I've got an upcoming trip to a place called Bald Head Island, a small (~6 square miles), pretty remote island located about 5 miles off the coast of Southport, NC. Some family and I are renting a house there, so we will stay for three days or so - this means LOTS of fishing! I'll be bringing my kayak (a 10' SOT) with me, so I will have access to the ocean, the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and the salt marsh areas of the island - lots of opportunities here. I checked, the "big game" setup I've got now is:
-Medium heavy, 6.5' Ugly Stik jigging rod
-Shimano Triton 200G conventional reel (spooled with Powerpro (unsure of weight) and about 12 yards of 50 pound mono topshot)
Fishing from the kayak, this will hopefully work to catch larger fish, mostly in the river mouth and ocean (ie black drum, bluefish, cobia, redfish, stripers, sharpnose sharks, blacktips, bonnetheads, smoothhounds, rays, and the occasional kingfish, tarpon, or bull shark). The terminal rig I have set up now is 5 feet of 200 pound mono tied with an albright knot (to the 50 pound mono), then double crimped onto a 400 pound swivel, and then there is 6" of 225 pound wire haywire-twisted on, and then a 7/0 live bait hook seals the deal - there's a 2 ounce egg sinker above the swivel as well. If the water is calm enough, I'll ditch the sinker and go with a balloon float. If tarpon happen to roll through, I'll add a longer section of #200 mono and ditch the wire (I doubt this will happen though).
I've also got two spinning setups I will be bringing along - one medium light, 7 foot setup with 15 pound PowerPro and a Shimano Sienna spinning reel as the main rod for baitfish and fishing in the salt marshes, and one Ugly Stik combo for backup. For bait, we've got lots of stuff here in NC - butterfish, croaker, shad, pigfish, pinfish, pompano, whiting, spot, and baby rays just to name a few. These can also make for a nice meal, if I happen to get enough of them (I would rather spend time fishing for larger fish than bait though
). I have a few sabiki rigs lying around that I can use for that, and I can also throw on some smaller baitholder hooks (like 1/0 and some smaller ones as well) with a split shot if I feel like it. I have a few artificials (a few Voodoo baits, Gulp shrimp with jigheads, and popping cork) that I can use for fish in the salt marsh but I'm going to try and stick with live bait. The marshes hold smaller black drum, flounder, trout, smaller red drum, and sheepshead that I can target with this setup (can also go for spanish mackerel if I so choose out in the ocean). For a rig, I'll probably just go with the tried and true carolina rig with a live bait on it (I plan to burn through those Gulp shrimp though).
Does my tackle sound good? Anyone ever fished Bald Head Island before?
