Tournament Report – Topsail Island Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge
With around 160 fishermen taking to the sands and planks of Topsail Island for 36 hours of nonstop competition, the participants in the Fisherman’s Post Topsail Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge, held May 1-3 out of East Coast Sports, had plenty of competition and plenty of time to bring their best efforts to the scales.
George Greene, of Hope Mills, NC, with the 9.4 lb. black drum that earned him first place surf black drum and was the largest fish weighed in in the Fisherman’s Post Topsail Surf and Pier Fishing Challenge. The drum struck a shrimp as Greene was fishing a short distance north of Seaview Pier at North Topsail Beach.
Wilmington’s Steve Tysinger emerged as the event’s big winner at Sunday’s awards ceremony, as he took home top money in the surf sea mullet category and won the optional Red Drum TWT.
Tysinger targeted a hole just off the Surf City beachfront he had luck with in the previous fall and didn’t have to wait long before hooking his first valuable catch.
He landed the 1.6 lb. sea mullet that gave him first place at 12:15 Saturday morning, just 15 minutes after the event began.
His number was called again around 7:30 that morning, when a 6.5 lb. upper-slot red drum found one of the sand fleas he was soaking just off the shoreline.
George Greene, of Hope Mills, NC, landed the largest fish caught during the tournament, a 9.4 lb. black drum that topped his nearest competition by over 2.5 lbs.
Fishing the North Topsail beachfront just north of Seaview Pier, Greene’s big fish bit around midday on Saturday, and at first he didn’t even realize he had a fish.
“The current was bad and I thought I was hung up from the guy down from me,” Greene explained. “I started walking that way and the fish started moving, so I knew I was hung up with something else.”
Patrick Van Beck landed the surf division’s largest flounder, a 1.5 lb. fish that earned him a hefty payout. Charles Hawley rounded out the surf winners with his 1.9 lb. bluefish.
Landing the only spanish mackerel caught by a pier angler, Brent Livingood scaled a 1.4 lb. mackerel to top that category.
Livingood, from Hampstead, fished the tournament at Jolly Roger Pier, and landed his spanish in the midafternoon hours on Saturday.
A white/blue Gotcha plug fooled the mackerel, and the angler wasn’t confident his fish would stay on the leaderboard.
“A couple of anglers who weren’t in the tournament caught a some spanish Saturday afternoon,” Livingood said. “I figured they’d bite Sunday morning, and I knew mine would only stay on the board if nobody else caught one.”
Also casting plugs from Jolly Roger was Stephanie Henly, of Mebane, NC, who landed the 1.2 pound bluefish that topped that category.
Henly hooked her money-winner early on Saturday morning after weighing in a slightly smaller blue.
Harry Sholar, from Wallace, NC, took the top spot in the pier black drum division with a 2.3 lb. fish. He elected to fish Surf City Pier, and hadn’t had much action until Sunday morning.
Around 9:00 that morning while soaking shrimp near the surf zone, Sholar got a strong bite and fought a 5 lb. class black drum to the surface before losing it on a piling.
“I figured lightning only strikes one time, and I almost packed up and went home right then,” Sholar said.
Fortunately, he was wrong and put his winning drum on the deck less than an hour later.
Beaulaville, NC’s Glenn Lanier earned the top honors in the pier sea mullet competition with a 0.7 lb. mullet he landed while fishing Seaview Pier. His prize fish struck a piece of shrimp.
For a full leaderboard from the Fisherman’s Post Topsail Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge and information on all Fisherman’s Post tournaments, visit www.fishermanspost.com.
