By Captain Brian Horsley

This road trip starts like most others , a worn out tape of Mary Chapin Carpenter blasting on the stereo and a bag of Jolly Ranchers in easy reach. However, this road trip is also different. Besides being the shortest from my home-- just 70 miles south on Highway 12-- the possibility for adventure is optimal. February in Hatteras Village is home to the best Bluefin Tuna fishing anywhere in the world! Whatever the fishery, some crazy fly rodder will soon show up and throw flies at them. This is certainly the case with the bluefins; fly rodders have come from the Four Corners of the earth to try their hands and backs on these wonderful creatures. In most cases, tippets and tackle were crushed as well as more than a few egos. Bluefins are tough, very tough. These fish make tarpon fishing feel like fishing for your pet goldfish

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A few years ago, "drop netters" who fished around the inshore wrecks for big bluefish noticed that when a bluefish fell out of the net, they were sometimes eaten by giant Bluefin tuna. This began to happen with more regularity and the word got back to the Hatteras charter captains. At first just a few boats went looking for the tunas. Trolling around the inshore wrecks produced colossal strikes and long battles with these giants. Over time an increasing number of boats became involved, and the more they looked the more they found. Some of the captains started "chunking" over the wrecks with menhaden. What followed was almost unbelievable-- the sight of a 500 pound Bluefin blasting menhaden off the surface. Such an exploding spectacle behind the boats became the norm.

It was about this time some deranged individual thought about throwing these fish a fly. "Tiger hunting with a BB guns" had begun. The year of 1996 was the first year any Hatteras bluefins were landed on fly. Captain Steve Coulter was the first and only charter skipper in Hatteras to successfully guide clients who landed fish. The five largest Bluefins ever landed on fly have all been on his boat the SEA CREATURE. Two of the fish were world records; Mike Reid landed the first 128lb on twenty tippet and Raz Reid 101.5 on sixteen tippet. The other three fish weight 85, 80 and 75lb. Four fish were landed in 1996 and only one was landed in 1997.

This trip represented round two for me. Last year, I was with Raz Reid when he landed his record fish after grueling 3 hour and 45 minute fight. Captain Steve Coulter (Creature) is also and old friend so reuniting with everyone was going to be fun!

There were little changes in the tackle from the outfits we used last year. Raz had a couple of new Sage 1489 RPLX-3 and one from last year. There are as many theories about fly rods as there is fly rod makers. The Sage rods performed flawlessly. Many different heavy rods exist on the market in 14 to 20 weights, so check them all out.

A few things to look for are grip size, and lifting power. For instance, hands get tired and fall asleep during 3 to 6 hour battles and lifting power is the most important thing for long and vertical battle. Most battles become a vertical tug of war, and it seems fly rods are at their most inefficient at a straight up and down pull. The obvious answer is to pull the boat ahead. I believe the fish feel the change in pressure and more back under the boat. A good portion of the fights are under or near under the boat. A rod between 7'6" and 8' might be better and apply more pressure. However, on the down side, it becomes more difficult as the fish gets close and under the boat. The more time spent fighting fish, the better theories will emerge about rods for Bluefins and other large tunas, but probably not better rods because of the small market.

The least important part of choosing a fly rod is castablity. Most casts are between 20 and 40 feet. It would be foolish and irresponsible to try to catch one of these fish on anything less than a 14wt.

All the bluefins successfully landed on fly have been taken on a Billy Pate Bluefin. These reels are head and shoulders over every other reel. I know there are many fabulous reels on the market, some with better drags, prettier side plates, lower start up toque, higher price etc. Yet when it comes to the total package, the Bill Pate Bluefins win hands down. The Bluefins' advantages include a large arbor, big handle that is easy to find, very tough drag and holding capacity for 480 yards of 50lb Cortland Micron backing. Overall, the best feature is the line retrieval rate. When bluefins shallows their angle and give you a chance to back down, you NEED to make take advantage of every inch. The Pate Bluefins have been involved in many extended tuna battles over the last two years and I have heard of no reel failures.

On Mike Reid's first trip he discovered a hard fact about backing. An hour or so into the battle, Mike's fish broke off. When he reeled up his line he expected to see a broken tippet. What he found was chaffed and frayed backing. Mike was using 36lb micron backing, Creature and Mike figured the other tunas in the school had sawed trough the backing with their tails.

During the fight, Creature was watching his bottom machine and plotter as he noticed that the fish had left the school and moved away. As the fight continued, Creature noticed the tuna had worked his way back into the school. The school of tunas look like a yellow or red blob on a color depth finder. The use of 50lb Cortland Micron stopped the problem of frayed backing. Whether you use regular Micron or Dacron or the new super small diameter braids is your choice. I personally like where my fingers are! I am and old traditionalist and the new braids scare me. However there is an advantage of more capacity and less drag in the water. The choice is your.

Raz's choice of a fly line set up was very simple. A shooting head spliced or looped straight to the backing, no running line or mono shock between backing and fly line. The shooting heads were from 500 grain to 800grain. I believe both Scientific Anglers and Cortland make shooting heads with 40 LB cores. The leader set was equally as simple. The butt section was four feet long piece of 60lb. the 20-pound class tippet section with 25 turn Bimini Twist and the 100lb shock tippet tied to the class tippet with a Huffnagle Knot. Raz is not a proponent of the loop to loop system for big game fishing. We attached the class tippet section to the butt section with either a Blood Knot or double Uni-knot. It takes a little longer, but he has confidence in this system. Use the method you trust. We also tried the SA Billfish Tapers; they did not have the desired sink rate. The fast sinking shooting heads worked the best, because of their dark color they are difficult for Creature to see when the fish got near the boat.

The flies are the most fun for me. I was the team fly tier or "the fly stylist as I became to be known. The chum and chunk we used was either menhaden or ballyhoo. The menhaden are of the jumbo size 10 to 14 inches! This was the first problem trying to match the hatch! If you have tried to find any billfish quality saddles lately you know they are tough to find.

I was shown some materials at one of the fly-fishing shows I did this winter. The material which worked out the best was Bozo Hair. I tied 12" to 14" tube flies using Bozo Hair. This material is light, sheds water on the back cast and has a wide profile in the water. With a comb and scissors you can "style" the profile to what ever the shape you want. The color fish favor best were natural menhaden colors of olive, white, black, with gold flash. This is really neat stuff.

Mike Reid ties a super Lefty's Deceiver about 14 inches long and it has a great wide profile. His best colors were blue and white. If you are tying tube flies try and find tubes large enough so they can slip over your leader system. The general consensus is for double hooked flies. The hooks I use are the Owner Bait Hooks size 6/0 to 8/0. The Gamakatsu Octopus hooks work equally as well. Stay away from hooks with too large of hook shanks they are harder to get set in the fish. We carry at least a dozen-rigged flies each day.

I am a neurotic fly tier and seldom tie just two alike. This can be a problem. Most cases when you find a fly they like you don't get it back, so you need a back up. With all the crashing behind the boat eating chum you would think they would be easy to fool. Wrong! These fish are tough to fool. I think it is a combination of these factors, color, size, shape and sink rate. The second day we brought along lead wire to wrap around the hooks and noses of the flies to adjust the sink rates. The first day we took pliers and smashed egg weights and made thin pieces of lead, which we wrapped around the hooks and flies. The wire was much easier.

When chumming with ballyhoo a smaller profile fly is needed. A thinner Lefty's Deceiver worked well. We used one tied with Icelandic wool instead of bucktail. This pattern fooled Raz's fish this year. When tying flies for your trip be sure to vary the color, light to dark and several in between. My favorite colors are the natural menhaden colors. Things to bring on the boat are hairbrush, scissors, lead wire and magic markers. The magic markers are a great way to quickly change colors of a fly. We tied our rigs with 20lb Mason Hard Mono and Triple Fish 100lb leader for the bite leader. The hooks were snelled on the 100lb bite leader.

Hatteras in January, February and March is not known as the garden spot of the Atlantic. The weather can be harsh but there are beautiful days mixed in. Listen to your captain. Most of them are tough, and when they say it is going to be rough and give you a choice, opt to stay to the dock, unless you are a real "high seas cowboy". It is hard enough to catch one with the best of conditions, and rough seas make it tougher. No matter what conditions exist, always bring along dependable foul weather gear and comfortable waterproof boots. Fighting a fish for two to three hours with wet feet--ugh! Gloves and a fighting belt are also very useful. Overall the most important factor is good personal physical conditioning.

Before hopping on the boat in the morning, be sure you have done all the rigging you can do. Have your flies leadered, binimis twisted and hooks snelled. At the dock, in the morning, is a good time to set your drag with a scale. Raz started his drag at 7 lbs off the tip and during the fight turned it as much as he dared. Play with the scale, the more pressure the better, ten or twelve pounds would be ideal fighting drag. That is a ton, pull on your tippets with you rod and see how much pressure you can pull. If you don't spend a lot of time on a boat, doing such close work as tying knots, rigging or reading these actives can result in projectile vomiting or just plan old sea sickness, which will certainly ruin a day. At the very least such seasickness will sap your strength; so do all you can at the dock!

The next morning we met at the boat. Raz has this talent for bringing great weather with him. Creature filled us in on the details - slow scattered fishing. That was not what we wanted to hear but such is fishing. Creature was right slow, scattered fishing. We had trouble getting the proper sink rate of the flies. It was slow but Raz did manage to hook two fish on fly. Both of them were out of the question at 300 pound. The conditions were improving, the temperature break was beginning to sharpen up, seas falling out to nothing and sighting of more fish resulted Tomorrow could be the day.

After a foggy calm night we meet at the dock for day two. The conditions were perfect, so was the fishing. The fleet found fish up and down the temperature break. When cold water meets the hot water it forms a sharp edge or break. There can be as much as a 20-degree change. It is quite visible blue water denotes warmer temperatures and green water indicates cold. This change sometimes forms a "buffet line" for tunas and other species.

The word from the fleet is tunas are everywhere. We started chumming a "scratch" and shortly Mr. Bluefin showed up. They were hungry but still stayed deep. Raz hooked shortly after the fly settled down with the chum. TOO BIG!!! I handed another rigged rod out to Raz. Another hook up another parted leader. we went through this routine for the better part of the morning.

Finally, a hook up with what seemed to be the fish. Creature called over 125lbs. The first 20 minutes is critical, and if you survive this, your chances increase greatly on landing the fish. Bluefin action can be crowded with other boats and sometimes that can be a problem. This fish was taking us into a group of other boats, Creature was on the radio telling the other Captains the situation all were more than helpful. All, that is, except one. It happened to be the biggest boat in the fleet and the captain's ego was even larger. He was no help and ended up cutting Raz's fish off......... stupid son of ^#$&@)$# !!!

Anyway, such episodes all part of a day. We ran down the change to escape the other boats. The chum was throw over the side and as it settled more chum was throw, then a little more. Here they came, swirling around eating the chum and flaring off our fly. Butch Austin, Creatures' mate started chumming with ballyhoo and we switched flies -AGAIN!

As the next bunch of chum drifted down, Raz drifted a large gray Lefty's Deceiver. I was in the salon rigging another fly rod when I heard the stomach-knotting whine of backing leaving the reel- FAST! It was about noon when Raz hooked this fish, which he claimed was decent but not record size. The first 30 minutes went easily, so it was time for the team to rest, and the rest was up to Raz and Creature. This fish crossed the change at least 10 times dragging the backing through the thrash and grass that usually gathers on a change. Creature and Raz changed the angle of the pull at every opportunity. Good communications between the skipper and angler is essential.

Two and half-hours into the fight I climbed up in the bridge with Creature to take pictures. The fish was close- crunch time! Tunas make big circles as they come to the top. When the circle turns to the boat that is the time to gain line and pump him up. The circles were almost at the top; we could see the fish. One more circle and the fish would be ours! Butch reached down deep and stuck the Bluefin as his circle turned away from the boat. First Bluefin of 97 on the fly was in the boat as high fives exchanged by all. With the in-boat pictures done we turned and headed to the dock. This is a team sport and the true professionalism of Creature and his mate Butch Austin helped sway the odds! Being in the ocean is a highly additive activity even on a bad day but when it all comes together watch out! There is no better high than sitting in the salon reliving the days' successes on the ride in.

If you want to try your hand at "hunting tigers with BB guns" the season on Hatteras Island usually runs from early January until mid March. Capt. Steve (Creature) Coulter is the pioneer for Bluefin fly-fishing. There are other captains now interested in taking fly fisherman as well. The best way to find them is to call Creature or check with Hatteras Harbor Marina, Oden's Dock or Teaches Lair Marina. There are several hotels available in Hatteras and Buxton. Holiday Inn Express in Hatteras Village and Comfort Inn Buxton. Frisco Rod and Gun in Frisco is the only local fly shop. They stock some flies and materials. See you down there.

The last couple of years saw the bluefins spread out and fly fishing opportunities were slim. The cold weather in January of 2000 helped to bunch the bluefins back up off the coast of Hatteras. As in years past egos were bruised and tippets broken by bluefins this winter. Many fly anglers fought epic battles only to taste defeat after 2 to 4 hour battles. Steve Hutchins is a world-class light-tackle angler, and along with his wife holds numerous line class records. Both Steve and his wife have started to get serious about fly fishing over the last year or so. This February they went to Hatteras and fished with Capt. Brenner Parks on his boat the Smoker. Steve hooked up first and landed his 129-pound beast in a staggering 55 minutes. Steve's wife Theresa then hooked up but straightened a hook after 40 minutes. Steve then hooked up again and landed another over 100 pounds in under an hour. This fish was released alive. Steve’s 129-pound fish broke Mike Reid 20-pound tippet record from 1996.

One of the most amazing things about this catch was Steve’s fly. For years we always used huge flies. Steve was using a 4/0 Half-and-Half! Steve told me his secret was to make the mate cut the chum to match the size of the fly!

Brian Horsley started fishing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the mid 70's catching big bluefish in the surf, and started his guide service FLAT OUT in 1992. 

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