Dixie Chicken Funament 2007
For the second year in a row, Capt. Brandon Sauls weighed in both the heaviest speckled trout and the heaviest aggregate weight of one trout, one flounder, and one spanish mackerel to handily win the Inshore Division of the 2007 Dixie Chicken Fishing Funament, held May 26 out of North Myrtle Beach’s Harbourgate Marina.
Sauls fished the tournament with friend Mark Stacy aboard his 18’ Bone Boat “Bone Crusher.” Sauls and Stacy began their fishing day looking for a speckled trout at the Little River Jetties. The lines-in time of the “Funament” was 8:00 Saturday morning, and by 9:15 the “Bone Crusher” team had their 6.30 lb speckled trout in the cooler. A live shrimp drifted beneath a float fooled the event’s largest trout.
Confident that their trout would make a good start to a high placing aggregate weight, Sauls and Stacy moved to Tubbs Inlet to try and put a flounder in the boat. At 11:15, they caught their 2.26 lb. flounder on a peanut pogie fished on a Carolina rig.
With flounder and trout taken care of, the “Bone Crusher” headed back to Little River Inlet to try and find a spanish mackerel. They trolled Clark spoons just outside the jetties, and quickly caught the final component of their total weight, a 0.96 lb. spanish.
Sauls and Stacy caught their live shrimp by trawling the Brunswick County ICW and netted their pogies in the waterway. They caught the trout and flounder in the same spots as their winning 6.5 lb. trout and 1.8 lb. flounder from the 2006 Funament.
“It went pretty much just like last year,” Sauls said about the team’s back to back top finishes. “We just had to use about 10 more shrimp to get that trout.” The pair of anglers took home total winnings of $2,566 in this year’s event.
Fred Davis took second place in the Dixie Chicken Inshore Division with an 8.12 lb. aggregate weight. Davis weighed in a 3.50 lb. flounder and a 4.62 lb. trout.
Third place inshore went to Bill Hussey, whose 4.10 lb. trout and 3.14 lb flounder combined for an aggregate weight of 7.24 lbs.
Forrest Floyd was the Inshore Division’s top Junior Angler, catching a 3.18 lb. flounder. Floyd fished the event with his father Larry Floyd and Joe Holmes aboard an 18’ Key West. The team caught their flounder at the Little River Inlet’s south jetty on a live mullet pinned to a three way swivel rig.
Thomas Jenkins took a 1.74 lb. trout to place second among the inshore junior anglers. Shonda Tucker was third, weighing a 1.48 lb. flounder. West Marine donated the inshore Junior Angler prizes.
The Inshore Division’s top Lady Angler prize went to Dawn Brown, who caught a 2.66 lb. trout. Brown received a gift certificate from Cole’s Jewelers.
Finishing on top of the Offshore Division of the 8th annual Dixie Chicken was the crew of the “Patterson Anna,” from North Myrtle Beach, with an aggregate weight of 66.66 lbs. Jennifer Vela, Wendy Swingle, Abby Saunders, Dr. Mark Saunders, and Mike Ross all fished aboard the 50’ Viking on Saturday with Capt. Wayne Huggins.
The offshore aggregate weight category awarded the boat with the highest weight of one of each of the eligible species: dolphin, wahoo, tuna, cobia, and king mackerel. The “Patterson Anna” team lacked only the cobia, bringing a 9.30 lb. king mackerel, a 38.02 lb. wahoo, a 6.24 lb. tuna, and a 13.10 lb. dolphin to the scales.
The “Patterson Anna” was fishing on Saturday in an area 60 miles from Little River Inlet, not far from the Blackjack Hole. With the exception of the dolphin, the team caught all their fish on skirted ballyhoo. The dolphin ate a daisy chain. Mike Ross was the angler on the big wahoo, while Mark Saunders caught the dolphin and Swingle battled both the king mackerel and the tuna.
The leader board fish were only part of a solid catch of dolphin and other species for the “Patterson Anna.”
“We had so much fun we’re sick about it,” Vela said of Saturday’s fishing. The crew pocketed a check for $4,416 for their efforts.
With the exception of Swingle, the team has fished nearly every Dixie Chicken Funament; however, this is their first win. Huggins, quick to credit Swingle, said, “She must have been our lucky charm.”
“Watch out for us next year,” Vela added.
Robbie Lazarus took home the second place check in the Offshore Division for a 62.20 lb. aggregate weight. Lazarus’ total was comprised of a 45.20 lb. wahoo (the tournament’s largest) and a 17.0 lb. dolphin.
Coming in a close third with a 60.02 lb. aggregate was Randy Warlick. A 41.76 lb. wahoo and an 18.26 lb. dolphin made up Warlick’s weight.
The Offshore Division’s first place Lady Angler was Jane “Gus” Flatt, who caught a 34.84 lb wahoo and won a gift certificate from Cole’s Jeweler’s.
The top Offshore Junior Angler was Blakeney Jackson, who weighed in a 29.92 lb. wahoo. Jackson battled the wahoo to the boat by himself, and one of the requirements of the Dixie Chicken’s Junior and Lady Angler categories is that the juniors and ladies must actually catch their fish, not merely be aboard the boat.
John Martini took second place Junior for a 19.56 lb. dolphin, and Grayson McManus weighed a 14.46 lb. dolphin to finish third. All Offshore Junior Angler prizes were donated by the Little River Inlet Saltwater Fishing Club.
This year’s Dixie Chicken Fishing Funament had a record 72 entrants, evenly split between 36 inshore and 36 offshore boats. Proceeds generated by the tournament go to the Jim Caudle Artificial Reef Foundation.
“The Dixie Chicken event adopted the Jim Caudle Reef, then called the Little River Inshore Reef in 2000,” Co-Tournament Director Ron McManus explained. “At that time, there was 40,000 cubic feet of material on the bottom. Now we’ve got over 200,000 cubic feet.” Tournament proceeds are responsible for the majority of the reef enhancement funding.
McManus wished to express his thanks to all the Dixie Chicken’s sponsors, especially Marine Service Center, Damon’s Restaurant, Mama Jean’s Restaurant, Carrabba’s, West Marine, and Bolineau’s.
