Albies at Cape Lookout, NC

[shorthaul]

I went to Cape Lookout for a long weekend and fished 11/22,23,24. The cold snap put the albies off on saturday with lows below freezing. We caught some 20"+ speckled trout and 3 reds off the Cape Lookout rock jetty on a chartruse and white clouser. Sunday was the best day of the 3 with the albies showing sporadically all day with the best action in the afternoon. Tutti-fruiti clousers worked better than the gummy minnows. My first fish straightened my hook out and went to a #1 34007 hook and used the same fly for 2 days. I went 2 for 7 with one fish pulling a tangle of intermediate line off the floor and going through 3 guides and stopping on the 4th, pulling the tip 2 sections of my scott s3s 10wt off. After the first run we handlined the fish in to retrieve the top half of the rod and undo the tangle and finished the fight. Monday ,I switched to a Sharkskin Magnum floater and a flourocarbon 15# leader and got 2 solid hookups. We sited a small whale and a 5ft bluefin tuna chasing dinner in 25 ft of water. Another front came along from the south and stopped all the action.
It was a good outing considering the weather with 4 albies, 3 reds and 30 specks.