to North State is part of the effort to get them comfortable with going hunting during the colder months of deer season. We took friends, four wheelers, and dirt bikes to the camp this spring for some fun in camp, in the pond, and […]
Organized Dog Hunt for Deer at North State
The oldest organized deer hunt in North Carolina is the dog hunt at North State Game Club. Since 1906, the tradition has been carried on in eastern North Carolina. I’m privileged to be a part of this organization and hunt. I took Jane and Wilson on their first hunt at the annual boys and girls […]
Fall Red Drum Surf Fishing at Topsail Island
One of my favorite fishing activities is surf fishing for red drum in the fall at Topsail Island. The air cools down, the water is still warm, the bait are thick in the surf, and the drum schools come into inches of water to feed. I regard surf fishing for drum as a North Carolina […]
Trolling for Spanish & Blues with Kids
My first exposure to trolling as a kid was pulled Clark spoons on #1 planers for Spanish and Blues outside Beaufort Inlet, NC. Even as an adult, I enjoy the consistency and action of trolling for Spanish and Blues. They are easy to catch and can come in great numbers. A more important characteristic though, […]
Learning to Fly Fish – Foscoe, NC
I’ve grown up fishing in saltwater all of my life. My preferred fishing styles, in order, are the following: When I was invited to head out west for a fly fishing trip in Yellowstone, I was hesitant because I didn’t know how to fly fish, and it seemed to squarely fit into my least favorite […]
False Albacore Fishing at Cape Lookout
World class false albacore fishing occurs each fall at Cape Lookout. Albacore schools arrive near the shore, and when in a feeding frenzy, they demonstrate the ferocity of the albacore blitz. They are sporty game fish, powerful little tunas that rip line off the reel and will put on a long, powerful fight. A friend […]
Road Trip From Raleigh Around Outer Banks
Katie and I took a mom-and-dad-only-mini-adventure in Rosy Red, our 1974 VW Beetle convertible. Over five days and four nights, we traveled nearly 600 miles in the Beetle to explore North Carolina’s inner and outer banks, making use of many ferries and remote highways along the way. We had some mechanical issues on the trip, […]