2008 Redfish Action Series #2
Capts. Mike Taylor and Jeff Cronk, of the NCCharterFishing.com team with the two red drum making up the 14.61 lb. total that earned them first place in the second Redfish Action Series event, held July 26 out of Calico Jack's Marina in Harker's Island.
Continuing a white-hot streak in redfish tournament competition that includes a host of top-5 finishes from Cape Lookout to Savannah, GA, Capts. Jeff Cronk and Mike Taylor, from Swansboro, hauled in two near-27” red drum weighing 14.61 lbs. to take first place in the second Redfish Action Challenge event, held July 26 out of Calico Jack’s Marina in Harkers Island. Their total also included the red that topped the event’s big fish TWT, earning the team a combined check for $2252.
Leaving Harkers Island at 6:00 am aboard a 24’ Yamaha-powered Ranger, Cronk and Taylor figured that they had enough of a window to make it to their home Swansboro waters and fish before the falling tide ended at 10:00. After the 45 minute run, they spent a short time scouting an area where they knew there had been some good drum.
Locating the school by 7:00, they caught fish straight through until noon, releasing nearly 45 reds, with many upper slot fish. Gulp shrimp and pogies in pink, pearl white, and natural colors produced the lion’s share of the reds, with a few falling for Rapala Skitterwalk topwaters.
When they made the call to pack it in, Taylor’s largest red was a tournament-perfect 27” (the upper end of NC’s slot limit) and weighed 7.87 lbs., the fish that topped the TWT. Cronk’s 26 7/8” red added 6.74 lbs. to Taylor’s fish.
As the last team to weigh in at Calico Jack’s, the NCCharterFishing.com Team surpassed Team R and D, who had the lead with 13.61 lbs., by exactly one pound.
Wilmington’s R and D anglers, Capt. Rennie Clark and “Hurricane” Drew Arndt, fishing on a Shearwater bay boat, took second in the first Redfish Action tournament, and were searching for another high finish.
They decided on tournament morning to fish the Morehead area, and quickly located a school of reds by blind casting in the murky water and low light.
After following up a 23” red with a 29” fish, Clark knew that the school could hold the fish necessary for him and Arndt to take first place, and the anglers decided to continue fishing the school. While they’d been casting topwater plugs, DOA shrimp, and other lures, it ended up being a gold spoon that produced the two best fish from the school (26” and 26.75”) for Arndt.
The anglers caught over a dozen more oversized reds after putting the 26-inchers in the livewell, but eventually they decided to head more than 30 miles to some areas on the Neuse River where they’d caught fish the previous day.
Unfortunately, though they caught a number more reds, none surpassed their Morehead City fish. However, two second place finishes in a row kept them firmly in the lead on points towards the series championship, as they have 290, 10 more than NCCharterFishing.com has earned for a fifth place finish in addition to their recent win.
Dan and Muriel Brock, from Goldsboro, NC, were barely pushed out of second place by the R and D team, weighing in two reds totaling 13.59 lbs. to take third place in the event. The Water Boys, Paul Salter and Lou Abraham, took fourth with a 13.25 lb. aggregate, and Rick and Richard Patterson took fifth place for 12.99 lbs. of reds.
Kyle Tobin, of Garner, NC, took his second Top Junior Angler finish in Redfish Action competition, this time weighing a 3.80 lb. red to earn the title.
A 2.01 lb. speckled trout earned Willis and Jared Best the Yamaha Inter Tournament trout division prize. Johnny Hauser and Charlie Adams weighed in the 3.14 lb. flounder and .90 lb. bluefish that took the Yamaha Inter Tournament prizes in those categories.
Redfish Action Challenge Event Three is scheduled for September 20 out of Harkers Island, and the results of that tournament will determine the series champion.
