Cape Lookout Fishing with a Guide

Brent is the guest author for this post! :) 

 

I have been following this guide for about 2 years on YouTube. Nolan fishes a lot of the same places that I fish and I decided that I would reach out to hire him as a guide. He mentors you on your own boat using your own equipment. We picked a good day, headed out on the water, and went fishing!

Nolan first showed me where to catch the bait near Harker's Island - the secret bait spot. I have been practicing throwing the net in the yard for the last several months - starting with a 7 foot net, then an 8 foot, and finally a 10 foot net - which is what we used to catch enough bait fish to fill my live well. 

First big catch - a 25lb King Mackerel (above and below picture). 

We then caught a few Spanish Mackerel before catching a Gag Grouper. We released it live because it's not in season. 

We also caught one Bonito - gave it to Nolan for him to use as bait. Vanessa was tracking me on the Sat phone - points were not exactly accurate. 

We hooked a big fish, thinking it was another King Mackerel, but after a 10 minute fight and 2 laps around the boat, I reeled in a 34" long Cobia - 2" shy of a keeper. It would have been a nice meal!

Then we were back on the Spanish - caught about fourteen Spanish Mackerel. This one (below picture) was one of the largest - citation size. 

Gorgeous day! 

Our completed fishing journey - circling Shackleford Banks. 

When I arrived home, Kade wanted to pose with the fish - he was longer!

Pictures of the king in front of the boat. 

Had to let Moose smell it. 

Kade wanted to hold the fish too - grabbed some of my mechanic gloves to lift it. 

If you'd like to see more of my fishing journey - check out Nolan's video featuring me and my boat!

First Day of School - Middle School Edition

 

This year both kiddos are at the same school! One time drop-off and one time pick-up, which is nice because there is no longer a bus option for us for this school! The boys are Martin Mustangs!

We had some big feelings about heading to Martin over the summer. This would be a new school for both of them and most of Kade's friends were headed to Carnage. 

The Thursday before school started, Kade attended a 6th grade orientation which helped ease a little bit of the worries. Brock received an invitation from the 8th Grade Assistant Principal who personally helped walk his schedule the following day. 

We were all up bright and early Monday morning, leaving the house at 6:45 for school arrival. Surprisingly, both boys jumped right out of bed and were eager to get through their morning routines and head off to school!

A successful dropoff and smiles when we picked them up later that day! It even continued for the full week! 

This will be an interesting year - the boys have some pretty cool electives in store for them, including TWO elective classes that they will be in TOGETHER! 

Brock has a semester long "Exploring Financial Literacy", "Advanced Chess", "Brain Games" and "The Old Ball Game" (exploring the history and social impact of baseball) to name a few highlights!

Kade was lucky to be enrolled in the yearlong "Beginning Spanish", "Robotics" and "Math Art" and his core Math 7 Plus class is filled only with fellow 6th graders. 

Here's to a great 8th grade and 6th grade School Year!!

Last Week of Summer

While Kade was at Wrestling camp, Brock asked if we could go on a hike. I thought August was a bit too warm for hiking, but agreed on the 1.6 mile trail at Hemlock Bluffs. 

It was very peaceful - and always happy when my oldest wants to actually do something with me!

Kade had some exciting news to share. He was named Wrestler of the Month for his Fundamentals class!

We made the most of the last Sunday of summer with a perfect day on Jordan Lake with Big Mabel! 

After watching the boys get towed around, we found a cove for all of us to swim. Can you believe when Brent pulled up the anchor, he pulled up a huge freshwater clam too?!?

We spent the rest of Sunday resting and getting ready for our big day the following morning.

Huntersville Visit & Camp Cheerio

 

The whole family was able to spend the weekend with our Huntersville family! Brian and Nancy reserved a lake day for us and we made the most of it! 

Kade got right to work lounging away!

As did his Dad! 

We were able to spend a good amount of time playing in the water while anchored up alongside an island before the rains rolled in. They we high-tailed it away while everyone scrambled for cover under beach towels - me included! 

The boat sure is peaceful and put almost all of them to sleep!

With bad storms still on the forecast, we opted to turn in the boat and drive up to our intended destination. 

All the boys! 

And one of just these two! 

.....So we could try to replicate this old picture - they do grow! Brock & Maddox from July 2022 to August 2026! 

We said our farewells to Brock as he was staying with his cousins for the week and Brent and I drove Kade up to Camp Cheerio. It felt strange to do this with only one vehicle and no Moose (Moose was home with a dog-sitter)! After Kade was all settled in to the Tuscarora cabin, Brent and I made our way back to Apex for a kid-free week!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time last year, so first on our agenda was skeet shooting at Deep River Sporting Clays - complete with golf cart rental, of course. 

I wrote to Kade every night (through the camp's online portal) and told him we were going skeet shooting - when we finally received his letters in the mail, he asked why we "always" go skeet shooting every time he goes to camp?! Because my husband loves it - look at that happy face!!

We spent some extra time with Moose - he was extra clingy to both of us after a dog-sitting weekend and his whole family not being there. We took him for walks downtown Apex after dark - the photo isn't the best due to lack of lighting, but Moose was excited to check out the dog hydrant by the fire station! Sadly, this longtime fixture of downtown Apex, built in the 1950's, is no longer an active fire station. 

Once we wrapped up a few days of work, we had our Adults-only Boat Day!!

We (okay, mostly I) talk about this photo all the time! It was taken from Brent's old boat and we decided to try to recreate it. The angle was a little off, which gave us a big shadow, but I’d say it still turned out pretty well!

Summer 2009 vs Summer 2026

And for the full present-day photo! (I took it from the water VERY carefully holding my phone with two hands!)

Meanwhile, I know Brock and Kade were having great times at their respective places! Brock was thoroughly enjoying cousin time, baseball camp - and even a water park day! 

Picking up the boys was a puzzle. Brock was in Charlotte and Kade in the mountains and Moose had to stay home. I volunteered to drive - staying over at Brian and Nancy's Friday night so I could be closer to Camp Cheerio for the 8:30am pickup on Saturday. 

I didn't mind one bit - I got to see these two cuties again!! 

Even though I had to get Brock up early (and early Brock is grump Brock), I was treated to some pretty cool scenery and unexpected, yet absolutely extraordinary flying objects!  

I think Kade had a great time at Camp this year! 

Kade the Christmas tree?

Just a little bit foggy?