2024 Topsail Inshore Challenge
The Topsail Inshore Challenge is a fun and competitive standalone tournament that also serves as the second event in the season-long Inshore Tournament Trail. This year’s Topsail event was held on June 28-29, with Registration at Surf City’s East Coast Sports, and then weigh-in and awards at Sloop Point Marina in Hampstead.
Nearly 40 boats took to the waters in search of the heaviest slot red drum they could find (18-27” for NC). Fisherman’s Post red drum tournaments offer a more relaxed approach to red drum tournament fishing, allowing boats to fish with as many anglers on their boat as they like, giving teams the ability to use natural or artificial bait, and not requiring a live weigh in.
The Topsail Inshore Challenge leaderboard is based off of a team’s single heaviest red drum, but there are numerous TWTs and additional prizes, such as closest in weight (rewarding anglers who weigh in a red drum closest in weight to 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, or 4.0 lbs.), additional payouts for weighing in your fish alive, and every boat that weighs in a fish receives a chance to win a Mudpuppy Salt Stix custom rod, a Marine Bean bean bag, and a Kirk Pigford Homes cash prize.
Finishing in first place this year was Team Marine Warehouse Center weighing in a 7.18 lb. red drum. Mason Porter, George Bryan, and Aaron Bryan started the day in the lower Cape Fear River, and the fishing action was slow. They only found a couple of small fish, other than one 28” red drum, in the first five hours of fishing, so they picked up and started moving their way back towards the Carolina Beach area.
George Bryan, Mason Porter, and Aaron Bryan (l-r), of Team Marine Warehouse Center, were the top finishers in the 2024 Topsail Inshore Challenge with a 7.12 lb. red drum. They found the winning drum in a shallow bay off the Cape Fear River using a live pogie, and the fish brought them approximately $3800 in prize money.
The trio began targeting some shallow bays now that the tide had moved in, but the results were the same—only smaller reds.
Team Marine Warehouse Center was now down to their last 30 minutes of fishing before needing to head to the scales, so they had time to cover one last cove. That last cove would make all the difference.
George Bryan was the first to find a fish, putting the team’s winning red drum in the boat, and then with only 10 minutes left, Aaron Bryan found the second fish they would weigh, a 6.24 lb. drum.
“Having good bait was crucial,” Mason Porter explained. “We caught bait at three different times over the day, and we knew we wanted to finish the day fishing shallow bays on the higher tide.”
Between the leaderboard and the TWTs, Team Marine Warehouse Center took home approximately $3800 in prize money.
Second place on the leaderboard went to Team Croaker Stroker, comprised of Josh Sloop, from Surf City, and Cody Mink, from Sneads Ferry, for weighing in a 7.12 lb. red drum.
Croaker Stroker’s day of fishing ended well but started slow. They began fishing in the Sneads Ferry area, but the near dead low tide produced no action. The team then headed to the Wrightsville Beach area, and while the tide flipped and started coming in, the fishing action remained slow to nonexistent.
Once again, they picked up and ran, this time to a spot within one mile of the weigh-in at Sloop Point. They focused on an oyster bed near a grass line off the ICW, and even though plagued by wake after wake from all the boat traffic on a busy Saturday, they pulled in 7-8 redfish in the last couple of hours of fishing.
Josh Sloop (left) and Cody Mink, of Team Croaker Stroker, finished in second place in the 2024 Topsail Inshore Challenge with a single red drum weighing 7.12 lbs. They caught the fish within a mile of Sloop Point on a piece of cut menhaden.
The red drum they found ranged in size from 18”-26.5”, but most were lower-slot, and all of their fish came from cut menhaden, except one that hit a live finger mullet.
Team Knot Wright was the only boat to weigh in a “trash fish,” and their 0.5 lb. lizardfish earned them over $300.
The top junior angler was Parker Phillips with a 5.47 lb. redfish coming from Team Wet Dreamz. TJ Denton, fishing with Marsh Tails, won the lady angler title for a 6.76 lb. redfish, and Barry Fowler, of Team Fowler, earned senior angler honors with a 6.56 lb. red drum.
For a more complete leaderboard, as well as the standings of the ongoing season-long Inshore Tournament Trail, then please visit www.FishermansPost.com.
