Battle Of The Beaches 2008
Each October, the Cape Fear Blue Water Fishing Club poses a question to local anglers: “Who are the mightier fishermen: the gentlemen of Wrightsville Beach or the rough and tumble Carolina Beach boys?” The Club’s Battle of the Beaches tournament aims to answer the question, and for 2008 it came down to a double tie breaker, with Carolina Beach finally reclaiming the trophy based on the strength of the event’s largest fish, a 37.9 lb. wahoo weighed in by the “Celebration” crew.
The event offers competition in four main categories, with participants weighing in the three heaviest fish out of eligible species in Offshore, Inshore, Nearshore, and Bottom Divisions. With Wrightsville Beach boats claiming victory in the Offshore and Bottom categories, and Carolina Beach taking home the prizes in the Nearshore and Inshore divisions (and the beaches also tying on number of Calcuttas won), the key decision fell to the heaviest fish weighed in during the event.
Hauling three wahoo to the scales on the first Saturday of the weeklong event, Ken Broomfield and Wrightsville’s “Fish Hooker” crew took home the top spot in the Offshore division.
Fishing along with Paul and Pat Horning aboard a 31′ Contender, the anglers decided to head to a spot that’s been good to them in the past, producing the 70+ lb. winning wahoo in the Blue Water Fishing Club’s Spring Challenge tournament.
“We were a little bit south of the Same Ol’, around the 300 Line,” Broomfield explained. “And we hooked that first wahoo around 9:00, so we thought we were in for a good day.”
Later in the day when they had just put their second wahoo in the boat, one of the lines they’d left dangling in the water got a strike, and Paul Horning fought yet another wahoo to gaff. That was their final fish of the day, and it proved to be more than enough to swing the Offshore Category win to the “Fish Hooker” and Wrightsville Beach.
Jeff Smith and David Godbold, fishing for Carolina Beach aboard the “Frayed Knot,” took home the top prize in the Inshore Division, weighing in three king mackerel for a 41.7 lb. aggregate weight. Fishing another tournament as well, the anglers also selected Saturday as their fishing day, and headed off of Southport where many boats found a hot king mackerel bite earlier in the week.
Heading to the old Cape Fear shipping channel, the anglers found fish, but not the red hot fishing they’d hoped for.
Fishing with live bluefish and pogies, both skirted and naked, the anglers caught six kings over the course of the day, with the largest weighing 18 lbs., anchoring their 41 lb. total and getting Carolina Beach onto the board.
Capt. Rich Walter, aboard the “Reelaxation,” and fishing for Wrightsville Beach, secured first place in the Bottom Category with a 33.8 lb. aggregate weight comprised of two gag grouper and an American red snapper.
With Kevin Gallagher, John Bink, and Richard Progelhof aboard his 24′ Grady White, Walter headed around 30 miles off Carolina Beach on the first Saturday of the tournament.
At the end of the day, Gallagher had landed an 11.6 lb. red snapper, Progelhof put a 13 lb. gag in the boat, and Walter landed a smaller gag to finish off their aggregate and put another feather in the Wrightsville gentlemen’s cap.
Competing in the nearshore category for Carolina Beach, Capt. Bruce Fields aboard the “Flat Dawg” hung a trio of flounder on the scales weighing 13.1 lbs. to take first place in the Nearshore competition.
With Ken Julian aboard his 24′ Carolina Skiff, Fields caught a total of 14 flounder on the tournament’s opening day. Drifting with live finger mullet and pogies produced all Julian and Fields’ fish, and they hooked flounder in Snow’s Cut, the Cape Fear River, and Carolina Beach Inlet (where Julian landed the team’s 4.9 lb. big fish on a live pogy).
With the “Celebration” wahoo breaking the tie between the beaches, the Carolina Beach Boys earn bragging rights as the more fish-savvy beach until next autumn, when Wrightsville will have a chance to take back the title.
