by Lee Padrick, October 30, 2013
On October 26th, I had the honor and opportunity to fish with two of my best friends and neighbors, Steve Rowe and Todd Sauls. We signed up for the 11th Annual Jacksonville Speckled Trout Tournament, held out of Casper's Marina in Swansboro. A beautiful venue for a well-run tournament.
The Tournament Director, Daniel Sbrocco, checked out 38 boats at safe light. The conditions were perfect, except for a cold front that had moved in the night before. The air temps at checkout was 34 degrees, with a north wind blowing 10 mph. My fishing partners and I headed west for 30 miles and fished a spot none of us had fished before. In hindsight, probably not the best plan, as we did not catch a speckled trout all day. Skip Smith of Swansboro won with a 4-trout total weight of 20.55 lbs.
by Lee Padrick, October 9, 2013
I had been telling some friends that as soon as October rolls around, we're going trout fishing. But there is no greater pressure than having to put your family and friends on fish. So when Stephen E. Smith agreed to go fishing with me and Dwayne Smith, I felt the pressure.
When I met Stephen at the dock, I asked him if he wanted the good news or the bad news. He chose the good. I told him, "We're going to catch some fish."
by Lee Padrick, October 2, 2013
The popping cork rig has proven over time to be a deadly technique for catching shallow water redfish. This simple rig will keep the lure in the strike zone and attract predators with splashes and rattles. It is an essential part of my approach to putting redfish in the boat.
There are many popping cork products on the market, corks that gurgle, splash, rattle, and click. The corks come in many types of shapes and colors. Some popping corks can even be purchased pre-rigged. The method I prefer is the oval popping cork. This cork produces a rattle and click that sounds much like a baitfish being eaten, or a shrimp popping. Also, with the right tackle setup, this cork casts extremely well, in comparison to many of the other products on the market.
by Lee Padrick, September 22, 2013
Air temp: 70
Water temp: 75
Wind: Light, variable
Tide: High
Technique: Popping corks, gold spoons, topwater lures
Dwayne and I went out and hit a handful of spots to try and catch some redfish. At our first stop, I had a blowup. Dwayne immediately threw a popping cork and put two fish in the boat. Kept moving along a marshbank, and I had another fish shake a topwater.
We ran to another area, and I caught an undersized red on a topwater. Then we checked out a spot we haven't fished much this year. For good reason. Nothing going on.
- Lee Padrick, September 11, 2013
Air temp: 70
Water temp: 78
Wind: Calm, variable
Tide: Rising
Technique: Popping corks, topwater lures
Dwayne and I fished a few different spots, caught a few fish at each stop.
At the first stop, Dwayne caught a nice red on a topwater lure at sunrise. Made for a great picture (shown below). I had a topwater blowup, and tossed a popping cork with a Salty Bay soft plastic to the spot where the fish showed interest in my plug. A couple twitches and I was on.
We fished down the bank, looking for a school of feeding fish without success. We ran the boat to the next stop, a shallow water bay with a grass bed bottom. As we moved down the bank, we found a number of feeding fish. I tossed a topwater, immediately hooked up, only to have the feisty red shake the hook.
We grabbed our phones to shoot video, and took turns catching fish. I hooked another on a topwater lure and landed it. Then Dwayne followed up with a popping cork fish further down the bank.
Made another quick run, and I had a topwater strike. Popping cork didn't land the fish, so we began to think it was a speckled trout. A few casts of the topwater later, and I land a 18" trout. Then we moved east about 2 miles for our final stop, a huge grassbed flat. No luck at this spot, so we called it a morning.
Video of the morning:
PC: Every Day
Mobile: Every Day
- Lee
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