by Lee Padrick, October 13, 2014
On Saturday, October 11, 2014, Dwayne and I (the Redfish Guys) had the honor of fishing in the Riley Rods Redfish Shootout Series Championship, an event the top 10 teams in the series qualified to fish. We checked out at 6:45 AM out of Fulcher Landing in Sneads Ferry, NC, and had until 4 PM to get back to the scales.
With a rising tide and relatively light SW winds, Dwayne and I went north for ~60 miles to fish. We stopped off at our first stop, a low tide spot that usually produces a few fish. I had a topwater blowup, and a few minutes later, Dwayne hooked up on a nice fish on a popping cork rig.
Our next stop produced our second fish of the day, a mid-slot red that snatched Dwayne's topwater lure off of a grass bed. The wind was increasing, but easily fishable. We got no more bites, so we headed to our next spot, a series of remote marsh islands. We fished three good spots, but did not have a bite.
So we headed to the back of a coastal river and fished a couple of spots. The first stop produced a fish, but no upgrade. We then fished a nearby creek bank and Dwayne caught a handful of fish, but we upgraded by a few ounces.
With time getting short, we made our way to the gas pump for the ride back to Sneads Ferry. We did not think our weight was going to be enough to win against our fellow competitors, some of the toughest in the state.
Our two-fish aggregate weighed 10.07 lbs, good enough for 2nd place, but a long way from the winning weight of Captain Mike Pedersen and Captain Lee Parsons, who weighed in 2 big fish for a total of 11.9 lbs. Congrats to Captain Mike and Captain Lee for their championship win, and congrats to Captain Jason Dail and Captain Wayne Crisco for their 3rd place finish.
I want to thank Hook and Bones, Salty Bay Baits, Temple Fork Outfitters, Pro-Cure Bait Scents, Fins Premium Superlines, No Slack Tackle, Bubba Blade, and PointClickFish.com for keeping us on the water. And big thanks to Mike and Vickie Pedersen, Daniel Sbrocco, and all the folks involved with the Riley Rods Redfish Shootout Series for putting on a great tournament series.
Our next event is the CCA Inside/Out Tournament on October 18th at Portside Marina in Morehead City, NC. We are looking forward to it. - Lee
Video of our day
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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 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.
- 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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