My first stop of the morning produced one small puppy drum, a.k.a. rat red. The area I was in showed lots of promise with lots of bait in the water, but the bite just wasn’t to be. I decided to make a move and try some new spots, but to no avail.

I decided to make a run and while running down river, I saw something on the gps chart that caught my eye. I made a hard starboard turn and decided to check it out. I made a good choice.

The tide had started to rise and I found a point with good current on it. It didn’t take long to get hooked up with the fish. I tried many different baits and swithched often, but gulp shrimp, DOA shrimp and the mirrolure MR-17 produced. Most of the trout caught were in the 14-15 inch range, but I did catch one 3-4lb fish on the MR17.

All in all, it was a great day and I am looking forward to the fall when the trout bite typically picks up. I feel I will have a good trout hole for the fall.!!

Ben and his boys from Dallas, NC had the chance to get in on some of the tailing Redfish and were also rewarded with a nice Flounder to round out the evening dinner.

The fishing for Redfish and Flounder will only be getting better in the coming months with September, October and November being prime times to fish the lower CFR area.

Let’s go Fishing!!!

Capt. Brent

There are still good quality fish around, but the fishing is a little more tough. Water temps are in the mid 80′s and the fish just don’t want to eat. Most of the fish have moved off of the flats and into deeper holes in search of cooler water.

Hard work and persistence will pay off as seen in the pic above. Terrell, Will and myself pounded the water for hours, but were finally rewarded by finding a school of upper slot fish holding in a deep hole that instantly produced a double hook-up. Though Will pulled the hook on his fish, Terrell managed to land his fish.

If you are going to be in the Topsail area or any of the other beach areas in the Cape Fear Region, give me a call or shoot me an email and book a trip!! The Redfish will be right on through the summer, fall and winter.

Tight lines!!!

Capt. Brent

The best bites have been in the early morning from sun up until about 10:00. After that, the wind tends to pick up and the fish aren’t as easy to see. The fish tend to want other baits such as soft plastics and bucktail jigs as the sun gets up and the heat of the day sets in.

If you are going to be in the Topsail area or other areas of the Cape Fear Region and would like to go fishing, give me a call and book a trip. I have good dates still available and the fishing is fantastic!!

Capt. Brent

]]> http://www.currentadventurecharters.com/good-redfish-bite-at-topsail-beach/feed 0 http://www.currentadventurecharters.com/cabelas-redfish-tournament-surf-city-recap http://www.currentadventurecharters.com/cabelas-redfish-tournament-surf-city-recap#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 18:23:26 +0000 Capt. Brent http://www.currentadventurecharters.com/?p=726 The second stop of the Cabelas IFA redfish tour, Atlantic division , was held in my home waters of Surf City NC this past weekend. The field consisted of 45 boat boats  and 90 of the best redfish anglers from Ga., SC, and NC. My tournament partner, Capt. Jason Dail and myself set out early Saturday morning to compete against the best of the best. Jason and I fished the area for a couple of days prior to Saturday’s event in hopes of finding where the winning fish might be hiding. The day of the tournament started out with the ringing of the alarm clock at 0315 Saturday morning. The Vantage was prepped and we hit the road for Surf City a little after 0400. We launched the boat around 0500 at the wildlife boat ramp in Surf City in anticipation of the 0530 start. Just like in Charleston, we drew a late start and were one of the last boats to leave from the checkout point, but we didn’t let that late start discourage us.

Once we were released from the checkout, Jason and I had about a 45 minute run to get to our “A” spot.  We knew that our time there would be limited as the tide was falling and soon there would be no water on the flat that we were fishing. I proceded to climb atop the poling platform to pole us around the flat while Jason took his spot atop the casting platform. It didn’t take long to find tailing redfish up against the grass and soon Jason was hooked up with the first fish of the day. Unfortunately, after landing the fish, a quick measurement revealed that this fish was over the slot limit of 27-inches and had to be released. We continued fishing near the grass as long as the water held out and had several more oportunites at catching fish. These fish were super spooky and just didn’t want to commit to anything we had to offer. We had fish follow several different baits, but they just wouldn’t bite. Soon Jason got another fish to bite a top water plug, but it pulled the hook before we could get it to the boat.

Realizing that the water was falling fast, we moved away from the grass and soon spotted several more schools of redfish out in the middle of the flat. We worked these fish and cast time and time again into the schools with the same results, lockjaw!! Our “A” spot soon became the only spot we would fish as the tide dropped to a point that we counldn’t get off of the flat and were forced to anchor down in the only spot of deep water we could find and wait for the tide to turn and the water to re-flood the flat. After a quick lunch, the water started to return and soon we were able to move around again in search of the fish that had eluded us most of the day.

With the change of the tide, Jason and I switched places and I took over on the casting platform while Jason poled me around. It didn’t take long to relocate the fish and we were back to trying to get a bite. After trying several of the lures in my arsenal, I decided to try a white and silver flaked DOA paddle and tail and it was a good choice. I made a cast and my rod bent over as I drove the hook into the mouth of a redfish. After a nice battle of the light spin tackle, the fish came to the net and this time, it measured, Into the live well he went. We were on the board!!! As luck would have it, that would be our last bite of the day and at 1400, we packed up and headed back up the ICW to make the 1500 weigh in time.

Though we only had one fish to weigh, it did weigh in at 5.70 lbs. A very respectable 25-inch fish. With only one fish to weigh, we placed 28th out of 45 boats. If only that first fish would have been a 1/2-inch shorter. Congratulations to Capt. Rennie Clark and Capt. Drew Arndt on their victory in Surf City. They weighed in two redfish for a total combined weight of 14.46 lbs. and took home a new Ranger Banshee Extreme!!

The next and final stop for the division will be in Georgetown SC in Sept. Jason and I will next be competing in Morehead City in the Redfish Action series in June.

Spanish Mackerel fishing has been on fire just off the beach. Casting maria jigs or trolling clark spoons have been producing lots of limits. The flounder have been making a good showing as well. Live bait in the lower Cape Fear River area has been producing most of the Flounder. King Mackerel fishing is good now as well. The southeast NC coastal waters are definitely coming alive, so now is the time to be on the water.

If you are in the area, be sure to stop by Beach House Marina for this weekend’s weigh-in for the IFA tournament.  As always, tight lines and practice catch and release.

I spent most of Mother’s day with my wife and family. However, since I had the Vantage in tow, I managed to slip away late afternoon for a couple of hours of fishing (the boat ramp is only 1 block from my mother-in-laws house). The wind was still blowing, but not as bad as Saturday.

I saw tailing Redfish on the Cape Fear Flats around Fort Fisher and a found a school of fish that had a big school of mullet pinned against  the bank near Bald Head Island. I was able to get several takers on top water plugs just before dark.  I also hooked a short Flounder on a jig tipped with a Gulp jerk shad. Lot’s of bait in the water now and the fishing is definitely picking up.

Call and book today!!

Go get ‘um!!!

After spending a few hours in the woods on Saturday morning and then heading back to camp for a hearty breakfast, James, James and I loaded up the “Vantage” and headed for the striper run on the Roanoke in Weldon. Being that it was the first day of the catch and release only season, the crowds had subsided (a little) though there were still many boats and people out fishing. The sun was high in the sky and let me tell you it felt like summer.

Fishing the Striped Bass run on the Roanoke is quite an experience and if you have never done it, I highly recommend it. There are lots of fish to be caught and it’s fun for the entire family. If you don’t have a boat or feel uncomfortable navigating unfamiliar waters, there are several good guides that fish the striper run in Weldon every year and I would recommend you hire one. There are some special regulations for fishing this part of the river, so check out the NC Widlife Resource Commission website for all the details.

This fishing is fairly easy. Most people just drift down the river suspending live bait just off the bottom on a single barbless hook, which is a requirement. The fish are on the spawning run and aren’t very picky. We fished for just a couple of hours and caught several fish and witness lots of other catches. We were told by some regulars that the bite was slow, so you can only imagine what it’s like when the bite is on. Not to mention that we were fishing in the middle of the day. Overall, it was a lot of fun and a great experience. If you don’t have time to make it to Weldon this year, by all means, make plans to go next year.

Tight lines!!

In the past week I have had to cancel trips due to wind, fished in some less than perfect conditions and had some perfect days as well. Last weekend I had Ed and his son Conner on board for some flats fishing. With winds of 15-20kts, we tucked up in Hewletts creek off the ICW to get out of the wind. Having a front go through the previous night, the fish didn’t want to cooperate. However, Ed did entice one sub- slot fish to bite a Berkley Gulp bait however.

The Cape Fear River is full of bait. On a recent outing to try and locate some speckled trout, there were massive schools of small pogies in the river channel as well as up on the river flats. I didn’t have any success on the trout that afternoon, but seeing the all of the bait fish was a very welcomed sign.

Another recent trip took me up in the North Topsail area. I went looking for several schools of fish that I had been finding in recent weeks, only to find that they had vacated the flats they were holding on.  I was beginning to think that they had all left the state, but I finally found some small fish that were willing to eat a topwater plug. I don’t care how big they are, any time you can get one to eat topwater, it is always exciting!!

In other fishing news, the first Spanish Mackerel of the year has been reported being caught off of the Jolly Roger Pier on Topsail Island. Also the bluefish have been biting well on got-cha plugs. Atlantic Bonito as well as False Albacore are biting well near the inshore rocks and artificial reefs such as Divers Rock, Dallas Rock and the Liberty Ship. With the warm temperatures expected the next few days, I really expect the bluefish to  bite well and I expect a good showing of Spanish Mackerel in the near shore waters. Some large Spanish should be caught around Sheepshead Rock this weekend for those that run down there.

I am planning on doing a little Turkey Hunting followed by some striped bass fishing this weekend with my brother-in-law on the Roanoke River. Wish me luck and I hope to have a little better report next week.