Crystal Coast- NCCHARTERFISHING- Fishing- Swansboro, Emerald Isle, Morehead City

FISH'N4LIFE CURRENT AVAILABILITY.

2009-07-12T21:13:00.002-04:00

Hello Folks, I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of your support with both the tv show and in using my charter service. We've been real busy fishing mornings and afternoons lately and having fun too! Come on out and enjoy a morning or afternoon for some absolutely incredible fishing onboard the most comfortable and coolest rides on the water! Here is a list of my current available dates through mid August. call now to ensure your desired date!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174
336-558-5697

July Mornings: 20,21,25,29,30,31

July Afternoons:14,16,20,21,22,23,27,29,30,31

August Mornings: 3,4,6,7,10,11,12

August Afternoons: 3,4,6,10,11,12,13

Carolina Slam! 7 Target Species Today!

2009-07-12T20:59:00.005-04:00

Wed. July 8th

Today was a beautiful morning... heck, a beautiful day! I had Lee Brinton and crew onboard from PA. These guys informed me that they had never saltwater fished before soooo, I decided to try and show them as many species as possible! check this out, We started out just outside Bogue Inlet on an awsome Spanish bite... I'm not talking about those little Spanish everyone is pulling hardware for... these spanish averaged 4 to 6lbs! In a couple hours of intense action we landed and iced down 15 spanish mackerel with the smallest fish at 3lbs and the largest about 1oz. under 6lbs. These guys were also lucky enough to fight and land 3 Kings from 6 to 8lbs. Everything was caught on 10lb Spinning Tackle! Great Job! When the surface action slowed we dropped down a couple lines and picked up a couple flounder and a decent Seabass.... Then, with absolutely no wind or drift, we decided to take advantage of the shallow capabilities of this 2410 Ranger Bay and hit the skinny backwaters for a couple hours in search of Trout and Reds. We hit a few areas that proved to be very good and were able to add 3 nice Speckled Trout, 3 (2-3lb) black drum, and 3 pretty redfish to the catch which gave us a total of 28fish and 7 Target Species for the day! Super job folks! Send me your pics asap and I'll add them to the report!
-Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE Charters
252-764-2174
336-558-5697
jcronk@ec.rr.com

7/6/09 Wow! Black and Red Drum!

2009-07-06T22:13:00.002-04:00

Well, due to all the storms today the Carter Crew and I had to cut it short after only 4 hours on the water... But, what a 4hours it was. Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Lee Carter's whole family including wife Karen, son Jared, and daughter Hannah. We did some family style fishing with live shrimp and corks. After 3hrs of fishing our arms were about wore out. These guys landed about 10 Reds (two oversized) and 9 black drum from 2 to 3lbs along with one pretty Speckled Trout! We had to pop up the big umbrellas to avoid the rain but the fun continued!
Thanks Guys!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174
336-558-5697
jcronk@ec.rr.com

Early JULY "Flounder, Reds, Speckled Trout and Black Drum"

2009-07-06T21:42:00.005-04:00

ps. My client was so focused on his wifes 5lb Trout that he left her head out of the pic... ha ha... not cool man... she will be on your case now!

Sorry for the delayed reports folks but, I've been fishing almost everyday. Allday! I love it! Anyway, here's an update on what Mike and I have been doing. The ocean waters have been really good to us this season on the Summer Flounder. Mike and I have both run about half a dozen trips targeting nearshore flounder and have averaged 10 to 20 flounder in about 4hrs of fishing. We catching all sizes from short 14in fish to 5lbers! We're mixing it up a little in the early am hours with a few Kings, Spanish, and occassionally a Mahi before moving on the flounder.

The Backwaters are putting out plenty of Flounder, Redfish, and some beautiful Black drum this season. In fact, on my trip today (in all the T-storms) we spent 3hrs working live shrimp on slip corks and wound up landing 8 Reds from 21in to 27in. and 9 Black drum from 2 to 3lbs. as well as 1 nice speckled trout. Every now and then we've been able to find a school of trout and put up 10 to 20 in an hour or two of fishing. Sorry for the delay on pics. My "NEW" waterproof camera that I purchased at Best Buy in MHC quit only 32 days into its use... they said they had to ship it off for repairs and couldn't supply a replacement... I won't be buying another camera from this store again! But, fortunately, several clients have taken some pics onboard and sent them back to me to post. So, enjoy the few we have until the camera comes back.

-ps. Mike and I still have some open dates in July. Call to set up your trip! Our clients come first, the fishing show comes second!

Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS

252-764-2174

336-558-5697

2009-06-27T22:53:00.002-04:00

Well, it's been nice this week. All of the high water has brought a few Speckled Trout inside. The high water has also offered up some good redfishing action. Here's a recap of Friday and Sat. trips.

Friday AM. - Donald S. crew onboard. We got on a decent trout bite early and landed about 12 Troutfishing from 14 to 18in. Then, we ran back to Swansboro and got on a quick Sheepshead Bite and kept 4 about a pound each.

Friday PM- This afternoon a had a group of 4 onboard for some backwater action. Conditions quickly got tough and we had to deal with 25mph winds but fortunately the tide was extremely high and offered up some good locations to catch a redfish. We wound up pounding out some shorelines using live bait and landed 4 nice slot reds, and 8 under slot reds along with a big black drum. And enjoyable day on the water!

Sat. AM- This morning I took out the Umstead crew. We pulled up on my hole early and worked it over for a while. We were able to hook up with about 15 Trout and Kept 9 pretty trout and a few other fish to mix it up including 3 black drum, a couple nice chopper blues, and 4 Black Tip Sharks.. Great Job Guys!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174

Thursday 6/25 Insore Slam +More!

2009-06-27T22:44:00.003-04:00

Well, it was Dad's last day in town and we decided to take it easy and work a few holes inside. We spent some time getting some live shrimp and then moved from spot to spot easing the powerpole down and working a few shrimp then moving on... by lunch time we had a good mess of fish we had to clean up for him to take back to GA. We wound up landing 28 Speckled Trout and kept 14 from 14in. to 19in. We were also able to pick up a black drum, a 2.55lb flounder, and a 23in and 25in Redfish. What a great morning on the water with Dad!
Capt. Jeff Cronk

6/24/09 Bottom Fish Blitz!!!!!!!

2009-06-24T22:41:00.003-04:00

WOW! Well, Capt. Mike Taylor, Myself, Dion Lynn and our Camera Man headed offshore on this pretty weather day in our 24 Ranger Bay Boat and shot a bottom fishing show from morning till just after lunch. What a Bite! We wound up with 15 Grouper and kept our limit of 8 to 15lbers, 61 Trigger fish (left them biting every drop), a nice Mahi, a few Spanish, and a mess of Amberjack! We were absolutely wore out by noon! Great day on the water and should be a great show... look for it this Sunday or the next on Carolina Fishing TV! Guess it's time for a cookout!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FIS'N4LIFE
252-764-2174 336-558-5697

Capt. Mike Taylor
Taylor-Made
252-725-2623

6/23/09 Flounder, Kings, Spanish, AJ's

2009-06-24T21:43:00.003-04:00

Tuesday, 6/23 - Finally, I got a chance to relax with family and do some fishing! Ha Ha, anyway, My Father (Tom) and brother (Brian) were in town for the week and it didn't take much asking on their part to get me on my new boat and cover it with blood. Dad, myself, Brian and his friend Justin left Dudley's around 6am loaded down with menhaden hoping to get on a good nearshore bite. We targeted some ledges and AR's between 4 and 10 miles offshore and had some good luck! We wound up hooking up and releasing quite a few Amberjack, boated a few Kings (and lost a good sized one to a Cuda) picked up a couple Spanish mackerel, and culled through 28 flounder to keep 9 from 1.5 to 4.85lbs. Congrats to Justin and Brian on their Big AJ's and all those flounder. Congrats to Dad on his 4.85lb Flounder (sorry it was a couple oz. shy of a NC Citation).

6/19/09 Nearshore Surface Action

2009-06-19T22:13:00.003-04:00

This morning I had the Vinson group onboard for a 6hr trip and we opted to take advantage of the calming seas.... Well, it wasn't so calm at daybreak but I got much prettier as the morning went on. We started out with 3 to 4ft slop and chop and a 12 to 15mph wind but by 10am it dropped out to under 10mph winds and a 2 to 3ft sea. We worked some live bottom near the beach and got on a decent bite considering there were 40 or more boats around that were complaining about not a single bite all day. We were fortunate enough to land a couple King Mackerel, a Spanish, a few 25 to 30lb AJ's and nice Gaffer Dolphin. We had a handful of short strikes and fish that pulled the hooks too. Koodos to Angela today... this chic battled a 30lb AJ for 15min. with a locked drag... didn't complain... and when the battle was over and she landed the fish... she said she was ready to go again! Most folks complain about worn out arms after a battle with these brutes! Way to go Guys! Thanks for your support! It was great having you onboard!
-Capt. Jeff Cronk

6/18/09 Reds, Flounder, Sheepshead!

2009-06-18T20:39:00.002-04:00

Well, with Chris, Tony, and Travis aboard I pulled away from the dock this morning around 6am. We were hoping to fish the ocean but, with seas at 4 to 5ft and one of the crew having just gotten knee surgery, we opted to stay in the internal waters. We started out working for Redfish on the higher tide. Over the course of several hours we found a few locations holding reds and landed 10 reds along with 3 flounder using jighead tipped with Berkley Gulp and Powerbait. We also landed a few on Spinner Baits. Later we moved on and tried some boat docks for flounder. We released 9 flounder that fell just short of the 15in mark. The tide made its change and we decided to try the sheepshead bite. We spent about an hour and had dozens of strikes putting 6 in the cooler with the largest at 2.5lbs. Great Day Guys! See ya again soon.
-Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174
336-558-5697

6/16 Slow Morning/ Great Afternoon

2009-06-18T20:28:00.002-04:00

This morning I had the Charles Walker Crew onboard. We attempted to fish the ocean but the seas were tough. It started out at 2 to 4ft. and we eased out to an area that's been producing a good surface bite. Well, not long into fishing and the storms began rolling in from the approaching front. We hooked up a king mackerel and a 4lb Spanish along with few sharks, then the seas picked up and our crew wasn't feeling the best so, we headed inside to finish up the morning. Slow morning with the East Winds.

This afternoon was a little nicer than the weather man predicted. I headed back out with Rick Meyers, his son, and brother. We went and loaded down the livewell with shrimp, tied on the popping corks, and worked some nearby bays for Reds. We started out picking up a few black drum about 2lbs. Then, after working several pieces of Shoreline we got on a school of reds ranging from 17in to 24in. We picked up about 20 redfish before heading back to the dock. Great Job Guys!
-Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174
336-558-5697
ps. I apologize for the lack of photos this week. My new "waterproof camera" wasn't so waterproof. After two weeks, it quit and Best Buy said it'll be 2 to 3weeks before they can get it back to me. Fooey! Anyway, several of my clients are taking photos and I'll post the pics with these reports as they arrive via email.

6/13- 6/14 Trips Redfish, Sheepshead, and Flounder

2009-06-17T09:37:00.002-04:00

6/13/09
This morning I had Mike J. and his father in law, Bruce aboard. These guys made a long haul from Richmond to get some qaulity fishing time in. We started out in the morning chasing down some reds. We located a decent sized school of fish that weren't wanting to cooperated. We followed them for a while, landed a couple, then moved on. We hit several other locations to boat a few more reds and a couple flounder then, we finished up the morning locking up the convicts (sheesphead) in the cooler! Great fishing with you guys as usual!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174
336-558-5697

6/14 Chris White, his wife Erin, and her Father were onboard this morning wanting to hunt Redfish. We spent several hours in the early am. following a school of redfish that were being very picky. We caught one out of the school and decided to switch things up a little. We went and put about a dozen sheepshead in the cooler then, went back to looking for reds. We found a good school of fish and caught a few up to 28in along with a nice flounder before the storms chased us to the dock at 2pm. Great Job today guys! Lot's of luck on the water!
-Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174
336-558-5697

6/12 PM Trip Reds and Sheepshead!

2009-06-17T09:32:00.002-04:00

Dr. Brian Anderson and his sons onboard for a late afternoon trip on the 12th. We had a ball catching Sheepshead and Redfish! Congrats on your first Red! Send me a picture when you get it mounted!
Capt Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE Charters
252-764-2174
336-558-5697

2009-06-09T23:16:00.003-04:00

Bob Branch and his father showing off a pair of Redfish they landed during an afternoon, backwater trip. Thanks for fishing with us! See ya again soon.
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE
252-764-2174

Sat. Nearshore Trip with Capt. Taylor

2009-06-09T23:09:00.002-04:00

Capt. Mike Taylor and his crew back at the dock after spending the morning in the ocean chasin AJ's and Flounder. They even landed a 25in grouper on a trout rod and 10lb test Fireline! Great day of fishing!

Capt. Mike Taylor

TAYLOR-MADE CHARTERS

252-725-2623

Sat. PM Trip - Backwaters

2009-06-09T22:58:00.002-04:00

Ryan Pruit's crew stepped aboard Sat. late afternoon to do some inshore fishing. We wound up landing 8 redfish, and a couple flounder. Congrats on that first ever redfish in the backwaters Ryan! I'm glad you guys had a good time. Very enjoyable afternoon!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
252-764-2174

2009-06-09T22:49:00.002-04:00

Wes Weger and crew onboard Sat. for some nearshore fishing. We had a big groundswell and a NE wind which seemed to kill the surface bite but, we switched over to the bottom and wound up landing about 14 flounder with the largest ones about 2.5 to 3lbs. Great job! Enjoyed having you guys onboard as usual!
Capt. Jeff Cronk

FISH'N4NLIFE CHARTERS

252-764-2174

Call for June/July Dates!

Summer Dates going Fast! Call Today!

2009-06-02T23:03:00.002-04:00

Hey Folks, I want to take a minute to thank all of our clients for fishing with us again this 2009 season. You've certainly kept us busy! If you're looking at possible dates for a 2009 trip, be sure to call asap as June and July dates are going fast. Tourism is picking up here along the Crystal Coast and we want to make sure that our returning/ regular clients get their first choice of dates!

Here's what's been going on! The nearshore waters are holding plenty of Spanish Mackerel 1 to 5lbs, Kings 5 to 15lbs, Cobia 20 to 60+lbs, AJ's, Mahi and the flounder have shown up on our nearshore ledges. Mike went out this week and put 14 ocean flounder in the box during a 5hr trip. The Mahi have been thicker than ever!

The backwaters are holding plenty of Redfish, Sheepshead, and good numbers of Summer Flounder... and, the minimum size limit on flounder has dropped to 15in. this season from the 15.5in min. that was in effect last season. There are also some Black Drum and Blues mixed in.

Thanks for all your support,
I hope you've been enjoying the show on www.carolinafishingtv.com and fox 8,14,26
We've got new episodes ready to hit the screen.
We look forward to having everyone back onboard again this year.
Capt. Jeff Cronk
252-764-2174
336-558-5697

Playing with the Donkey's

2009-06-02T22:57:00.003-04:00

Myself and good friend, Rick Patterson playing with some AJ's for a couple hours Sat. Morning prior to hitting the ledges for flounder! Man, you've gotta love the pull these 30 to 40+lb Brutes provide.

PS. Summer fishing dates are booking fast. Call to reserve your prime date!

Capt. Jeff Cronk 252-764-2174 336-558-5697

Capt. Mike Taylor 252-725-2623

IFA REDFISH TOUR - Event 2 - Surf City - RESULTS!

2009-05-24T23:30:00.004-04:00

Team Crystal Coast Graphics, Mike and I, fished the IFA Redfish Tour's 2nd tournament of the Atlantic Division this Sat. May 23rd out of Surf City, NC. There were 44 teams that showed up for the competition. Teams from Fla, GA, SC, and NC competed for a chance at a $30,000 dollar Ranger Banshee Extreme flats boat.

Mike and I had a good gameplan layed out and great weather to fish our spots. The only tough factor today was the Memorial Weekend Traffic! Our first spot produced 9 Reds with the largest at 7.17lbs and 25 3/4in. We moved on to several other locations and picked off a couple more reds but, nothing to upgrade what we already had. A final location showed us a school of about 150 reds and we quickly landed a 27 1/2in fish that was about 9lbs but unfortunately it was 1/2in oversized. A few more fish and we put a 24 1/2in fish that was strong at 5.85lbs. We had a trolling motor issue and decided to head to weigh-in early. Check out the results below.

We wound up taking the 1st Place Ranger Cup Award, 2nd Place TWT Big Fish, 2nd Place TWT Agg, and 4th Place in the main Tourny. Great Day! Mike and I would like to Congratulate Rob K. and Gary K. on their 1st place finish and the $30,000 grand prize boat and their 1st Place TWT big fish! Especially on Gary's B-Day! Click on >RESULTS<>

Mike and I would like to thank Ranger Boats as one of our sponsors as well as the Primary Sponsor of the IFA redfish tour. If you love to fish, and you're looking for a new boat, Ranger not only supports the sport in Fresh and Saltwater but, after seeing how these boats are built at the factory, it's no wonder why they are the best built boat with the highest quality materials available. Our new Ranger 2410's have arrived and they are amazing! About 13in. of water fishing reds on the flats then, running 20+miles offshore fishing Mahi, Kings, Grouper and more in a solid, dry ride! If you're interested in looking at a new or used Ranger, give Mike or I a call or call Collin's Inc. in Smithfield, NC for the best deals!

A special thanks goes out to Chris Ulmer and Crystal Coast Graphics for his support this season. Chris has the most up to date graphics software and equipment and does an amazing job on his boat and vehicle wraps! Check out his work at http://www.crystalcoastgraphics.com/ and look for a pic of our new wraps here on the site soon.

-Capt. Jeff Cronk

The Redfish have Arrived in Numbers!

2009-05-24T23:20:00.002-04:00

May 17th with Todd Rowe's crew on for a morning trip before the storms set in. We found a couple places holding redfish that were willing to strike our topwater baits and Gulp baits. Great job today guys!

-Capt. Jeff Cronk

252-764-2174

336-558-5697

The Reds are Biting!

2009-05-24T23:11:00.002-04:00

LH Hutchins along with his son onboard with Capt. Mike Taylor recently chasing some Redfish in the Boro. These guys had a great time on the reds during this evening trip.

Capt. Mike Taylor

252-725-2623

H918 "Gamefish Act" - Request from CFRGNC

2009-05-24T23:08:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone, below is a quick note from CFRGNC to please act now, this holiday weekend, to show your support for H918. Recreational anglers need to email Mr. Hackney asap.
-J. Cronk

Dear Saltwater Angler,

Contrary to what you might have heard, H918 is still alive. This Weekend, we would urge you to make one last email and phone call to Speaker Joe Hackney, requesting that he move the bill to another committee for a fair hearing. We believe if we can get h918 to the floor of the House that we can win 2 to 1 on the votes! When you send your email to Speaker Hackney, please also copy it to Rep. Carolyn Justice and Rep. Paul Luebke. They need to know that you still insist that this bill have a fair debate, and Rep. Spear has proven to the world that he has no intentions of letting that happen in his committee! Mr. Spear knows that he doesn’t have the votes to kill it in his committee or he would have already done it!

It’s high time for this bill to be moved to where it can get a fair chance, and we need you to “encourage” Speaker Hackney to do the right thing!

Here is Speaker Hackneys email, joe.hackney@ncleg.net , phone 919-733-3451

Copy to carolyn.justice@ncleg.net, paul.luebke@ncleg.net

Please do this now! Please copy us back also so we can see just how many are responding!

Sincerely,

Coastal Fisheries Reform Group
CFRGNC@yahoo.com
www.cfrgnc.blogspot.com/

5/5 Afternoon - Reds on the Fly!

2009-05-10T22:18:00.003-04:00

This afternoon I had the pleasure of fishing with Win Edwards and his brother Dave onboard. Unfortunately, we had a drizzling rain and 20mph winds to deal with but, these guys are tough and they really wanted to catch a fish... Win is part of a Flyfishing group that has a yearlong contest on catch and releases for saltwater species.... well, as if things weren't tough enough... Win breaks out his flyrods and he's wanting to put that little fly into a redfish's mouth regardless of the wind and rain.... how about this.... first stop, I'm tying on a popping cork... Win hops on the bow and starts working his fly to a nearby edge... just a couple of whips of the rod and wham! he's hooked up with a redfish! DARN GOOD work Win! We work the area for a while and catch a few more then, move on to try and locate some more fish. The rain fizzled out... the skies turned clear... it's late afternoon just before sunset and we're the only boat on the water, ANYWHERE... gotta love those afternoon trips! We're catching redfish on the fly, topwater, on jigs, under popping corks! We found two schools of reds this afternoon holding in some areas that there are currently no flounder gill nets in...

Capt. Jeff Cronk

FISH'N4LIFE

For those that aren't out there all the time...I watch all of our bays in the area each season... certain bays hold large schools of reds... I and others catch and release these fish and take an occasional fish home. The fish are there day after day, week after week... until large mesh flounder gillnets are dropped into these areas in mass amounts. Then, within a matter of days the schools dwindle in size, we often find quite a few dead fish (with gillnet scars) floating or lying dead on the bottom, and the few fish that are left are tiny... then, quickly the remaining fish leave the area. Of all the reds we caught and released today, not one died... all were turned back lively, no blood, no injury... I'm not sure where the Division of Marine Fisheries gets there 10% mortality rate from but, onboard my boat and most folks I know... I can honestly say that there is not 1in 10 released fish that die but rather 1 or 2 in 100. These are the most hearty, durable fish swimming in our waters. The only problem is that they can't survive, gills closed all day or night in a gillnet. Instead they die and are discarded. You know, these commercial netters average only about 50 to 100lbs of flounder a day when everything is good.... and yet, I personally know of several commercial flounder giggers that can put that many in the boat without having the bycatch associated with the gill net.

Spanish and Bonito are Here! Everything is starting to happen!

2009-05-03T23:09:00.003-04:00

Folks, the Bonito have been here for a couple weeks now and when the conditions allow, Mike and I are chasing them. This past weekend the Spanish Mackerel showed up in the 2 to 5lb class range too. Wherever you find Bonito, there will be some big Spanish mixed in. In the backwaters we're destroying the blues both trolling as well as casting jigs and topwater baits. We even had a 9lb blue in 2ft of water during our tournament yesterday. We've been finding plenty of 18 to 24in reds inside too with some Black Drum mixed in... and the larger schools of big reds will move in as our tides return back to normal... with some high water... Our sheepshead bite will start within the next two weeks so be sure to call asap for booking your date! late May thru July are the best times for the good numbers of sheepshead. We're already catching Summer Flounder! We just shot a show last week in the Ocean and landed 15 Summer Flounder in several hours of fishing and caught a mess of nice keeper seabass along with them.... check out the show at www.carolinafishingtv.com We're expecting a good Summer Flounder bite this season! As always, we'll be following the schools of Reds all summer... Call today to book your trip for 2009!
Capt. Jeff Cronk
252-764-2174
Capt. Mike Taylor
252-725-2623