2025 Surf Series Champions

The Surf Series is a season‑long points competition that runs alongside the five standalone surf fishing tournaments hosted annually by Fisherman’s Post, where anglers compete for additional cash payouts awarded at the end of the season. 

The rules are straightforward: fish any—or all—of the five events, including the Pleasure Island Team Challenge (April), Topsail Spring Surf & Pier Challenge (May), Hatteras Island Surf Challenge (September), Pleasure Island Fall Surf Challenge (October), and Topsail Fall Surf & Pier Challenge (November), and an angler’s five heaviest fish across the season are tallied as their points total. 

The 2025 Surf Series Champion was Scout Butner, of High Point, NC. At just nine years old, Scout became the youngest champion in Series history, finishing the season with a five‑fish aggregate of 19.8 lbs. Her season‑defining catch came in the Topsail Fall Surf & Pier Challenge, where she landed a 6.1 lb. red drum on cut mullet during the early morning tide. That fish anchored her bag and pushed her weight total past her father Andrew by 0.6 lbs., securing the title. 

Scout’s winning five‑fish were a 6.8 lb. red drum in Pleasure Island Team, a 6.1 lb. red drum in Topsail Fall, a 4.3 lb. black drum in Pleasure Island Team, a 1.4 lb. bluefish in Pleasure Island Fall, and a 1.2 lb. bluefish in Pleasure Island Team.

Scout and Andrew Butner, from High Point, NC, took first and second place, respectively, in the 2025 Surf Series. Scout finished the season-long competition with a five-fish aggregate of 19.8 lbs., and Andrew put up a 19.2 lb. aggregate.

Second place went to Andrew Butner, also of High Point, NC, who finished just behind his daughter with 19.2 lbs. Andrew’s top five fish came from three of the five events. His five‑fish included a 6.8 lb. red drum at Pleasure Island Team, a 5.8 lb. red drum in Pleasure Island Fall, a 4.3 lb. black drum in Pleasure Island Team, a 1.2 lb. bluefish in Pleasure Island Team, and a 1.1 lb. sea mullet in Pleasure Island Team. 

Third place went to Michael Atkinson, of Mount Olive, NC, with 18.7 lbs. His standout moment came in the Topsail Fall event, where he landed a 6.2 lb. red drum at 3:29 a.m. on Saturday morning fishing cut mullet just before the second sandbar. 

Michael’s five‑fish included a 7.3 lb. red drum in Topsail Spring, a 6.2 lb. red drum in Topsail Fall, a 2.0 lb. bluefish in Topsail Fall, a 1.6 lb. bluefish in Hatteras Island, and a 1.6 lb. sea mullet in Topsail Fall. 

Michael was the 2023 Surf Series Champion in its inaugural year, and after back‑to‑back third‑place finishes in 2024 and 2025, he’s determined to climb back to first. 

Fourth place went to Chris Atkinson, Michael’s twin brother from Sanford, NC. Chris finished with 14.0 lbs., highlighted by a 7.6 lb. red drum in the Topsail Spring event. His other fish included a 1.8 lb. bluefish in Topsail Fall, a 1.7 lb. bluefish in Hatteras Island, a 1.5 lb. bluefish in Pleasure Island Team, and a 1.4 lb. sea mullet in Pleasure Island Team. Fishing every tournament alongside his brother, Chris put together a consistent season and secured a strong fourth‑place finish in the Surf Series.

Fifth place went to Aaron Watkins, with 13.7 lbs. Watkins’ bag (of only three fish total) was anchored by a 7.3 lb. red drum in Topsail Fall, along with a 4.2 lb. black drum in Topsail Spring and a 2.2 lb. sea mullet in Topsail Fall.

For more information on the 2025 Surf Series, as well as plans for 2026, visit FishermansPost.com. The 2026 Surf Series begins with the first event of the season, the Pleasure Island Team Surf Fishing Challenge, hosted out of Island Tackle & Hardware in Carolina Beach over the weekend of April 10-12, 2026.

by Fish Poster