2010 IFA REDFISH TOUR NATIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR!!!

Captain Rennie Clark and myself finished off the tournament season with the IFA Redfish Tour championships in Orange Beach, Alabama.  We went down a week ahead of time to locate some fish and have a good time only to get one nice day on the water.  The rest of the week we fought through 20-35 mph winds and cold weather...there was ice on the boat on the mornings of the tournament!  The first day was epic out in Mobile Bay.  We spent the day chasing reds in the 35-50 inch class busting menhaden as far as you could see.  Ren was even lucky enough to hook a few Jack Crevelle's which is like hooking a truck going down the freeway.  With the terrible conditions the rest of the week we gameplanned to stay close to checkout and hope nobody could cross Mobile Bay.  The plan somewhat backfired as the postponed the tournament a day and allowed our competitors to get to the better fishing in Mississippi.  We were surprised to find out we were 14th after day 1 and only trailed 1 team for the National Team of the Year award which is given the top finisher out of the 6 divisional points champions.   The team ahead of us was making a grueling 180+ mile round trip so we decided to stay close again the 2nd day and just stay consistent like we had all year.  The plan paid off as we weighed in 2 fish again and moved up to 13th place while the team ahead of us for team of the year did not weigh in.  We are the first team from the Atlantic Division to bring home the Cabela's National Team of the Year award and a nice $5,000 bonus to our 13th place check.  We will kick off the 2011 season in Savannah GA next March and hope to defend the Atlantic division title for a 3-peat!

Here are a few pictures from the trip and check out this Redfish action I caught on the camera...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIwiV_168qE

Topwater Redfish from Mobile Bay

Rennie with a Jack Crevelle

Big Alabama Redfish

Getting our Atlantic Division Team of the Year Plaques at the Captains Meeting

Day 1 Weigh In

Day 2 Weigh In

Cabela's National Team of the Year!!!

BACK TO BACK TEAM OF THE YEAR

We finished out the IFA Redfish Tour Atlantic Division in Georgetown SC with an 11th place finish.  We had very high hopes for this event after a good week of prefishing and were going for the win.  We got a perfect slot fish to start the day but then it was slim pickins until a 19 incher came in the boat.  We made a long run to go for the win only to catch oversized fish.  We managed 11th place which was a bit of a let down until we found out it was good enough to earn us Team of the Year for the Atlantic Division for the 2nd year in a row.  Next up is the Cape Fear Red/Trout Celebrity tournament which is put on each year to raise money for finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.  The very next morning we will leave for Orange Beach, Alabama to compete in the IFA Redfish Tour Championship.  This will be our 2nd year going to Orange Beach so we'll be better prepared as we go for National Team of the Year.

IFA Redfish Tour Victory!!!

May 22 we fished the IFA Redfish Tour event held in Surf City NC.  45 teams showed up to compete in perfect weather conditions.  I prefished all week long looking for the perfect tournament fish covering waters from Southport to Swansboro.  Found a bay holding 40-50 redfish in the 25-28 inch range that were lazy and fat!  Caught one that was 27.5 inches and weighed 8.75 lbs which is huge.  We caught over 25 reds on tourny day mostly on topwaters quickly putting 2 redfish weighing over 13 lbs in the livewell only to see the water suck out of the bay much quicker than anticipated so we got stuck there...for 4 hours.  It turned out to be our good fortune because as the tide rose we put another perfect 27 inch fish in the boat to upgrade our weight to over 14 lbs.  We knew we had good weight but you never know what everyone else had.  We ended up weighing 14.46 lbs and taking the win.  We took home a certificate for a fully rigged Ranger Banshee Extreme flats boat, a nice Angler Advantage check, and the Cabelas Angler Cash award.  Taking home the points for 1st place puts us in 3rd place for team of the year after our 15th place finish in Charleston.  The 3rd and final event is in Georgetown SC in September where we will attempt to repeat as Team of the Year.

  

Redfish Action Series Cup #1 May 15th Beaufort, NC

May 15th we fished the first of three events in the Redfish Action series held at Town Creek Marina in Beaufort NC.  We had decent weather but the hard winds lately had blown all the water off the flats in the area so we struggled to find the right fish to win the tournament.  We fished hard all day upgrading several times and ended up with 10.88 lbs which was good for 9th place out of 48 teams.  We have a lot of ground to make up if we want to repeat as team of the year.

May fishing has been hot!

May has been excellent so far.  Running a few trips here and there and the warm summer weather has finally hit.  Here are a few pics including one day out on the beach with hardly a ripple on the ocean.

HT Redfish Series - Savannah GA - 4th Place!

Headed to Savannah GA for the HT Redfish Series event on April 10th.  First redfish tourny without my usual fishing partner but Hylan Furniss filled in and we had a great time.  Conditions were windy and rough before the tournament but we were able to get sunny skies on Saturday and the bite turned on.  We worked several schools of redfish in less than a foot of water at times with their tails and backs out of the water feeding on tiny shrimp.  We had a great day catching several oversized fish and culled up a few times until we had our 2 redfish limit(max 23" in GA).  In the livewell was a fat 22 1/2" and a skinny 22 1/4" that weighed in at 8.27 lbs which was good for 4th place and just off the leaders at 8.9 lbs.  Congrats to Brian and Neal on their win.  The HT Redfish Series will be in Morehead City June 19th and Charleston on Aug 7th. 

Thank goodness its finally here. The weather has finally gotten warm and with a few 80 degree days the flats fishing is starting to heat up. The bite gets better as the day goes on and water warms up in the afternoons. Tony and Christian joined me on 4/1 under sunny skies and very little wind. The fish were still schooled up tight and the bite was tough to start the day but the bite got going and we had a good time. We had similar conditions on 4/2 and I got to stick a few later in the day. Lots of mullet stirring in the creeks and my favorite way to fish...with topwater baits will be the go to lure any day now.

IFA Redfish Tour - Charleston, SC

Saturday March 20th we fished the first stop in the Atlantic Division of the IFA Redfish Tour in Charleston, SC. We couldn't have asked for better weather and everyone seemed to be on the fish. We were looking for 23 inch fish to fit South Carolina's slot size and we had a good bit of success. After a few 24 inchers, the bite finally turned on just before we had to get back to weigh in. We were feeling pretty good about our 2 fish which measured 22 and 23 inches and weighed in at 8 lbs even. This would have won the tournament in previous years but with great weather and a big turnout it only got us 15th out of around 70 boats. 1 lb seperated the top 15 boats. Next stop is our home tournament in May out of Surf City, NC.

March 7-9 Perfect Weather Charleston

Had a couple perfect weather days in Charleston where it usually blows every trip down especially come tournament time. This trip was different and the fishing was awesome. The reds were in schooled up by the hundreds on the mudflats. It was all sight fishing. Poling and being stealthy was necessary but most of the fish ate. The 70 degree days got one group of fish so excited they were hitting topwaters in 55 degree water! Caught a lot of 21-23 inch fish which is what we are after next week in the IFA Redfish Tour event out of Charleston. Also, just for fun caught a bunch of 30-35 inch fish that weighed 10-15 lbs! Praying for this type weather March 20th but reality is it will probably be 50 degrees, cloudy, and the wind blowing 20-25 making the fishing difficult at best.

Yes, thats a topwater plug hanging out of his mouth!


Easy target



A small school sitting near the grass

Feb 19 Redfishing

Headed down to Cape Romain area to do some scouting for the upcoming IFA tournament in Charleston. It was brutally cold but manged to catch about a dozen reds later in the afternoon with most being in the SC slot of 23 inches.

Feb 12th Snow

.

Snow at the beach, February 12th! 5-6 inches around the house. Luckily it didn't stay long.

Jan 14-15 Cold Reds and Sweetwater Bass!

Woke up Thursday to 25 degree temps but with no winds and highs predicted in the 50s I had to go check on the redfish. Patrolled the surf for a while but dirty water made staying on the reds nearly impossible. The water was 45 as I left the beach and headed for the river where it was a steamy 39! Began poling the flats and quickly found a pod of 10 reds but they were not interested in eating. Checked another flat and began seeing singles, doubles and a few triples of nice upper slot fish but none of them hungry. As the tide bottomed out I knew they would be heading for a deepwater point waiting for the tide to flood. The water peaked at 43.5 degrees and they began chewing. Caught and released 12 reds from 23-26 inches on doa jerk baits and gulp shrimp. Left them biting because they weren't putting up much of a fight. Hit a different flat hoping to see some fresh hungry fish ready to push onto the now warmer muddy bottom. Didn't see too many reds but saw some very nice speckled trout in less than 10 inches of water. The clouds set in and it got cold quick so I took off for my long run back to the ramp.

Friday I joined Mechanic Bob for a trip to the sweetwater. The bass were busting first thing in the morning but they didn't take notice to our lures. Finally around lunchtime Bob mentioned he always catches one on this particular point and dang if a fish didn't bust a minute later. I tossed a worm in his direction and got bit. Bob ended up tying the score a little later but they definately had lockjaw most of the day. It was almost too calm on the lake making the bite tough. Usually its the wind blowing too hard.