And boy was I glad I did. After the brutal winter we had, it’s so refreshing to have summer bearing down on us rapidly.

I started out just drinking coffee at the pier in Emerald Isle shortly after sunrise. It quickly became obvious that today would be an excellent day to be at the beach or on the water searching for fish. After a couple cups of coffee I decided to go fishing.

I started out in the marsh behind my house looking for finger mullet to use for bait. Last week they were everywhere. However today there were none in my area. So I headed to one of my favorite spots, the point in Emerald Isle.

This place used to hold a lot of fish at pretty much any time of year. But since they fixed the inlet much of it has filled in with sand. Either way it is a good place to wet a line and work on the tan.

From Cedar Point it can be quite a paddle if the conditions are not wokring in your favor. Today I left on a falling tide and little wind. So the tide carried me right to the point.

Once I arrived I netted some bait with my trusty cast net. I also netted some mullet that were too large.

Every few minutes a school of large mullet would come by and hang out with me for a while. I also had the occasional vacationer stop by to see what I was catching.

The action was slow when I first arrived. Likely because the tide had gone slack, and I usually have the best luck here on a falling tide. I had all the right fishing tackle; I used live bait, shrimp, and every variety of lure.

Then as the tide came in a few feet, so did the fish. I started catching chopper blues like crazy. I finally had to stop fishing and catch plenty of bait, then go back to fishing to make the most of the bite.

I got into several runs of blues this size. They ranged anywhere from 15 to 18 inches. Using my ugly stick rod and Penn reel, they never stood a chance. All fish were released unharmed to swim and fight another day.

Now it’s time for a shower because I smell like fish and time to hit an Emerald Isle restaurant for dinner and/or check out the night life.

I left Cedar Point at about 11am. The tide was coming in and the wind was blowing out of the south at about 5mph. So I had to fight against both of them. However, it was not so bad because it just felt good to be out kayaking.

It took me about an hour to reach my destination. The closer I got to the inlet and Emerald Isle the clearer the water was getting. By the time I arrived at the island across from the coast guard station I estimate there was probably 10 feet or so of visibility in the water.

This spot has been productive in colder times of the year so I figured there may be some fish hanging around there. I baited up some cut mullet, and dropped it in. I also was using some Berkley Gulp jerk shad. Sadly neither of the two were producing any bites.

But it was so nice I just enjoyed being anchored up out there soaking up the sun. In fact I got my first sunburn of 2010. A sure sign that winter is on the way out of here. I was not alone in my idea of paddling around this area in pursuit of fish. Another paddler in a canoe showed up shortly after me.

There were also plenty of power boats in the area. But I didn’t see anyone catching any fish. Perhaps the fish don’t realize it’s spring time yet? Though I’m sure they’ll be biting like crazy as the water temperature rises.

On the way home the tide had switched to outgoing and the winds picked up a bit. There was some one to two foot chop I had to deal with, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Took me just about as long to get home as it took to get to Emerald Isle.