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Posts Tagged ‘Redfish’

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Spring is here and the fishing has been, well, challenging!! The air and water are both warming, but steady fronts coming through has made for challenging conditions. It seems as of late it has either been beautiful or the winds have been howling. The constant change in conditions have seemed to put the fish in a confused state.

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.

The first tournament of the IFA Redfish Tour, Atlantic division, will be held this Saturday, March 20th in Charleston SC. My partner, Capt. Jason Dail and myself will be down there competing against the best of the best. This will be my first year competing in the series and I am very excited. There will be two other events in the series later in the summer.

This past weekend, I ventured down to the Palmetto state to do a little pre-fishing for the event. I would like to take this time to thank my new friend Thomas W. for graciously allowing me to come and stay in his fishing camp and for taking me out on the water to show me around. Thomas has also been so kind to allow Jason and myself to stay at his camp while were are down there preparing for Saturday’s tournament.

As would have it, the weather this past weekend was far from perfect with the winds howling out of the SW at 20+ knots. The temperatures were nice, but the wind had the water stirred up so bad it looked like chocolate milk. None the less, we ventured out into the vast expanse of inshore water and managed to find several schools of fish. The fish didn’t seem to be to interested in eating which I am sure was due to the poor weather conditions. I did manage to catch a fish and it happened to be a fish that had been tagged. This is the first time I have ever caught a tagged fish, and I look forward to getting information back on when and where this fish had been previously tagged.

Even with the poor condition, the amount of fish that I saw in such a short period of time was amazing. Weather conditions for this weekend are looking good, so I expect there will be a big turn out for the tournament with lots of fish caught. Hopefully, Jason and I will find the two perfect fish we need to take home the top prize. Stay tuned for updates!!

Last but not least, a shameless plug. If anyone out there is interested in sponsoring Capt. Jason and myself, we would love to help  promote your business out on the tour!! Every little bit helps and we would love to represent you.

till next time,

Tight lines!!!

My friend Jason and myself took advantage of the best day we have had all year, weather wise. We slid the Vantage into the water early and headed for the ocean. The seas were flat calm and the water was Gin clear. Jason and I eased along the beach and it didn’t take long to spot the fish. There were hundreds of Reds holding tight to the surf zone and the glistened in the sunlight as they rode the waves. The only downside was that the water temp was 47.8°F and they just didn’t want to bite.

We threw everything in the tackle box at them. Gulps, Mirrorlures, gold spoons and bucktail jigs. We did manage to catch 4 or 5 fish this morning, but we would have like to caught more. The cold temperatures and the fact that these fish have been pressured hard the last few weeks had given these fish a big case of lockjaw. However, it was great to be on the water and it is awesome to see so many redfish in the water at once.

Tight lines to all.

Capt. Brent

June is traditionally the month for Mahi (Dolphinfish) in S.E. North Carolina and though this year’s run started a little later than usual, the Mahi are here!!

Last week I had the pleasure of taking Ken, his son Paxton and friend Mathew on an offshore trip in search of Mahi. We left the docks a little after 0600 and ran offshore. We started fishing about 20nm from the beach and had our first Mahi strike within 5 minutes of putting the first line in the water. The fishing was steady all day and we never went more than 45-minutes without a strike. While fighting a Mahi in the 30nm area, we had a Sailfish take a bait, but we jumped him off before we could get a good hookset. I have raised more Sailfish out of my Seapro boat than any other boat I have ever owned.

The days catch included Mahi, Spanish Mackerel, and Barracuda.

Inshore, the Redfishing has continued to be good as well. Flounder are also being caught and I saw a few very nice Speckled Trout caught over the weekend as well.

Summer fishing is great so give me a call and let’s go catch some fish!!

Tight lines!!!

Capt. Brent

As May blows out and the heat of June builds in, so does the fishing. the weather in May has been far from desireable, but June is looking better.

Spanish and King Mackerel are biting well along the coast and the Redfish and Flounder bite is picking up as well. Traditionally, June marks the beginning of the Mahi run. Though i haven’t had a chance to get out and find any, I am sure they are out there. Speckled trout continue to be caught in the Cape Fear River, and Cobia are showing up along the beaches.

While coming in from a charter on Saturday, I got to watch a guy in a Kayak do battle with a huge bluefish, that was probably well over ten pounds. It was pretty awesome to watch that fish tail walk just a few feet from the Kayak.

Fishing is heating up, so give me a call to book your trip. I will be fishing in an inshore tournament this Saturday, but I have other good dates available.

Tight lines!!!

Capt. Brent