Posts Tagged ‘current adventure charters’
March in for Topwater Drum
March 18, 2012 | 
Author
Spring has sprung along the Carolina coast! This past week we have had temperatures with daytime highs in the upper 70′s to low 80′s with mild nighttime temperature in the upper 50′s to low 60′s. These warm temperatures have made a big boost in our local water temps and yesterday I saw temps anywhere from 64° at the boat ramp to low 70′s on the shallow flats.
I was supposed to be taking one of our fine servicemen out for a trip today, but due to a change in deployment plans, he was not able make the trip. Be safe my friend, wherever your travels may take you!
The day turned out to be a productive day as I found several schools of Redfish in the shallows. The first school that I found was a school of small fish, below the slot limit. However, they are still fun to catch. I decided to really search the body of water that I was fising, and not just hit the “usual” spots that always seem to hold fish. It was a good call. As I was slowly making my way through the water, I saw a fish blow up on some bait just behind me. I spun the Vantage around to make a few cast and as I did, I saw a small school of nice Reds directly underneath me. I deployed my power pole to hold my position and began to really work this area. After making several cast with soft plastics with no luck, I decided to try a topwater plug. It didn’t take long to get looker. I made another cast and once again, a drum made a subtle attempt to eat. I stopped the lure and watched at the Redfish eased up behind the mullet colored skitter walk, but he was just checking it out, so I made a small twitch of the lure as if to make an attempt to get away and that’s all it took, FISH ON!!
I had a few more fish make slight attempts to eat the topwater plug, but they just weren’t being aggresive enough, so I moved on. A few hundred yards away, I encountered yet another school of fish. The fish were chasing bait, so I had a pretty good idea that they would bite, and I was right. As I slowly approached the school I made a long cast. During the retrieve, I look just ahead of me and could see a couple of redfish just 15 feet in front of me. I started to quickly retrieve my lure to try and get it in front of these fish and to my surprise, another fish attack it as I made my fast retrieve. Dang, I missed him, but boy was he aggressive. I cast again and bam, Fish On!!
All in all, it turned out to be a good half day of fishing. I found several schools of Red Drum, saw quite a few single fish and caught several fish as well. The weather was perfect, the Bald Eagles were vocal as they worked on there new nest, the Ospreys were soaring and it was just another great experience in the outdoors on the water.
Tight lines!!
Speckled Trout fishing in the New River
I have added another video to the video page of a speckled trout fishing outing that I had this past fall. In this video, all of the fish were caught on either the mirrolure 17mr suspending bait or the D.O.A. 1/4oz shrimp in a silver color. I started catching the fish with the mirrorlure, but as you will see, the D.O.A. shrimp produce more fish and the bites were much quicker. In fact, after switching to the D.O.A. shrimp, I think I caught 8 fish on 8 cast.
Enjoy the video!!
Capt. Brent
Loop Knot Video
One of the questioned that was asked of me the most at Fish Fest 2012 was ‘how do you tie your loop knot to your lure?’ Well, I decided to make a video showing you how to tie it.
My goal is to shoot a lot more video this year and add as many tips and tricks videos that I can. So if you have any suggestions on anything you would like to see, just shoot me an email to captbrent@currentadventurecharters.com and let me know what you would like to see.
Enjoy the video!!
Capt. Brent
Fish Fest 2012 was a big success!!
Fish Fest 2012 is in the bag and as in years past, it was a big success. It was great seeing fellow guides, old fishing friends, past clients and future clients alike! The Cape Fear Christian Sportsmen once again put on a first class show with a lot of local talent, a catered lunch by MOI catering, and lots of great fellowship.
If you were able to attend and sat in on my flats fishing seminar, I want to personally say Thank You for a great turnout and great participation from the audience. I thoroughly enjoy sharing the knowledge that I have acquired over the years. As I said in the seminar, my parents were teachers and I guess a little of that must have rubbed off on me as I enjoy teaching others what I love to do…Fish!!
If you weren’t able to make my class, don’t despair. I video taped my seminar and have it available for you to watch. I hope that you enjoy!!
Capt. Brent
Fall fishing, MADD 6 and Cape Fear Red Trout 2011
The yellow butterflies are buzzing around and that can only mean one thing….it’s time to go fishing!! Usually when I start to see the yellow butterflies, it means that the speckled trout are about to turn on and the flounder and redfish have already turned on.
This past weekend I hit the Cape Fear River to see if the trout were biting yet. Instead, I found flounder on a mud flat coming completely out of the water chasing bait. In two days, I caught 10 flounder with 6 keepers and my partner Capt. Jason caught 5 keepers, all on artificial baits. Saturday, most of the fish came on a 4-inch z-mann paddle tail bait and a spinner bait. Sunday, they all wanted a 3-inch gulp swimming mullet on a jig head. You can get both of these baits at Intracoastal Angler on Oleander Drive. The fish were much nicer on Sunday with Capt. Jason catching several in the 3-5 lb range. Yes, he out fished my in quality, but not quantity. I would have rather have had his fish, but I’m not complaining.
MADD 6 will be held in Oak Island this Saturday and I am looking forward to taking a couple of our fine service men/women fishing for the day. Hurricane Katia has threatened to put a damper on this event, but now it looks as if she is going to go out to sea and we are going to have a great day. I expect that I will take my guest up river to try and catch some more of these Flounder as well as target some Redfish and Speckled Trout.
The Cape Fear Red Trout Celebrity Classic is approaching quickly. I look forward to this event every year. It’s two days of great fishing for a great cause. If this is something that you think you would be interested in participating in, give me a call or an email and I can send you all of the details.
As always, if you want to get into some of the great inshore fishing that the Cape Fear coast has to offer, give me a call and set up your trip. Thanks for taking the time to check out my website, read my reports and view my video’s. Also, be sure to check out my facebook page and like me!!
Till next time,
Tight lines!!
Capt. Brent
Hot weather fishing calls for change of tactics
If you have followed my reports at all, you know that I am a hard core artificial bait fisherman. However, part of being a successful angler is being able to adapt different techniques and recognizing the time to take advantage of those tactics. In the heat of the summer, this may very well mean putting up the “fake” baits, and breaking out the cast net and loading the well with some good ole live bait. Now, I will admit that when I am off fishing by myself, I may not always follow my own advice as I am addicted to trying to trick a fish into eating a non-natural bait, but when it comes to keeping customers happy, you have to adapt to put fish in the boat.
The past few weeks, we have had some extremely hot temperatures here in southeastern North Carolina and in turn the water temps in our area have skyrocketed to the mid and uppers 80′s with near triple digit air temps. When weather conditions reach these extremes, the fish still eat, but to get them to bite, you have to change your approach.
Some of the more obvious changes to make are to go fishing early or late. Fish are more likely to bite while the sun is low in the sky and the ambient temperature is still relatively cool. If you have to fish during the middle of the day, find some deeper holes to fish as the water temps will be cooler in the deeper water. Also, warm water will not contain as much dissolved oxygen as cooler water and in turn, the fish don’t want to spend much energy to chase a lure. This is, in my opinion, one of the main reasons live bait gets more bites during the heat of summer than do artificial bait. A live mullet minnow or small Menhaden fished on a Carolina rig or suspended from a popping cork is a pretty easy meal for a predator fish to catch.
One of the biggest pieces of advice I can offer to the aspiring angler is to have patience. Give the fish time to bite and don’t get frustated if they don’t. Fish areas that are known to hold fish and give them a chance. If you do, it will pay off for you. On one of my most recent charters, we tried one spot for 30-45 minutes with only a couple of stingray bites, but then moved to another location and hooked up with a Redfish on the first cast. After spending 30-45 minutes in this location and catching two fish, we moved down the bank only 200 to 300 yards and caught five more fish that were of much better quality. Not to mention the few fish that we lost.
So when the weather gets hot and the fishing gets tough, remember to get creative. Try something new. Be patient and have faith. The fish still have to eat, they just don’t want to work for it. Try to put some of these tips to use and see if you don’t put more fish in the boat!!
Till next time
Tight lines!!
Capt. Brent
Topwater Redfish Action
With temperatures returning closer to normal and not in the triple digits as of late, the Redfish bite picked up considerably over the weekend.
I set out early Sunday morning on a recon mission with my brother-in-law James and it didn’t take long to find a great school of tailing Redfish in about 2-1/2 feet of water. This school consisted of upper and over slot fish that aggressively consumed top water plugs at first light.
We launched from Topsail Beach at first light and made an early morning run down the glass slick ICW to our first location. Once on scene, I quietly ascended atop the poling platform of my East Cape Vantage to get an eagle’s eye view of the flat surrounding me while James took position on the bow ready to cast at my call. We quietly floated across the flat observing a slew of bait fish breaking the mirror like surface of the windless water. Off my bow and at about 2:00, I spotted the unmistakeable wake of a small school or Redfish exiting off our bow as they sensed our approach. Then, as I turned my head and looked to my South, there they were.
“James, tailers at 9:00″
Our hearts started to race at the sight of large tails breaking the surface as the fish were obviously feeding and by the looks of some of the tails I was seeing, I knew there were some big fish in this school. Spinning the Vantage 90 degress to port, I gave a couple of pushes with the Stiffy push pole to get just within casting range.
“Now James, cast” I commanded and he let the skitter walk fly through the air landing just on the other side of the tailers.
“Twitch it now” I said and the once, mirror like water shattered into a massive explosion of white water as the Red engulfed the tiny plug from the surface and the stradic began to sing as the fish made a fruitless attempt to escape with the bait firmly planted into his mouth. After a short battle, the fish came boatside and was released to fight again another day!!
If this sounds like your kind of fun, give me a call and let’s go fishing!!
Tight lines!!
Capt. Brent
Video Fishing Report 3/5/11
Video fishing report from my scouting trip with my tournament partner Capt. Jason Dail from this past weekend.
Fish Fest ’11-Flats Fishing Recap
Fish Fest ’11 was a big success. For those of you that were unable to attend or did attend and would like to have a review of what I discussed in the seminar, I have it recorded and it is available for you to review.
Thanks for all that attended to make Fish Fest ’11 a huge success!!!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
CFR mixed bag
After battling a nasty bug all week, I picked up a last minute trip for Saturday morning. Hoby, Ken, Bob and John, all former river guides, wanted to do a little fishing and catch up on old times. The crew was a few too many for my flats boat, so we decided I would take the helm of Hobie’s bateau’ and hit the Cape Fear River.
We started out making a run towards the mouth of the river to fish for Redfish with the plan of working back up river with the tide to finish out on the Speckled Trout. It was a good plan that came together. We fished the backwaters around Bald Head Island first and got our Redfish. Then as the water got closer to flood, we made the run back up river to pursue the Specks.
The Speck bite started kind of slow, but the blue fish keep the rods bent in the interim. As the water started to fall, the Speck bite picked up, but not as good as in previous trips. My take on this was that the tide turned right in the middle of the day and Specks bite best either early or late in the day. None the less, we came back to the dock with a cooler of fish, lots of comradery and some great memories of a good day on the water!!
Fall fishing is in full swing. Call today to book your next trip.
Tight lines!!
Capt. B.
