Flat Bottom Girsl 2007
Plenty of saltwater tournaments offer incentives for anglers to weigh in their catch alive and subsequently release it, usually as either a bonus or penalty on the fish’s “official” weight depending on whether it is weighed in alive or dead. However, only one event-the Flat Bottom Girls Flounder Tournament-goes a step further, refusing to accept and weigh any fish that are not alive and in good condition.
While this may seem harsh, there’s quite a good reason-all the fish weighed in are donated to the southern flounder aquaculture research program run by UNCW with support from the Fish for Tomorrow organization. Anglers are encouraged to donate more that just their largest fish of the day to the program, and, consequently, the event’s field of 11 boats filled the oxygenated holding tank at the weigh-in, located at Wrightsville Beach’s Dockside Marina, with over 35 flounder ranging from barely legal fish to several true doormats.
Scott Carter, fishing with friend Chuck Connors, took the event’s $1000 first place check, weighing in a 7.78 lb. flounder on Saturday, November 3, the Flat Bottom Girls’ only fishing day.
When the sun rose, the anglers filled their baitwell with mullet and began fishing a series of spots in the Cape Fear River, but they didn’t hook a flatfish all morning.
“We fished the river, the Dredge Pond, a lot of places, but all we caught was bluefish. We didn’t get the monkey off our back until about 1:20,” said Carter.
After putting a 3 lb. class fish in the boat, the anglers experienced another lull, this one lasting until the big fish bit in the late afternoon, while Carter was casting a Carolina-rigged finger mullet to a stumpy, grassy area near where Snow’s Cut empties into the Cape Fear.
“It was about 3:45,” he reported. “That fish actually picked it up and ran with it.” Setting the hook after the big strike, Carter turned the fish quickly.
“I just started bringing her back,” he said, “and the way the current was running, she just came straight to the boat.”
When the fish neared the boat, Connors slid a net under it and secured the team’s spot atop the leaderboard when he brought it over the gunnel, prompting Carter to celebration.
“I started doing my best Rick Flair impersonation,” he explained sheepishly. “I think some of these guys heard me.”
Less than 0.1 lbs. behind the leaders, John Hargett weighed in the 7.69 lb. second place flounder. Hargett, fishing with Dan Spencer aboard the 19′ Jones Brothers “Trigger Happy,” took home $500.
The flounder that earned the anglers second place was the first one they caught on Saturday.
“We caught that fish about 9:30,” Hargett explained. “We were fishing some docks off the ICW south of here, near Carolina Beach.”
A Carolina-rigged finger mullet also fooled the second place fish, and like the winning fish, it came to the boat without a big fight.
Travis Koontz and Kevin Bowden, aboard the 22′ Sea Chaser “Money Hole,” took third place in the tournament with a 4.03 lb. fish.
The third place fish also fell for a live finger mullet pinned to a Carolina rig. It bit around 2:00 while Koontz and Bowden were fishing ICW docks in the Carolina Beach area.
“He jumped right on it,” Koontz said. “I put the hook in him and got him up pretty quick, and we ran straight to Wrightsville and weighed him in.”
Taylor Barefoot, of team “Dock Rat,” caught the 3.72 lb. fourth place flounder. Frank Davis and Hank Martinez, aboard the “Turn it Up,” earned fifth place with a 3.52 lb. fish.
Although they weren’t entered in the monetary part of the tournament, Wilmington Cub Scout Pack 212 had an intra-pack tournament coinciding with the Flat Bottom Girls event. They also donated their fish to the aquaculture program. The scouts probably wished they’d entered the big money event after weighing in both a 9.8 lb. flounder that would have taken the first prize and another doormat over 5 lbs.
The Flat Bottom Girls tournament is put on each year by the Fish for Tomorrow organization, a Wilmington-based group promoting the conservation and enhancement of local fish stocks. The group’s vision includes not only replenishing the area’s gamefish populations with hatchery-raised fingerlings, but also artificial and oyster reef creation and enhancement, fisheries and aquatic issues education, and cleaner water initiatives, according to Tournament Director and Fish for Tomorrow spokesman Tim Barefoot.
“You can have all the hatcheries and everything you want,” he said, “but if you don’t have clean water to put the fingerlings in, it’s all for naught.”
To learn more about the Fish for Tomorrow program, or to donate money or a live flounder to the cause, visit the group’s website at www.fishfortomorrow.org.
