Saturday fishing

Started off the day with a half day trip with Chris and Brian. The winds started out light from the west early but quickly switched to the north and east. We fished a flat that has had three large schools on it early and ran over one school with the low light in the morning combined to the deep silty water. Chris struck first with a fat 28 inch fish he stuck on a weightless soft plastic. We decided to make a mover shortly after Chris stick this fish. The next flat had some nice fish suspending in the grass with the high water. The boys pitched soft plastics to them but they were not interested. The fish were shut down early with the cooler high water. I dropped my guys off at the dock mid day and picked up my wife who was eagerly awaiting a redfishing trip. It was our first trip fishing together this calendar year. We hit 4 flats in the very windy conditions and ran over two schools on two different flats. Water clarity from the extreme full moon tides had the water all messed up. The last flat we hit was very productive. Shannon stuck two smaller slots first then she stuck 5 more in short order from 24" to 27." She was pulling them out of the grass and behind oyster bars. She pulled two more fish as I did and then I stuck a 30 inch pig. All in all a great day on the water.
The fishing should get better as water temps on the flats are nearing 70 degrees mid day. Book your trip now for some redfish action!

Tight lines,
Captain Ren

Friday fishing in the wind

Had a tough time seeing fish in the very dirty water down south Friday. I had two of the top anglers in the area on my boat for a redfish charter. We headed down south in search of some hungry reds. We had strong winds out of the gate and severe tide swing. The water was very dirty probably as a result of the wind combined with the extreme lunar tides. We found some fish early as Scotty and Jason wacked a pair of small reds. Unfortunately that would be the last two we landed the rest of the day. We saw some fish but very few. Conditions did not warrant sight fishing. We cut it off early and decided to try again on better conditions.

Monday Fishing in NC

Got back on the water Monday in NC for the first time in a week after fishing a tournament in Savannah, GA. I had a half day trip with Tom and Bob. The wind was blowing out of the northeast so we fished structure for most of the trip and had great success. The first stop we checked a flat that had been holding a ton of fish from lower slot to 34 inches. The fish were there but the tide was wrong and the water was a little cool so they were not interested in our offerings. Bob made some great presentations with the fly but no takers. We made a move to some structure and it was on. The two had 15-20 hookups and broke off a fair share of those but managed to land about ten of them. Tom had one wrap him in the structure and he flipped the bail like a pro and we went in after him and unwrapped the fish from the structure and he pulled him out. After fishing the structure we went back to the flat holding a large school of reds. We instantly found the fish again holding deep on the drop off of the flat we had visited early in the day. The fish were still very finicky. The tide was rising and I knew we were going to get some shots at the fish once they got happier and moved up near the grass. I poled the two in and Bob once again started presenting a fly to the fish. He had 3 fish during the course of the trip to follow and turn off the fly just as the school got scared and ran into the boat. Makes for a tough sell when you are on a flat that is totally covered with reds and you have no where to set up outside the flat that you could reach them with an offering. Meanwhile Tom pulled two more fish from the school on arties and we called it a day. Great morning on the water and good action for a half day trip.

Fished our first tournament of the season in Savannah, Ga this past weekend. The weather was brutal all week before the tourney. We found new schools of fish every day down there even in the brutal wind. The hard part was figuring out which spot to start at on game day because dead low-our ideal tide was first thing and we could only hit two spots before the fish disappeared in the silty water as the tide rose. We had seven solid low water spots to pick from and all were within a two mile radius. We chose a school of fish we had found just the day before the tourney as out A spot. The school of fish at this spot was massive with about 300 fish in it from 16-32 inches. We were unable to locate the school early so we hit our B spot. After having trouble locating the fish there due to the light and wind shimmer on the water we found them in a spot we had not seen them before. The fish were shut down and freaked out in the gin clear cool water. We left that school to hit another school in which we had not caught but one good upper slot in pre fishing. Good call because we found a large school of upper and just over slots in short order. We had a double hookup with our first casts in the school. One perfect 23 in which was our heaviest fish of the tourney and a 21 incher. After a few more small reds and an overslot we moved on to another spot. The fish were not home at the next spot so we went back to our a spot to try to find the fish on higher water. Luckily the fish were right where they were the day before but we were unable to get them to eat. At this time the tide was high and we only had an hour and a half to fish before we had to head back to check in. We went to our high tide spot that we had not seen a boat on all week and found a friend of ours from the area on the same flat. We started at the opposite end of the flat and poled down to let the other team continue to work the flat towards us. Once they poled down both teams continued to wack fish. We caught about 25 fish in short order and culled out the small fish 3 times. Headed back to weigh in knowing we had good weight we got back to weigh in early which is very rare for us. We ended up with 8.89 lbs for two 23 inch slots-this is upper end of the slot for SC. This secured a third place finish for us to start the season off right.

I saw more "schools" of fish in one week in Savannah than I have ever seen anywhere in the country. They have a great fishery there and I cannot wait to fish there again.

The next day I decided to stay and fish the kayak tournament down there. I had not been in a kayak since 2008 on a trip to the mosquito lagoon with Drew before Sunday. I had forgotten how bad it sucked fishing from a yak. Just kidding. I put in at a spot we had send some fish at high tide but never stuck a fish-yes it was a risk knowing I had about 30 spots to choose from in paddling distance that we knew over slots were hanging. I ended up catching 36 fish in the first 2 hours of the tourney with my largest being 27.6". I pulled to over slot fish as they popped my jig right at the yak. Man it was cool seeing spots I could never had fished at low tide in a boat. Decided to try another spot we never stuck a fish but ran over some in murky water. Good move caught several more in several different spots on the front side of the island. Headed back to the shore and washed my gear and organized my stuff for the ride back to weigh in. When I got in the truck I saw where it was going to take me way more time to get to check in than I thought. I ended up getting DISQUALIFIED for being 2 minutes late. Yes it sucked but I would not have placed anyway. I would have finished 4th. Stupid mistake but had a great day on the water wacking fish in the super skinny.

Winter Fishing

This winter the weather was brutal. We had snow a handful of times with two storms that left behind over 4 inches of snow. The water temps hit lows we have not seen in my lifetime in our area. I was catching redfish in December and January with ice on top of the water. I was breaking the ice with my jig heads to get to the reds. I had several good days even in the extreme temps and high winds.
Fishing has been good lately although the water temps are still cold. This week the water temperature was 49 degrees in the morning. The water warmed up to the mid fifties all week as the air temps were in the fifties with very high winds out of the NE. Early in the week I fished the Cape Fear River and saw several fish although the winds were over 20 mph sustained. Fish were lethargic although they were in great numbers everywhere I fished. Water was silty and the fish were just sitting on the bottom-not feeding. Picked up only a handful of fish in two trips south. Decided to fish the Masonboro area for two charters later in the week. Water was clear even with winds of 20 mph. Found several schools of fish-smallest was 75 fish or so with the largest school being almost 300 fish. Four of the schools were very skittish in the clear, cold water. Fish ranged in size from 16" to over 30".

Last weekend Hurricane Drew and I went down to Savannah, GA to pre fish for the upcoming IFA Redfish Tour event there next week. We found several schools of fish in Savannah with fish ranging from lower slot to over thirty inches. Hopefully we will find the right two next week during the tournament.