2024 Hatteras Island Surf Fishing Challenge
The 2024 Hatteras Island Surf Fishing Challenge, held September 27-29, was yet another tournament this year where the weather forecast was far from the reality of the good weather that was enjoyed all weekend long. The 131 anglers that entered this year’s event were tested somewhat by the exceptional high tides that created some challenging beach access, but relatively calm winds and seas, as well as very little rain, made for favorable conditions overall.
After registering Friday at Camp Hatteras in Rondanthe, anglers took to the beachfront anywhere from the northern end of Rodanthe down to Hatteras Inlet for the midnight start of the 36-hours of fishing. Anglers can weigh in at one of five Weigh Stations: Hatteras Jack in Rodanthe, Frank & Fran’s in Avon, Hatteras Custom Rods & Tackle in Buxton, Frisco Rod & Gun in Frisco, and Teach’s Lair in Hatteras Village.
The fishing was good almost immediately for Sam Cartrette, of Winston Salem. He got out on the beach around 4:00 am on Saturday morning and had the winning bluefish on the sand in about one hour.
Cartrette and his wife were fishing the Ramp 55 area, and at around 5:00 am, they suddenly had four bluefish on four rods at one time. Two of the blues bit through the lines, his wife landed a smaller blue in the 2 lb. class, and Sam brought in the tournament’s heaviest bluefish of the weekend at 7.2 lbs.
The big blue hit a whole small mullet on a bottom rig.
Randy Marks, from Vass, NC, took the Pompano Division title in the 2024 Hatteras Island Surf Fishing Challenge with a 0.7 lb. pompano that hit a piece of cut shrimp in the Rodanthe surf.
The event’s heaviest sea mullet was also landed on Saturday. Jerry Brewer, of Buxton, was fishing around Ramp 38 in the afternoon when he brought in a 1.5 lb. sea mullet. He was fishing a River Rig, a simple rig made up of 25-30 lb. fluoro and light circle hooks, and he baited both hooks with sand fleas. The baits were sitting very close to shore, and after finding numerous sea mullet in the 1 lb. class, Brewer brought in the surprise 1.5 lb. sea mullet.
The Pompano Division was won by Randy Marks, of Vass, NC. Marks was fishing early on Sunday on the beach directly in front of Camp Hatteras. He was using cut shrimp on a hand-tied pompano rig with floats, and he had the shrimp soaking just off the shoreline. Marks had only caught one small pompano on Saturday, and then his 0.7 lb. winning pompano was the only one he caught on Sunday.
No black drum were weighed in in this year’s event.
Sam Cartrette, of Winston Salem, brought in the heaviest bluefish in the 2024 Hatteras Island Surf Fishing Challenge. He landed the 7.2 lb. bluefish in the Ramp 55 area using a whole small mullet on a bottom rig.
In the Slot Red Drum TWT, Greg Jones, from Asheboro, was the winner, taking home the biggest prize check of the weekend. Jones had set up near Ramp 43 for the start of fishing, and he had the 8.0 lb. red drum on the sand in less than two hours, landing the fish around 1:20 am on Saturday. This was his first bite and first fish on the weekend.
Jones was soaking a piece of cut mullet on a Poseidon Craft bottom rig right in the first slough. The fish hit the bait, went on several runs up and down that first slough, and then was pulled up out of the breakers. Jones’ initial reaction was that the red drum was over-slot, but after repeatedly measuring, the fish showed to be just a hair under 27”.
Sunday’s Awards Dinner was staffed by volunteers from Hatteras Island Meals, the beneficiary of the event and an organization that provides nutritious meals for lunch four days a week to elderly or homebound clients on Hatteras Island. Hatteras Island Meals receives all of the money generated by the sale of tournament fish over the weekend, facilitated by Jeffrey’s Seafood.
In addition to being a standalone competition, the Hatteras Island Surf Fishing Challenge also serves as Event #3 in the five-event 2024 Surf Series, a season-long trail where surf anglers compete to weigh in the heaviest five-fish aggregate over the course of the five events.
Next year’s Hatteras Island Surf Fishing Challenge will be held on September 26-28, 2025, and more information can be found at www.FishermansPost.com.
