CCFA Redfish
Capturing the top spot in the first Crystal Coast Fishing Association Redfish Series event of the year, held August 8 out of Casper’s Marina in Swansboro, Capts. Jeff Cronk and Mike Taylor, the “Crystal Coast Graphics/NC Charter Fishing” team, scaled a pair of redfish weighing 14.66 lbs. to take first place by over 2 lbs.
After pre-fishing during the week leading up to the tournament, the local captains had a specific school of reds in mind to carry them to victory. When they arrived at their spot 10 minutes after the 6:00 a.m. checkout time for the event, though, the school wasn’t where they anticipated.
With no wind to chop up the water’s surface and make spotting the fish difficult, the anglers scoured the area, eventually finding the school feeding a short distance from where they started.
By 8:00, they’d released around 15 reds and had two nearly perfect tournament fish in the livewell, one 7 lbs., 10 oz., and one just over 7 lbs.
Small, 1/16 oz. jigheads tipped with 4” Berkley Gulp pogies fooled their big pair of fish.
While they continued casting to the fish, looking for a tournament-legal (18-27” length) fish that would prove an upgrade for the smaller one in the livewell, the wind picked up, making sight fishing more challenging.
Cronk and Taylor moved on to more locations nearby where they’d found upper-slot to over-slot reds in the days preceding the event, and the anglers got onto another school, releasing reds from 24-30”, but no legal fish that outweighed their 7 pounder.
A third spot produced five more fish that all fell for Rapala Skitterwalk topwater plugs, but again, none of the legal fish bested their smaller one.
Arriving at the weigh-in at 4:00 p.m., Cronk and Taylor were dismayed to find that each of their fish had lost around 3 oz., as they’d ejected crab shells and parts during their day in the livewell. However, their total of 14.66 lbs. was enough to handily top the second place team.
Fellow Swansboro locals Jamie Riggs and Lane Hurst, the “Outlaw Anglers,” hauled 6.57 and 6.00 lb. reds to the scales for the 12.57 lb. aggregate weight that earned them second place.
Right on the Outlaw’s heels, Jacksonville’s Speckled Specialist crew of Capt. Ricky Kellum and Derrick Barbee finished third, posting a pair of reds weighing 12.35 lbs.
Eric Powell and Jason Nelson, the “New River Marina” crew out of Sneads Ferry, finished fourth with an 11.88 lb. pair of reds. Tommy Parkin and Ryan Holland, of the “Ultimate Yacht” team, scaled an 11.71 lb. aggregate for fifth.
