Redfish Action Series
"Hurricane" Drew Arndt and Capt. Rennie Clark, the "Dingbatters" fishing team, with the pair of red drum weighing 13.48 lb. that narrowly edged them into first place in Redfish Action Cup Three. The fish also secured their first place spot in the Redfish Action Series 2009 competition.
Squeaking past the second place team by just 1/100th of a pound, the “Dingbatters” fishing team, Wilmington’s Capt. Rennie Clark and “Hurricane” Drew Arndt, took first place in the Redfish Action Challenge’s Cup Three, held September 19 out of Beaufort’s Town Creek Marina, with a pair of slot red drum weighing 13.48 lbs. The win also earned the pair the title of Series Champions for the year, edging out the win by 10 points.
“We really weren’t on too many upper-slot fish,” Clark explained. “The day before the tournament we were checking out some spots in Core Sound, and we found an area with thousands upon thousands of mullet—more bait than we’d seen anywhere up here. There was a bar going a quarter-mile off the bank, and when we got in close we found a little cove or pond. We decided to go check out that pond. We casted in there, caught a couple of fish in the low-20’s [inches], and saw some 28-29” fish and said, ‘That’s where we fish tomorrow’.”
Electing to leave instead of disturbing their fish, the anglers fished a few spots on the way to the pond on tournament morning, landing several 22-23” reds on topwater plugs on their way north. When they arrived at their chosen spot, they spied some features they hadn’t noticed the day before.
“There was a canal and a creek at the back of the pond, so we were basically at the intersection of four water bodies,” Clark continued. “Drew popped a 27” fish on a topwater in there. It was a weird fish for NC, though, extremely skinny.”
The anglers followed up the just-legal red with a few more fish up to 23” before heading to another spot.
Fishing nearby, the anglers upgraded their 23” fish to a 26.5” red, and their two-fish aggregate was looking stronger. After losing another fat upper-slot red that fell for an Exude bait under a popping cork at the net, the anglers moved on again.
“We went to a spot where Drew and I had caught a couple gator trout the day before,” said Clark. “On the first cast, we had a red bite a popping cork, then hit the Exude under it. It ended up being a perfect 27” fish on the measuring board.”
With a pair of 27” reds in the livewell, the “Dingbatters” ran for the scales.
“When we got there we were in the lead,” Clark said, “but then Jeff and Mike showed up. I thought they had us. Their first fish was a good fish over 7 lbs., but the second was just over six, and we ended up narrowly pulling it out.”
Finishing second by less than a sixth of an ounce, Swansboro Capts. Jeff Cronk and Mike Taylor, of team “Crystal Coast Graphics,” hauled a pair of reds weighing 13.47 lbs. to the scales. Their fish also earned them second place in the 2009 Series, finishing with 400 points to the “Dingbatters” 410.
After running 30 miles south to their home Swansboro waters, Cronk and Taylor at first struggled to find the school of upper-slot fish they’d located while pre-fishing.
Around 9:00 on the tournament morning, they located fish and began hooking up, culling through a number of mid to over-slot reds as the morning wore on.
“We fished Gulp shrimp and pogies,” Cronk explained. “We also used Berkley’s new Bio-Dip to make fast color changes to the baits to account for changing water clarity conditions.”
Finishing up the day on the same school, the anglers made the run back to Beaufort with a couple of reds just under 27” in the livewell, including a 7.31 lb. fish that barely missed winning the largest single fish TWT.
Placing third in the Cup Three tournament and topping the big fish TWT, the “Chasin’ Tails Outdoors” team of Capt. Matt Lamb and his father Ray scaled a 12.22 lb. two-fish aggregate anchored by a 7.33 lb. stud.
“We pre-fished and caught a lot of small fish and over-slot fish,” Matt Lamb explained, “but we just couldn’t find those upper-slots. So we just went for it on tournament day.”
Fishing the marsh around Morehead City, the Lambs casted topwater plugs and Gulp baits in their quest for upper-slot reds.
Matt Lamb ended up fooling the team’s big fish on a topwater plug, and his father landed their kicker red on a Gulp.
The Redfish Action Series Championship will be held October 17 out of Town Creek Marina, and anglers who fished all three Cup events or placed in the top 20 based on points will be eligible to fish it.
