Wrightsville Beach Spring Challenge 2007
A quick look at the leader board of the 3rd annual Wrightsville Beach Marina Spring Challenge, held April 26-28, confirmed that blue water fishing is off to a hot start for 2007. Although strong winds caused the cancellation of Friday’s fishing, on Saturday teams participating in the year’s first Cape Fear offshore tournament found and caught tuna, dolphin, wahoo, and sailfish in many area Gulf Stream hot spots.
The tournament awards the two heaviest dolphin, tuna, and wahoo brought to the scales and presents an award for most billfish releases. At the scales next to the Wrightsville Beach Marina dock house, the leader board shifted nearly every time a team arrived with a cart of fish.
Wrightsville Beach’s “Eye Catcher” topped the dolphin category with a 30.35 lb. bull, and released the tournament’s only billfish, a sailfish. Fishing with Capt. Burrows Smith on the 61’ Garlington on Saturday were Ray Hales, Steve Brogden, Jim Long, and Rick Vidal.
The sailfish struck a ballyhoo just 10 minutes after “Eye Catcher” began trolling near the 39/180. They were pulling a spread targeting big wahoo (ballyhoo pinned to wire leaders on 50 Wide outfits) when a pack of sails showed up. With lighter tackle and smaller baits, the crew would have had better chances with the finicky group of sails.
“There were a bunch of them. If we’d been ready, we probably could have gotten three or four more,” Smith explained.
After releasing the sail and trolling the area for a while longer, the “Eye Catcher” crew headed further offshore, where they found the first place dolphin around 1:00.
“We trolled out to 100 fathoms and then turned around, worked back in, found a few flyers, and there he was,” said Smith. “He had four flying fish in him when I cleaned him, and he was still hungry enough to eat a ballyhoo.”
The crew of the “Buck Wild,” also from Wrightsville Beach, took second place in the dolphin division with a 17.65 lb. fish.
A 38.8 lb. wahoo secured first place in that category for the Atlantic Beach-based “Maggie,” a 50’ Custom Carolina that also took second in the tuna category with a 39.9 lb. yellowfin. Randy Bryant, owner and captain of the “Maggie,” was fishing Saturday with his son Butch Bryant and mate Chris Hendricks.
The “Maggie” crew left Morehead City at 5:00 Saturday morning, intending to have lines in the water around the 400 Line at 8:00. Slowed down by the 10’ head sea they were running into, the team didn’t get baits in the water until nearly 9:00. They began to troll south, and finally ran into the fish that would get them on the leader board in the mid-200’s.
From 11:00 until 2:00, the “Maggie” was busy circling a small area in the 200’s and hooking up with tuna and wahoo. They caught their fish on skirted ballyhoo and lures.
The “Rajin Regan,” of Murphy, NC, caught the second place 35.8 lb. wahoo.
Weighing in last, the “Wai,” a Pursuit 3370 from Wrightsville Beach, took first place in the tuna category with a 59.25 lb. yellowfin tuna. Fishing on the “Wai,” the only outboard-powered boat in the tournament, were Capt. Lee Bost, Dylan Bost, Joe DeCarlo, Joe Madsen, and John Stemke.
Around 11:00 Saturday, the crew of the “Wai” got a double strike pulling skirted ballyhoo. The walk around was trolling at the Steeples in 7’ seas when the fish struck. After fighting the pair of fish for around 30 minutes in the rough water, the first fish came unhooked near the boat.
When Madsen, who was fighting the second fish, got it within range, Lee Bost sank a gaff in it, and pulled the near-60 lb. yellowfin tuna over the gunnel.
With the leader board topped by a 40 lb. tuna when they arrived at Wrightsville Beach Marina, the “Wai” crew let the suspense build, waiting until the final moments of the weigh-in to cart their big tuna to the scales.
At Thursday night’s Captain’s Meeting, the organizers and participants made a joint decision to cancel fishing on Friday, due to the 25+ knot wind forecast. It was clearly a good decision, as the field of 10 boats brought back a great catch on Saturday without risking their safety.
While many tournaments take possession of fish weighed, the Wrightsville Beach Marina Spring Challenge has a unique rule: all fish weighed become property of the tournament—to be immediately grilled and consumed by the crowd on the dock. Organizers set up a massive grill next to the Wrightsville Yacht Club Clubhouse, and any fish that was weighed was immediately cut into serving-sized pieces, marinated, and tossed on the grill.
Saturday night’s “Victory Party,” the Wrightsville Beach Marina version of an awards banquet, consisted of boat crews, tournament organizers, and spectators feasting on grilled dolphin, tuna, and wahoo, with coleslaw and beans and rice provided by Bluewater Grill. It is hard to imagine a better way to conclude a tournament than by enjoying drinks and the freshest fish imaginable as the sun sets over the ICW.
Tournament organizer Sam Clary would like to thank all the tournament’s sponsors and participants for making the 3rd Annual Wrightsville Beach Marina Spring Challenge possible.
