Tournament Report – Topsail Inshore Challenge
David Avram and Micheal Kirby, of Team ECFA, took top prize at the 5th annual Fisherman’s Post Topsail Inshore Challenge with a two red drum aggregate weight of 13.20 lbs.
The team had a strategy of focusing on locations in the area they knew had held fish in the past, and pre-fishing in the days prior to the tournament gave them confidence that the locations would be productive on tournament day. Avram noted that the team felt good after catching 20 redfish the day prior to the tournament.
“Not to give away too much information, but we were working areas behind Figure Eight Island,” noted Avram. “We worked one area that we knew held fish as long as we could, knowing that after the tide had fallen the fish would move.”
When the tide had reached a dead low, the team then switched locations to an area that produced better during the rising tide.
Team “ECFA” with their tournament winning reds. Their aggregated weight was 13.20 lbs. granting them a 1st place victory in the 5th annual Topsail Inshore Challenge.
“We were catching over-slot fish once the tide began to rise, but eventually we got one right under,” explained Avram.
The two-man team said they boated 22 redfish on tournament day, with most of the fish averaging between 20-23 inches. They used a combination of live finger mullet and Z-Man PaddlerZ to catch all their fish. The two red drum that won the event were taken on one of each, and one fish was caught during what was left of the falling tide, and one during the rising.
The winning team’s day was not only good fortune, though, as the livewell they were holding their fish in failed. Avram guessed that the failing livewell lost them over a pound in combined weight over the course of the day, as a dying fish loses water.
Team ECFA won a total of $2380 with their top leaderboard finish and their TWT earnings. Following Team ECFA in second place was “Flounder Fix” (who took home third place in last year’s tournament). The two-fish aggregate weight for “Flounder Fix” was 11.76 lbs. In addition to the second place leaderboard finish, they also took home the second place Two Red Drum TWT as well as the third place Single Red Drum TWT, for a total of $2320.50.
Third place went to Top Knotch with an aggregate weight of 11.49 lbs., and the top spot in the Flounder TWT was taken by a 3.90 lb. flounder weighed in by Spot On Charters.
Team “Flounder Fix” with a pair of redfish weighing an aggregated 11.76 lbs. placing them at 2nd place in the 5th annual Topsail Inshore Challenge.
For a complete leaderboard (including photos of all the top fish), please visit www.FishermansPost.com.
The next Anglers Marine/Ranger Inshore Tournament Trail event is the Wrightsville Beach Inshore Challenge on August 11-12, 2017, at Wild Wing Cafe and Wrightsville Beach Marina. This event will feature a split leaderboard, with top payouts for the single heaviest flounder and top payouts for the single heaviest red drum.
