Tournament Trail Charters

Massive Schools of reds in the land of no nets

2012-01-23T00:41:00.002-05:00

Hit the Charleston area Friday and Saturday. If u don't think gill nets affect the NC inshore waters u need to take a trip to the low country for some inshore fishing. We really need to join together on this NC gamefish Bill to protect redfish, speckled trout, and striped bass. You can show your support by signing this letter: http://www.facebook.com/l/vAQGCcHcIAQH4OfLQrEAJ7ZUXD-CSrVfo5u5lDhnBUxXsUg/www.nc353.org
Anyway back to my low country trip. Within 2 minutes of powering down my skiff I saw two schools of fish. Unfortunately flipper showed up at the same time and began feeding on both schools. Not a problem because I was in south Carolina, IMO the best redfishing only second to the Louisiana delta. I eased my boat around a point only 400 yards from my first flat. The conditions Friday were perfect early with no wind and mild temps. To no surprise there were 3 schools separated by only 50 feet or so. I approached the first school and poled down. First cast I'm hooked up to an upper slot sc red. I caught two more from this school and moved on. I hit the next school and wacked two more, then I left the flat and left the other school alone. I was pre fishing for the upcoming low country redfish cup tourney Feb 4 so my mission was to locate as many fish as possible and narrow down the area in which to fish on game day. I made a move about a mile away from the first spot and located several pods of fish including two more massive schools of slot and overslot reds. Caught as many as I wanted and left them biting. Hit a flat about five miles away and found another 75 fish school. Did this the rest of the afternoon and called it a day.
The next day was nasty with rain overnight and high winds. I decided to fish a totally different body water on this day. I started off slow given the water was dirty and the conditions were horrible. Even so I started off with a 27" fish followed by a 31" fish in back to back casts at my third spot. Hit five or six other spots and caught several more reds before I called it a day. Even though the fishing was not as fun as day one pitching baits to large schools of Reds in ultra skinny clear water, I was able to find some protected areas holding fish in the event it is nasty on tournament day.

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Winter Schooling

2012-01-06T22:08:00.002-05:00

Today was the best day I have had on the water in the past 4 winters. The conditions were ideal early with light winds and a falling tide. I get to my first spot and flipper and the crew were have redfish biscuits for breakfast. There were 75 reds sitting on an oyster bar with their fins out of the water trying to avoid being eaten. As soon as flipper exited the flat I let the fish calm down and popped three on DOA jerkbaits. After pulling three from the school I left them alone as to not stress them any further. The school was mixed up from lower slots to uppers. The next school I found had about 100 reds from 23" to over slot. These fish were much more aggressive as I yanked 5 from the school and headed to another spot. I found some fish I could not get to at the next flat so I moved on. I decided to fish some areas I have never fished in the winter. As I was working the next shoreline I saw a massive school of reds hump up about 200 feet from me. I watched them swim down the shoreline about 100 yards and then stalked them. I was amazed at the size of this school. This school had close to 300 fish in it. Although this school was massive they were sitting in less than a foot of gin clear water and were very skittish. I poled down and began sight casting the lead and outer fish. I picked off five or so of these reds and left them biting. It is very important not to beat on these winter fish. These are the only fish we will have inshore until spring and if you beat on them they will get educated and become very hard to catch. Back to the fishing. At this point I wanted to try a few more spots that were similar to the areas that were holding fish. I tried another spot that was new to me and once again I found a massive school about the same size as the last one. I pulled a few out of this school and shifted gears to trout fishing. I tried half heartedly to find some trout with no success and went back to redfishing. The next flat I hit had stagnant water and was stirred up. I decide to hit one more high tide spot and I was glad I did. I pulled 5 fish in six casts and called it a day. All of these fish were upper and over slots and were caught on gulp and category5 shrimp minnows. What a day on the water. After much frustration with my outboard the past 6 months it was great to have a trouble free day of fishing.
If u want to sight fish to large schools of fish in crystal clear water book a charter today. I have limited openings this entire year.

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The last few trips of 2011

2011-12-31T20:00:00.001-05:00

Here are a few pics from the last few trips of 2011. What a another great year. Drew and I won another IFA Redfish Tour Atlantic Division title for the third straight year and we ended the tournament season with a trip to Louisiana. Fishing was great again in 2011 and I can only hope that our winter will remain mild. We need a couple mild winters to get our trout back from the past three bitter winters and massive fish kills. Thanks to all of my loyal patrons and my sponsors for their support in 2011. Hopefully 2012 will be a great fishing year as well.

Tight lines and happy New year!

Capt Ren

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Trout Smackdown

2011-11-14T22:39:00.001-05:00

Hit the water at 2:30 and wacked about eighty trout in a very short trip. Off the water by 5:30. We caught 40 or so trout that were between 18 and 22 inches. Kept our limit for the grease. I caught all of my fish on Category5 suicide croakers and shrimp minnows. All of my bigger trout swallowed this lure. Steve was throwing my old standby DOA cals. Glad to see DMF cut the bag limit on trout down to 4 per person. We have had two cold winters in a row with huge trout kills each of those winters, so stricter guidelines are necessary.

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Back home fishing again

2011-11-10T21:46:00.001-05:00

After a week hiatus from the cape fear region I hit the water Wednesday in the late afternoon and caught a nice 21 inch speckled trout and three nice reds on Category5 shrimp minnows on weighted hooks. Man it was good to be back on the water at home. It is much more beautiful here than the Louisiana delta and a whole lot more convenience. The fishing is not bad either.

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IFA Redfish Tour Atlantic Division Champs 3 Years in a row

2011-11-07T20:36:00.001-05:00

Capt (Hurricane) Drew Arndt and I were presented plaques in Chalmette, La. for capturing the IFA Redfish Tour Atlantic Division title for the third year in a row. We had a stellar year on the tournament trail this season with a 3rd place finish I Savannah,Ga to start the season, a 6th place finish in Charleston, SC, and a 1st place finish in Surf City, NC to finish the season.

BTW-We won a Ranger Banshee Extreme in Surf City And it is for sale. If u r looking for a flats boat totally tricked out and with a Yamaha four stroke we will give u a sweet deal on our brand new Ranger Banshee Extreme. Email: Captainren@live.com for more details.

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IFA Championship Chalmette, Louisiana

2011-11-06T21:29:00.000-05:00

Drew and I had only four days to prepare for the IFA Championship in Chalmette, La. On the way down owner of CATEGORY 5 soft plastic lures met us in Slidell, La. to give us some plastics to try. That is the only thing we threw in Louisiana. We threw the white/chart tail shrimp minnows on jigheads, weighted hooks, and Spinnerbaits. We also threw the suicide croakers in every color matched up to jigheads and wacked trout, reds, and flounder on them. We also threw the segmented paddletails on jigheads and Spinnerbaits. Overall I was most impressed with the action on the shrimp minnows. I have never thrown a paddletail lure of any manufacturer that has the perfect balanced movement and action of these lures. Nothing that I have ever thrown on a 1/16 oz weighted hook has this much action. U can buy these fine lures at: www.category5outdoors.com. Ask for them in your local tackle stores.
We spent the first day close to Chalmette then we headed to Venice to spend the last three days of prefish. In Chalmette we wacked bass, reds, trout, reds, and flounder. Drew caught about 12 largemouth as I was wacking reds on the Category 5 shrimp minnow. He could not keep the bass off the spinnerbait. On day two we headed to Venice. We knew the Venice area pretty well from a previous Redfish Cup event we fished down there. We started catching fish right away in Venice but did not get on the right ones until later in the day. The water level was much lower than the previous trip and we were unable to get into the spots we fished on that trip. At the end of the day I had remembered a spot we wacked fish in that I knew we could get into. It was a good call then because we were greeted with fish tailing, busting bait, and cruising the banks with their backs out of the water. We wacked fish two at a time until dark with a lot of our legal fish over 8 lbs. The next day we fished an area we had never fished 40 miles in the opposite direction. We found the motherload early as we were greeted by 40 to 50 inch redfish schooled up busting 2 to 3 lb mullet on the outside of the ponds. We went into our ponds and found pods of perfect fish all over the place. There were also pogies in the pond with 23 to 50 inch reds floating up on the surface feeding. The water was clear, the pond was protected and full of fish and bait. This pond was also unlike the other areas we fished the day before-it was deep. We knew if the water stayed clear we would have at a minimum 17 lbs a day. I caught one fish that was 25 inches and 8.75 lbs. We fished the next day in some other spots and found a few fish. Day one we run over 100 miles to our a spot to find our clear water pond in the Lee of the wind completely muddy like coffee. What a buzzkill. After a three hour run one way we caught several fish about 23 inches and some overslots. We did manage one 8 plus pounder before we had to make the long run back to check in. We ended up with 13.45 lbs the first day. We were completely out of the championship due to the one baby we weighed on day one.
On day two we decided to go fun fishing and stay close to Chalmette. That was a good call because we ended up having motor problems. We decided to head back to the weigh in at noon with 15.58 lbs while we were on the fish. Had a decent day chunking category 5 shrimp minnows on weighed hooks. Ended up 35th out of 101 boats with 29.03 lbs. After a great year this was a very disappointing finish but we'll be back next year.

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Bait Saver Hooks

2011-10-28T11:34:00.001-04:00

I got to spend todays on the water with founder and president of Bait Saver Hooks-Newsome Corbitt. We fished hard for two days catching over 30 reds and countless trout over two days. We even got a few flounder as by catch each day. All the fish were caught on artificials. If u have not checked out bait Saver Hooks u need to. Check out their site at www.baitsaverhooks.com or simply click on their logo on my sponsors page.

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Cape Fear Red Trout Tournament

2011-10-23T08:35:00.004-04:00

With high winds and weather systems moving through our area all week it made it difficult to find fish. I fished several areas throughout the week from New river to the cape fear and everywhere in between. I found a few trout just about everywhere I fished but no big numbers although most of what I found were nice fish. Only targeted redfish for one day before the tourney and we found them thick in a few areas pushing shrimp all over the pace with their backs out of the water. Had a good day on those fish then I checked some of my favorite rising water spots and wacked 7 fish in a row on a piping cork soft plastic combo. These fished were 25to 29 inches. Also got a black drum. On Saturday morning (day one of the tourney) we had motor issues at the ramp and ended up checking out late for the tourney. We hit our first spot and hung one fish and as he was lifted over the gunwale he fell back into the water. Well we made a run and ended up hiring the same area we found fish eating shrimp and cruising down the banks with their backs out of the water the previous day. The night before the tourney the winds switched out of the North from all week out of the southwest. Needless to say the bite was less than stellar. We ended day one with 6 reds and one 4 trout. We caught several undersized reds as well. On day two my luck started like it did on day one. I dropped my Costa sunglasses before we checked out and shattered one of my lenses. Thankfully I had a back up pair in the boat. We started Day two like day one and went empty handed at spot # 1. We made a run and found some nice trout at a spot I didn't fish all week. Scotty and George were double hooked up every time they hit the school for 15 minutes. Having a few on the books we decided to search for some reds to round out our points. We found a few reds bit they were finicky and only managed three for the day. We headed back to the weigh in and see how we did. As we hung out with our wives and kids enjoying good food and some cold uns we awaited the paperboard to update. To our surprise we won the overall tournament, Dr George Brinson won grand champion angler for the second year in a row, Dr Scotty Gould won runner up grand champion angler, and we won the spin (artificial bait) division. Congrats to Scotty and George to stick it out on two slow fishing days. That is two years in a row we have won the Cape Fear Red Trout tournament and multiple divisions.

Wednesday Fishing

2011-10-19T19:52:00.001-04:00

Got out after the rain today and picked Steve up at the dock right before noon. We got some nice trout at our first Two spots. Got a small red and few more trout as the hard sw wind increased.

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Trout fishing Monday and Tuesday

2011-10-18T18:07:00.000-04:00

Got on a few small trout in the river Monday with southwest winds of 20 mph. Got my inshore boat back Tuesday and took Drew out for some trout fishing. We struck out at the first four spots we tried. Then we hit one of my super secret spots and put a beat down on them. We caught several nice trout from 16-21". Dropped D off at the dock and hit a couple more spots. Got a few more nice trout and called it a day. I kept a few for the grease released the rest.

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Nearshore Trip

2011-10-15T19:38:00.000-04:00

Had a good nearshore trip Saturday. Seas were a little sloppy but manageable. Got a mixed Bag of bottom fish early then decided to make a run a little further offshore. Ended up getting into several schools of false albacore. They were very picky as they were keyed in on one inch bait. Finally figure out a lure they would eat and got a couple to the boat at the end of the trip.

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Friday fishing

2011-10-14T19:30:00.000-04:00

Got out on the water with Scotty and George for some pre fishing for the upcoming Red/Trout tournament. We covered a lot of water in the whaler. Found a few trout and a nice redfish on topwater. Wind was howling and the water was dirty. Hopefully the water will clear up before the tournament.

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Catfish in the Cape Fear. The past three days I was able to hit the upper Cape Fear River for some catfish action. As a kid I fished the fresh waters of the Cape Fear with my dad and grandfather. both of which taught me to fish and always took time to take me fishing. all of the catfish I have caught have been on soft plastics and jigheads. I got a fifteen pounder yesterday. today fished 30 minutes and hooked 6 fish on 6 casts. The first fish was too big to get him up the wall I was fishing. he was an estimated 20 lbs. landed three and the biggest was 12 lbs. heck of a fight on light tackle. this was a very peaceful trip up the Cape Fear. I will be planning a trip with my dad and uncle in the near future to the same waters.

2011-10-02T18:23:00.001-04:00

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More tailing reds

2011-09-26T14:23:00.001-04:00

Today I had the pleasure of having 4 loyal CCA members on my boat. We were greeted early this morning by upper slot redfish waiving their tails at us as they cruised the short grass. We had many shots on tailing fish. As they came out of the grass we started hooking up with some nice reds. Had a few blow up topwater lures but none stayed hooked up. Got one trout as well. Over the past couple of days have caught Spanish macks on topwater plugs, reds on spoons, spinner baits, plastics from Carolina beach to morehead city and everywhere between. Picking up lots of flounder as by catch.

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2011 IFA Redfish Tour Surf City Champs

2011-09-22T05:28:00.000-04:00

This past weekend hurricane Drew and I won the IFA Redfish Tour tournament held at Surf City, NC. This was the second year in a row we have won this tourney. With the win we were able to clinch the IFA redfish tour Atlantic Division for the third year in a row. This is a measurement of consistancy and we have had our best regular season on the IFA Redfish Tour. Now we get to go down and duke it out with the other 5 divisional winners in Chalmette, La. for national team of the year at the championship. We will be defending that title as well as we won national team of the year in 2010 at Orange Beach, AL. Now to the fishing. We spanked the reds on game day. We wacked fish on topwater, spoons, and soft plastics. For the last hour of the tournament we were doubled up with reds every cast. Out of the 5 schools of fish we worked we pulled over 60 fish! What a phenomenal day given the conditions-overcast and hard northeast winds. The weird part was the fact that of of all of those fish they were all around 5 lbs or overslot. We were shocked that our fish won with 11.85 lbs. What a surprise to win the tourney with less than 14 lbs. That tells u how tough the conditions were.

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fishing new areas

2011-09-21T22:03:00.001-04:00

Today I headed North and got back to tournament pre fishing for this weekends redfish action tournament in beaufort, nc. We are currently sitting in second place for the series and need a strong finish this weekend to claim the series. Today i checked out some new Areas and caught fish at most of them. Having said that the fish were not real aggressive today. I sight fished for most of the day but also got a few on top. Broke off the last fish of the day on top. Hopefully we will find a lot more fish tomorrow even further north.

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Tons of Tailers

2011-09-20T22:03:00.001-04:00

Went out fishing today on a mission to find tailing fish on flats I have never fished. Find them I did. I fished six flats and found tailing fish on each one. Ditched the boat and went stalking on foot. On each flat there were several fish. The last flat I hit had the most tailers i have ever seen tailing at the same time. There were 4-8 fish in each corner of the flat tailing. Then I walked a little farther and found two more small flats shaped like a pond. There were some massive reds tailing in this area. I caught three over slot reds and more 23-26 fish than I could keep count. The exude crave and three inch gulps were worn today. It was very windy and rained most of the day. After launching my boat this morning I noticed rained quick approaching the area I was fishing. I poled down right near the ramp and contiplated just putting the boat back on the trailer. I decided to stay put to see if there was any lightning in the system before getting too far from the ramp. I put rain gear on started fishing just as the rain came down. On my third cast I hooked up with an overy slot red. The day just got better and better all day until the wAter left the flats-then I went home. Today I caught more tailing fish than i have ever caught in one day.

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Stalking reds in the grass

2011-09-19T20:48:00.000-04:00

Got to fish my favorite way yesterday after being in tournament mode for the last few weeks. Went to some of my favorite tailing flats and stalked them on foot. Was very windy but the fish put on a show. Went 6 for 7 on them in the grass. The only one I didn't hook up popped the plastic on top and didn't get it. Tide didn't get as high as I wanted so it cut us short on time. Saw several waving tails on the three flats we hit. Got a dozen flatfish as by catch waiting on the tide to rise. Got another red on a spinnerbait.

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Redfish on top

2011-09-11T22:41:00.001-04:00

Got a few reds on top the past week. fished three days and covered a lot of water. Winds were high which made for tough fishing. Found a couple of schools but far less productive than I had hoped. On the water this weekend for the IFA redfish tourney out of surf city. hopefully we will finish strong and capture the IFA Atlantic division for third year in a row. We have some good competitors that r one and two points ahead of us heading into the final tourney.

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Redfish Action tourney

2011-07-29T17:23:00.001-04:00

Had a good couple of days on the water pre fishing for the second redfish Action tourney out of Beaufort, NC. Hurricane D and I got reds on the flats working topwater lures and soft plastics. We got some around deeper structure as well. Conditions on game day are less than favorable. We were greeted by 15 mph northeast winds at our A spot. We also had a camera man from downeast outdoors aboard to cover our day. We eased the boat into position and staked out on our first school of fish. On my first cast I got blown up on a topwater bait by an upper slot. After a short battle we had our first fish in the release well-a nice 25 incher. On my next cast i had another red crush a topwater lure. This fish was about the same length as the first fish but was heavier due to being deformed with a jumped back. Drew was hooked up as well but his fish pulled the hooks. First two casts and we have two 25 inch fish in the boat with over 12 lbs of weight. That is how u want to start on tournament day. We caught 4 or five more reds while having multiple topwater strikes and a few fish that pulled our hooks at our first spot. We hit a couple more flats but were blown out due to the wind direction. We hit an area that bad been holding upper slot fish but only managed one more small red. We head to the scales to see how we fare against our competition. We end up in 3rd place which put us only one point behind in the team of the year race. It will come down to the final tournament on the IFA Redfish Tour and the redfish action series team of the year race. We r just a couple points back on the IFA Redfish Tour Atlantic division team of the year race as well.

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Summer Redfishing

2011-07-11T22:44:00.001-04:00

Its been a while since my last report. I have been in Alabama for a month helping clean up the mess left behind by the April tornados. Some of the folks lost everything they had down there. Let's keep them in our prayers.
OK back to fishing. Got a late start today. I hit the water about noon at dead low tide. Within ten minutes of fishing I boated my first two reds. I pitched soft plastics to three fish and boated two of them. The one I lost hit the bait so hard and ran toward me I didn't get a good hookset. The fish was sitting in water that barely covered his back and as a wake from a passing boat was rolling over him I pitched a plastic to him from 100 feet. Was stoked finding fish on the tide which is usually my least favorite. Moved around a lot today picking fish off everywhere I fished. On one flat I had a 100 plus lb shark that would not leave the boat. I snagged the beast and fought it for nearly 45 minutes before it ended up rolling on my braid and breaking me off. Headed in about five to eat with the girls. great day on the water, was very nice to be on salt water again.

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Fishing after school

2011-06-08T19:40:00.001-04:00

Took my daughter Toddles out fishing after she got out of school. She caught three reds in short order. Two on topwater and one on a spoon. The largest one she landed was 29 inches. She had the first fish pull the hook by the boat and he was a beast. That fish left a whole in the water that looks like a person had fell in the water. We finished up a short trip by catching a few sheepshead on the way in.

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IFA Redfish Tour Charleston, SC

2011-06-06T11:03:00.001-04:00

Hurricane Drew and I fished the redfish Tour event over the weekend in Charleston, SC. We covered a lot of water in two days of pre fishing. We found fish from Georgetown to edisto island and everywhere in between. We caught too many reds to count and many were over slot. We caught fish on topwater, soft plastics, and spoons. On game day we decided to fish an area where we thought the fish would chew the best on rising water when we had from checkout to mid day. Everywhere we had prefished the fish bit best on falling water. We wanted to make sure we caught fish early in the event our a spot was blown out and we didn't want to gamble on a short window bite on the falling tide. We hit our first spot and Drew started hot and boated our first fish a perfect 23" fish. We hit our next spot and i stuck a pig that was just a half inch over. The water was dirty from the wind so we hit our a spot. I stuck our second tourney fish a 22.5" fish but he was also skinny. it was 9:00 am and we had the rest of the day to upgrade. We caught about 20 more fish the rest of the day but every fish was just over 23". It was just one of those days where we just didn't get the right bites. Our a spot got dirty and blown out right before it was about to get right with the tide. We ended up finishing in 6th place with a little over 8 lbs. The finish put us in good shape for the team of the year race with us trailing two SC teams by two points with the last tourney on our turf .

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Great topwater action

2011-06-01T00:57:00.000-04:00

Fishing has been great lately. The topwater action is on right now. Over 20 fish per day have been landed on topwater alone, with over 30 blowups daily. Many others have been caught on plastics and spoons. The fishing has really been incredible this past week. Now is the time to get out there and get in on the action while it's hot.

Shannon

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Weekend Family Fishing

2011-05-31T09:46:00.001-04:00

We took Alexis fishing again Saturday afternoon, after a nap, and Sunday. We did a little sheepshead fishing Saturday afternoon and caught a few but the toadfish were more abundant. Alexis loved playing with the toadfish and a couple of baby black sea bass that Rennie caught. Sunday we went back out in search of the reds. We caught about 7 redfish on top. They were a little skittish and we soon found out why. There was a huge 12' bull shark swimming in very shallow water. I've never seen a shark that big. The fishing and the weather this weekend was amazing. The topwater bite is on now and that's the most exciting way to catch these beautiful fish. Watching them stalk the plug and then bust it is incredible!!

Shannon

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fishing with the girls

2011-05-28T13:52:00.001-04:00

Rennie, baby Alexis and I went for a quick fishing trip this morning. We went to the river and caught a few nice sized reds on top. There was a huge school of about 100 reds. Alexis loved watching the fish when we got them in the boat. I don't think she knew what was going on. We followed up the reds with a couple of flounder. One was a little guy that we threw back and the the other was a nice 18". We had to cut the trip short so Alexis could come in and take a nap.

Shannon

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Fishing SC

2011-05-27T21:29:00.001-04:00

We fished south Thursday and Friday in search for upper slot reds. The first red was 33 inches on a popping cork and soft plastic combo. We saw several reds in our first spot but they were finicky on the low water. We Caught a few more over slots and small slots in a creek. Then we finished up at our original spot where we wacked two upper slots on topwater to end the day. On Friday we fished a different piece of water and stuck a trout, flatty, blue, and pulled a red. Then we hit our a spot and wacked two perfect slots. Fished a handful of other flats and stuck a few more reds of All sizes. Hopefully they will be there on game day next weekend.

May Redfish Action

2011-05-22T14:00:00.000-04:00

Hurricane D and I finished in eighth place in the first redfish action tourney in Beaufort, NC. We had a 26 and 24 inch fish to weigh 11 lbs. Not the start we were looking for. We found some good fish earlier in the week but another team beat us to them and sat on them all day. Went back to where we started the day and wacked six fish in short order. Upgraded our smallest fish and landed a heartbreaker over slot that would have put us in the top three.

May fishing

2011-05-11T22:49:00.001-04:00

Kept 4 Spanish for the table that got the jigs deep

During the past week the Spanish Mackeral and bluefish have showed up in great numbers. Redfish are starting to show up in all of the normal places but still have not showed up in great numbers on the flats. We have caught reds on soft plastics, gold spoons, and spinner baits this past week. There are still fish holding on deep water structure and around oyster points. We have caught several short flounder, bluefish, croaker, spots, spanish mackeral, and an assortment of bottomfish just outside the inlet. Yesterday we caught over 40 Black sea bass on small jigs and bucktails-most of the fish were 2-5 lbs. Too bad the season is closed until June 1 on them because they are mighty tasty. We saw thousands of spanish mackeral yesterday and caught them or pulled the hooks on them on every cast we made to them. They were crushing smaller maria jigs and the like. Kept 4 for the table and released the rest. If you want to fill the cooler now is the time to book a trip. The action is hot just outside the inlet and the inshore waters are starting to turn on.

Dick with a nice slot caught on a jerkbait

Jon with another slot red

Jon with a nice spoon fed red

Old Drum on a Spinnerbait

2011-05-04T07:59:00.005-04:00

46" Beast caught on a spinnerbait

We got this pig on a spinnerbait over the weekend. She measured 46 inches and was caught in 2 feet of water. Way too early to be inshore but we were glad she was. Got a few more slot reds over the past week but overall the fishing was slow with all of the bad weather we had last week. We still managed to cover a lot of water and pick a few fish up on topwater, spoons, spinnerbaits, and soft plastics. The hard southwest winds had the water very low and the fish had pulled way off the banks. The conditions were tough but we had a great weekend with two excellent fisherman. Pictured above is Dr George Brinson winner of six divisions in the 2010 Redbone Series Cape Fear Red Trout Tournament including "Grand Champion Angler." The cobia and bonita are here and I plan on running a few trips this week in pursuit of both.

Tight lines,

Capt Ren

Dr George Brinson with a spoon fed red he picked from a nice school of reds

This red fell for a frog pattern skitterwalk

Fishing the past two days

2011-04-20T23:28:00.006-04:00

The wind has been tough but we have managed to put a few fish in the boat. I had a family of four on the boat Tuesday and we stayed local and fished structure and deeper water. Picked up a few blues, a flounder, and a couple nice reds. Not bad for the conditions.
Today wind was howling from the start. Decided to hit the flats even thought the conditions were difficult for sight fishing. Picked off a couple reds early on soft plastics. Then we got a short flounder. Decided to move and hit a creek and two flats. Stuck a pig and had a break off then we moved back to a flat that was in the lee. Stuck two more fish to finish the day as the winds were near 30 mph. Not a bad couple of days given the conditions. As always all fish were caught on artificials.
The fish are finally starting to move around and break up out of the large schools they have been in all winter. The bite has really picked up this week with the warm nights we have had the past couple of weeks.

Tight lines,
Capt Ren

Topwater reds with Toddles

2011-04-18T14:45:00.005-04:00

27 incher that crushed a skitter walk The topwater bite is on. I took my 10 year old fishing this morning since she was out of school today. It didn't take long. Withing five minutes of splashing the boat we were hooked up with an upper slot red that crushed a skitterwalk topwater lure. It is nice to see that the fish have broken up from the larger schools and are filtering out in the marsh grass and feeding. We got another red on topwater within ten more casts. We left that bank and hit another bank I have not fished in a long time. We caught fish all along the edge of this flat on topwater and my daughter got them on gold spoons. The bite was hot and we left this flat without beating up the fish. Here are some of the pics. Book your trip now for May for I only have a handful of openings left for the month. This is the time of year you want to be on the water-the fish are starting to really chew and there are not many boats on the water. Tight lines, Capt Ren

Saturday fishing

2011-03-19T23:29:00.006-04:00

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

2011-03-18T22:57:00.000-04:00

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

2011-03-14T08:14:00.000-04:00

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.

2011-03-13T20:41:00.004-04:00

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

2011-03-04T21:38:00.003-05:00

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.

2011-01-04T20:37:00.002-05:00

Went out this afternoon to target my favorite species in the frigid water. Water temps never got above 45 and were 42 degrees most of the day. I started out fishing water I have not fished in quite a while, and fished a lot of areas I have never fished. Saw a school of fish in the first area-about 24 upper slot fish. Saw several pods of fish along the same shoreline and caught one. These fish were very skittish and rightfully so-a pod of porpoises came down the bank right as I started fishing. The water was crystal clear and very low. I moved over to another spot close by the first one and started seeing cruising fish and then I found larger schools. I caught about a dozen fish and could have caught a lot more. Left them biting and went trout fishing. The trout were there but would not take my offering. I caught one more redfish while trout fishing and called it a day.

Ocean run striper

2010-12-20T08:27:00.003-05:00

Got out in the frigid air last night to try and stick a striper. Winds were out of the north at 20 mph sustained 36 degree air temp and high humidity. Popped a 33 inch striper on the first cast and decided that after my hands were already frozen from landing the fish that I would end on a high note. The fish ate a soft plastic attached to a jighead. I knew he was a good one when he thumped the offering and started burning drag on my little 2500 shimano reel attached to a medium light st croix rod.

Pamlico Sound Stripers

2010-12-18T14:07:00.003-05:00

It has been cold the past week but it has not detered me from pursuing stripers in the Pamlico Sound. I landed two last night in a short 30 minute trip on soft plastics and lost about a 15 lb fish on the fourth cast. The fish came up and rolled over as I was trying to land him and spit the hook. It didn't take long to locate the fish on this trip. The two I kept were 21" and 28" fish. Hopefully the weather will allow me to pursue some of the beach run rockfish as they make their way south.

Tight lines,

Capt Ren

Cold Weather Trout

2010-12-18T11:21:00.006-05:00

The weather and water has surely cooled down in the month of December. The speckled trout bite has continued to be red hot if you can locate the fish. There are plenty of fish being caught off the surf and around structure. Inshore the fish are hanging in deeper holes in the more stable water temperatures. I have been catching trout on soft plastics matched up to the smallest jigheads I can fish effectively given the conditions-wind, water depth, current, tides, etc. Most of the trout continue to be over 2 lbs. The past two trips have yielded quick action from aggressive legal trout. All of the trout caught lately have been over 17 inches and up to 24 inches. If you can stand the cool weather there are plenty of fish to catch.

I have a few dates still available for January and February. Book now while the fishing is hot and crowds at the ramp are small. This is my favorite time of the year on the water. The redfishing is hot as well with large schools and the best sight fishing opportunities of the year.

Tight lines,

Capt Ren

2010-11-21T11:32:00.004-05:00

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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

2010-11-16T06:20:00.005-05:00

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

IFA Redfish Tour Atlantic Division Champs 2010

2010-09-29T15:19:00.004-04:00

Georgetown pig 30" taken on a popping cork w/ soft plastic

Last Saturday we finished up our last IFA Redfish Tour Atlantic Division Tournament. We pre fished from Georgetown to Charleston and everywhere in between. We found fish on every piece of water we fished and found new fish in several differents spots and water bodies. There is so much productive water down there and some of the most beautiful rivers anywhere with all sorts of wildlife on the banks. We saw several bald eagles up close and too many alligators to count. Some gators were up to 12 ft long and some were just babies. I snagged one little gator and brought him on the boat and released him unharmed. What aggressive little reptiles.

Little gator backing me in the corner

On game day we struggled to find the right sized fish as the tide was not in our favor early. We started out with some undersized fish then I got a 22 3/4 inch red (23" is the top of the slot in SC) then we struggled to find another fish in the slot for an hour or two. Then Drew got a 19" fish in an old standby spot. Then we made a long run to finish the day in a spot that we found numerous slot fish willing to eat earlier in the week. We popped two fish as the water was much siltier and stirred up than the conditions we faced earlier in the week. We both got an oversized fish each then headed back to Georgetown. We were behind one team by one point/place and another one by 3 points going into the tourney. After everyone had weighed in we found out we had just edged out the second place team by one point to capture our second IFA Redfish Tour Atlantic Division Title in a row. Now we have the IFA Championship in Orange Beach, Al where we will compete against the other 4 divisional winners for the national team of the year.

Tight lines,
Capt Ren

Perfect Georgetown slot Georgetown Green Fish

Good prefishing tough tourney

2010-09-19T11:41:00.005-04:00

Hurricane Drew and I finished the Redfish Action series with about as poor of result as the previous two tournaments. We finished last season as the Redfish Action Team of the Year and Series Champions and were runner up the previous year. Hopefully next year will be better fishing on the flats up there. Thank God we are done with redfish tourneys in MHC this season. In years past we have been able to roll up to MHC for a day or two of pre fishing and wack 40 to 50 fish on game day. Those days did not happen this year for us. Yes there were a few teams that cashed in fishing a few areas like the haystacks, Core Creek, and the beach but overall MHC as well as our area have not been what they have in the past. I cannot say for sure what has happened this year to the numbers of redfish inshore but I can tell you the obvious answer lies in the cold water temps for extended period of time the past two winters the last one being the worst. I am not saying there have not been any fish inshore. I have had several 30 fish days this season on trips but they have been the rarety instead of the norm as in the past few years. Ok enough of that. We caught about six fish on game day and my first two fish were overslot and Hurricane pulled a fish and had a breakoff on his first two. I knew going into the day from our prefishing that if we did not pull two nice upper slots early in the day the fish would start moving and it would be hard to get anything besides lower slot fish out of the school. We saw several overslot fish in the school we targeted on game day earlier in the week but could not catch anything but slots then. A

We are only 3 points out of the IFA Atlantic Division points race for team of the year. The final tourney in Gtown will determine team of the year. We are striving to defend our IFA Atlantic Division title so we can compete at the IFA Championship for national team of the year once again.

Fun family fishing

2010-09-14T21:08:00.003-04:00

Took the girls out for an afternoon beach/fishing trip yesterday. The girls found sand dollars and other shells until the flies about took us away. The surf was flat and the temperature was beautiful but when the wind blows over the dunes the flies are horrible. We decided to do a little fishing in the ocean since the conditions were perfect. The bait is so thick out there right now it has everything eating and following. The mullet run is in full swing as they head south. There are also millions of glass minnows and a lot of menhaden as well. We had spanish macks all around the boat as we came out of the inlet but decided to go a little further offshore to tangle with some real fighters-false albacore. They were so keyed in on little bait that I had to go through about 12 different baits to see what color, size, sink rate, etc. they were in the mood for. I finally found a bait that they were crushing a small suspending twitch bait. The girls and I fought false albacore until sunset and then headed to the dock. The sunset was beautiful and we were content with sore arms and big smiles as we came to the dock.

Sizzling September

2010-09-08T23:08:00.003-04:00

To stay September started off with a bang would be an understatement. The trout have showed up in great numbers and they are not dinks. I went out late yesterday afternoon to hit some tailing flats. The reds were there. I pitched baits to several fish and hooked up with a few of them. I erased the pics by accident last night. As I awaited the tide to flood the flats I caught a few trout on the edges of the grass. They were hitting the top all around me.
This morning I greeted several tailing fish on several different flats trying to hit flats I had never fished. I was rewarded for prospecting new areas-reds were all over the flats I hit. Some were crawling through spartina grass with half their backs out of the water. I fished the tide out in several old and some new spots. I saw several fish at low tide and caught 6 or so but most were shut down and not interested in any of my offerings. On the way home I hit a not so "secret" flounder area. I pulled up a nice 21 inch flatty for the grease on a 7 inch jerk bait on a jighead. Caught two other flatties earlier in the day on plastic and spinnerbaits. The reds ate spinnerbaits and plastic. No topwater reds today in the hard southwest wind. Saw several reds crawling at low tide with hald their backs out of the water.
Bedtime now-more redfish stalking in the skinny tomorrow morning.

Tight lines,
Capt Ren

August 2010 Recap

2010-09-08T22:51:00.004-04:00

August was another good fishing month. Lots of mixed bags during the month on topwater lures, spoons, hard and soft plastics. The bait was everywhere during this month. Mullet, shrimp, crabs, menhaden were all thick and the fish were aggressive.

July fishing recap

2010-09-08T22:32:00.004-04:00

July was a good month for me. My little girl entered the world with good health and no complications for her or my wife. The fishing was good as well. The topwater continued to be strong through the upper stages of high tide. Also had some good days at dead low tide as large schools of fish moved onto several flats in our region.
Hurricane Drew and I struggled our way to a top ten finish in the Redfish Action tournament out of MHC although we had some battery issues that only allowed us to fish for 3 hours during the tournament. We were forced to come back to the dock at 9:00am to work on the battery cables that were fried when we gave a friend of ours a jump before tournament hours as his batteries were dead. Hopefully our next tourney will be less eventful and allow us to fish the entire day.

Long overdue update

2010-09-08T21:38:00.003-04:00

Peyton with her 26 incher at HT3 weigh in

Gator trout 29" caught a 25" same day on spinnerbaits and three others around 21"

Nice slot pulled out of a super skinny clear water flat-weightless baits were the ticket

Jody with a nice 30 incher-one of several landed on this day

18 nice sheepshead caught to finish a trip up this day

Well it has been a while since I updated my blog. The short version of why is that I have been busy with charters, tournaments, TV work, and my beautiful baby girl Alexis Cameron entered the world in July. I have been fishing a lot since the past post so I will give an update with pics now.
June was a good month although the mercury was so high the fish were lethargic most days in the early afternoon. The topwater bite was good in the mornings and evenings especially when the cooler ocean water cooled down the flats during the upper stages of high tide. My stepdaughter Peyton and I fished the HT3 Redfish tourney June 19 and finished 10th place. We had a camera on board as we got some nice fish early-most overslot on topwater. That episode of Carolina Fishing TV can be seen at www.carolinafishingtv.com. Were stuck most of the day due to the tide falling faster than I had calculated.
During June I landed several gator trout, flounder, and redfish from Morehead City to Southport and everywhere in between. The sheepshead bite was outstanding during June.

2010-05-25T08:02:00.003-04:00

Mike with a fat over slot on topwater

Danny with slot red on a DOA jerkbait

Small flatfish
Had a half day on Monday May 24th with my friend Mike and his brother Danny. They both got a flounder a piece and two decent reds. They got one on topwater that was a 8.5 lb pig and just barely over 27 inches. There were a couple of nice flounder and reds that pulled the hooks on the short 4 hour trip in brutal afternoon winds and some rain. Very successful short trip at Wrightsville Beach.

2010-05-24T21:27:00.003-04:00

Hurricane Drew and I won the IFA tourney in Surf City. It has been one we have just missed a few times and was finally great to win one and a Ranger Banshee fully rigged with electronics and power pole to go with it. BTW it is for sale for a smoking deal for anyone in the market for a super skinny flats boat. Enough spam-here's how our week went. I charted the first half of the week and found scattered fish then I switched gears and pre fished two days and found lots of fish on day two. Day one of pre fish for me was finding us some low water spots around structure and deeper areas I usually don't fish. We needed a low tide game plan due to the low tide at 9:30 on game day. Many of my flats would not have water on game day except for the first hour or two of competition. I struggled to find deep water fish and finally finished up hitting one of my flats later in the day and crushing them on topwater and soft plastics for an hour or so in rain and heavy wind. The next day I hit 8-10 of my favorite flats and located scattered fish but not the tourney winners I was looking for. Later in the day I hit my favorite piece of water for the first time this year and found nice mid slots every place I went. Never beat any of the fish up but got 35-40 on topwater, pitching soft plastics to cruising fish, and spinner baits. Drew and I went separate ways and we looked at tides, wind, and water levels to determine our game plan. We were going to put some comfort fish in the boat early at three of the spots I had pre fished but changed the plan after Hurricane found two nice flats holding fish in a place we are not so familiar with. We were able to get into the spot for two hours and fish and get out of there before the tide got us and hit the low water flat. Well we miscalculated and got stuck on the flat for four hours and were not sure we were going to be able to get off the flat before check in. We boated a perfect 27 inch fish early on topwater along with about 12-15 more reds on topwater and subsurface twitch baits in the first two hours of competition. We had over 13 lbs in the well by 8:00 am recirculating at low tide as we were high and dry. Can't tell you tournament guys how important a good insulated livewell and recirculating pump is for situations like this. The water from the morning was a good ten degrees cooler than the sun-baked water that was holding on the flat at low tide-which kept our fish happy and well oxygenated all day. When the tide did start coming up our fish started roaming the flat towards us and we picked off a few 25 inch fish dead sticking soft plastics and then Hurricane stuck a 27 incher to go with our other 27 inch fish. We then left the flat and headed to Surf City for weigh in. We were confident we had two perfect length fish but were not sure how much they weighed. When our smallest fish hit the scales we were confident we were going to have some good weight. Ended up with 14.46 lbs and first place. Thanks to the IFA for putting on a good tourney and to all the anglers that showed up from out of town. I believe we had more teams from SC than NC. Hope to see a lot of you guys at the next tournament-HT3 in Beaufort, NC June19.

2010-05-16T21:40:00.005-04:00

Fatty caught in pre fish

Our tourney fish

This past weekend Hurricane Drew and I fish the Redfish Action Series Cup one event out of Beaufort, NC. I got back into town from NEw England the Wednesday before the event so I only had two days to locate some fish in MHC area. I went up early Thursday and checked a spot I thouhgt may be holding fish although I had never fished the area. I was greeted by over two hundred reds in the upper and over slot that were totally shut down. Could not get them to hit anything. Throughout the day I found numerous fish that were shutdown the same way most likely due to the NEw Moon and low high tides during the day. THe tides were almost twice as high at night during the week and the fish were probably feeding on these tides instead of the day tides. I picked Drew up after lunch and he hopped on with me as we went to some of my favorite bad weather spots and threw spinner baits and popping corks while catching two nice slots and a few rats along with a decent trout. Left there and hit my favorite spot in NC and found some nice fish on popping corks. Left them and fished several more spots to finish our pre fishing. On tourney day hit a few creeks with spinnerbaits and put one of tow reds caught there in the well for our first legal fish of the day. Hit my favorite spot up that way and found a few decent reds and culled out the two smaller fish. Were unable to find the schools I found earlier int he week due to low water and silty water. We ended up with 10.88 lbs and 9th place out of 48 teams in the tournament. Congrats to the winners Chuck Fonvielle and Henry McFadden-first class angers from Georgetown, SC. I hope we are able to improve on our performance this past weekend in the IFA tourney on Saturday May 22.

Tight lines,
Capt Ren

2010-05-01T21:49:00.002-04:00

Got a very mixed bag as I did and inside/outside trip Wednesday. Had my friend John Crabtree and his step dad on the boat in the morning. We hit the beach first for some bonito. We got one right off the bat. After that lone bonito we caught blues, some bottom fish, and several false albacore. Stopped by one of my flats on the way in and got two reds one on top. Then I dropped them off and went out for another couple hours. Scouted new water and got a 5 plus pound trout, barely legal flounder, and a black drum. All in all a good day and a wide variety of fish.

2010-05-01T21:21:00.003-04:00

Got this 13 lb blue below Thursday on a jerkbait on the flats

Friday had a 3/4 day trip at WB. We caught about 200 blues, several black sea bass and other mixed bottom fish. Came inside to finish the day and searched and found a few specks in the last hour. Got a few of these on DOAs today. They were really agressive.

Had a great day on the bonito 5/1. Kept 9 that were fatally hooked and tossed back twice that many. Threw about every lure I had rigged up and they hit all of them. Got a few bottom fish as well. On the way in stopped by a flat and popped a small red in the brutal wind on a DOA. Very tough conditions as the water was coffee and blown out on the flats this afternoon. Great day on the water. The bonito were as thick as I have seen them and they have been thick this year.

2010-04-24T22:22:00.005-04:00

Jason with a pig on top

The last three days have been highly productive on the flats and nearshore. Thursday we got on some nice single reds in the skinny clear water and pitched DOA jerkbaits to them. The third cast of the day produced a twenty five inch red. We decided to move around a lot and hit another flat nearby and found 200 reds bunched up tightly between two creeks. Pulled two fish out of them and left them alone. Hit another flats and bumped a school of 75 fish. Pulled two more fish off this flat and decided to let the water warm a bit on the flats so we headed to the ocean to find some bonito. At first the fish were not showing themselves but after an hour or so they began feeding all over around us and we landed nine and pulled the hooks on several more. Decided to head back in as the water had warmed quite significantly from the morning hours and the water had begun to rise on the flats. Hit four more flats that afternoon and caught several nice reds on topwater.

Friday had a half day on the flats. The afternoon started out slow as the water had blown off the flats and made it impossible to get to the fish for the first couple of hours. We had a blow up on topwater on the first flat. Then mid afternoon the water started to rise and my anglers were able to catch a few nice reds on soft plastics and topwater. Had one double on topwater as well. All in all another good productive day with some great anglers.

Double on top

Today I had a full day. We started off on the flats in the skinny early. Water was gin clear and the conditions were great except we had no sun. We found several small pods of fish and my guys were able to pick the off all morning on soft plastics. The next flat we hit we found a school of 25 to 30 nice upper slots in the skinny water and this time we were in stained water. Brad was able to get a nice 26 incher on a DOA jerkbait before the fish disappeared. We then switched gears and hit a shoreline that usually has agressive reds on it. The guys were rewarded with reds that were willing to hit gold spoons, topwater, and soft plastics. Next we decided to hit the ocean for bonito. We just got of the inlet and were greeted with several schools of bonito feeding on top and instantly hooked up with our first fish. Landed a couple more and pulled the hooks on a few. Then the bite slowed and we headed in from a very productive day of fishing.

The topwater bite is on and will only get better. Don't miss out on the best time of year to hit the flats. I only have a few open dates available through the summer. Book your trip today.

Tight lines,
Capt Ren

Brad with a stud

Josh w/ a spoon fed red

Triple bonito

New Carolina Fishing TV Show 1/10/10

2010-01-04T09:43:00.003-05:00

Check out Carolina Fishing TV this Sunday January 10 at 8:30am on FOX26 in Wilmington. Capt Jeff Cronk and I did a trout show in Wrightsville Beach. We had some pretty cold, windy conditions with water temps in the 40s and air temps the same. Tide was really low and water got colder as the afternoon progressed and the warmer water fell out.

Here is a link to view the episode online:
http://www.carolinafishingtv.com/New_Episode.html

Tight Lines,
Capt Ren

2010-01-01T16:56:00.002-05:00

Happy New Years to all. Shannon and I went out fishing on a cold overcast New Year's Day in pursuit of some reds. We never put the boat on plane but managed to get our fill of the elements as we found a few fish that were willing to cooperate. Shannon struck first with a small lit up red to bring in the New Year. After she located the fish I threw in where her fish struck and landed a small redfish in the same spot. Then I pulled another red on the way to the boat. We pulled a couple other fish on a quick two hour trip and then called it a day with our mission accomplished.

Happy New Year,
Capt Ren

New Years Eve Trout

2009-12-31T19:20:00.006-05:00

Got out around 3:00pm for a short day on the water with the girls. This was the first trip I have gotten on the water since I had my wisdom teeth extracted by Dr. Scotty Gould. If any of you need any gum work or oral surgery Dr. Gould is the best there is. I have not even taken a pain pill after three days from the date of surgery. His contact info is below:

M. Scott Gould, DDS, MS

Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology

7010 Market Street

Wilmington, NC 28411

(o) 910.686.4644

(f) 910.686.4340

(m) 910.274.4800

www.capefearperio.com

Well the girls got 9 trout from 14-21 inches. All trout came on DOA jerk baits and Zoom Super flukes. Thought about keeping 6 for the grease but decided to release them to fight another day.

Tight lines and Happy New Year!!
Capt Ren

Christmas Eve Trout

2009-12-26T13:17:00.003-05:00

Well this cold spell and wind has made it a little uncomfortable while on the water but the fish have been there. I have had a few charters and some scouting missions this past week and all were very productive. Did a short afternoon trip around WB last Wednesday and got 40+ small trout with a few decent specks mixed in and one Red. THe day before I got 5 trout and 10 reds in 4 hours of hitting spots I had not tried since last season. We did a fishing show last Sunday and caught about 12-15 small trout and two reds on a bitter and windy day on the wrong tide. Water was in the 40s for the first time this season. Not bad for an afternoon trip in those conditions.
The next trip I took was about 20 miles south and it was very productive. I hit some spots on a short afternoon trip this past Monday and found a ton of 2-3.5 lb tour stacked up. Water was in the 30s all afternoon and the fish were still aggressive. Even saw one trout come up top and bust a glass min! now. Left them biting and released them all.
Today-Christmas Eve I had a charter and my guys got 16 very nice speckled trout on a half day trip. Missed several others and a few pulled hooks.

Happy New Year to all and tight lines,

Capt Ren
www.tournamenttrailcharters.com

Cold water trout and reds December 20-21

2009-12-21T21:45:00.001-05:00

Sunday after church I had Jeff Cronk from Carolina Fishing TV on my boat for a Wrightsville Beach fishing show. We caught over a dozen trout on soft plastics and two redfish. Not too bad for 48 degree water temps that fell throughout the afternoon. Wind was cold and 12- 15 mph but felt much worse. We started out at around 1:30 pm in search of speckled trout. We tried three good spot but the water was too murky from the rains that fell in the area two days prior. All in all a great day on the water given the conditions.

Monday I headed out about the same time as Sunday in the Cape Fear this trip. I was searching for some larger speckled trout and reds. First stop I pulled a 25 inch red that fell for a DOA Cal swimbait on a weighted hook. Then I switched gears and headed to some more protected water for some trout. I found them stacked up in 42 degree water. Caught over 25 in two hours on DOA Cal jerkbaits on jigheads. Most fish were in the 2-3.5 lb range and fairly aggressive.

Tight Lines,
Capt Ren

December Fishing 12/15 and 12/16

2009-12-18T15:27:00.001-05:00

Conditions were not the greatest this week with a strong cold front rolling into the Carolina Coast but the fish cooperated for us. I went out to see what was still around the WB area on 12/15 after two weeks off the water due in part to a kidney stone and the weather. I started out in CB and got one trout as I headed out to the beach in search of some reds. The water was murky and the swell was too much to get close enough to see the fish so I headed to some inshore waters around WB. I got three trout on the way to some of my favorite redfish docks. Then I found a school of 100+ small reds between two docks. I caught 10 and then left them alone.
On Wednesday I picked up two guys and we headed out to find some trout under brutally cold wind conditions gusting up to 20 mph. We caught 40 or so small trout with three really nice ones to finish the day. We also got one red and a flounder to complete a winter slam at Wrighsville Beach. Not a bad day in December with some of the coldest wind I have fished since last season. Come on down and book your trip today. The fishing is still red hot!!

Capt Ren
www.tournamenttrailcharters.com