The Speckled Trout bite has been great this fall. Since the Red-Trout tournament a couple of weeks ago, the trout bite has been good with good numbers of fish and some really nice fish being caught.

This morning I went out with my tournament partner, Capt. Jason Dail, and we had a great morning. We only fished about 3-1/2 hours, but caught and released over 30 trout and one Redfish. The first part of the morning we were blessed with some really nice sized trout as seen in the picture. I kept one fish that my wife and I enjoyed for dinner and the rest were released for another day. The mirrolure 18MR was the go to bait this morning. This is the sinking version of the 17MR, which is a suspending bait. The fish seemed to be holding close to the bottom, so the 18 was the right choice.

There is still a decent Redfish bite as well, though the great trout bite has taken most of the attention as of late.

Give me a call and let’s go catch some fish!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpuBKdNjLoo

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.

Water temperatures in the ICWW were in the low 60’s while back up in the creeks and mud flats, they were in the mid to upper 60’s. I saw many fish up on the mud flats, but not so many in the ICWW. The fish that I did see didn’t seem very interested in eating, a pattern I typically see after a weather front roles through. In addition to Redfish, I did see a few small Flounder dart out from under my boat as I floated across the mud flats as well as a good number of mullet minnows.

I spoke with another angler while up one of my favorite creeks who informed me that he had been catching some speckled trout in some of the deeper holes.

Sunday, I took my neighbor Steve out and we hit the flats on the southern end of the county around Bald Head Island. Water temperatures in this area again were in the mid 60’s. We had similar activity on Sunday, seeing a lot of fish that didn’t seem to interested in eating. I did get a nice 25-inch Redfish to eat a gold Johnson silver minnow spoon tipped with a white curly tail grub. Tipping the spoon with a grub will give it an entirely different action that the Redfish just seem to love. Steve also landed a smaller Redfish on a D.O.A. paddle tail in a new penny color with gold flake. He was fishing it on an 1/8oz. weighted hook. I also saw a lot of baitfish in the water in this are including mullet and small shad. With all of the bait in the water, the fishing should only get better and better.

I have a couple of trips booked for the end of the week so stayed tuned for more updates. Also, don’t forget to call or shoot me an email to book your trip. I am starting to get a lot of calls for booking for the up coming summer, so don’t wait too long to call so as not to miss your opportunity.

Till next time,

Tight lines!!!!

If you are in the area, don’t miss out on this event. It will be very informative with a lot of one on one class room instruction. There will be lots of other guides and captains other than myself there as well.

I will post more information as it becomes available. Mark you calendars now!!!!

BTW….there are large schools of Redfish off of the beach that are very hungry. Despite the extreme cold weather we have been having, the fish are on the beach and are easy to catch when the weather permits us to get out.

Tight lines!!

Capt. Brent

With the water full of finger mullet heading South, the top water action for big Redfish as been awesome. Early mornings while the sun is still low seems to be the best time for the topwater action, but cloudy days will produce strikes all day long. Skitter walks and Top Pups have been working well. Color doesn’t seem to matter much as the fish are feeding heavily and they just can’t resist the action of one of these plugs.

Top water is not the only baits that are working well now. Both Gulp™shrimp and jerk shads fished on weighted hooks have been producing a lot of fish. Skimmer jigs tipped with Fish Bites™ have been producing a lot of fish as well. Most of the trips taken lately have been producing double digit numbers of Reds in only a few hours of fishing.

The new ECC Vantage is performing beautifully and allows me to get into the skinny waters that tend to hold these great fighting fish. If you are looking to get into some great redfish action, give me a call and let’s get you out on the water. I still have some good dates in September available, but I will not be running any trips in October as I am getting married and will be heading to Hawaii for a couple of weeks with my new bride!!! Trips will resume in November and historically, Thanksgiving provides some really good fishing.

Give me a call and let’s go catch some fish!!

Tight lines!!!

Capt. Brent

Payton and Addison with Mahi

The following day I had Jay and Todd from Charlotte aboard for another day of Mahi fishing. This time, the weather man got it right and we made the run offshore in calm seas at 20 knots. Once we reached the ledges that i wanted to start fishing, it didn’t take long for the bites to begin. Jay and Todd stayed busy all day catching Mahi, Little Tuny’s, 40lb Baracuda and yes, another remora. Jay and Todd ended up with 9 Mahi for the day that they were planning to take back home to their families for some great eating.

Sunday, I had the opportunity to take family out for a day of inshore fishing. Kenan and I left the docks around 0600 and hit the flats for some topwater Redfish action. The new Vantage made short work of the time between the landing and the fishing grounds. Once on the flats, we threw Zara Spook top water plugs looking for a topwater bite. The first strike that Kenan had came from a 3 foot Blacktip Shark that was feeding on finger mullet in the shallow water. The fight lasted a few minutes till the sharks teeth severed the leader and the shark and our plug swam away. I tied on another plug for Kenan and it was back to fishing. Soon, Kenan was hooked up again with a nice Redfish only to have the fish cut the leader on the marsh grass and swim away with yet another plug. Finally, Kenan hooked up again on a smaller fish and this one he got to the boat. This was his first Redfish.

Kenan's first Redfish

The fishing is great. Give me a call and book your trip today!!

Tight lines!!

We started off the morning trolling along the beach for Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish, while waiting for the ocean to lay down so that we could venture a little further offshore to target some King Mackerel. It didn’t take long for us to find a school of fish and get the rods to bending. We put out a spread of clark spoons, maria jigs and the old faithful Spanish straws. Two lines were fished on the top of the water column and two were fished down with the help of a #1 planner. All lines produced fish, but the deeper lines seemed to be most productive.

Around 10:00, the ocean starting to calm down and we eased our way out to the Dallas Rock area. Once on scene, we pulled in the hardware and started to slow troll dead cigar minows. It didn’t take long for a strike and Greg’s son Alex was soon doing battle with 3-1/2′ Atlantic Sharpnose shark. This was Alex’s first time saltwater fishing and the expressions on his face were priceless when he realized that he was hooked up with a shark!! Seeing the look on his face reminded me of why i enjoy this job so much.

We ended up the day trolling back close to the beach catching more Spanish and Bluefish. A great time was had by all and I am looking forward to having the Boots family on board again in the future.

Capt. Brent

In the past few days the Atlantic Bonito have made a strong showing along Wrightsville Beach and Topsail Beach with Diver’s Rock area being particularly productive. Bluefish have shown up as well off Wrightsville and Carolina Beach with areas such as the Liberty Ship having good catches of fish. These fish will only be here for a few weeks as they will continue to migrate to points North as the ocean waters continue to warm.

Red Drum or Redfish, have also been biting well. Around Wrightsville Beach, docks along the ICW have been

holding some nice drum and the flats around Bald Head Island have been having some good catches as well. The Cape Fear River has been giving up some nice Speckled Trout, with a bunch of smaller fish mixed in.

Offshore, the King Mackerel bite is on in the warmer offshore waters. There are a few Kings in close, as a few have been caught off of the Pier at Ocean Isle. Typically, the King and Spanish Mackerel show up well close to the beach in early May, so I expect to catch some in close in the next few days. For those few that have been able to afford to go to the Gulf Stream, there are Wahoo, Yellow Fin Tuna, Black Fin Tuna and Dolphin being caught. I have even heard a report of a Sailfish being caught near the Frying Pan Tower area.

It’s time to go and catch some fish!! Call and book your trip today.

Tight lines!!!

Capt. Brent

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