Month: November 2014

The fish don’t know it’s cold and wet!

Ralph and I fished today with our friend Robert.  The forecast called for 40 degree air warming to 60 and a chance of showers.  It didn’t get above the low 50’s and it was a steady rain most of the morning.  Pretty bad weather but the bite was on so how bad could it be, right?  Today we collectively caught around 80 fish, all trout and reds.  The trout were averaging 16-18″ which is better size than I have seen in a while, and SO much fun to catch.  Again, our TroutEye jigheads were used to catch all but a couple, and those were topwater trout.  They have continued to produce excellent numbers of fish for us, and we are hearing the same from our customers.  A few notable pics from the day’s outing:

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Robert with the big fish of the day
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TroutEye jigs catching the quality trout
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Ralph and Dave double
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Look at that blue tail!
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Another quality trout lured by the TroutEye
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Hunkered down – but hooked up

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This was a first for me.  I’d heard of this before, but never experienced it till today.  Caught this upper slot red on a TroutEye, and noticed a hook protruding from it’s anus.  A circle hook that had made it all the way through the digestive tract of this fish.  I gently removed the hook and sent him on his way in better shape.  Contrary to popular belief, the hook will not “rust out in a couple days”.  The hook was largely in tact, but it was able to make its way through without a problem.  Always a good idea to cut the hook in a deeply hooked fish rather than try to extract it, if it would otherwise injure the fish.

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Joe’s Trip with Ralph Phillips Inshore

Each year at the Summerville Saltwater Anglers End of Year Party, we offer a full day ‘Educational’ fishing trip to the winner of a “card auction”. People purchase a playing card and as the night progresses, cards are drawn. When your card is drawn, you’re out. Joe was the big winner last year.

Joe with the first of many fish
Joe with the first of many fish

Joe is a long time member of SSWA and a great guy and excellent chef. He was involved in a very serious wreck 7 years ago that he shouldn’t have survived, but you can’t get Joe down that easily! Joe invited his good friend Robert along for the trip. I served as videographer and mainly tried to stay out of the way and give some tips on technique and strategy while documenting our day, and what a day we had.

It was a perfect November day and we had over 50 trout with a few up to 20″ in the mix, and about 16 redfish including a triple and quadruple hookup to end our day!  What a thrill!  All around good camaraderie, good food and friends.  It doesn’t get any better…

With the exception of one trout caught on topwater, ALL fish caught today were caught on TroutEye jigs in glow or pearl, using Gulp 5″ jerk shads in sapphire shine or Trout Tricks.

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And here is a short film documenting the day

Ralph Phillips Inshore Educational Fishing Trip from RalphPhillipsInshore on Vimeo.

Customer Feedback

Received the following letter from Charles, who won an instructional fishing trip with Ralph and I in a charity auction.

David, Enjoyed fishing with you and Ralph. I appreciate the tips you gave me. It helped to watch you both work the rods. I had not been working the Trout Trick correctly. Took what I learned to the river on 10-31-14 to practice fishing Trout Tricks. Caught ~ 12 trout incl 4 keepers – one 21″. Thanks again for taking a day off to fish with me. -Charles