Jacksonville Rotary Trout Tournament
Jacksonville's Capt. Jr. Sinclair, of Fish Bones Charters and Eastern Outfitters, and Keith Patterson won the First Annual Jacksonville Rotary Speckled Trout Tournament with five fish weighing 16.0 lbs. They hooked the fish in a creek near Swansboro on electric chicken 18MR MirrOlures.
Posting five speckled trout with an aggregate weight of 16.0 lbs., Jacksonville’s Capt. Junior Sinclair, of Eastern Outfitters and Fish Bones Charters, and Keith Patterson took home the first place check in the First Annual Jacksonville Rotary Speckled Trout Shootout, held out of Riverworks in downtown Jacksonville.
Along with a 3.8 lb. speck they weighed in the event’s TWT, the fish were just a fraction of the 45 specks the anglers caught over the course of a hot day of fishing.
After pre-fishing during the week leading up to the event aboard their 24’ Pathfinder bay boat, the pair felt like they’d identified a body of fish worth returning to on tournament morning.
“We earned them,” Sinclair said. “We found them pre-fishing, then went back there, stuck to our game plan, and it turned out good.”
Selecting a creek in the Swansboro area in their search for money-winning specks the morning of the event, the anglers anchored up on a spot and began casting, finding what they were looking for early on.
“We caught them right off the bat,” Sinclair continued.
Casting new MirrOlure 18 MR’s in Electric Chicken to a spot in 6’ of water, the anglers put the lion’s share of their money fish in the boat fairly quickly.
“We caught most of the big fish early on,” Sinclair reported.
With solid fish in the boat, the pair worked a few more spots in their creek, catching plenty of fish, albeit mostly on the small side.
“We were hoping the tide change would fire the big fish back up,” Sinclair explained. “But it didn’t, so we headed to the scales around 3:00.”
When the weigh-in came to a close, the Fish Bones/Eastern Outfitters fish were on top, maintaining the lead by over half a pound.
Barry Yopp, of Sneads Ferry, reeled in second place with five specks weighing 15.4 lbs. Rounding out the top three with a 14.0 lb. aggregate were Swansboro’s Capt. Robbie Hall, of Hall’Em In Charters, and Jody and Steve Floyd.
Capt. Ricky Kellum, of Speckled Specialist Charters, took home fourth place with 13.6 lbs. of specks, and Steve Hemby’s 13.2 lb. haul took home fifth.
A 6.6 lb. speck handily won the event’s Big Fish TWT for Rex Lanier, Matt Ray, and Mike Ervin.
Topping the amateur division, Joe Henderson, Jason Nelson, and Michael Elks weighed in a 6.0 lb. aggregate.
Cameron Kellum was the event’s Top Junior Angler.
