Cape Fear Red Trout
Capt. Rennie Clark, of Tournament Trail Charters, with the many superlatives he, George Brinson, and Scotty Gould earned on their way to winning Team Grand Champions at the 2010 Cape Fear Red Trout.
After a tough outing on the tournament’s first day, Capt. Rennie Clark and Wilmington anglers George Brinson and Scotty Gould rebounded in style, tallying 56 speckled trout and 8 red drum releases to take home a host of awards in the 2010 Cape Fear Red Trout Celebrity Classic.
“I fell in the water the first day,” Clark explained, “and somehow my watch lost 25 minutes. We thought we were about 10-15 minutes early for the cut-off, but we ended up being 10 minutes late.”
The trio had released seven speckled trout in the New River, but their day’s efforts were disqualified based on time. Fortunately, the next day’s fishing went on to blow their seven-trout day away.
“It was an incredible day,” Clark continued, “one of those days where every decision you make just ends up being the right one.”
After starting the morning at Rich’s Inlet and landing specks from their first cast, the anglers decided to make a move south as the falling tide petered out.
“Rich’s is a good low tide spot,” Clark said, “but we knew the river would be on fire as soon as the tide changed.”
Heading to the Cape Fear River, the anglers again didn’t have to wait long for action. Casting primarily D.O.A. CAL and Zoom soft plastics on jigheads, the anglers hooked specks just about everywhere they stopped.
“It was on from the first spot,” Clark reported. “We were catching the fish in the current rips from the oyster points downriver from Snow’s Cut. I even tried out some new rips that just looked fishy, and honey was home at every one.”
The action was so furious at several points that the captain struggled to keep up.
“I’d net one fish, then just reach over and net another,” he said. “I had trout piled up in the back of the boat waiting to be photographed, measured, and recorded, and I’d look up and they’d both be hooked up again.”
Gould, alternating a heavy MirrOdine hard bait with the soft plastics, took an early lead in the trout count, but Brinson came back, evening the numbers late in the morning.
Eventually deciding they were sitting pretty in the trout department, the anglers took a break to go look for a few red drum.
“Both anglers have to catch both species for the Team Grand Championship,” Clark said. “I’d found two schools of mid-slot fish in the bays while I was pre-fishing, so we went down there.”
Upon arrival, the anglers soon located the schools, but high water had them feeding deep in the marsh grass.
Liz Pitts, of Charter Lakes Marine Insurance, with one of the speckled trout that earned her the Top Lady Angler honors in the 2010 Red Trout Celebrity Classic. She was fishing with Capt. Jot Owens.
“We caught most of them on Gulp shrimp under popping corks,” said Clark. “You could hear them popping bait in the grass, so we were throwing the popping corks to the edge to simulate the sound of a feeding fish and pull them out of the grass.”
The tactic proved rather effective, as Brinson and Gould pulled 12 reds, including 8 over the event’s 18” minimum length, out of the grass in just 30 minutes.
“I knew the tide would be perfect for trout fishing again then, so we decided to catch a few more,” Clark explained.
Returning to casting soft plastics for specks, the anglers again found action everywhere they tried, tying for the day at 28 trout each.
“George got his last one just one minute before Scotty did,” Clark said. “He was hooked up while I was dealing with the first fish.”
The one minute difference earned Brinson the event’s Most Trout Caught honors, and a two-redfish advantage placed the Most Redfish Caught crown on his head, too. Brinson also earned the Spin Division and Overall Grand Champion awards, with Gould Runner-Up Champ. In addition, the crew’s efforts placed them securely in the Team Grand Champions slot.
John Pilon, fishing with Capt. Jamie Rushing, earned the Largest Trout honors for a 22” fish, and Capt. Jon Huff guided Keith Gallagher to the event’s largest redfish, a 29-incher.
Liz Pitts, guided by Capt. Jot Owens, took home the Top Lady Angler honors at the event for the second year in a row, and she also topped the event’s Bait Division. Wrenn Millis (age 9), fishing with Capt. Phillip Thompson, earned the Top Junior Angler award by releasing seven fish. Richard Sear took the top honors in the Fly Division while fishing with Capt. Seth Vernon.
The Cape Fear Red Trout Celebrity Classic is a fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis research and part of the RedBone tournament series. More information is available at www.capefearredtrout.com.
