Seacoast Anglers Flounder Tournament 2007
A cloudless sky and hardly a puff of wind greeted the 67 teams fishing the 2nd Annual Sea Coast Anglers Association Family Flounder Tournament, held Saturday, May 12, in Little River, SC. Participants were allowed to fish anywhere from North Carolina’s Lockwood Folly River to Myrtle Beach, SC, before bringing their fish to the weigh-in at Little River’s Harbourgate Marina, and the leader board reflected that, with money-winning fish coming from all over the tournament’s legal fishing area.
Kenan Walsh caught the tournament’s winning flounder of 6.28 lbs. within sight of the weigh-in location, beside the lighthouse on the north side of the ICW in Little River. Walsh, from Murrell’s Inlet, SC, was fishing the tournament aboard his 19’ Glastron with his son Aidan and friend Ed Bott.
The winning flounder struck a mud minnow on a flounder rig around 7:30 on Saturday morning, in the same spot Walsh had seen a fellow tournament angler catch several small flounder early. “I owe it to a guy who caught two small ones on shrimp right there and said, ‘I’m heading to deeper water to try and get some big ones, try right here along this bank,’” Walsh explained. “He left, and two casts later, Bam!, he hit. I anchored in the exact spot he was at and cast it right where he was casting. He just wanted a minnow instead of a shrimp.”
After pouncing on Walsh’s bait, the flounder came straight to the boat. The first place fish was the only fish the crew caught all day.
The Family Flounder Tournament has been good to Walsh, as he caught this year’s winning fish on a rod and reel combo he won at last year’s captain’s meeting. When asked what next year has in store, he replied, “I don’t know, but we’ll come back to defend our title.”
The winning team took home a check for $950. The guaranteed first place prize had been $600, but the large number of participants—nearly twice as many as last year—increased that total by more than 50%. Walsh and Bott would like to thank Coast Bait and Tackle, where they purchased their mud minnows and rigs Saturday morning.
Conway, SC’s Joe Holmes narrowly took second place, weighing a 4.85 lb. flounder. Holmes fished Saturday’s tournament aboard a 186 Key West Bay Reef with friends Larry Floyd and Carl Smith.
Floyd, Holmes, and Smith fished at the Jim Caudle Reef before moving to the Little River Jetties, where they caught the tournament’s second heaviest flounder. The nearly 5 lb. fish struck a pogie on a three way swivel rig, and earned the team a check for $640.
A 4.82 lb flounder secured third place for angler Roger Tyner, of Fayetteville, NC. He fished the event on his 18’ Polar Kraft with fellow angler Jim Parnell.
The third place flounder grabbed a Carolina-rigged finger mullet at the Little River Jetties, and was one of six that Tyner and Parnell caught. Third place was worth $400.
Brad Burnes, fishing with his father Melvin Burnes, took the fourth place, 4.54 lb. flounder. The Burnes were fishing Williams Creek, in the Cherry Grove area, from a 16’ Duracraft.
The fish hit a large live croaker on a custom “Creek Doctor” rig tied by Melvin Burnes. Brad Burnes believes that croaker and other white baits were keys to the team’s success, and the 11 keeper flounder the Burnes caught on Saturday are a further testament. Fourth place was worth $320.
Coming in fifth place was the father/son team of Nathaniel and Kyle Hughes, with a 4.28 lb. flounder. The Hughes caught their fish on a live pogie in the Lockwood Folly River. They caught one other flounder and a fairly novel catch for most flounder anglers, a longnose gar. Fifth place sent the Hughes team home with a check for $150.
Tim Lefler, from Boone, NC, topped the field of junior anglers, weighing in a 3.11 lb. fish. Lefler was part of a three generation team, fishing the tournament along with his father Ricky Lefler and grandfather Billy Lefler, Sr. The Leflers were aboard the 21’ Sea Pro “My Dogg House.”
Their 3.11 lb. flounder fell for a peanut pogie the “My Dogg House” team was slow-trolling in the Lockwood Folly River. It was one of seven flounders the Leflers caught Saturday, with nearly all above 2 lbs. For first place in the Junior Angler Division, Tim Lefler won $200.
Thomas R. Cox was the second place junior angler, bringing a 2.92 lb. flounder to the scales to earn $100. Third place junior angler and $75 went to Gabriel Haden, with a 2.50 lb. flatfish.
All junior anglers weighing fish won a rod and reel and a bait bucket, and junior angler prizes were sponsored by the Little River Saltwater Fishing Club.
Pat Rivers, of Hamlet, NC, took first place in the lady angler division, catching a 3.43 lb. flounder. Close on her heels, Albemarle, NC’s Anita Starnes secured second with a 3.02 lb. flatfish. A 2.28 lb. flounder earned Karen Morley, of Atlanta, GA, the third place lady angler spot.
The Sea Coast Anglers Association Family Flounder Tournament benefits Hook a Kid on Fishing. Hook a Kid on Fishing is the Sea Coast Anglers Association’s own program, taking kids who wouldn’t normally get a chance to go saltwater fishing out on piers and head boats. “It’s incredible,” said Association President Chris Carbone. “Last year we took 70 kids fishing, this year it will be 350-400.”
The Family Flounder Tournament is one of the Hook a Kid on Fishing Program’s main sources of financial support, and neither the tournament nor the money it generates for the program would be possible without the event’s sponsors, especially major sponsor Marine Service Center of Longs, SC.
