Tournament Reports – Seaview Fishing Pier Dogfish Tournament
The Seaview Fishing Pier, located in North Topsail Beach, hosted their fourth annual dogfish tournament this year on Saturday, February 15. Contestants paid $10 per rod plus a $14 day pier fee and fished from 12:00 noon until 8:00 pm. Payouts for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners were awarded, and throughout the day a multitude of door prizes were given out.
This tournament was a catch-and-release only event; after anglers reeled in their catches, they were immediately weighed, a small DNA sample from the pelvic fin was collected, and the fish were then tossed back.
The first place title was seized by Jeremy Fisher and his partner John Luke with the largest dogfish weighing in at 9.8 lbs., earning them a $520 payout
Second place was in the hands of Garrett Grant all day with his 7.6 lb. dogfish, until the last 45 minutes of the allotted fishing time when Josh Sloop weighed in a fish just one tenth of a pound heavier than Grant’s. Sloop took home the second place title and a $320 payout with his 7.7 lb. dogfish, and Grant was bumped into third place, walking away with a $220 check.
Using squid strips and salted mullet filets, Grant caught 5 or 6 dogfish throughout the day, which was the most that anyone on the pier managed to bring in. His big fish went for the mullet. He noticed on tournament day that the short bite was heavy, meaning fish were biting closer to the breakers rather than further out towards the end of the pier.
“I’m good at catching dogfish when I’m drum fishing, so I figured I had a good chance at winning this,” he said.
A total of 25-30 dogfish were caught from Sieview Pier on tournament day.
Sponsoring this event was East Coast Sports, Sportsman’s Wholesale, Yopp Brothers Marine & Tackle, Phil Christman, and Josh Sloop.
