Carousel Center Flounder Tournament
Chris Hunt, of Wilmington, with the 6.85 lb. winning flounder in the 9th Annual Carousel Center Flounder Tournament. Hunt hooked the big flatty on a live menhaden under an ICW dock between Wrightsville and Carolina Beaches while fishing with Mike Accatato and Capt. Mark Armstrong of Reaction Charters.
Dominating the event’s leaderboard, Wilmington’s Chris Hunt, Mike Accattato, and Capt. Mark Armstrong, of Reaction Charters, scaled 6.8, 5.85, and 4.25 lb. flounder to take home first, second, and fourth place in the 9th Annual Carousel Center Flounder Tournament, held June 18 out of Carolina Beach’s Inlet Watch Yacht Club.
The anglers fished aboard Armstrong’s 22’ Key West bay boat, and they followed a strategy Hunt developed while pre-fishing the week before the event.
“I’d caught some fish, but nothing like today,” Hunt said at the awards ceremony. “None over 3 lbs.”
After a somewhat frustrating time catching bait that morning, the trio began fishing some docks along the ICW and found what they were looking for early on.
“Mike had his fish in the boat by 7:00,” Hunt explained, referring to the second place flatfish, “and the mood was set. We just took it easy and kept fishing.”
After Accatato landed the 5 pounder, the anglers kept moving from dock to dock, working their way from Wrightsville Beach toward Carolina Beach and the scales.
The crew’s number got pulled again around 11:00 that morning.
“That was the first time all day I’d stuck the rod in a holder and just sat down and relaxed,” Hunt continued. “I took another rod and casted it, and sure as anything, I watched the other rod get bit.”
Hunt’s fish swam straight toward the boat after inhaling the live menhaden he’d been casting, and he grabbed the rod as the line went slack.
“I was reeling and then came tight and set the hook,” he said, “and the fish just sat there. I’d already had a scare with a skate, and I thought it was probably another one. After messing with it for about a minute, though, that fish came right up.”
The fish was the tournament winner, and after Hunt worked it to the top, Accatato was ready with the net.
“As soon as he got up to the surface,” Hunt said, “Mike netted him right up.”
Elated to put an even bigger flatfish than the citation 5 pounder already aboard in the boat, the anglers continued fishing, albeit at a slightly more relaxed pace.
“I was just stoked; real happy,” Hunt reported. “After that we just piddled around for a little while, and then Mark lined up on his.”
Armstrong’s fish came just after noon, as the crew was fishing yet another dock, and they put it in the boat with little incident.
With three serious contenders for the leaderboard on the boat, the anglers made their way to the scales with grins on their faces.
“It was just an awesome day,” Hunt said at the awards ceremony. “Just awesome.”
Hunt, Accatato, and Armstrong took home $1600 for their trio of flatfish.
Angler Chase LeBlanc weighed in the 5.00 lb. fish that took home third place and $250 in the tournament, and Brent Langdon captured fifth and a $50 bounty with a 4.15 lb. flounder.
The Carousel Center provides critical care and support to victims of child abuse throughout NC’s 15 southeastern counties. The annual flounder tournament is one of the Center’s principal fundraisers, and this year’s tournament raised over $14,000, for a total of over $100,000 over the nine year history of the event.
More information is available at www.carouselcenter.org.
