Flat Bottom Girls Flounder Tournament
Fisherman’s Post Sales Manager Joshua Alexander and Editor Max Gaspeny with a pair of flounder including the 6.6 lb. fish that earned first place in the 2012 Flat Bottom Girls Flounder Tournament. The big fish fell for a live finger mullet near a Wrightsville Beach dock.
Run annually by Capt. Tim Barefoot and the Fish For Tomorrow organization to support local aquaculture efforts, 2012’s Flat Bottom Girls Live Weigh-in Flounder Tournament had another successful year, attracting 10 boats. Participants weigh in live fish in the event, which are then hauled off to facilities where they support efforts to farm-raise flounder within the state, lessening commercial pressure on the fish and breeding fingerlings to enhance local stocks.
Barry Bey and the South Brunswick High School Aquaculture program teamed up with a new private aquaculture facility in Lillington, Little River Trails, as the beneficiaries of this year’s event.
The groups received big numbers of healthy brood stock fish from 2 to 6+ lbs., and funds generated by the event will go to support the unique curriculum at South Brunswick. The high school’s program conducts a yearly release of 25,000 flounder fingerlings into Oak Island’s Davis Creek. At 2-5” long, the farm-raised fingerlings have a 95% better survival rate versus wild hatchlings.
Perennial participants in the tournament but strangers to the winners’ circle, Team Fisherman’s Post took home first place with a 6.6 lb. flounder. The fish bit a live finger mullet near a Wrightsville Beach dock and earned the crew the event’s $1,000 guaranteed first place prize.
Scaling a 5.5 lb. flounder to take home second place were Donald Aiken and the “Little Money” fishing team. Their finish earned them $500.
Fred Davis, aboard the “Turnitup” and no stranger to flounder tournament leaderboards, landed third place and $300 with a 4.05 lb. fish.
David Christopher and Team Masonboro secured fourth place and $200 with a 3.75 lb. flatfish, and they weighed it in just ahead of Dan Spencer and “Trigger Happy,” whose own 3.75 lb. fish took fifth and $100.
In addition to live flounder and some much-needed funding, Bey also received the event’s Kay Crocker Sportsmanship Award for his tireless efforts to advance the Aquaculture Program and enrich students’ lives.
For more information about the Flat Bottom Girls Flounder Tournament, NC aquaculture Research, and the Fish For Tomorrow program, visit www.fishfortomorrow.org.
