Ocean Isle Inshore Challenge
Luke, Stone, and Mark Tippett–the 3 Tippetts Fishing Team–with the 7.96 lb. flounder and 6.24 lb. red drum that earned them First Place Flounder and Top Aggregate at the Ocean Isle Inshore Challenge. The big flatfish fell for a Gulp bait at a ledge in the Cape Fear River.
The first crew to weigh their fish in the event, Wilmington’s “3 Tippetts” fishing team agonized over which of a pair of red drum was heavier before pulling a healthy 7.96 lb. flounder out of their cooler and walking to the scales at the Fisherman’s Post Ocean Isle Inshore Challenge, held May 31 out of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center.
The 6.27 lb. red they weighed in earned the anglers third on the Red Drum leaderboard, but their big flatfish handily topped the Flounder division of the event. The pair also earned the event’s Aggregate prize.
Luke Tippett, fishing aboard a Hewes Bayfisher flats boat along with his father Mark and brother Stone, had done some extensive pre-fishing around Wrightsville Beach before the event and located some upper-slot red drum he wanted to return to on the morning of the competition.
Maranda Register and Fisher and Andy Broadwell with the 6.83 lb. red drum that took first place on that leaderboard at the Fisherman’s Post Ocean Isle Inshore Challenge, held May 31 out of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center. They also scaled a 4.33 lb. flounder and caught both fish on live menhaden at some ICW structure near Holden Beach.
The plan worked swimmingly, as the reds were just where they’d been hoping.
“We were fishing a little creek behind Wrightsville Beach,” Luke Tippett reported, “casting topwater plugs. I had a 26.5” fish in the boat at 7:00 that morning.”
The anglers continued connecting with reds for much of the morning, but they decided to look for a flounder around 10:00 and headed to the Cape Fear River.
“I hadn’t fished the Cape Fear much yet this year and we really fish for reds and trout more than flounder,” Tippett continued.
Despite the lack of scouting, the anglers’ flounder quest went at least as well as their redfishing had.
Working a ledge in 6-8’ of water in the lower Cape Fear, the Tippetts had only been casting for 10 minutes when Mark got a big strike while working a Gulp shrimp on a 3/8 oz. jighead.
“He knew right away it was a good flounder,” Tippett said.
The fish came up fairly easily but took off again after the anglers got a quick look at it. Luke was prepared the second time the flounder surfaced, and the anglers soon had the big flatfish in the boat.
“He came up and looked at the boat again, and I was able to make a good snag with the net,” Tippett recalled.
Weighing the flatfish aboard the boat, the anglers grew excited when their hand scale flirted with the 8 lb. mark.
“I knew that fish would be tough to beat this time of year,” Tippett said.
The Tippetts made a few more stops in the lower Cape Fear in an attempt to upgrade their red drum before deciding to head to the scales at Ocean Isle, where the big flatfish took the top of the leaderboard and stayed there through the close of competition, also earning Stone Tippett the tournament’s Top Junior Angler honors.
Scaling the event’s heaviest red drum were Southport, NC’s “Pirate Pack” fishing team, whose 6.83 lb. red drum took the top spot in that category.
David and Maranda Register, along with Andy and Fisher Broadwell, made up the “Pirate Pack” crew, and the anglers launched their 21’ Century bay boat at Oak Island on the morning of the competition.
They pre-fished a bit, but mostly targeted spots that have proven productive for the crew over the years. The action was steady through the day, but David Register reported that the quality of their catches improved as the morning wore on.
“It was mostly small fish early, then bigger ones later in the day,” he explained.
The trend began around lunch, when Andy Broadwell hooked their big red on a live menhaden under a Holden Beach-area dock.
The red took Broadwell on a few laps around the boat before he was able to get control of it and work the fish to Register’s waiting net.
“When we put him in the boat we knew he was going to be close to over-slot,” Register said. “We were feeling good when we measured him, though.”
With a quality drum in the boat, the quartet went flounder fishing, and Broadwell was able to connect with a 4.33 lb. flatfish at some nearby structure, also on a live menhaden.
Jacob Frick and the “Tiberias” crew had the 6.34 lb. second place red drum in the event, and also put up a 4.87 lb. flounder to post a handsome aggregate weight.
Scaling the event’s second-heaviest flounder were Larry Lefler and the Albemarle, NC’s “A Salt Weapon” crew, whose 7.25 lb. flatfish topped the tournament’s Single Big Flounder TWT.
Fishing with his brothers Ricky and Chris, the Leflers trolled the Lockwood Folly River in their hunt for a big flounder.
They’d caught several smaller fish to 4 lbs. when their leaderboard fish struck a live menhaden in a creek off the main river, and Chris Lefler was quickly on the rod.
“We knew it was a big one as soon as it hit,” Larry Lefler explained, “but he came right to the boat.”
Dennis McCracken and the “CRACKERJACK” team took third place in the flounder category with a 5.23 lb. flatfish.
The Ocean Isle Inshore Challenge is the kickoff event to the 2014 Fisherman’s Post Inshore Tournament Trail, event #2 in Southport coming up June 20-21. Anglers can find a full leaderboard for each event, trail standings, and more information about the five-event series under the tournaments tab at fishermanspost.com.
