The first leg of the new Southern Redfish Cup held in Georgetown, SC on April 16th, 2016 was a very difficult day to fish, with strong winds and negative fish.  Of the 46 teams registered, almost half did not weigh a fish.  And of those that weighed fish, only 14 teams weighed the allowed 3 fish.  The winning team of Jeremy Espiritu and Ashley Lowder won by over 1.5 lbs over second place with a solid bag of 12.91 lbs.  Ashley also won the big fish prize.  All the winning team’s fish were caught on Red Trout Eye jigheads.  Congrats to the winners, who are sponsored by Crew’s Chevrolet in North Charleston.

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We now have long sleeve navy Trout Eye shirts available on our Store in limited quantities.  Get one while they last!

 

So far, April has been awful weather-wise.  The few trips I have been able to manage have been miserable from a weather standpoint.  However, the bite has been pretty good.  Where I have been fishing has been dictated by the wind direction.  Certain rivers provide better cover depending on the wind direction – and of course there is always somewhere to hide way up a tree-lined creek.  It seems the winds have been coming from the NE a lot.

The topwater bite has been getting better every week.  Yesterday was kind of bizarre.  There were squalls coming from the NE blowing at 15 and gusting to 20+, so the skies were gray and misting.  My little Whaler is very light and gets blown around a lot in a gust, so there I was casting between gusts and spitting rain and yet getting topwater strikes on almost every cast.  It sucked, yet, it was great 🙂  For me, a Spook Jr is out performing other offerings – probably because the mullet have not really moved in thick yet, so bait is smaller.

We always advise people to keep their eyes open on the water.  Yesterday I was fishing a spot and heard a strike.  Behind me in very deep water a trout was striking pretty good sized shrimp.  A quick cast within a 6 ft radius yielded 3 or 4 decent trout on top.  This tactic is a very effective one.  See a strike, drop your plug close by.  But, you have to be quick, or you will miss your opportunity!

The lowly Pearl MinnowZ by Z-Man paired with a gold Trout Eye jig continues to produce really well for me.  It doesn’t have a flashy name, or look real pretty – it’s just flat white.  But, it is the #1 overall best selling Z-Man bait worldwide because it just has universal appeal.  It’s been working great since late winter and now well into spring.  I keep saying I’ll switch it out when it stops producing, well, not yet.  Yesterday it yielded a double-inshore-slam of quality fish.  I guess I’ll keep it tied on….

I’m looking forward to some calm winds and warmer weather myself.  Enough of the winds!!

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We were honored to have an article published about our business Ralph Phillips Inshore Productions by Palmetto Magazine.  This is a really nice state-wide magazine by the publishers of Azalea Magazine, based in Summerville.  Here are a few screen shots, but pick one up and check it out if you get a chance. They are free and are available at many local businesses.

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Ralph did a seminar on “Finding Fish” at last nights Summerville Saltwater Anglers membership meeting.  This subject is our #1 most often asked question, and it was very well received by the club.  I was not able to make it due to a Track Meet (I’m a pole vault coach), but Ralph and Les covered my butt.

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If you need to stock up on Trout Eye jigs or Z-Man plastics, please check out our store.  Buying jigs in bulk is by far your best value.

If you are a fellow trout-aficionado you probably have experienced the topic of this post at some point.  I’m referring to the elusive trout feasting window – a short period of time when big trout let their guard down and feed voraciously.  I’ve experienced this usually about once a year (and usually in the Spring) when I have been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.  When you are in it, the bite is simply crazy.  Last year it happened to me in early April.  We were fishing in a spot having average results by any measure, then….wham…21″ gator trout.  By the end of the window of time I had 3 over 21″ with a fourth lost at the boat due to a net fumble 🙂  By the time we caught our breath from the furious action, it was over.  Surely, these big trout were around the whole time, but not feeding.

Well, it happened again to me and my best bud Ray (current President of SSWA) on Saturday.  We were fishing a club tournament and in the AM the bite was by all measures pretty shut off.  Yeah, we were catching a few here and there, but all marginal fish (male trout – you could tell by the drumming, and the size).  I had a redfish miss a topwater plug three times while working the plug over submerged oysters, and finally Ray managed to get a hook in a big red at 27.5″ at another flat.  That was the morning’s highlight… otherwise, we probably had 10-15 small trout and an undersize flounder all morning.

Then, it happened.

We pulled up to a spot, and started absolutely bailing trout.  Every cast.  Doubles upon doubles.  For 30 minutes straight.  And nice fish too…16-19 inch trout.  We were within site of some dock workers and hearing their banter was hysterical.  “Look, they got ANOTHER one”  “C’mon man, how are we supposed to work with that going on?” “They got another one!”

It was as good as it gets.  After the window closed, we drifted over to them and they said “Man, we’ve been here 2 weeks, and have seen boat after boat go there and not catch @#^$&!”  “You dudes came here and SLAYED em!”  I might have gained a few new customers after showing them our Trout Eyes and Trout Tricks – seriously you can’t buy that kind of advertisement 🙂  Truth be told I think they would have bit a gum wrapper with a hook on it though, but we weren’t lying: we did catch all our trout on Trout Eye jigs and Z-Man plastics though.  I did not get any pics during this stretch because we were a little busy 🙂

I looked back at the charts however, and the data is pretty cool.  We have all heard about the fish biting well during just before a front.  Ralph says you can get too close to the front, but I really think he means after the front has passed its gonna shut off.  Check this out.  The window occurred right at the beginning of an abrupt drop in pressure, followed by short leveling off, then a steep drop.  We felt the wind shift to the south and pick up just as this window happened, and you can see it in the charts.  I believe they feed hard just at the very beginning of this drop then shut off.  This was our experience, as after this window, the bite shut off hard.

If you look at the charts, you will see this type of pressure drop happening all the time.  I don’t think this kind of feed happens each time, but then again, maybe it does.  The window is so short, you could easily be moving from spot A to spot B and miss it.  Or, happen to be fishing in a spot where the fish are not there.

But, when the right place at the right time come together – man, what fun!

I’m wondering if anyone else experienced this window approx 1pm on Saturday, lasting about 30 min?  If so, let us know!

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March fishing means gnats!  Go on a calm day and suffer the consequences, unless you are prepared.  Some sprays such as No Nats work pretty well, but I prefer the cover-up approach.  Buffs get made fun of a lot by the cool kids, but I love them.  One of their many useful traits is gnat control IMO.  Pull it up over your ears and face leaving just an eye slit and it helps immensely when the gnats are clouding.  Wear long sleeves, long pants and socks and it can save the day – and your sanity.

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I love the Osprey – the ultimate fisherman.  Here are a couple good shots I got of one doing a little gigging

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Spring fishing is on fire – time to stock up on Trout Eyes and Z-Man Lures.  If you enjoy our reports, please consider purchasing some tackle on our site.  Bulk jigs are 20% discounted – best deal anywhere!

Those of us who prefer to target trout are getting pretty excited, as we know that Spring means we will catch our largest and heaviest trout of the year.  Speckled trout have one thing (well, two things) on their mind when the water starts warming:  Eat, and Spawn.

Water temps in the Wando last Sunday were around 56F, so still a little cold, but they are rising fast.  As I write, the water temp is nearing 60F and any time now the topwater bite will kick in fierce.  This is from past experience.  When the water gets in the low 60’s, this brings the return of large schools of baitfish.  By watching my Humminbird fish finder, we could see these schools coming in waves suspended about 10 feet down.  There was also evidence of bait on the surface, and even a few fish strikes.  If there are no mullet around, the topwater bite will be very slow.  Soon, they will be everywhere, and thus the trout (and redfish) will be focused on this easy meal.

This day, the trout bite ranged from the familiar *tick* to a barely perceptible pick-up.  The larger the trout, the lighter the bite (this is often the case)

I began the day throwing the Pearl MinnowZ that I was using last trip in the Cooper, and I fished it pretty much all day with success.  I did eventually break it off on some deep structure doing some experimenting.  I replaced it with a BadShad color MinnowZ and got a memorable bite from a large redfish.

This fish hit like a freight train right in the middle of a group of pilings.  The feeling coming down the line let me know it had wrapped around a piling.  I’ve learned from experience that the best thing to do in this case is to open the bail.  The lack of resistance calms the fish and it will often stop running.  I ran the trolling motor so that I could free the line.  Reeling in, I discovered it had wrapped around another piling!  I opened the bail and got it free.  Next, I was able to steer it around the remaining pilings, then headed for deep water.  This pretty red fought hard and only after landing it did I discover its “Nemo Fin”.

A couple quick pics and released.  A great way to end the day.

Totals for the day, about 16 trout to 19.5″, two reds to 28.5″, and one flounder at 14″.  My first slam of the year 🙂

A note about spring time trout:  These trout will be fat with eggs, and the gators will all be females.  Please consider releasing them to spawn.  Wetting your hands before landing them will help protect their slime.  I release all trout over 20″ as a personal upper-slot limit, and on top of that will only keep 2 or 3 for a meal to eat fresh.

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It’s time to stock up on your tackle!  The best value in Trout Eye jigs is to buy direct from us in bulk.  We also have a limited selection of Z-Man soft plastics in colors and profiles that we recommend and fish with ourselves.  Click on our Store link above.  Grab a hand-towel while you’re at it.  It’s a great accessory.  Thanks.

Mid February is traditionally when our waters reach their lowest temps, then begin to rebound for spring.  This is the end of the “seasonal lag” where we get our coldest temperatures in North America.

Lately, the water in the Cooper River has been as low as 47F (surface temps).  I fished on Wednesday 2/17 with my high school friend Scott who comes down to SC a couple times a year.  A couple years ago he struggled with the basics of artificial lure fishing: feeling the bite, managing line, even simply casting.  But now, I’m telling you, he is a legit fisherman.  I was watching where he was choosing to place a cast, and he was spot on.  By this, I mean he was choosing to cast to points, rips, current breaks, etc. It’s pretty cool to witness his evolution.

But, I digress…So the day started out pretty darn good.  Scott caught an upper slot red on his first cast of the day!

On that subject, if you don’t know Ralph – that is a superstition of his.  He will always make his first cast to deep water then reel it in fast…. I don’t share that superstition but I’m sure he comes by it honestly and/or there is a story behind it….

If you have read my prior posts on cold water fishing, this day completely reinforced them.  The fish wanted a pretty slow presentation, and we found them either not at all, or stacked up on deep structure.

Its always most productive, if you have two or more people fishing on the same boat, to throw different colors and profiles at the same time.  By keeping this up, and changing periodically, you can pretty easily find out what is the “hot” thing for the day.  Recently we have noticed that white colors have been working in the sort of chocolate-colored water with a little bit of clearness to it that we are finding in the creeks lately.  We fished an SSWA tournament last Saturday in brutal cold and windy conditions when we made that discovery.  I was lucky to land a nice 2.5 lb trout on a white lure – our first bite of the day.  We did well on white colors the rest of that day. So, I started out throwing Pearl white Z-Man MinnowZ on a gold Trout Eye jig and Scott chose to use a Gulp 5″ jerk shad in Smelt color.  We fished a long bank and found two distinct locations where redfish were holding.  Each spot yielded about 15 fish all within an area about 20 ft square.  Interestingly, the first spot held fish that were all in two very distinct and consistent sizes.  22″ and 15.5″, with most of them 22″.  No, I’m not going to tell you tourney fishermen where that was 🙂  The second spot, all the fish were right at 26″.  These fish were a lot of fun.  We had a few doubles and the fish were surprisingly fired up and willing to fight.

So, as I said in prior posts, work these areas thoroughly, and when you find the reds, you will often find a pile of them.

Later we moved up some creeks and found a few decent trout, 8 to be exact, with the smallest one about 7″ and the largest 18″.  The range of sizes was encouraging since many year-classes were represented in the creek.  This winter will have almost no trout die-off due to cold water it seems.  The bite was in the deep middle of bends in the creek and was barely perceptible, just a slight resistance.  The trout were caught on 3.75″ StreakZ in Opening Night color (ie. white).

Scott and I had one of our best days of catching, and made a few new memories.  I know he will be looking forward to his next visit!

 

So, since our last post and report, it finally became winter.  Still not a bad winter, but in the creeks the water temperature is now down below 50F, at least on the surface.  So, this changes the fishes behavior and therefore the tactics you must use to catch them.  I’m gonna break down some tactics between redfish and trout.  I’ll start with redfish, specifically creek redfish.  Most people are familiar with schooled up reds in gin clear water on the flats.  That’s another article but not this one.

Redfish in the Cold Creeks

In the really cold water, you will find redfish on deep structure.  And often times if you find one you will find 7 or 8 stacked together and very willing to eat.  Good places to look are submerged trees on creek bends.  Ralph has suggested that reds may be feeding on marine worms that bed into the timber.  For this reason, trout tricks work really well this time of year, especially the original “mood ring” color probably since they resemble a worm.  Now, you will lose a lot of jigs fishing this way but that’s where the fish are.  The closer you can get to the timber the better your chances.

You’ve probably heard over and over at seminars… fish slow.  If you think you are fishing slow enough, fish slower, etc, etc.  Well, I’m gonna give you an example of what that means.  So, let’s assume you are on some deep structure and maybe had a bite and missed it.  So we know the fish are there.  Try casting out, letting the bait fall to the bottom, then a very, very small hop, hop, hop on the bottom.  Maybe 2 inches at a time.  It’s just a slight flutter of the rod tip.  If you have a good rod, reel, and line setup, you will be able to feel the lure hopping over rocks and shells on the bottom.  Then you will feel something weird.  That’s the bite.  DON’T set the hook immediately.  This is what I do:  “3…2…1..” then slowly pull back then set the hook.  Why?  The reds this time of year will suck the bait in slow then keep it in their mouth.  If you’re losing a lot of fish after the set, you’re probably doing it too fast.  In a lot of ways, its like a flounder bite.  Give it a try.  It works!

Trout in the Cold Creeks

Trout, of course, are a different species.  You will also find them among structure on creek bends, but this time of year you will often find them in the deeper parts of the creeks – many times not near any structure at all.  Bends are obvious places, but where else might they be?  In the very center of the creek (deepest points).  Instead of running your boat down the middle casting to structure, hug the bank and cast across the deep middle.  A killer bait this time of year is the modern version of Ralph’s semi-famous “rat-tail”.  The Z-Man 3.75″ StreakZ in Ralphs Shad color is the ticket.  Let the bait get to the bottom of the hole, sometimes up to 16 feet deep.  This seems like an eternity.  Cast out and watch the line on the water.  You will see when it hits bottom.  Then work very small hops and wait for the slight *tick*.  That’s the fish.  They will even hit a non-moving lure.  The Z-Man again is our choice because the ElaZtech keeps the tail floating up.

Fishing this weekend I kicked myself for not taking a photo of trout on the bottom as seen through my Humminbird sounder.  We slowly drifted a hole and I was watching the graph.  A smooth bottom then a few “rocks”.  Those are trout.  My buddy Ray cast up current from them and let it drop.  *tick*….he missed it but brought back the tell-tale sign of a missed trout:  A tail curled around the hook.  It’s pretty cool “sight-fishing” for deep water trout with your fish finder.  I circled back to get a pic of the graph, but the fish had scattered.

  

A Note on Water Clarity

Often we hear over and over, “To catch trout, look for clear water”.  That is absolutely true in the summer.  But what about winter?  Did you know that water can be TOO clear?  It can.  In fact, we search out slightly dirtier water for trout fishing in the deep winter.  We still want 1 – 3 feet of vis, but not 8 – 10.  It really makes a difference.

Hope this was of some help!  Let us know if you have any questions and as always thanks for your support.

Other News

Our Z-Man branded Trout Eye jigs are really getting traction.  We have been in both Bass Pro and Cabela’s saltwater catalogs and a lot of interest at the recent Big Rock show in Raleigh, NC.  Z-Man has said there are probably no shops east of I95 in NC that don’t stock them.

We are working on a bunch of new product ideas and can’t wait to reveal them.  It will be a few months yet, but they are in the works.

Come on our to the Haddrell’s Point Shallow Water Fishing Expo on Feb 27-28.  We will be assisting Z-Man in their booth and would love to talk Trout Eye jigs and fishing with you.

How about this whopper caught by Danny Phillips in a farm pond yesterday!

Ralph and I had a great day fishing with Daniel from Z-Man Fishing on Sunday.  The weather we have had so far this winter is crazy.  Two days after Christmas and the water is 69F.  I’m not sure the fish know what pattern they are supposed to be in any more than we do.  We had a memorable thing happen – we happened upon a group of four or five redfish happily tailing as if it was July.  After one swing and miss, a second try yielded a great hookup and fish landed by Daniel – on December 27th.   Unbelievable!  Daniel is fishing a Z-Man PaddlerZ rigged weedless with a Phillips Custom rod.  This rod is a split grip Tennessee handle with recoil guides.  He has paired it with a Shimano Ci4 1000 spinning reel.  Here is a photo sequence and video of the catch.  Enjoy!

Global Warming is Real from RalphPhillipsInshore on Vimeo.

Ralph and I fished today with one of Ralph’s business associates, Doc.  Doc has never really fished, so I helped him with the basics, which was literally beginning with how to cast a spinning rod.  I got him started and within the 4th or 5th cast I hear a splash, and he has landed his first fish on artificial bait, a trout.  Nice!

The weather today was absolutely phenomenal, with zero wind and a high temp of 72F.  The water is right around 60F.  Pretty incredible for mid December…

We had a great day with 100+ trout between the three of us.   There were a lot of smaller fish caught today, with around 20 being in the range of 16-17 inches.  It was encouraging to see many real small trout – this year’s year-class.  It will be great for next years catching.

The trout bite today was what we call a “mush bite”.  It’s not the familiar *tick* but rather more of a gentle pick-up or just “something feels weird”.  You really need to be dialed in to your equipment to catch a lot on days like today.  If you are fishing with poor technique you would not catch many fish at all today, at least where we were.  What do I mean by that?  First of all, equipment.  The reel doesn’t matter so much, but the rod does.  We use high end blanks with M/L flex and extra-fast tip on our custom rods.  The tip is really what is important to feel the slight bite.  Lastly, braid helps a lot, but when the water gets very clear, as it always does in winter in the Wando, you will want to go with mono or fluoro line or long leader.  As for technique, you have to stay connected to your lure.  No big bow in your line, and minimal slack during the retrieve.

There is a technique to doing it right, and we have coached many people on how to do it properly.  Most don’t do it right – and thus probably miss a lot of fish.  Trout will breathe the lure in, then spit it out.  If you have ever brought in a Trout Trick with the tail curled around the hook, you missed a fish.  And, to make things more interesting, often the bigger the trout, the softer the bite.  Why does Ralph catch the bigger fish consistently when you are fishing the same setup and same spot?  It’s feel and technique.  Plain and simple.

We did have a couple reds mixed in here and there, that were tagged and released.  By now, most of the reds are hanging on deep structure or schooled up on the flats, thus explaining the lesser numbers of reds for us today.

Last weekend I installed a new toy on Ralph’s boat:  A Humminbird Helix 7 with side imaging.  Holy wow, that thing is crazy cool.  I encouraged him to go with a Humminbird since I have had so much luck finding fish schooled up using mine.  The side imaging is amazing.  It will be a blast using this for scouting, and we already have “learned some things”.  I’m pumped up to try a new pattern – I’ll keep it at that…. hopefully I will be able to write a post about that in the near future 🙂  At first, I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to give Ralph this kind of power.  It’s not really fair to the fish…But, he’s kind of a stick in the mud and I think it will take some persuading to learn this ol dog a new trick…I’ll get him there sooner or later.

Lures that worked well for us today were Trout Tricks in Shrimp Po’Boy and Green Lantern.  Also, the MinnowZ in Rootbeer/Chartreuse and StreakZ 3.75 in Ralph’s Shad.  All of these offerings are available on our online store, FYI.

Doc did really well today – he caught his share and we couldn’t help but really just enjoy being on the water today.  If you were lucky enough to be fishing today…. you’re lucky enough!

 

Thanks and see you on the waters!

 

We have been blessed with some unseasonably warm weather this fall, and as I write (Dec 7, Pearl Harbor Day…RIP Heros…) the water is still just below 60F. That’s great news for survival of the trout this winter. This has also meant that the trout have yet to really transition to the “winter pattern”. After the latest cold front, we believe that transition is in progress. Here is what we mean by that.

Trout will transition to a pattern of moving up creeks away from the main rivers. Whether they are doing this to escape predation, seek out warmth, or the last remaining bit of bait – I’m not sure, but sure enough that’s what they do. They will also drop into deep holes in creeks. One thing we have found is that trout will often hang out in the dead center of these creeks (the deepest parts) and we have observed many people trying to fish in the typical way…moving up the center of the creek with their boat, and casting to the banks. What they should be doing is moving up the edge and casting to the center. You must work your lure very, very slowly. This is where your gear makes all the difference. You will feel an ever so slight *tick*. That’s the bite. A very sensitive rod with a fast tip and braided line is the ticket. This is an appropriate time to plug our custom rods, which are made for this exact purpose. They are high end (read: expensive) but the best rod you can buy for trout fishing. We like to fish Z-Man Trout Tricks and will cut them down even. Other lures we like are the 3.75 StreakZ and the newer Slim SwimZ. These “match the hatch” of available bait consisting of glass minnows. When you stop your lure on the bottom, the buoyancy of the ElaZtech makes the tail float up. It’s killer.

It’s not hard to catch double digits of trout in the winter – you just need the know how, tools, and skill to do it. See you on the water…We’ll be out there in 5 layers and mittens…

In Other News…
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If you didn’t already know, we are a Z-Man dealer and offer a limited selection of their lures on our store. Why? These are ones that we personally endorse and fish ourselves. That’s not to say that the other Z-Man lures don’t work just as well. We just like to offer only products that we fish with ourselves. Catch us on the water and see for yourself. We are fishing Phillips Custom rods with Trout Eye jigs and the Z-Man lures available on our site. We will soon be offering the Z-Man 3.75″ StreakZ, 3″ MinnowZ, and 2.5″ Slim SwimZ in select colors on our store.

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We have sold out of our white Trout Eye hand towels and have replaced them with a Navy Blue colored towel. Why? Well, when your catching, you’re using them a lot, and the white gets easily blood-stained and dirty. The Navy towels will look better for longer. Hope you like them as much as we do!

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We have a couple new Retail shops in Miami, FL! Check out El Capitan Sports, both locations now stock Trout Eye jigs!

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Stay tuned we have some great new stuff ready to drop early next year….