A Year In Reiview - 2022 — McFly Fishing

Here we are again, in a new year chasing new fish and making new memories. This past year has been an eventful one for sure. I got to reconnect with many past clients, meet some new ones and have some amazing times. The seasons come full circle chasing different species, lets take a peak at how things went

CB with a healthy winter redfish from early on in 2022

Nothing like some father/son bonding time with healthy redfish in the marsh

Plenty of good Winter and Spring redfish action moved to Springtime Bonito. We had some absolutely phenomenal Bontio trips out there. Early morning action made for solid laughs as the sun came up.

Capt. Will came from Texas in search of smiles and rainbows.. mission complete!

Once the Bonito bite slowed, we turned our focus back to the shallow marsh mud flats searching for gold for the summer. There were plenty of fun eco tours, Spanish and King Mackerel trips, shark tooth excursions and sand dollar missions, but the redfish was king this summer.

Couples that fish together, well yeah… they fish together.

Exploring some new areas payed off well for John.

Drayton from Due South Outfitters in Boone, NC with a healthy NC bellycrawler.

When the heat from summer just starts to cool and the beginning of the North wind shifts starts to show it's face, that’s when we moved into the big boat and focused our attention off the beach for Albie season. Now if you’ve never fished the NC coast, especially the Cape Lookout area for False Albacore, well…. you’re missing out. Albie season started around mid-September for me and kept going and going and going. We had some amazing moments out there chasing epic blitzes, finding some hidden golden treasures and memories that will last a lifetime for myself and my anglers.

The mountain man with some salty species.

After albie season slowed down for me, the wife and I took a little vacay and then came back home to get back in the action.

Fishing took a slight back burner spot due to the new business adventure, there’s another post coming soon about that. But I’m sure some of you know that we’re opening a dedicated fly shop in Swansboro. It will be called Sound Side Outfitters and we’ll have a full selection of all your salty fly fishing needs. More on that to come, stay tuned.

After the paperwork was semi done, it was time to break the skiff back out and get back skinny and chase some shallow water fish once again. Early winter fishing has gotten off to an amazing start, we’re finding groups of fish from 50-300ish and they seem to be happy at the moment.

Just a small group of redfish from a birds eye view.

I would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who fished with me in 2022 and I look forward to seeing you again in 2023. With the fly shop coming and opening this Spring, we’ll have a place to hang out, tell some fish tales and share some laughs. See you all soon!