Tournament Report – Topsail Inshore Challenge
Culling the heaviest pair of slot fish out of a catch of 25-30 red drum secured victory in the Fisherman’s Post Topsail Inshore Challenge for the “Total Liability” fishing team, whose 13.18 lb. aggregate eased them into first place in a highly competitive field. Held out of Surf City NC’s East Coast Sports and Sears Landing Grill and Boat Docks on August 22-23, the event attracted some of the area’s best red drum anglers, and the leaderboard showed it, with less than 2 lbs. separating first and eighth place.
Capts. Rob Koraly and Jake Kight teamed up with Adam Meyer to fish the event aboard Kight’s 22’ Pathfinder, and the anglers chose to target the captains’ home waters around Swansboro in their search for some large (but not too large) red drum.
Adam Meyer and Capts. Jake Kight and Rob Koraly with the 13.18 lb. pair of red drum that earned them the championship at the 2015 Fisherman’s Post Topsail Inshore Challenge. Both fish fell for live finger mullet on the edge of a shallow flat near Swansboro.
“We had a good plan,” Koraly explained. “We started fishing marsh drains on the ICW early and caught 4-5 fish including a 26-incher.”
With a good start to their day, the anglers headed off the waterway and onto a local flat after the morning boat traffic kicked up.
“I’d seen a school moving there early in the week,” Koraly continued.
The fish were right where the anglers hoped they’d be, and the crew began casting live finger mullet towards the edge of the flat. The strategy produced bites every few minutes, action that held up for much of the rest of the morning.
“The schools would come to the edge of the flat every few minutes,” the captain explained. “We’d catch a few each time they did.”
Occasionally, a few fish would move closer to the boat than the “Total Liablity” anglers’ baits, and they had a plan for that situation as well. Keeping several casting rods rigged with Gulp baits, the anglers would sight-cast to the fish near the boat and added several reds to their day’s total on the artificials.
Around half the drum the anglers caught were over NC’s maximum 27” size to keep a red drum, and Koraly measured each borderline fish carefully to ensure they didn’t bring an over-slot fish to the scales.
“For charters or tournaments, I always put them on a Check-It Stik measuring board,” Koraly explained. “I pinch the tail, look, and take them off. I’ll put them on it 3-4 times, and if it’s not over on any of them I don’t even think about it and just throw them in the livewell.”
After several close fish, the anglers finally caught the two they weighed between 10:30 and 11:00 that morning. Both of the near-27” fish fell for some of the anglers’ mullet.
“I checked that big one three times, and he was within a fingernail’s length of the 27 every time but never over.”
The anglers’ other drum was also extremely close to the limit, and the anglers felt they’d done as well as they could with the reds.
“Those were the fish we had to have,” Koraly continued. “One fish can make a tremendous difference in these drum tournaments, and the fish haven’t been the fattest. They’ve been eating mullet and not fattening up like they would if they were gorging on shrimp or crabs.”
Deciding to target a flounder for the event’s flatfish TWT, the anglers hit several spots on the ICW between Swansboro and Surf City but were unable to come up with a legal fish to add to their red drum haul.
Koraly’s premonition about the fish proved correct at the scales, the “Total Liability” crew’s fish edged them into first place on the main leaderboard by less than two-tenths of a pound, and their big fish topped the Single Big Fish TWT by a mere hundredth of a pound.
Corey Durako and Richard Gilligan, the “Chasin’ Gingers” fishing team, earned second place in the event with a 12.99 lb. two-drum aggregate. Bryan Milliken and “Killin Time” rounded out the top three with a 12.86 lb. bag.
Topping the event’s Junior Angler competition were Dylan and Mason French with a 3.92 lb. red drum. Taina Dorman secured Top Lady Anglers with her 3.35 lb. red, and Vernon Knight scaled a 5.50 lb. fish to earn the Top Senior Angler honors.
For more information on the Fisherman’s Post Topsail Inshore Challenge and a full leaderboard for the event and the ongoing Inshore Tournament Trail, visit www.fishermanspost.com.
