Bay Creek Classic
Chrissy Thomes with her first flounder, hooked on a live finger mullet while fishing with her mother, Capt. Vanessa Martin of Nauti-Girl Charters. The 4 lb. fish earned her third place in the Bay Creek Classic.
Toughing it out through a day full of rain and high winds, over 40 boats turned out to fish the third annual Bay Creek Classic, held out of Southport’s Wildlife Bait and Tackle.
A 5.86 lb. flounder earned the victory and $2000 in the tournament for Southport’s Jason McDowell, Ricky Bishop, and Mike Fields, fishing on McDowell’s 22’ Triton bay boat. The anglers targeted fish at an area of rocky structure a bit north of Sunny Point on the west bank of the Cape Fear, and they had an inauspicious start to the day, watching friends fishing nearby catch fish, but having little action themselves until mid-morning.
Around 10:00 Bishop got a strike on a Carolina-rigged finger mullet.
“We’d been throwing to that rocky stuff, but Ricky hooked that fish right up against the grass,” McDowell said.
However, when Bishop set the hook, it seemed he was snagged.
“When Ricky set the hook, he was hung up,” McDowell explained. “He sawed back and forth on him for a little while and finally moved the fish.”
The current was rolling along strong in the area that the anglers were fishing, but it actually helped them get the fish to the boat in short order.
“The current was ripping, but we were kind of in an eddy that brought him right to us,” McDowell said. “We knew it was a good fish. It just seemed like moving a log until he gave us a couple thumps right by the boat.”
After the current brought the fish to the boat, the anglers netted it and brought it aboard. And as they tried to remove the hook, the leader, which was frayed by the snag, snapped.
“That fish was definitely a morale booster after watching our buddies catch 10-11 fish right around us,” McDowell reported. “We knew he was a five pounder but didn’t think he’d go six because he was pretty skinny. Honestly, I knew it was a money fish, but I had no idea we’d win it with that.”
Continuing to fish their spot, the anglers landed several oyster toadfish, but their winning fish was their only flounder of the day.
Posting a 4.52 lb. flounder to finish second were Charleston, SC anglers Douglas Cutting and Matt Copeland along with Dana Dubose, a friend from Charlotte.
Fishing the Cape Fear River all day with four flounder to show for it, the second place fish was a last minute catch for the trio.
“We hooked and lost that fish at 3:25,” Cutting explained. “Dana hooked it at the end of a long cast and brought her 50 yards to the boat, but the hook pulled out. We had a half-hour run to the scales, so we gave ourselves till 3:30 to try and catch it.”
The hook had held long enough for the anglers to get a look at their fish, and they knew it was well larger than any they had in the boat.
“I pounded that spot where he lost the fish and hooked it again but lost it,” Cutting explained. “I put on a little bit smaller finger mullet and got the fish to bite again, and this time it ran the 40 yards back to where Dana had hooked it in freespool.”
This time the hook set held, and the fish was brought to net.
“It was pretty neat hooking and losing that fish and catching it again in the 11th hour,” Cutting continued. “I’m 100% positive that was the same fish because we were only in 2.5’ of water and we’d been pounding the area without bites. The way it bit again right where he lost it and ran back to where it came from made me believe that it was the same fish.”
With their four pounder in the box, the anglers made haste for the scales.
“We were taking waves over the bow,” Cutting reported. “We left at 3:35, and I slapped my hand on the dock at 4:00 with about 20 seconds left to go.”
Chrissy Thomes, fishing with Capt. Vanessa Martin, weighed in the 4.00 lb. third place flounder.
After finding little action on the Southport waterfront and out at Yaupon Reef, the lady anglers stopped at a dock that Martin occasionally fishes on the ICW, and that’s where Chrissy hooked the flatfish on a live finger mullet.
Not only did the flounder earn third place in the event, it was Thomes’ first flounder ever.
The Bay Creek Classic benefits Brandon Matthews, a Southport outdoorsman who was paralyzed in a fall from a tree stand while hunting four years ago. The costs associated with his recovery are astronomical, but with the community’s support, Matthews is recovering beyond expectations.
Matthews and his wife Kerry wished to express their gratitude to all the event’s many sponsors, volunteers, and anglers who made it yet another successful year.
