The Inshore Journal

30/06/2024

Hurricane Drew and I won the Redfish Madness Series team of year/ points race yesterday with a 4th place finish in the final tournament. We won one of the tourneys and placed top 10 in 2 others to claim the title. Yesterday we had our chances but we failed to get the right ones to measure or get them to the boat. Drew and I both had a breakoff and I had a nice upper slot bend a treble straight on a topwater lure at the boat late in our day. We also had a line painter that wouldn't quite fit on the board early on. We caught 12 to 15 fish throughout the day from several spots but, couldnt quite get the right ones from each school of fish. The fish were really acting weird w that negative low tide yesterday. Seems almost everyone else saw the same thing. Our Nautic Charge batteries kept us moving all day.

01/05/2024

Hurricane Drew and I had a good tournament last weekend. Fishing was tough: most of our fish dissappeared, wind was brutal, barometric pressure was high and rising.....typical tournament day. To top it all off we almost didn't make it back to weigh in. I noticed a faint whine from my motor as we started back to weigh in. The noise got louder and louder. I pulled back on the throttle to 4000 rpms and we poked our way in the last 10 miles. Thankfully it held together long enough to get in. On another note I cant say enough about my Nautic Charge batteries. These batteries never go to sleep, never die no matter how hard I push them, and they charge up quicker than any battery out there. My batteries are almost completely charged by my power-pole stealth on my way in from fishing every trip...even tournament days. We covered so much water to scratch out a good bag against wind and current and my batteries never skipped a beat. My JS Custom rods allowed me to make long accurate casts to the fish. Thankful for great equipment to make our tournamnet days easier. Also, want to thank the Redfish Madness crew for putting on another great event. The live leaderboard allowed my daughter to know we were leading the tournament and big fish before we did. After we weighed as we were walking down the dock to release our fish and Camille called me and said, "you and Drew are in the lead." Also, I heard some rumors that there wasn't a polygraph after the tournament....that is not true. I and the second place team were indeed polygraphed as we have been the 3 other times we have been 1st or 2nd place the last 2 years. @ -pole

28/04/2024

Yesterday Hurricane Drew Arndt and I scratched out a win in the Redfish Madness/ Power-Pole National Redfish Tour stop in Swansboro, NC. The conditions were typical for a tournament...windy and the bite was tough. Took us several hours of moving around to locate a few willing fish. We stuck one over slot and a few mid slots as well. Thankfully we got the right bites and fished clean. Topwater and Category5 soft plastics got it done Also, my Nautic Charge batteries kept us moving all day in the wind and current. Can't say enough about these batteries...they are the best there is.

09/04/2024

Drew and I fished the Power Pole National Redfish Tour/Redfish Madness stop in Georgetown, SC last week. Drew checked some areas the week before. I had been on vacation w the family in Florida and got to Georgetown at 3 am Saturday night before the tourney. Was a tough bite and conditions were terrible. We beat every protected area we knew and scratched out a 7th place finish. Thanks to my friend Douglas A Ridley for the hospitality. Also, can't say enough about my Nautic Charge Batteries....they just don't die. We didn't even plug them in the night before tourney...fished all day and they were almost fully charged after running the trolling motor all day in that wind and current. Nautic Charge

30/03/2024

This overslot smashed a Category5 soft plastic.

06/12/2023

This one had a lit up tail!

04/08/2023

If you are looking at making the switch to lithium batteries make sure you look at these. I have been using these batteries for a couple months now and they are light years ahead of the competition. These batteries will not explode for any reason....they have even shot nails through the cases of the batteries to prove this....don't try that with other brands of lithium batteries. They also will 100 percent discharge unlike other lithium that shut off at 80% discharge. These batteries don't go to sleep like other lithiums requiring a special charger or process to wake them up. You can also use almost any charger to charge them instead of spending hundreds of dollars for a specific charger. Drop the weight and space of your wet cell or agm batteries and you will be able to fish all day long. The 12, 24, and 36 volt batteries only weigh 32 pounds. They also have a 10 year warranty. Nautic Charge batteries also have Bluetooth so you can monitor the batteries as you use them. Visit their site to order: www.NauticCharge.com

24/07/2023

My youngest and I finished in 2nd place in the Fish Post Redfish tourney this past weekend. Was a pretty good turnout with 51 boats. Camille caught a lot of over and upper slots throughout the day. Most coming on topwater lures.

28/04/2023

Camille with her new custon JS Rod. Justin did a great job on this rod with the same specs as my custom rods. The rod is completely balanced to the shimano reels we use. She loves the color and has already caught some nice redfish from NC to Louisiana on this rod.

14/03/2023

This redfish thought he was a speckled trout....near 100 spots total.

25/12/2022

Merry Christmas!

11/12/2022

What is your play when a school of reds comes right at your boat?

17/11/2022

JS Custom rods are the best rods I have ever put in my hands. Using St Croix blanks and nearly indestructible guides with no inserts, these well balanced and sensitive rods are a must have.

Can't say enough about my JS Custom rods. They are the most balanced, sensitive, and most accurate rods I have ever used. I have now been using my rods for...

27/10/2022

My youngest and I fished the Crystal Coast Classic in Morehead City last Saturday and got the win. Little Camille fished hard all day in some brutal wind. Nothing like sharing that moment with her. She also caught her personal best trout and redfish. What a great event put on for a great cause.

23/01/2022

Got some nasty weather in the Carolinas this weekend. My fleet of boats are covered in ice. Hopefully we didn't have a cold stun trout kill with the rapid cool down. The 2 weeks leading up to the storm was some of the best sight fishing we've had all year.

06/11/2021

We as anglers need to do a better job of protecting the resource that we all love. With the pressure increasing as our sport increases with popularity we need to educate everyone on the importance of catch and release. We can do very little about the commercial fishing/overfishing, loss of habitat, and the environmental changes that occur within the estuary. I fish all over the south and gulf chasing redfish in tournaments and I can tell you numbers are way down in almost every area I fish. Louisiana is not immune to this either. This past year I have seen fewer numbers than ever before in Louisiana waters. Let's control what we can to ensure our kids and their kids have something to catch.

16/03/2021

The first redfish tourney of the year for us is in the books...another fun day of catching in Charleston, SC.

19/02/2021

The new line of rods from St Croix are coming to a shop near you.

22/12/2020

Sight fishing....

This never gets old....stalking redfish on the flats from the tower. Nothing like watching a redfish react to a bait presented to them in shallow water. Th...

09/09/2020

Launching in boat position 22 are anglers Rennie Clark and Ashley Lowder! Rennie and Ashley hail from the Carolinas. Rennie has 7 Redfish tournament Team of the Year titles under his belt, and Ashley was a member of the 2016 Redfish Cup Team of the Year. They have placed in top 10 in multiple tournaments and have now made the big show, the Redfish World Series!

07/04/2020

Let's go fishing!

01/04/2020

Be smart and practice social distancing. Boat ramps need to stay open, it is unnecessary and not smart to be in large groups on sandbars

06/03/2020

Are you thinking about adding a sight platform to your boat? In this video I show you how and where to add a tie down for a sight platform on your boat. The tie down I use in this video is smaller than a dime on your deck and has a removable eye bolt. This allows you to have a clean deck without trip hazards for those days that you want to leave the sight casting platform at home.

https://youtu.be/VU3eQntdBiQ

In this video I show how to secure a sight platform on your boat's front deck. I was forced to install the tie down on my forward storage hatch. This is not ...

27/02/2020

As I frequent shallow water in my boats almost daily, my lower unit gear case can look pretty rough at times. In our latest video I show how to repaint your lower unit. This video shows how to properly prep, paint, and seal your work to make your lower unit look like new.

https://youtu.be/aPc_6wjOASA

In this video I show you how to repaint your lower unit gearcase. Being in shallow water almost daily really takes a toll on my outboard lower unit paint. Th...

21/02/2020

Have you ever wanted to make your own rod holders? I recently had a problem finding the exact rod holders I needed to replace weathered and worn out rod holders on my boat. Plastic rod holders that are exposed to sunlight and the outdoor elements will eventually wear out. When this happens it is usually several years after your boat has been built. Most boat manufacturers change components almost yearly. It can be almost impossible to find outdated products that may be installed on your boat.

I created a video to show you how I made my own rod holders for my boat console rod rack.

https://youtu.be/eFgfH09u9L0

-Capt Ren

14/02/2020

Are you looking to add a Power-Pole to your boat? Recently I added a Power-Pole bracket to the side of my jack plate on my little skiff. The problem was my boat has an old jack plate that didn't have pre-drilled holes on the side of the jack plate like the new ones do. I made this video to show you how to install a Power-Pole bracket to the side of an undrilled jack plate. You can always call the guys at Power-Pole if you have any questions about your installation. They have great customer service and will get you the right parts for your application.

https://youtu.be/VPZg3MtIsSE

-Capt Ren

In this video I show you how to attach a Power-Pole bracket to the side of a Bob's jack plate. The jack plate I installed the bracket to did not have pre-dri...

12/02/2020

My girls and I caught Peacock Bass this morning in south Florida. What a great fighting fish!

08/02/2020

This is what it's all about. Catch and release to Sustain a fishery for the next generation.

03/02/2020

This is the full version of the video we posted yesterday. Join us as we sight fish monster black drum in clear shallow water. Ashley Lowder and I caught these fish during and before the 2019 Redfish World Series out of Hopedale, Louisiana.
https://youtu.be/qfT-uDiduyw

Watch as Ashley Lowder and I catch some monster black drum on artificials before and during the 2019 Redfish World Series. We saw hundreds of black drum on t...

02/02/2020

Check out this sight fishing video as a preview of the full version that will be available Monday Feb 3.

https://youtu.be/OydGTFrj6E4

This video is a teaser for the full video coming Feb 3, 2020. Watch as Ashley Lowder and I sight fish monster black drum on the flats. It's not every day tha...