Got One On

[Dave]

Saturday. We almost called it off 'count of the wind.

Gunnar took me out to one of the marshes in his area where we were partially protected from the gale force SSW winds. The tide was ripping and the wind blowing in the same general direction so it made for a fast drift, as we cast to the grass banks and oyster beds. As usual, he put me on the fish and I caught a nice red not long after the sun came up.

Thanks Gunnar... always a pleasure fishin' with you my friend *Cheers*

I filled out a tournament Facts Sheet and put this one up on the leader board, with the picture below it... I'm sure it won't last long but it's a start *014*

SeeThePictureHere (http://carolinaskiffowner.com/showthread.php?t=5842)

Dave

[Tparkin]

Nice catch Sarge. Wish we coulda caught one more around that size. We ended up with one about the same length and weight which landed us in 11th place out of 44 teams in the 1st leg of the Redfish Action series. With yours we would have been 4th...next time we'll have to make you a nice cash offer ;)

We found a school of around 100 fish not 1/2 mile from where we saw you guys and fished them ALL day. Only found one stupid enough to take the plastic. Pretty frustrating, but not as frustrating as the ride back to AB for the weight in with 20+mph winds.

Gunnar had it right though, excellent spot considering the wind/tide/time.

[Gunnar]

Dave, Nobody can say you are only a fair weather fisherman. If I wasn't meeting you at the dock at 05:45 I would have rolled over and gone back to sleep. Maybe next time we'll get a break from the wind and get you on some topwater action.

Tparkin, I'm glad you guys got on the board. I Know that had to be a tough ride back to AB.

Gregg

[Eel]

Nice catch Sarge. Wish we coulda caught one more around that size. We ended up with one about the same length and weight which landed us in 11th place out of 44 teams in the 1st leg of the Redfish Action series. With yours we would have been 4th...next time we'll have to make you a nice cash offer ;)

We found a school of around 100 fish not 1/2 mile from where we saw you guys and fished them ALL day. Only found one stupid enough to take the plastic. Pretty frustrating, but not as frustrating as the ride back to AB for the weight in with 20+mph winds.

Gunnar had it right though, excellent spot considering the wind/tide/time.

Nice job, Parkin. I was under the impression only 10 teams weighed in fish. Only 4 teams brought back 2 fish? 4th was my boys B & G who weighed in a little over 7 lbs.

Nice fish, 1stSgt. You would have placed probably 8-9th with that fish. I think Geodynamics (good job, C & A!) was 8th with a little over 4 lbs.

I'm glad its over so I can stop lying to my friends. :secret:

We skunked. Found our fish on Wednesday and babysat them for 3 days while trying not to be seen. Had their pattern down for every 1/2 hour of the tide. Caught 2 on Wednesday (a 23" and a 27 1/2") on topwaters just to check their size. They were fat, mullet eating fish that staged along an oyster bar on the incoming and then moved up on top of the oyster bar at high tide. Spent Thursday poling near them for 7 hours and just watching them. Didn't plan to put any pressure on them, but after 5 tails popped up on the oyster bar, I couldn't take it and yanked two out of there with topwaters. Friday, my partner and I ran at first light to them, marked them at low tide near a crabpot in 3' of water, and backed off of them and left. Spent the rest of the day in all the places we marked off our list 2 weeks ago and "sight fishing" (i.e. seeing how many in the field would fish the ditch north of Morehead City).

On Gameday, we felt pretty good. To quote Mark Zona, we had two things going for us. "1) one sweet fishing spot; and 2) two awesome George Michael five o'clock shadows."

The trolling motor was mostly useless in 25+ winds where we were. We had to anchor and blindcast for an hour, then move to the next spot in their pattern. Around lunchtime, the wind was blowing so hard, we had 2 anchors, the trolling motor and the big motor stuck in the mud to hold us and the wind still pushed us off the flat. We would routinely throw the whole spool of braid down to the backing on our casts with 30 knot gusts at our back.

On the incoming, we moved back to the oyster bar where they staged and decided to make or break our tournament on the last 3 days' pattern. The mullet was so thick back there, you could have walked across them. Another team was fishing the creek next to the flat, but we had the back cove where the fish had been showing up staked off, so they moved to the next cove 200 yards north and hooked the winning TWT fish. *001*

Hard to watch them pull in a $1,500 26" 6 1/2 lb. fish (that one fish gave them 5th place) after babysitting those pups all week. :eek:

It was brutal, long, demanding, frustrating, and disappointing. It was also the most fun I've ever had fishing.

Good job on bringing back a slot fish in those conditions, Parkin. *Cheers*

[Tparkin]

Thanks Eel.

More than 10 teams weighed in but you're about right with the 2 fish teams, there were only a few of them. The leader board only showed 10 though...we missed 10th by less than 4 oz.

We prefished the Neuse; Hancock/Slocum/Clubfoot on Friday. Found some fish but opted to run back to home waters due to the harsh conditions running up the Neuse...not sure my boat could handle that beating again. Of course, Bogue Sound wasn't much better.

[Dave]

Dave, Nobody can say you are only a fair weather fisherman. If I wasn't meeting you at the dock at 05:45 I would have rolled over and gone back to sleep.

LOL - It was a little breezy. ;D Arriving at that most popular ramp on at day break on Saturday morning to find us the only one's in the parking lot was an odd occurrence, huh? The ICW was a bit choppy but the tide phase was perfect and I hoped to learn some new spots in your area, the wind being was it was, and not so untypical of the dominant summer winds.

The fish I caught was right at the mouth of a feeder creek into the marsh. I was working the bank strait across from the boat when I heard a fish boil the surface several yards downstream. The next cast was to the spot I believe that sound came from, where I thought the fish was holding in the eddy... musta hit it on the nose, as it inhaled the bait and set quite for a few seconds, until I was able to take up the slack (the tide was moving us fast toward the fish) and set the hook. I called it a "redfish" right away but didn't think there was much to it, until it realized it was hooked and was none too happy about it, no :eek: A fat, healthy redfish on the 10# spider wire (tipped with 24" of 14# fluoro) pulling a light drag on my #3 Sea Striker reel in a strong current was worth the 0400 wake up time, even if it was only one strike for the morning *thumbsup* Can't wait to fish the area again with you, hopefully on a slick surface for some early morning, top water action *Cheers*

Tommy, about half way down the channel, we spotted you holding up at the east end of the channel (didn't know it was you at the time) and Gregg mentioned that was the spot we were headed for ;D I could see why when we got there... nice little, oyster bed lined, deep hole slew tucked back in the grass. I'm surprised there were no fish holding there for you *006* Still plenty of bait there when we arrived but no fish, or at least no hungry fish. Glad you did post something up... I'm sure if I was in a big money tournament, I would have gone fishless, as most of the others in the fleet.

Eel, thanks for the blow by blow... very interesting. It's clear how much hard work goes into your pre-tournament strategy. For a few years, as a younger fellow, I fished bass tournaments and I can empathize with you about the hard work and the (all to common) turn of events come money weekend, when the fish seem to have jumped land and moved to another lake *laughing* Still, some of my fondest memories were the scouting, pre-tournament days, fish found, meticulous note taking, the final strategy the night before the tournament, and the anticipation knowing we were going to blow away the competition ... or at least make a damn good showing. ;D

No pressure for our friendly little (CCC of CSO) tournament. In fact Gregg, I wasn't even thinking about our tournament. My only thought, and strategy for this trip was that (because the wind was up) if I could get you to ramp your skiff, you would surely be forced to take me to places you had been keeping :secret:from me for the past several months rotflmao ... even if we caught no fish, I might learn some new spots. What you showed me on this day looked like redfish heaven!!! *thumbsup* I'm anxiously looking forward to our next visit *Cheers*

Dave

[Tparkin]

Tommy, about half way down the channel, we spotted you holding up at the east end of the channel (didn't know it was you at the time) and Gregg mentioned that was the spot we were headed for ;D I could see why when we got there... nice little, oyster bed lined, deep hole slew tucked back in the grass. I'm surprised there were no fish holding there for you *006* Still plenty of bait there when we arrived but no fish, or at least no hungry fish. Glad you did post something up... I'm sure if I was in a big money tournament, I would have gone fishless, as most of the others in the fleet.

Dave

Dave,

That's an excellent early morning spot if the tide's right for it. That whole channel seems to produce for both reds and trout in the spring and fall. Summer time gets a little iffy unless you get there early and get in a few casts before the jet ski gangs start ripping through there. Let me know next time you're gonna be in the area and I'll get you some coordinates for some decent redfish spots.

I meant to thank you before for the use of your inshore numbers for the areas around the Neuse that you sent out last year. I don't get up that way too often, in a boat at least, and I was able to find fish in close proximity to several of your tried and true spots. Weather prevented the trip back on tourney day but it was definitely nice having some sort of navigational aid in a relatively unknown area. You da man.*thumbsup*

[Dave]

Dave,

That's an excellent early morning spot if the tide's right for it. That whole channel seems to produce for both reds and trout in the spring and fall. Summer time gets a little iffy unless you get there early and get in a few casts before the jet ski gangs start ripping through there.

Interesting, that's just about the same thing Gunnar told me about that spot ;D


Let me know next time you're gonna be in the area and I'll get you some coordinates for some decent redfish spots.

I meant to thank you before for the use of your inshore numbers for the areas around the Neuse that you sent out last year. I don't get up that way too often, in a boat at least, and I was able to find fish in close proximity to several of your tried and true spots. Weather prevented the trip back on tourney day but it was definitely nice having some sort of navigational aid in a relatively unknown area. You da man.*thumbsup*

I do plan to get back that way quit a bit this year... it looks so impressive, and I know the wife is going to like the area. Glad to hear the numbers were helpful to you... of all the folks that took 'em, you're the first to say you used them and I'm happy you found some fish *thumbsup* You can be sure I'll be callin' on you soon for some of your local numbers *Cheers*

Dave