Added on Thursday, October 24, 2013  Fish Post

Pleasure Island Surf Fishing Challenge

Nearly 500 anglers descended on the shores of Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, and Fort Fisher October 18-20 for the 7th Annual Fisherman’s Post Pleasure Island Surf Fishing Challenge, competing for nearly $20,000 in prize money across seven categories of fish. Faces at the awards ceremony following the 36-hour fishing marathon were plainly tired, but the grins on the faces of the lucky anglers collecting checks and raffle prizes shone through the weariness.

The tournament awards prize money to the top-five heaviest flounder, bluefish, speckled trout, pompano, black drum, and sea mullet, with an additional TWT for the largest slot red drum. Speckled trout were apparently tough to come by during the event, with no fish weighed in, but anglers succeeded at filling out the leaderboard in all the other categories.

Scaling a 6.0 lb. flounder to top that division, take home Top Lady Angler Honors, and walk away with $1,841 prize money was Garner, NC’s Jennifer McDevitt, who traveled down to fish the event with her husband. The two settled on the rocky area just north of Fort Fisher in their search for a winning fish, and it didn’t take them long to find one.

“That was only my second cast out,” McDevitt reported.

The big flatfish bit a live finger mullet around 11:45 on Saturday morning, and McDevitt quickly realized she had a solid fish.

“I started to reel that in and it felt stronger than anything I’ve ever caught before,” she added.

The battle quickly swung in her favor, and the lady angler had the flatfish on the beach in a few minutes. She quickly decided to head to the scales at Island Tackle and Hardware to get the big fish on the board.

“I went to weigh it, but my husband kept fishing,” McDevitt explained. “I think he wanted to catch one, too.”

A 4.8 lb. flounder brought home second place in that category for Robert Campbell, and Ronnie Goforth took third with another 4.8 lb. fish weighed later in the competition.

Greg Cox, of Archdale, NC, topped the tournament’s bluefish category with a 3.0 lb. fish and also walked away with $1,841.

A last-minute decision about where to fish ended up leading Cox to the winning blue.

“I was going to go to Freeman Park, but I looked out in front of our motel and told my wife I was going to fish out there and see what I could do,” Cox explained.

Casting live mud minnows in front of Carolina Beach’s Savannah Inn, Cox got a strike just after noon on Saturday.

“I knew it was a good fish,” he reported. “I was hoping maybe it was a flounder or drum.”

While it wasn’t what he was hoping for, Cox beached the blue and immediately headed to Island Tackle to weigh it in.

“I was shocked that fish held up,” he said. “I thought someone would haul in a 10-pounder or something. I was a nervous wreck for a few hours.”

At the close of the scales, however, Cox’s blue was still on top, and he walked away with the big check.

Johnny Buffum scored second place in the bluefish division with a 2.7 lb. fish, and Michael Tallent’s 2.4 lb. blue earned third.

Topping the black drum leaderboard and taking home $920 was Leland, NC’s Ben White with a 4.5 lb. fish landed early in the competition. Fishing on Freeman Park near Carolina Beach Inlet, he got a strike on a bait casted just off the beach around 2:00 Saturday morning.

“He hit a light rod with shrimp on it,” White said. “I knew I had something good—I thought it might be a red.”

The angler soon found out he was fighting a different kind of drum, and headed for the Freeman Park weigh station as soon as he put it on the beach.

“Everybody was excited about that fish,” White explained. “I tossed it in the back of the truck and took off.”

Ben Horne hauled in a 1.5 lb. black drum good for second place, and Lisa Sarvis secured third with a 0.5 lb. fish.

Elliott Morton, from Knightdale, NC, weighed in a huge 3.2 lb. pompano to take home the top honors and $920 check in that division. Morton also selected Freeman Park as his home base and hooked his fish in the midafternoon Saturday.

“It bit just after the incoming tide,” Morton reported. “I had a sand flea out there inside the sand bar.”

The fish doubled Morton’s rod over and tore line from the reel.

“It put up a real good fight,” he explained. “My neighbor came down and pulled his line out of the water and got out of my way. I had no clue what that was. I thought it might be a drum.”

When the big pompano hit the beach, Morton grew excited and headed for the scales.

“I was tickled,” he said. “That’s the biggest pompano I’ve ever caught.”

Elbert Fussell scaled a 1.9 lb. pompano to finish second, and Steve Corriher weighed another 1.9 lb. fish in later to secure third.

Steve Tysinger, from Wilmington, landed a 2.0 lb. whiting to take home $920 and the top spot on that leaderboard.

Tysinger relied on some intel from a friend to pick his honey hole for the tournament, around the south end of the Carolina Beach boardwalk.

“I had a buddy who fished all last month there and caught a bunch of smaller whiting,” Tysinger said. “There’s a really nice slough in there about 1/4 mile long.”

Fishing exclusively for sea mullet and speckled trout, Tysinger had a fairly slow start to the event, but hooked the big whiting around 9:00 Sunday morning. A sea mullet on a lightly-weighted bottom rig fooled the money-winning fish.

Tysinger also chose to head directly to the scales with his fish.

“I weighed it in and was pretty much done for the day,” he explained. “The current picked up, and I don’t like to fish a heavy weight.”

A 1.7 lb. whiting secured second place for Bill Letendre, and Elbert Fussell took third with a 1.6 lb. fish.

Ken Fowler, of Attalla, AL, topped the event’s highly competitive Red Drum TWT with a 5.4 lb. fish worth just under $2,800. Fishing with family just north of the 4wd beach at Fort Fisher, Fowler didn’t have to wait long after the midnight lines-in time to make the leaderboard.

“That fish bit at 12:18,” he explained. “That was my second cast.”

Fishing a live mullet on a homemade rig just off the sand, Fowler leapt to the rod after it doubled over in his sand spike.

“I was fishing right up on the shoreline,” he said. “He came right in easy.”

Fowler immediately weighed the fish in at the Fort Fisher weigh station but didn’t think it would hold up for the rest of the event.

“I thought if it was that quick and that easy, everyone would be catching them like that,” he reported.

While many other reds were weighed in during the event, no one managed to top Fowler’s fish, and he took home the big check. Kris Letendre scaled a 4.6 lb. red to earn second place, and Jeff Pierce took third with a 4.5 lb. drum.

Dakota Utsman secured the event’s Top Junior Angler spot with a 2.7 lb. flounder. Ronald Worley scaled a 1.9 lb. bluefish and the Top Senior Angler crown.

More information on the event and a full leaderboard are available at fishermanspost.com.