The Emerald Isle Fall Fishing Tournament is a town-sponsored event in its fourth year, and it features four divisions: King, Spanish, Surf, and Junior. Proceeds from the event go mostly to scholarship programs, with other money going to local dredging projects. The weigh-in for all four divisions, after the one day of fishing, happens at the Emerald Isle public boat ramp.
The top boat in the King Division was Checked Out. Scott Phillips and his brother James Phillips were fishing on Scott’s 31’ Fountain, and with bait penned up the night before, they were trolling on the beach right at the lines-in-the-water time.
The beach bite was slow, other than small sharks, so they headed out 5-10 miles, and around 11:30 the bite turned on. They landed approximately 18 kings over the day, but their 22.25 lb. king was clearly the biggest, so most of their kings were released.
The winning king hit a naked pogie on the long line.
Second place went to Bear Cat, and Barrington Page, with a 21.40 lb. king, and third place was won by Sea Drag’n and Andy Horton with a 20.20 lb. king.
In the Spanish Division, it was Highly Favored taking the win with a single big spanish weighing 7.80 lbs. The team, comprised of Blake Parks, Steve Jones, and Byron Webber, found their big spanish trolling a live pogie around AR-315. The spanish, one of two they caught that were roughly the same size, hit the long line.
The team only caught those two spanish, other than several sharks. Highly Favored has fished this event every year, and last year they took first place in the King Division.
The second place spanish boat was Ty One On and Ty Johnson with a 7.35 lb. spanish, and Team Not Racing and Joe Jolly took home third with a 7.25 lb. spanish.
The Surf Division, which includes the species of bluefish, spanish, pompano, flounder, and sea mullet, was won by Timothy Minch, from New Bern but spends his weekends on Emerald Isle. He landed a 19”, 2.25 lb. spanish from the point at the west end of the island throwing a diamond jig.
“The spanish were in pretty close,” noted Minch, “and the fishing was good. I took home 8 spanish and caught 20.”
The 2+ lb. spanish was caught around 8:00 am during a falling tide, and he also hooked a few smaller bluefish.
Second place went to Richard Marguard with a 2.05 lb. spanish, and William Leach’s 1.45 lb. spanish took third place.
The Junior Angler title went to Evie Cavallo with a 1.20 lb. spanish. Luke Smith was the second place junior angler with a 1.15 lb. spanish, and Mackenzie Moyer’s 1.10 lb. bluefish earner her third place junior angler.
For more information on this event, and to stay tuned for information on next year’s event, you can visit the Emerald Isle Fall Fishing Tournament on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EIFishing.