Captain Jot Owens Fishing Report

Wow, what a difference some warm weather makes on fishing!  This has been some of the best February weather I’ve ever seen around southeast North Carolina in a very long time!  The great thing it has really gotten the fish moving and starting to feed some around the local waters.  And that’s what I’m going to go over in this fishing report.

I love saltwater fishing but, I like any kind of fish pulling on my line salt or fresh and this time of year you can catch some really nice fresh water fish.  I have run a few fresh water trips in the last few weeks with some pretty good success; we even got a few very nice bass on a fly rod early last week that went just over six pounds.  Fishing local lakes, ponds and the Northeast Cape Fear River has been producing good catches of large-mouth bass.  The best baits lately have been Berkley Powerbait 5” Sinkworms in colors green pumpkin/watermelon, black with red flake and watermelon.  I’m rigging these worms Texas and wacky style on 4/0 wide gap worm hooks.  When we are casting the fly rod we are using; six to eight weight rods with floating line and eight to twelve pound tippets.

One fish that has just been waiting for the water to warm up just a bit is the good’ole Redfish; they are on the move and biting!  We are seeing the Reds on the shallow mud and oyster flats now in good numbers. Capt Jeff Wolfe and I gave it a shot last week and ended up with just over forty-five Redfish for the day.  All the Reds hit Berkley Gulp 3” shrimp in colors natural and molting on 1/8oz and 1/4oz jig heads with twenty pound Stren tinted tannic fluorocarbon leader.  There have been a few schools of Reds around the local inlets and just off the beaches if we can get the weather to go get them!

The Cape Fear River Stripers are biting from time to time; it got a little cold for them but with this nice warm up they should start biting.  The Stripers are hitting Berkley gulp jerk shad 5” in colors pearl, new penny and electric chicken.  We rig the jerk shad Texas style, with a large 5/0 worm hook.  Rapala X-raps work too, in colors glass ghost and green back.  Remember, still work the lures slow for the water is warming up but it’s still a little cold.

I would like to thank everyone who has attended the fishing schools, seminars and boat shows I’ve spoke at this winter, it always good to see everyone.  There have been some very good seminars/schools this winter and the turnouts have been great, thanks again for attending.  If anyone has any questions about any of the classes I spoke at, please feel free to e-mail the questions any time to captainjot@yahoo.com There are a few more good fishing functions you can attend this spring, here are a few more I’ll be at in the near feature.

February 26th and 27th Bass Pro Shop 2011 Spring Fishing Classic, Myrtle Beach, SC.  I’ll be answering any questions you have about products made by Penn, Spidwire, Berkley, Fenwick, Minn Kota, MirrOlure and many others you want to purchase at this sale.  Bass Pro is also offering there Reel Trade-Ins program for you to save money on your new reels purchased from Bass Pro.

March 26th: Tex’s Tackle Spring Sale and Fishing Seminars.  Yes it’s that time of year again Tex’s big spring sale, Tex will have all kinds of good deals on tackle to get you started for this upcoming fishing season.  I’ll be to help you with any questions you have about tackle and I’ll also being doing a seminar or two on inshore fishing.

*If you know any one or your looking for a Bay boat my 2008 Ranger Bay 2200 is for sale please look at this link for all the info on this well maintained Ranger.  http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2008-Ranger-2200-Bay-97953352 If you have any questions or would like to see/test drive please let me know.

Fishing gear I use:

Gear used: Redfish, Bass and Striped Bass: reels Penn Conquer 2000 and Battle 2000 & 3000 spinning reels.  Fenwick HMG GS 70M-MF for Redfish, Bass and Striped Bass.  Line: Spiderwire Ultracast ten and fifth teen pound.  Fluorocarbon leader material, Stren Tinted Fluorocarbon in tints Gunsmoke for clearer waters and Tannic for river or stained waters in thirty pound for Redfish and Striped Bass.

Thanks for reading, hope to see you at a boat show or fishing seminar this winter; please come by and say hello.

Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139

I hope everybody is making through this winter so far, the weather been up and down and that is an understatement!  There are some fish biting but you just need to go on the right days to catch them.  If you’re settled down for the winter and don’t feel like fishing, hit a local or regional fishing school or boat show; you never know what you might learn or see!

The Redfishing lately has been pretty good most days when the wind is not howling and we’ve seen some nice schools of Reds.  Warmer, sunny and lower wind days can be the key to catching these inshore winter Redfish.  It’s not hard to catch them once you find’em, look for these Reds in creek with dark colored bottoms and oyster rocks never hurt.  Scented soft plastics like Berkley Gulp should do the trick to get these Reds to hit.  Patterns in Gulp like Shrimp in sizes 2” and 3” are my go too, colors that seem to work the best are pearl, molting and new penny.  Try lighter jig heads like 1/16 and 1/8 when winter fishing; lighter jig heads help you to work the lure much slower and still look nature as possible.

I’ve made quite a few trips to the Cape Fear River year; there are two different kinds of fish to chase in the Cape Fear, Catfish and Striped Bass most all winter long.  Here is a few ways to put a CFR Striper on your line.  Try Berkley Gulp and Powerbait Jerkshad in 5’ size; in pearl & new penny colors.  Work these baits slowly and always rig them weed-less; there are many hangs in the Cape Fear River.  Look for Stripers on drop-offs, dock pilings and reed-grass lines.

If you would like to give the Catfish a try, use baits like cut mullet, chicken livers and cut eel.  I use heavy Carolina rigs when I fish for catfish.  Try an Eagle claw L42 2/0 to 4/0 hook with fifty or eighty pound mono leader to make your carolina rig.  Look for the catfish on drop-offs from five to twenty feet of water.  We have seen some blue cats over thirty pounds caught in the river so try not to use to light of tackle; these are not always your ‘farm pond channel cats’!

*If you know any one or your looking for a Bay boat my 2008 Ranger Bay 2200 is for sale please look at this link for all the info on this well maintained Ranger.  http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2008-Ranger-2200-Bay-97953352   If you have any questions or would like to see/test drive please let me know.

Fishing gear I use:

Gear used: Redfish and Striped Bass: reels Penn Conquer 2000 and Battle 2000 & 3000 spinning reels.  Catfish Fenwick HMG GS 70MH-MF. Fenwick HMG GS 70M-MF for Redfish and Striped Bass.  Line: Spiderwire Ultracast ten and fifth teen pound.  Fluorocarbon leader material, Stren Tinted Fluorocarbon in tints Gunsmoke for clearer waters and Tannic for river or stained waters in thirty pound for Redfish and Striped Bass.

In other fishing news; it’s boat show and fishing seminar/school season.  Here are some of the shows I plan to speck at or appear at.

February 4th, 5th and 6th, 2011 – Raleigh Convention Center Boat Show – Raleigh, NC. www.raleighconvention.com/boatshow/ This is a great show with lots of the “top of the line” boats form around the world.  I’ll be there with other Ranger Pro’s to show you all the great benefits to the Ranger Saltwater line of boats.

February 12th Fisherman’s Post 6th Annual Saltwater Fishing school. www.fishermanspost.com/fishing-school  I look forward to this school, I’ve wanted to participate in this school in the past but my winter schedule did not allow me to.  I’ve herd many good things about this school in the past. There will be more than twelve local captains at this year school to help you learn all there is to know about any kind of local saltwater fishing.

February 19th, 2010-Cape Fear Christian Sportsman Fish Fest. www.capefearsportsmen.org/fishfest  This is a great free event!  I’ll be speaking on two topics this year; Cape Fear River Striped Bass fishing and my very popular MirrOlures with success seminar. 

February 25th, 26th and 27th Bass Pro Shop 2011 Spring Fishing Classic, Myrtle Beach, SC.  I’ll be answering any questions you have about products made by Penn, Spidwire, Berkley, Fenwick, Minn Kota, MirrOlure and many others you want to purchase at this sale.  Bass Pro is also offering there Reel Trade-Ins program for you to save money on your new reels purchased from Bass Pro.

Thanks for reading, hope to see you at a boat show or fishing seminar this winter; please come by and say hello.

Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139