Tidelines – September 15, 2016
I guess Labor Day marks a transition from summer to fall, though it can take quite a bit of time for the air and water temperatures to drop and truly feel like fall. So for me a bigger and more significant shift is the end of our summer Inshore Tournament Trail and the start of the fall Surf Fishing Series.
This past weekend had the Fisherman’s Post staff stretched in several directions, as we both hosted the Carolina Beach Inshore Challenge, the last of our five red drum/flounder inshore fishing events, and at the same time went to print with the final two tournament booklets for our fall surf fishing challenges, the Pleasure Island Surf Fishing Challenge and the Topsail Fall Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge.
If you have any curiosity about inshore fishing tournaments, here’s a little collection of what I learned over this past season as Tournament Director.
First, it was a tough year to catch a big flounder in a tournament. The biggest single flounder we saw prior to this past weekend (through four events) were 5+ lb. class fish.
Now I, too, think that catching a 5 lb. flounder is a significant catch, as my flounder fishing resume isn’t too extensive, but when we have over 50 boats headed out in each of the four events looking for trophy flatfish, then not one boat breaking the 6 lb. mark until Carolina Beach is something of a tell of the state of our flounder fishery.
And before I get chastised for adding to the problem by bringing a lot of flounder of all sizes to the docks for the sake of a Fisherman’s Post tournament, I’d like to brag that we released nearly 70% of the flounder weighed in this year.
Another thing I learned, or actually re-learned, is that people like to tournament fish for red drum, and they like to tournament fish for red drum with both artificials and bait. Sometimes it’s best to search for reds with a topwater bait and have a jig head and soft plastic at the ready once you find the fish, and sometimes it’s best to put some cut bait or live bait on the bottom and wait for the fish to come to you. Our anglers told us repeatedly that they like a redfish event where bait (and more than two anglers on a boat) is allowed.
Our final inshore event of the year was an experiment, and the experiment gave us new knowledge. This year the Carolina Beach Inshore Challenge was a two-day fishing event, the first time Fisherman’s Post had ever featured a two-day inshore event, and the reception was a little mixed but certainly more positive than negative.
The guys that fish with us pretty regular loved the two-day concept and embraced it, but some of our more casual anglers couldn’t (or didn’t) enter because they had trouble freeing up an entire weekend. It’s one thing to tell the family you need Saturday off to fish a tournament, and then it’s a whole another thing (at least in my house) to say you need the entire weekend off to fish.
We see the two-day format returning next year, hopefully with added daily prizes.
Finally, I learned more simple lessons, like Sears Landing still makes a great pina colada, Wild Wing Café still makes a great top shelf margarita, and not to put a short South African in front of the camera when you’re live streaming the weigh-in via Facebook.
So now that the Inshore Trail is over, we’ve set our sights on our four surf fishing events this fall: Hatteras (brand new), Crystal Coast (switched from a spring event last year to a fall event this year), Pleasure Island (still our favorite child, attracting 500 anglers each year), and Topsail (the only one of our events that also embraces the pier fishing community).
It’s time for us to buy arm bands, stock the weigh-in tupperwares that we deliver to the different weigh stations, and call Stan, the polygraph man, to make sure all four dates are in his calendar.
Yes, polygraph tests aren’t just for the Big Rock or the bigger king mackerel tournaments. At each of our surf fishing tournaments we have the top winners sit for a few minutes with our lie detector guy, just to make sure everyone feels confident that the right people are walking away with the winning checks.
The Hatteras Island Surf Fishing Challenge is the first of our four fall events. We love that the Hatteras Island community has encouraged us to bring our surf fishing tournament format out to their hallowed grounds, and we’re eager to get out there and return their hospitality by offering a new look event for the area.
Hatteras Island is steeped in tradition and traditional surf fishing events, most featuring team competition and/or based largely on bragging rights, so our plan is to quietly and respectfully find our own niche by offering individual competition and big cash payouts.
We’re ready for Hatteras, so all I need now is to find out what island bar makes the best orange crush.
