Tournament Report – Topsail Spring Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge
The Topsail Spring Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge, Fisherman’s Post’s first tournament of the year, kicked off this past weekend, May 20-22, with anglers competing along the entire stretch of Topsail Island and on all three Topsail piers. Surf anglers took on surf anglers and pier anglers battled pier anglers in four fish categories, with an optional red drum calcutta offered for both surf and pier divisions.
The winners in the 2016 Topsail Spring Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge pose with their checks and plaques following the eventÂ’s Awards Dinner and Ceremony.
Tournament anglers braved storms, rain, strong winds, and dirty water over the 36-hours of fishing (from midnight Friday to noon on Sunday) to bring in fish in hopes to make the leaderboard.
Donny Kay, of Sanford, won the largest flounder on the surf side of the event, weighing in at 1.7 lbs. The second place winners were close behind him, with only a weigh-in time dividing the two apart. Both with 1.3 lb. flounder, Matthew Clifton came in second, and Jason Fesmine took third place.
Along with his second place flounder win, Matthew Clifton, of Clayton, topped the surf division’s bluefish category, weighing in a 2.3 lb. fish. The winning blue fell for cut bait on the shores of Surf City. Todd Andrews came in second place with a 2.1 lb. blue weighed in on Saturday morning at 6:00 am, and Charles Hawley weighed in a 2.1 lb. blue at 9:25 am.
The surf division’s black drum category produced the best quality of fish over the weekend. Robert Gurley, of Shallotte, took home the top prize, weighing in a 5.8 lb. fish. Charles Hawley was hot on his tail, with a 5.6 lb. fish he weighed in with less than an hour of fishing time left, and Olive Green nabbed third place (and the award for Lady Angler) with a 5.4 lb. fish.
The sea mullet category of the surf division, though, was the closest, with the top three fish having identical weights. Time was the tie-breaker, and weighing his 0.9 lb. sea mullet in first at 10:00 am on Saturday clinched the win for Todd Neubauer, of Mint Hill. A Saturday evening weigh-in ensured Ken Howard second place, and Donny Kay settled into third with a Sunday morning timestamp.
Michael Tickle, of Cameron, weighed in a 6.8 lb. red drum in the red drum calcutta, taking home the largest single check of the event. Tickle was fishing the south end of the island, and although it was the only red he caught the whole weekend, the fish put up a nice fight after falling for a piece of shrimp.
In the pier division, Scott Greer, of Charlotte, clinched the bluefish category with a 1.8 lb. fish. Greer said fishing over the weekend at Jolly Roger Pier was tough, as he only managed to pull two small blues over the rails before he landed the winning fish on a pink Gotcha plug.
Greer was also the winner of the inaugural Pier Cup, a new trophy awarded to the largest leaderboard fish weighed in by a pier angler. The Pier Cup, bearing Greer’s name and fish, will reside at Jolly Roger Pier until it is to be defended at the Topsail Fall Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge.
The pier sea mullet division was led by David Wallace, of Sanford, and his 0.8 lb. sea mullet. The fish was caught on a bottom rig and cut shrimp.
There were no black drum or spanish mackerel recorded by pier anglers.
The largest and only red drum of the pier division came from Gregorio Almaguer, which was the winner of the pier red drum calcutta. Almaguer landed his redfish on shrimp while fishing from Jolly Roger Pier.
In the secondary categories, the Junior Angler champion was Jesse Fesmire, and the Senior Angler champion was James Samuel.
For a full leaderboard and more information on the Topsail Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge and all Fisherman’s Post’s events, visit www.fishermanspost.com.
