July 3, 2010 by Joel.

At Emerald Isle NC for the holiday weekend. Beautiful weather; don’t know when I’ve been to the beach for the Fourth of July and not needed 7×24 AC. For the second night in a row, we have the house open. But that’s not the purpose of this posting. We took the boat a couple miles down the island to launch at Island Harbor Marina for the first time since I bought a season ramp pass, and boy what a difference a year makes. It’s under new ownership, this year, and long term plans call for the ramp to disappear, probably by fall 2011 the way the schedule is going, and they will have a dry stack as well as slips. However, for this year, the ramp is still there, and you get valet launching of your boat and parking of of your truck. We got our parking number, pulled in, climbed in the boat on the trailer while the staff backed us into the water. I backed the boat off the trailer into the water, and away we went while they parked. Upon return, I pulled up and the dock, gave the staff representative my parking claim check, and the trailer appeared. I drove the boat onto the trailer, they hooked it up, and pulled out of the water. The only thing I had to do was to put on the tie-down straps. That is so cool

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April 24, 2010 by Joel.

My friend Sam and I went to Weldon,NC on Friday 4/23. Back during January, I practiced defensive calendaring and blocked a couple of Fridays in April. Well, the Chancellor wanted a meeting for a search committee on which I’m participating on one of those days, and when your boss’ boss calls, you attend the meeting! That left me with only this past Friday 4/23 open. Probably should have booked a May Friday with this year’s cold weather, but c’est la vie…

We got to Weldon about 9:30, and the parking lot was about as full of boats as it could be…I pulled the boat off the trailer while Sam parked my truck. The extra (third) lane on the ramp helps a lot with traffic! We ran down the river to Big Rock, and set up the the drifting flotilla of bait fishermen. Talked to a couple of fly guys who’d picked up a couple of fish, but it was slow for them. Water temp was about 63.5F. Drifted for a couple of hours, and couldn’t buy a strike. We were marking fish about about 6′-8′ deep, per the fish finder, but no luck for us. We were watching the bait guys catching fish slowly but steadily. Picked up and ran down to the power lines, but didn’t change our luck. Decided that we wanted to anchor and eat lunch, so we ran back up the river and anchored in front of Troublefield Gut. Had lunch and watched the parade of boats drifting by. We caught a couple of fish, including a largemouth, a crappie and a couple of stripers. We decided to head to to Big Rock (bigger than last week, as the river was down to about 8,000 cfs), but talked to a couple of fly guys who’d found a seam and caught about 20 about 1/2 way up Little River. They suggested we try that, and did, but wasn’t working for us. However, Sam had the “catch of the day” when he foul-hooked a turtle in the foot!

We tried all sorts of colors of flies, but chartreuse/white worked “better” (that’s a relative term!) than others and tried both sinktip and full sink lines. It was one of those days when the fishing was better than the catching. Headed home about 4PM. Maybe my fish mojo will be on next time, but still a great day to be out.

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March 20, 2010 by Joel.

On March 19th, Sam and I made our annual pilgrimage to Weldon to hook up with some Hickory Shad. I’d like to do more than one trip, but I’m happy just to be able to go! We knew that it might be a bit early in the season, with the high water recently and cool temperatures. However, with a day scheduled off work, and the forecast for a beautiful day, we headed to the river. When we got there about 9:45AM, the river was running ~9000cfs, and very stained. We launched the boat and were quickly on the river. We ran downstream past the water treatment plant and were thinking about going to Troublefield Gut (~2.8 miles downstream on river left, per the NC Wildlife map), but a boat was already there. We ran downstream further, stopping and trying a few places. Not even a bump. River temperatire was 47F per my boat’s sensor. Went all the way down to Halifax (about 10 miles) to see if the water was any warmer or if any fish were there. Nada. Tried the long rods and spinners, no luck. Turned around, and went back upstream. About 12:45PM, we got back to Troublefield Gut and no one was there, so we anchored. I had a couple of bumps and soon caught a white perch. Then, Sam caught a small striper. We were both fishing full sink lines at the time, and were down on the bottom. We then started picking up shad. Not a banner day, but 15-20 fish between the two of us from 1PM to 3:30PM. We switched to sink tips from the full sink lines as the fishfinder seemed to indicate that there were fish 5-6 feet down. Seemed to work, as we both caught more on the sink tips. Interestingly, the water temp warmed to 50F by the time we left, and that might have helped.

As we left, we saw about a half dozen boats near the water treatment plant. Talked to one group, and they said that they’d caught some, but like us it was sporadic.

We caught all our fish on pink flies (though I’ll make ‘em a bit differently sometimes), and didn’t catch anything on the spinners until we changed to pink jigs. So, for us, pink was the color of choice.

Headed for the ramp about 3:45PM, and then back home…

Pictures here…

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August 6, 2009 by Joel.

We’re now a few days into our 2 week beach vacation, and beginning to be very mellow. Even the dogs are mellow . Arrived at EI late evening on 7/31. Somewhat hectic as cleanup by #1 son from previous weekend left a few gaps . Windy with some t-storms over the weekend, but the plants were all happy to get a good soaking. Our neighbors came down for a few days, arriving Sunday. Enjoyed fellowship, good food and good wine. Jan cooked shrimp cakes (think great crab cakes but made with shrimp) on Sunday, a paella on Monday, and Galen cooked a great venison roast on Tuesday. Sunday evening we saw the “Turtle Patrol” clearing out the last few baby loggerheads from a nest that hatched last week. Took the boat to Bear Island (aka Hammocks Beach SP) on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Wednesday, we saw the tracks where a turtle had come up the night before to lay a late season nest. Perfect weather. Tuesday, there was one other boat at Bear Inlet. Wednesday, we had it to ourselves in the morning. In the early afternoon, though, a flotilla arrived, and we decided to come on back to the house where more wine was chilling.

Galen & Sandra have headed back home today. We’ve done a bit of cleanup around the house this morning, after having a 3-latte breakfast. Plan to go down to the beach in a couple hours when the tide is low and go for a nice walk with Jan. Probably swim some today as well, after Jeff gets up.

More company this weekend, as Jason & Jenny are coming for a few days. My sister is fixing dinner (her famous crabcakes) at her house in Swansboro on Sunday. Will probably go to Bear Island on Sunday, and then a couple days next week as well. We’ve got a new 2-person float that we’ll use to pull folks down the ICW

I could get used to being on vacation…this is good stuff!

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April 25, 2009 by Joel.

What a fantastic April weekend! Temperatures in the 90’s in the piedmont meant 70’s at the coast. I took a couple of hours of vacation and left town early enough to beat the traffice through Raleigh. We arrived at Emerald Isle about 6:30PM in time to get oysters at Jordan’s for dinner Friday. Spent the day Saturday at Bear Island. Put the boat in at Island Harbor and ran down the ICW to the Bear Inlet cut. It’s shoaled up a lot since last October, but we still got in and out (the tide was very low when we left in early afternoon). The Carolina Skiff doesn’t draw much water. Water temps in the upper 60’s, southwest breeze about 10-15 knots, air temp in the mid 70’s. Doesn’t get much better than this! Lessa sure liked it. Heading back again Sunday morning. Gee, can I call in sick Monday?

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April 11, 2009 by Joel.

A long weekend means a bit of time for discretionary computer activities…this is a report from a trip I took to the Roanoke River on March 27th to fish for Hickory Shad…

In spite of the promise (guarantee!?) of rain and the high water levels, my fishing buddy Sam and I headed to Weldon, NC to try our luck, as I had this day off from work with no promise of another day anytime soon. We arrived in Weldon at 10AM, and launched the boat. So nice to start these 4-cycle engines, just turn the key, and it starts just like a car.

The big rapids right across from the ramp were completely washed out, with the flow ~15,000cfs. Headed downstream to see if we could find a spot. At high water like this, your best bet will be tight up next to the banks, or especially where one of the small creeks comes into the river, creating slack water. Spotted a number of boats at the water treatment plant downstream of the ramp. We grabbed a spot, but weren’t in a good position, and decided to head downstream a bit further…went a ways, not quite to Big Rock; didn’t see any place we liked but tried a couple. Tough even to anchor at this flow level. The river is about 20 feet deep bank to bank with the current really ripping through. Nothing doing with the fish, though the fish finder showed fish (if you believe those things ). We headed back upriver, and found that the folks who had been in the mouth of a little creek on the north side of the river had left. We anchored there and started catching fish. Not a huge number, but reasonably steady action. Sam and I each caught 15-20. Several were nice, heavy fish. The rain held off until about 2:30PM or so. We fished in the rain a while (gave the bilge pump a workout) and headed back to the ramp about 3:30PM to head back to Chapel Hill. A nice day!

Pictures here…

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December 5, 2008 by Joel.

I’m at NCREN Community Day today. This annual event brings together the NCREN stakeholders and network users, which now includes the entire K20 community in North Carolina. It’s encouraging to see participation from the K12 community and the emphasis on bringing value to K12, leveraging the information resources of the traditional University community community to holistically improve education in the state.

One of the biggest values is the human networking, and the opportunity to talk with colleagues across the state. While we have a similar event for the University of NC system (UNC CAUSE), Community Day brings in representation from the K12, Community College and state government sectors. National research networks such as Internet2 are also represented. The opportunity to talk and synchronize with this extended community is a key to the importance of this event. Already I’ve had several productive conversations and have another scheduled for lunch.

Of course I did have a chance to also talk with my colleagues about boating and fishing

Now, back to the meeting…

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November 2, 2008 by Joel.

This weekend was another of those perfect fall weekends on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina, lows in the 40’s and highs about 70. I had a chance to get out of town with my friend and fishing buddy Sam. I picked Sam up about 9AM Saturday and we drove to Emerald Isle NC. Late start, as I’d been out of town at a conference, and got home just in time for neighborhood Halloween festivities ;-). Got to Emerald Isle about noon, and met my dad at the beach house. Threw some fishing gear in the boat and headed to the marina with Sam & my dad. We weren’t very optimistic about the fishing, as the tide was falling, but it was a nice day. Motored to the Bear Inlet channel and gave it a go. My dad managed one speckled trout, I had a pinfish, and Sam was skunked. “Should have been here in the morning,” was the word. However, we decided to take the boat up the back channel from the inlet to the ferry dock. An interesting trip…though the tide was dead low, still had 3 to 6 feet of water in many spots — one stretch only had a foot. Had to lift the motor up and pole across the shoal. Saw several spots that ought to hold speckled trout, though, and as an exploratory trip was quite successful. Headed back to the marina as it was getting late, and a dinner of steamed oysters.

Today (Sunday) dawned clear and absolutely calm, headed for a temperature of 71F, Indian Summer for sure. My dad decided to stay around the house, and Sam and I headed out after breakfast. Got on the water about 8:45AM and headed to a likely trout hole. Sam and I each quickly caught a trout (he on his flyrod, and me, heretically, on a spinning rig). Thought our luck might be changing, but not so…churned the water for a while with flyrods and spinners. None of the boats nearby was doing any better, so we headed over to Bear Island (Bouge Inlet end) and tried flyrods in the surf a while, but nothing doing. Water is still a bit warm for the specks to move out of the estuaries toward the ocean. Since we weren’t catching fish, and since it was such a calm day, we got in back in the boat and headed out the inlet into the ocean. Just low rolling swells, and absolutely beautiful — not a cloud in the sky (but no seabirds working schools of blues, either). Saw several pods of bottlenose dolphins, all told, must have been 100 of them, rhythmically working a school of fish…they were everywhere around the boat, some leaping out of the water, some slowly rolling, some slapping their tails as they dove into 30 feet of water. We tried casting and plugging, but no strikes. Oh well…

As Jimmy Buffet sang in Brahma Fear,

“Yes, I own a whaler boat
It slides across the sea
Some folks say I’m part of it
And I know it’s part of me”

Well, mine’s a Carolina Skiff, not a whaler, but this is what I was humming as we ran outside Bear Island toward Bear Inlet. Some other skiffs were working the shoal just west of Bear Inlet, but started moving away as we approach; missed that bite. Headed across the Bear Inlet bar on a couple of rollers and into the channel…banked around the shoals and found a hole to try a few more casts. A sea robin and lizard fish were it. Down the channel toward the ICW. Stopped in a bend right before the waterway. Saw a fellow catch a trout, and decided to make a few more casts. No hookups, but several short strikes, so fish were there. We didn’t catch any more, and decided to head on back so we could get back to central NC by supper. Sped down the waterway thru Swansboro and back to the marina.

What a day! Perfect fishing, and though the catching could have been better, still was one of the best days I’ve had on the water in a long while.

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October 4, 2008 by Joel.

At Emerald Isle NC this weekend. This is one of those perfect fall beach weekends. Air temp was 80F this afternoon, water was 75F, sky blue and light winds. Put in the boat at Island Harbor Marina and ran down the ICW to Bear Inlet (the east end of Bear Island, aka Hammocks Beach State Park). Walked a mile or so down the beach, had a few margaritas…fine!

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September 29, 2008 by Joel.

The weather and lake water levels cooperated on Sunday, and we were able to squeeze in a few hours to go to Jordan Lake Sunday. We had a family gathering in the late afternoon, so we had to leave early. However it was a good excuse to take the new boat and the dogs and go enjoy some late September fun. The dogs like having more room to run around the boat. I know I’m going to enjoy it!

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