Water Damage Charters

From Capt Jim Bartlett, posted on Sport Fishing Magazine fishing reports:

I just returned from fishing a WorldCat owners function in Ocracoke N.C.   We had an absolute blast.  The Wahoo fishery off North Carolina is incredible to say the least.  I was in awe! We fished with Capt. Troy Pate and his mate CL on his 330TE WorldCat aptly named "Water Damage" out of Beaufort N.C.  Capt. Troy and CL are extremely knowledgeable of the waters and the most productive methods for catching fish in their area.  I was totally impressed with the amount of lines they pulled efficiently, up to 12 lines and 2 teasers, while trolling.  We ended up over the 2 days with 5 nice matching Wahoo in the 22# class, 12+ Dolphin (lost count) up to 16# and some small Blackfin Tuna and a large Barracuda.  Many cutoff rigs, short strikes and several lost fish (lost count again) are normal when dealing with Wahoo.  We did have 1 fish that smoked about 100 yds off an 80# bent butt planer rod with about 35#'s of strike drag.  Good grief!  Capt. Troy, CL and I could only look at each other with disbelief!  That fish would've been a "picture taker", for sure.  If you are ever in the Beaufort area of N.C. and looking for a good trip with a great Capt. and mate, give Capt. Troy Pate a shout www.waterdamagecharters.com and see if you can't get hooked up to some of those Wahoo.

Until the next report, consider making a trip to sunny S. Florida where winter can truly be a billfish dream come true by night or day.

Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com

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From John C on the NC Waterman website:

Sorry for the delay I have been playing a little catch up from the fishing weekend.  I wish I had more pictures from the tournament but when you fish with Troy and CL (8-10 lines 2 of them being planer rods plus 2 teasers on a CC) and in the conditions we had Saturday you don’t have a lot of time to take pictures.

Sorry Troy but I think you are being a little modest.  We kicked some deleted word in the tournament.  Troy and CL were fishing with a team that had never fished together B4 and most had never caught a Wahoo B4.  On top of that we had two on at one time and went 4 for 4 on the hookups.  Most boats didn’t even catch 1 Wahoo and even less had one that they could bring to the scales.  Sorry about that, guess I’m still a little excited about our success and how much fun we had out there. 

Thanks for a great time Troy and CL!  Hope to get invited back to fish with team Water Damage in the fall.

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From Randy H on the NC Waterman website:

Now that I have the time to post I will say that fishing the tournament was a lot more fun than I thought it would be,those two days were the ticket to make me enjoy being home and when you fish on a boat like the Water Damage with Capt Troy and a mate like CL it makes it even better! I have a much smaller boat and fish nowhere the number of lines as they do.Little rough Saturday but it did not stop CL from putting out enough lines for two boats and keeping them straight and running true all day,it was a task a mate older and with more years could not handle,always changing up baits to show the fish something new and always had that positive attitude as well.Troy and CL are two people who love fishing and getting into a bite and seeing the folks they take out enjoy the experience as well,you can never ask enough questions to bore them and if you want to you can even learn a thing or two while you are out there with them as well becuase if you want to you can help even if you get in the way!Patience they have a lot of as well with the different personalities they have aboard.When you can have a crew that never fished together before place in a renown tournament you are doing something right and I imagine its done right every trip because for two days it was exactly the same. Saturday and Sunday the bites came hard and those that put the effort in and worked hard showed what desire and experience bring to a boat,its a great boat but the boat is made by the crew aboard it who the word quit or thats the best we can do is never said.I truly enjoyed the experience fishing ,the Calcutta Wahoo Challenge folks put on a great experience even with the crappy weather,the Take A Kid Foundation and Hospice both got some help from all those whe entered the tournament and donated their money and their hearts to great causes.Great to meet some NCW member PY-Sully and others. If you want a great ride with a great crew for a offshore fishing trip pick Water Damage with Capt Troy and CL,and if you looking for some absolutely great looking Sea Witchs call CL he will hook you up,some of the best made and cleanest colors on any I have seen or used,I plan on getting some for the dolphin this year,if they won't bite them then they aint there or you in the wrong spot!!Capt Troy I will try and get you that video to go with the photo of the big tuna caught as soon as I can..