Tournament Reports – Inshore Slam Tournament
Presented by Captain Smiley and Cricket Cove Marina, in Little River, SC, was the 3rd annual Inshore Slam Tournament. With one day to fish and a weigh-in deadline of 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 2, a total of 37 boats raced to find the biggest speckled trout and red drum. Perfect November weather and a decent cold snap triggered the trout bite at this year’s tournament, as at least 25 teams weighed in fish.
As a Slam tournament, the grand prize was based on a two-fish aggregate weight, with one fish of each of the two species being weighed together. Flounder, due to the closure of the recreational fishery, was not included in this year’s tournament. A first, second, and third place prize was paid out to the Grand Slam winners, as well as to the top three heaviest single fish of each species and to the top youth and lady anglers.
Taking home the title of Grand Slam champion was Trask Cunningham and his partner Russel Spatholt, of Myrtle Beach, SC. Deviating from their usual scene of catching big game offshore, this duo won first place overall, first for largest redfish, and first in the TWT.
Trask Cunningham (left) and Russel Spatholt, with the two fish that brought them the title in the 2019 Inshore Slam Tournament, presented by Captain Smiley and Cricket Cove Marina. The red weighed 4.85 lbs., and the trout came in at 3.84 lbs.
Fishing near Bonaparte in the East River area, the team caught their winning drum, weighing in at 4.85 lbs., around 9:30 a.m. on a mullet minnow under a floating cork. Later on (near noon), they reeled in their 3.84 lb. speckled trout on a live shrimp.
“That’s good bait to use right now if you can find live shrimp,” advised Cunningham.
Their Grand Slam aggregate weight topped the charts at 8.69 lbs. Over the course of the day they encountered a very good bite, pulling upin roughly 20 reds, 15 trout, and 10 small flounder.
Coming in second place was Clay Morphis, with an 8.09 lb. aggregate fish weight. Morphis also won first place for the largest trout with his 5.89 lb. gator.
Third place was claimed by DJ Carlon with his 6.82 lbs. of fish.
Captain Smiley and Cricket Cove Marina would like to say a huge thank you to Sportsman’s Choice, the tournament’s major sponsor. Over $2000 was raised from this year’s event to benefit the North Myrtle Humane Society.
For more information on this event or to view a full leaderboard, visit CaptainSmileyInshoreSlam.com.
