Captain Jot Owens Fishing Report

It’s funny we had one of the coldest winters and this summer was the hottest on record.  Not the best conditions known for good Speckled trout stocks but Speckled trout fishing has been great and should continue to be great till water gets cold.  The last three weeks has been a rollercoaster of weather and the fishing has followed that rollercoaster too.  Most days the Speckled trout fishing has been good to great with some bigger fish really starting to show.

The days we are throwing artificial lures like grubs and hard baits.  The MirrOlure has been one of my (go too’s) this season and it has paid off well for me.  The bigger trout seem to really like to 52M and 52MR this season. The colors of the 52 series that are working the best for me is: 11, 26, 51, 704, 808, CFPR, CH and HP.  I fish the 52 series in water deaths of four to ten feet and sometimes deeper if there are lighter water currents.  The days we are fishing in waters of two to five foot deep, I’ve had luck with the 17MR and Catch 2000jr.  The colors that are working in the 17MR and Catch 2000jr are 11, 26, 808, CFPR, CH, EC and BCH.

I’ve seen a lot of trout hit grubs this season but most of the Specks have been smaller, so what do you do when you want to cast grubs.  Try bigger grubs like the Gulp Ripple Mullet or a five and six inch Gulp Jerkshad.  Another trick I’ll try sometimes to make bigger trout bite is make a double grub rig.  When you work a double grub rig, you need to work it a bit faster so the grubs just don’t sink to the bottom.  And always with any Speckled trout leaders use Fluorocarbon leader, trout have very good eye sight and this time of year the water can be very clear.  I prefer Stren’s tinted Fluorocarbon leader in twenty pound in gunsmoke tint, this stuff works!

So you like instant gratification fishing, give live shrimp a try.  I rig live shrimp a two different ways; in shallow water two to six feet I use a float rig.  My float rigs consist of twenty pound Stren (gunsmoke tint) or Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon about twelve inches long and a number six treble hook for a live shrimp.  When I fish deeper waters (five foot plus) or with stronger currents I use a light carolina rig.  These rigs consist of a very small swivel, fourteen to twenty inches of fluorocarbon and a number one L42 Eagle claw hook.  The sinker for this rig needs to be light 1/16oz or 1/8oz split shot and 1/8oz or 1/4oz egg sinkers should do the trick.

I’ve started to see some large schools of Redfish getting there act together over the last few weeks.  The Reds are starting to show there winter trends and this can make for some very good Redfishing.  When I fish for winter Redfish I use lots of Berkley Gulp!  You can’t go wrong with scented lures when the water gets cold.  Berkley Gulp Ripple Shad, 3” Shrimp and five inch Jerkshad should do the trick.  I rig all these baits with fairly light jig heads so the baits will not just sink to the bottom.

Seeing large schools of winter Reds is not hard but scaring a school is also easy to do.  Here are few things that will help you catch more schooling Reds and help you not to make everyone around you mad at you!  Long distance casting will catch you more fish! Try a 7’6” spinning or casting rod but don’t go to heavy.  If the lures are too heavy, the noise they make hitting the water can spoke the Reds.  One thing I see a lot of anglers do is run there boat over the school, do all you can to not let this happen.  If your boat is drifting towards the school, move before you spoke or run over the school!  If you spoke the school you’re only going to hurt the fishing for you and the other anglers.  If the school leaves your all out of luck!

In other fishing news; it’s boat show and fishing seminar season.  Here is some of the shows I plan to speck at or appear at.

January 7th, 8th and 9th, 2011 – Raleigh Bass & Saltwater Fishing Expo   NC State Fairgrounds – Raleigh, NC. www.ncboatshows.com   This is a GREAT show, with over 160 booths offering everything from the latest lures, plastics, jigs, custom rods, apparel, knives, product sample booths, hard-tops, saltwater fishing guides, fresh water guides, cast nets, gaffs…..by far one of the best shows of its kind in the Carolina’s and Virginia.  I will be there along with other Ranger and Pure Fishing pro staff members, as well as many others fresh and salt water pros!  I’ll be there all three days and doing two different seminars on fishing MirrOlure’s and near shore light tackle King Mackerel Fishing.

January 29th 2011 – Saltwater Sportsman National Seminar Series. BRUNSWICK COMMUNITY COLLEGE-Odell Williamson Auditorium.  www.nationalseminarseries.com   I’ll be there with Penn Fishing tackle showing all the new Rods and Reels from Penn.

February 4th, 5th and 6th, 2011 – Raleigh Convention Center Boat Show – Raleigh, NC. www.raleighconvention.com/boatshow/ This is a great show with lots of the “top of the line” boats form around the world.  I’ll be there with other Ranger Pro’s to show you all the great benefits to the Ranger Saltwater line of boats.

February 19th, 2010-Cape Fear Christian Sportsman Fish Fest. www.capefearsportsmen.org/fishfest  I don’t know what topics I’ll be speaking on yet, but as soon as I know I’ll let you know!  For more info on the day, check out this link!

Fishing gear I use:

Gear used: Speckled trout and Redfish: reels Penn Conquer 2000 and Battle 2000 spinning reels. *New Rod Line I’m using: Fenwick HMG series in sizes GS 70ML-F for Trout and GS 70M-MF for Redfish.  Locally   Intercoastal Angler carries the Fenwick line   Line: Spiderwire Ultracast ten and fifth teen pound.  Fluorocarbon leader material, Stren Tinted Fluorocarbon in tints Gunsmoke for clearer waters and Tannic for river or stained waters in twenty pound test.

Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139

Fall is really starting to show its face around Southeastern North Carolina these last few weeks.  Some warm days, some cool days and a few colder days!  The good part of this is no more hot days and but lots of HOT fishing and the fishing has already been great and will even get better with this cool weather!

November is a great mouth to catch Speckled trout and one of my favorite to fish for.  They are good to eat and a lot of fun to catch on light tackle.  It really does not matter if you like to fish artificial bait or live bait you can catch lots of Specks either way!  So far in the last two weeks we have picked up some very nice Speckled trout as well as good numbers of smaller ones.

Here is how I’m catching the Speckled trout lately.  On the artificial side of things; MirrOlures are working very well for me this season so far.  I’ve got to say we are catching them on the new ones like the 17MR and 18MR but some of the bigger ones are hitting the good old 52M&MR this season. My clients this last weekend found this out when the biggest trout of the trip hit a 52M; plus six more between two and four pounds.  So colors of MirrOlures you ask?  17MR and 18MR’s in colors: 11, 26, 808, CFPR, CH, EC and BCH.  As far as the 52M & MR in colors: 11, 26, 51, 704, 808, CFPR, CH, HP and one I call ‘Hatteras Light’ we’ll leave it at that…

Soft baits are always a winner for trout fishing and you can catch good numbers of Speckled trout on grubs etc.  Berkley Ripple Mullets are a newer bait on the market and have been real good baits for Redfish but I’ve caught a few very nice trout on them lately.  The colors I’ve had the best luck with are Goby magic/chart tail, Root-beergold/chart tail and glow/chart tail.  These baits are a bit big so I rig them with light 1/8oz jig heads and use the Ripple mullets in shallow/light current areas.  Berkley Powerbait shrimp will catch the specks.  I prefer colors, natural, pearl white and new penny, rigging with red or brown jig heads.  Saltwater Assassin makes a very large selection of great trout grubs, give one of these colors in the sea shad pattern a try on your next trout outing; chicken on a chain, copperhead, S&P silver phantom/chart, chart/diamond, sweet pea, 10w40/limetail and greenback shiner.

So you like to catch trout on live bait, well give live shrimp a try.  The trick to live shrimp is knowing when to stop feeding the trash fish like; pinfish, lizard fish, and small bluefish.  Using live shrimp can get expensive but you can catch some good numbers and size trout with live shrimp.  I rig live shrimp a two different ways; in shallow water two to six feet I use a float rig.  My float rigs consist of twenty pound Stren or Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon about twelve inches long and a number six treble hook for a live shrimp.  When I fish deeper waters (five foot plus) or with stronger currents I use a light carolina rig.  These rigs consist of a very small swivel, fourteen to twenty inches of fluorocarbon and a number one L42 Eagle claw hook.  The sinker for this rig needs to be light 1/16oz or 1/8oz split shot and 1/8oz or 1/4oz egg sinkers should do the trick.

I’m still seeing the Redfish around and a few Bull reds are still biting from time to time around the inlets.  There have been a few schools of Reds in the surf but due to very high winds and seas not much action there lately.  On some sunny days I’ve caught a good number of Reds along the ICW and oyster flats in local creeks north and south of Wrightsville Beach.  Live finger mullet and fresh cut bait will catch’em but, give a Berkley Gulp 3” new penny shrimp or a root-beergold/chart tail Ripple mullet a shot and I bet you’ll have no problem catching a few redfish.

In other fishing news, the weekend of October 29th and 30th was the Cape Fear Red*Trout Series.  This year again Adam Meyer and Liz Pitts of Charter Lakes Insurance Group fished with me.  Liz did very well again this year taking home Grand Champion Lady Angler and General Division Champion.  Our team came in 3rd over all in points.  This is a tournament to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis; I look forward every year to fishing this tournament of a great cause.

Don’t forget it’s almost boat show and tackle show time of the year!  I’ll have the shows listed here on my next fishing report to let you know where I’ll be speaking at this winter.

Thanks so much for reading this report!  Booking now and booking up fast for trophy Speckled trout trips Mid November to Late December.   Don’t forget take a kid fishing and good fall fishing to ya!

Fishing gear we use:

Gear used: Speckled trout and Redfish: reels Penn Conquer 2000 and Battle 2000 spinning reels. Rods: All Star ASR 7’ Trout (med-light) and/or Redfish (med) series. Line: Spiderwire Ultracast ten and fifth teen pound.  Bull Redfish: Penn Battle 6000 or 7000 and Penn Conquer 7000 spinning reels.  Rods: Ugly Stik Tiger Jigging 6’6” spinning.  Fluorocarbon leader material, Stren Tinted Fluorocarbon in tints Gunsmoke for clearer waters and Tannic for river or stained waters in twenty pound test.

Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139