Ed Sewell Speckled Trout Tournament
Hauling five speckled trout weighing 15.42 lbs. to the scales secured victory in the 2010 Ed Sewell Memorial Speckled Trout Tournament for Swansboro’s John Gainey and R.D. Benedict, their second trip to the event’s winner’s circle.
A diligent angler, Gainey pre-fished extensively for the event aboard his 21’ Viper.
“I fish every day when I get off work,” he asserted. “We’d been catching them real good up the White Oak and in Queen’s Creek. I knew the fish were getting small towards the inlets, so we fished up there.”
The anglers headed into the White Oak River the morning of the tournament, setting up on a 12’ deep hole not far upriver from Swansboro.
Casting live shrimp beneath float rigs, the anglers caught fish immediately.
“We started catching them right about the time we started,” Gainey said. “We had 3-4 three pounders in the boat by 9:30.”
The action remained hot, and the anglers stuck it out at their initial spot for most of the day, catching a few fish on soft plastics in addition to the live shrimp.
“We probably had 18-20 fish,” Gainey estimated, “all between 2-3 lbs. except one 3.5 lbs. We just couldn’t find that big one.”
Feeling like they had a decent stringer, but likely not a winner, the anglers had a pleasant revelation at the scales.
“I wasn’t really feeling that good about it,” Gainey said. “We’d caught a 6.2 and some more over 4.0 in there the week before. We were surprised to win it.”
Jake and Buddy Gainey, from Hubert, NC, scaled five specks weighing 11.35 lbs. to secure second place in the event.
“We pre-fished a few days before,” Jake Gainey said. “We found some trout stacked up in the marshes, but actually we didn’t catch them there during the tournament.”
After not finding the bite they were looking for in the marsh, the father/son team made the call to take their 18’ Action Craft well up the White Oak River, and the anglers settled on a 20’ deep hole near Stella.
“As soon as we got there we started catching them,” Gainey continued. “We caught one and then had 3-4 back-to-back.”
Hooking up on float-rigged live shrimp, the Gaineys continued finding specks until the tide changed.
“The bite slowed up on that tide change,” Gainey said, “but we stayed up there most of the day.”
Richard Peterson, from Swansboro, and Steve Myslinski, of Richlands, NC, secured third place in the Ed Sewell Tournament with a 10.44 lb. stringer. Jody and Steve Floyd and Jake and Gerry Boucher, “Team Tidewater,” weighed in 8.71 lbs. of trout to finish fourth, and Mike Phillips and David Moore’s 7.22 lbs. rounded out the top five.
Parker Benedict topped the event’s Junior Angler competition with a 2.97 lb. speck, and Kristyn Hall secured the Top Lady Angler honors with a 1.85 lb. fish.
