Cape Fear Inshore Classic 2007
Mullet on Carolina rigs were the baits of choice for the 2nd annual Cape Fear Inshore Classic, held September 22-23 in Wrightsville Beach.
Topping the leader board in the Red Drum Division were Terry Wright, John “Pork Chop” Blanton, and Doug Dameron with an 8 lb. fish aboard “Bait-licious,” a 19′ Scout powered by a 150 Yamaha.
“We were right outside Sneads Ferry and we couldn’t get anything to hit artificial,” Blanton said, “so we switched to cut mullet and landed the fish about ten minutes after that.”
For their catch, the “Bait-licious” team took home $800 and a fish mount by Custom Saltwater Taxidermy.
Coming in second was Sam Daughtry’s boat “Beaver,” with a 7.91 lb. drum worth $500.
Third place and $200 went to Fred Davis and Hank Martinez on the 20′ Triton “Turn-It-Up” with a 7.20 lb. drum.
“We caught the drum right there by Masonboro Inlet on Carolina-rigged cut mullet,” Davis said. “Over the day we had a few other bites, but besides the flounder we caught nothing was worth weighing.”
In the Flounder Division, the “Money Hole,” a 22′ Sea Chaser powered by a 140 Suzuki 4-stroke manned by Travis Koontz and Kevin Bowden, took home $800 and another Custom Saltwater Taxidermy fish mount for landing a 4.41 lb. flounder.
“Bait was everywhere, which isn’t strange because it’s been everywhere for the past month or so,” Koontz said. “Carolina-rigged mullet are what we used. Luckily we were in the right place at the right time.”
In addition to the $200 they won in the drum division, the “Turn It Up” crew took home $500 for landing the second place flounder. “We caught the flounder in the ocean,” said Davis. “It bit a mullet on a Carolina rig, and we landed the fish at about 1:15.”
Rounding out the top three in the Flounder Division was the “Reel Dream” team that included Roger Lang, Glenn Tilman, and Travis Lang fishing aboard a 19′ Carolina Skiff. The team landed their flounder in Snow’s Cut while fishing with live mud minnows and took home $200 for their efforts.
In the Trout Division, the “Speckled Specialist” team, captained by Ricky Kellum, weighed in a 3.93 lb. trout.
“We landed the fish early Saturday morning,” Kellum said. “After that we caught a few other things, including a 2.5 lb. flounder, but nothing to really shake a fist at.”
Fishing with live shrimp on a float rig, the team landed the trout near some structure off of New River. “The New River is just full of shrimp right now,” said Kellum. “It just seems like it’s impossible not to catch bait.”
The “Speckled Specialist” crew took home $800 for their catch, and, like all first place teams, a fish mount by Custom Saltwater Taxidermy.
Jason Houston and Richard Angel, fishing aboard a 19′ Tidewater with a 150 Yamaha, took second place with 3.89 lb. trout, landing them $500.
“We didn’t really do anything on Sunday. We were trying to catch drum, but were about the only team that didn’t have luck with that,” Houston said.
Though they couldn’t land a drum, Saturday’s excellent trout fishing made up for it. “We caught a total of four trout on Saturday,” said Houston, “and the best part was that they were all over 3.5 lbs.”
“We used just a little rattling topwater jig,” Houston added, “and I think we were the only team here that didn’t use some kind of mullet.”
The “Sweet Caroline” team of Ron Holmes and Mark Daughtry landed a 3.27 lb. trout to earn third place and $200. The team caught the trout on a Carolina-rigged finger mullet.
“We were down by Snow’s Cut going for flounder,” said Holmes, “but we landed a pretty nice trout for this time of year.”
Fishing on an 18′ Maycraft powered by a 150 Yamaha, the team pulled in a few nice drum as well.
“We had a few drum that just barely tipped the scales at 7 lbs.,” Holmes said. “We were actually thinking if we were going to win anything, it would be from those, not from the trout.”
Taking the top spot in the Lady Angler competition was Connie McCloskey, who landed a 6.2 lb. drum aboard the boat “Dickymoe.” Second place went to April Owens with a 6.43 lb. drum on the “Jones’n.” Rounding out the lady anglers was Donna Harned who caught the third place 6.02 lb. drum aboard “Corona Daze.”
Charlie Musslewhite took first in the Junior Angler division with a 6.11 lb. drum that he caught aboard the “Sound Machine.” Taking second was Michael Hoffman Jr. who helped land the 6.02 lb. drum aboard “Corona Daze.” Owen Wrenn finished in third with a 3.74 lb. drum caught aboard the “Xseamen.”
One of the highlights of the Cape Fear Inshore Classic was the fact that 100% of the red drum caught were returned back to the water alive, and 83% of the flounder were kept alive and sent to local hatcheries in order to help revitalize area fish populations.
