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Drew and I capped the Redfish Tournament season with a bang. We went down to Orange Beach, Alabama for the IFA Championship to compete with the other divisional winners across the country. We finished in 13th place overall for the tournament but captured the Cabelas National Team of the Year. We are the first Atlantic Division Team to win the title. The best redfish anglers on the planet were in Orange Beach for the week. The conditions were awful at best for the tournament and pre fishing before. We fished from Destin to Mobile Bay and most areas in between. On Friday morning the tournament director decided to cancel the first day of the tournament and move it to a Saturday and Sunday tourney due to a small craft advisory. The wind blew 35-40 mph all week making it hard to find fish in the area. The wind also blew all of the water out of the inshore areas around Alabama due to the strong north winds driving the water into the Gulf of Mexico. We decided to stay close to checkout in Orange Beach and found several deeper water spots holding fish. Being that close to checkout meant that more teams were beating on the same fish so we had to find a deep water bite that would be consistent on game day. We ended up catching slot fish on day one in a few different areas and on day two decided to stick to our game plan and try to weigh in at least what we had weighed on day one. After starting out slow due to the current ripping we only had a 18 inch fish in the well until about 11:00 am when the current slowed down. At 11am we landed our first decent red and hooked up on the next two casts. Had an upper slot break me off right at the boat and then we landed the next fish with a great team effort. We also did the same thing on day one with our biggest fish. This fish swam straight to the structure and I flipped the bail on my reel so we could go after the fish and pull him out without breaking off on the barnacle lined pilings. The fish came out of the structure once I flipped the bail and put the heat on him and then found a small tree limb outside the pilings and Drew was able to get a net on him. We fished two or three more spots and the bite picked up. We caught about 12 fish in short order and pulled a couple more off of another spot. We upgraded our smallest fish and then moved back to our original A spot from the morning. First cast hooked up and then got broke off on a piling as the boat was drifting on us from not properly setting up in the current and wind. Frustrated but content on the near 10 lbs of fish we had in the livewell we returned to check-in to see how we fared. The only team that had been in front of us on day one crossed the Bay like most of the other teams and failed to get back across. Thankfully our strategy to stay close and weigh in respectable weight each day paid off big time for us.
I am completely booked for the month of December but have openings in January and February. Don't miss a hot trout and redfish bite this winter-book now to reserve your winter fishing trip.

Tight lines,
Capt Ren

2010 Redbone Series Cape Fear Red Trout Celebrity Classic

This year's tournament season ended with a bang. Me and my anglers: Dr George Brinson and Dr Scotty Gould won 6 categories including the overall tournament in the Red Trout Celebrity Classic part of the Redbone Series of tournament to benefit cystic fibrosis research. Day one of the tournament included 35-40 mph sustained winds and a high of 60 degrees. We made a long run north from the tournament checkout. While at our A spot for the day I managed to fall overboard and drown my phone and my watch. My watch continued to work but somehow reset itself 25 minutes slow. This ended up costing us first place on day one in the spin category and just back from the overall leaders.
On day two of the tournament we had beautiful weather with light winds and bluebird skies. At our first stop we landed 20- keeper trout during the first hour of competition. All fish fell for two different types of plastic attached to various jigheads depending on the slowing current at the end of the falling tide. During this time George and Scotty were catching fish two a time and I was unable to process the fish fast enough and take photos of each one. I had over a dozen 2-3.5lb fish stacked up in the back corner of my boat. After the fish moved we moved on to our next spot 20 minutes away and were greeted with perfect conditions to begin the onslaught. Scotty struck first on the mirrodine mini and heavy baits. Next George got a couple on a swimbait. I had pre fished all week at over a dozen spots in the general area and Dr Scotty Gould was very familiar with this area as well. We hit one of his spots first and then moved onto the areas I had pre fished once the tide got a little higher. The guys immediately started wacking trout two at a time at the 3rd spot we hit and I once again had a pile of trout to record and release. (The redbone series is a release tourney and the guide has to measure and photograph each fish before release) Thankfully our disposable camera had only 20 exposure and we maxed it out at our first spot-one less step for me to deal with.
After hitting 3 more spots and catching over 40 trout total for the day we decided to pursue my favorite fish-the redfish. I took the guys to a spot I had found them close by a few days earlier and honey was home. The guys quickly landed about a dozen reds and broke off a couple and pulled hooks on two or three more. They had 8 keepers so we had our reds for the tournament. Your anglers have to catch at least one of each species to qualify for overall tournament winners. We accomplished that and much more with 800 bonus points for catching those reds.
After redfishing for 30 minutes it was back to trout fishing-knowing the tide was perfect at two trout spots we had not hit yet. At the first spot we went it was game on for both guys catching two at a time once again. These were all 2-3.5 lb fish and aggressive. After this we went to another spot on the way to our final spot and picked up a few more. Then the last spot yielded about 10 more trout a piece. Being a little gun shy on time I decided to cut the guys off an hour early and leave the fish biting. I thought they had caught enough to win the tourney so we got back to the dock over an hour early and decided to fish a little more close by until we decided to go ahead and turn our forms in and have a cold one.
Turns out the guys won 6 divisions including overall team champions. Dr George won: Grand Champion, Most trout releases, Most redfish releases, and spin division.
Dr Scotty won Runner up Grand Champion he had one less redfish than Dr George-they both released 28 trout. George caught one more redfish and that was enough to just edge Scotty out in all of those individual divisions.
The two won the overall tournament by a long shot. They had over double the points of the next closest team in one day of fishing in a two day tourney.
Thanks to the volunteers that made this tournament possible. It was a great time for a great cause.
Congrats Dr George and Dr Scotty!!

Tight lines,
Captain Ren