Tidelines – June 9, 2011
We’re in our ninth year of publishing Fisherman’s Post Newspaper and our eighth year of hosting our annual Spring Inshore Challenge. And in each of the eight years of hosting the Spring Inshore Challenge, our target goal has been 100 boats.
We normally are in the 80’s, and at least two times we went over 90, but never have we achieved that 100 boat goal. It remains my Holy Grail.
And as registration closed down this past Friday at 8:00 pm, I caught myself for a moment being disappointed that the boat total didn’t reach three figures. However, it was only for a moment because, as staff and volunteers widely agreed, attracting an 88 boat field for an early season inshore tournament deserves a pat on the back way more than it deserves a head hanging low.
Sneads Ferry and Little River fishermen, though, may have reason to be a little down in the mouth. This year’s Red Drum division was a huge hit (red drum replaced trout because of a fishing regulation that made it illegal for recreational fishermen to be in possession of a speckled trout until June 15), and even though we have yet to make any official announcement, it seems unlikely that the Trout division will return in 2012.
In our spring event, red drum and/or flounder could be weighed in dead or alive, but we offered cash incentives (extra payouts) if the fish is alive and able to be released. Of the fish on this year’s leader board, 76% were weighed in alive.
The payouts, I think, for an inshore tournament were also impressive. Jake Scuorzo, the big winner, took home over $3,000 in cash, the second biggest winner went home with $2600 in cash and then another $600 in prizes (Riley Rod and Hunter’s Haven mount), and three others broke the $1000 mark. By my definition, that’s a lot of tournament anglers earning a lot of cash.
Then, like with everything, there are the stories behind the stories.
Making a modest appearance on the leader board (but still a spot on the leader board) was the fan favorite team of Brandon Matthews, Douglas Cutting, and Matt Copeland. Brandon, a Southport native injured in a deer stand accident years ago, had his wheelchair positioned on the back of the boat, and he was the one that found the flounder portion of their team’s aggregate weigh in.
Matthews, Cutting, and Copeland had to limp to weigh-in at Wrightsville Beach Marina from Carolina Beach Inlet, as they couldn’t get the boat on plane. They were lucky to barely make the 4:00 cutoff.
Then there’s the story of John Donovan, a tournament boat that wasn’t so lucky. He had a heavy flounder, but before he could make the trip to weigh-in he blew his lower unit. There was no limping in. He was dead in the water.
The flounder that he had turned out to be a 5.2 lb. fish. It would have won the tournament, and John (not Jake Scuorzo) would have been the guy with the $3000+ check.
But the story doesn’t end there.
John Donovan is Jake’s neighbor. They live next door to each other, so John has been reminded of the near win every day since (and Dennis Durham has also made a point of calling and ribbing John about the missed opportunity).
But the story doesn’t end there.
Jake went over to John’s house at about 10:15 the night before the tournament because he was low on sinkers and needed to borrow some. John gladly lent him some. And in yet one more piece of irony, John’s boat is getting worked on at Tom’s Marine, the Scuorzo family business.
The story is funny to everyone, including John. He laughed easily about the details as we talked on the phone. And he already has plans to fish in our September event, the NC Flatfish Championship. He’ll probably be fishing with Warren Platus, his fishing partner who was the one who actually caught the 5.0+ flounder.
And he adds that he’ll also be fishing with a new motor.
