Saturday, April 24, 2010

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. 

Monday, April 5, 2010

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.


Thursday, March 11, 2010

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




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








Saturday, January 16, 2010

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.