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

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

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

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpuBKdNjLoo

Thanks for all that attended to make Fish Fest ’11 a huge success!!!

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.

With all of the pogies and shrimp in the water, imitation shrimp baits such as the DOA shrimp and the mirrondine MR-17 have been excellent lure choices. The best bite has been on either side of the flood tide.

Water temps this past weekend in the river was still around 80 degrees F, but with fall weather around the corner, the water should start to cool and the bite will pick up. Look for the Specks to be here through the fall into early winter. If the past 3 weeks are any indication of what’s to come, we should have an excellent fall Spec bite!!

I have good dates still available. Call today and book your next “Current Adventure”!!!

Tight lines!!

Capt. B.

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.!!

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.