so i'm down the obx for a few days and wanted to get some offshore time in. a few buddies recommended the Oregon inlet fishing center so I got on the list for a mixed party trip and they had room the following day. we headed out early the next morning through the inlet - even though seas were flat there was still 6 footers at the mouth. owning a small boat like we do back home isn't an option if you want to fish the ocean at all down here. this inlet must me a nightmare in any kind of sea/wind. all the boats leave the marina at the same time so its like a parade of bada$$ sporties heading out to the fishing grounds. we put out a 7 rod spread and get to it. a half hour in we get our first bite - a small marlin. 100 poundsish and he's got a few extra lip rings so we decide to pull him in the boat and get rid of the extra stainless longline hooks

we release him and get the spread back out and i'm the next guy up. it takes a couple of hours but we finally see another marlin in the spread. he's on the teaser and the mate drops a bait back and he hits it but misses the hook. I grab the other pitch rod and start dropping the bait back and weaving it through the spread and boom - i'm tight and the thing goes ballistic. starts tailwalking over other baits but doesn't get tangled thankfully. 15 minutes later, we get him boatside and I get a chance to release my first marlin. we missed 1 more and head to the tilefish grounds for some meat. takes 2 drifts and we get a limit of blueline tilefish. its a lot like our codfishing except they use 5 pound weights. we get back to the dock at 4 and there are a hundred people at the dock waiting to see what got caught that day. a crew of guys show up and take your fish and process it for you and 20 minutes later you have a bag of fillets to bring home. pretty slick operation they have down here.

That's awesome!
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Sounds like a ball
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Awesome on the marlin!

I got married in the OBX and stayed in pirates cove marina for a week. i always made it a point to go down to the docks around 4. I was in awe of how they ran their operation down there.

And talk about some of the best looking charter boats on the planet.

Excellent!

Nice outing.

Haha! Awesome!

nice

Awesome and that was really cool of you guys to remove the extra metal on that first one!

when we get to the tile spot they start pulling out the electramates. so I think - tiles r deepwater critters but I didn't think we were in that deep water. so I ask how deep guys and they say 45 fathoms. I ask for a reel with no motor and they look at me like I have 2 heads and say allright. they give me a 4/0 senator w/ 100 pound braid. now they pull out 5 hook rigs and 5 pound weights. and I'm like - I had to open my bigmouth. theres so much current down here they need a lot of weight they say. we bait up w/ chunks of albie and as soon as the weight hits bottom i'm on. I wait for a few more fish to hit the rig - like a big sabiki rig - and I start cranking. I proceed to bust out a limit of tiles in the time it takes the other guys to catch a few fish and my arm feels like its gonna fall off. its like codfishing on steroids. the capt starts goofing on the crew in true fisherman fashion "look at this old boy over here - outfishin all yall" and gives me the nod

good to see you got out and in some fish Paul
all is well here

Sounds like a fun trip. I remember going to some marina near the Oregon inlet and looking at those boats, all of them were huge. How is the ride on the Carolina style boat?

- and I start cranking. I proceed to bust out a limit of tiles in the time it takes the other guys to catch a few fish and my arm feels like its gonna fall off. its like codfishing on steroids. the capt starts goofing on the crew in true fisherman fashion "look at this old boy over here - outfishin all yall" and gives me the nod

doesn't surprise me one bit!

Glad u had such a great week and trip

U certainly are a fish guy shocker you out fished the boat
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Great trip Paul! Nice to hear about, and Tiles are on my list. Good to see the captain acknowledge your skills!! Hope to see you this fall on Tog day again. Great trip on your boat two years back.

Hell yeah Paul good stuff man!

Awesome and that was really cool of you guys to remove the extra metal on that first one!

Ditto on that comment....just awrsome
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Good job Paul!!!!:agree:

always wanted to catch a tilefish-

not sure about the 5pounds of lead though.... I think I'd get the electric reel too

Ha! Sounds like you were collecting....not paying. You shoulda made a couple wagers ahead of time.

Reminds me of the time on the Helen-H when you went at it with that Tiger for quite a while. I thought you were gonna haul that thing in against the current.

Thanks for sharing. Really enjoyed that Paul!