Cape Fear Flounder Classic
Mike Hill and Glenn Hart, of Southport, won the inaugural Cape Fear Flounder Classic with an 8.91 lb. fish that fell for a live pogy underneath a Southport dock. The big flatfish earned the pair over $3,000.
Topping the field at the inaugural Cape Fear Flounder Classic, held out of Southport Marina, Southport’s Mike Hill and Glenn Hart, aboard the “Silver Bullet,” weighed in an 8.95 lb. flatfish to earn first place honors and over $3,000.
Around 8:15, after they’d been fishing the Southport waterfront for around an hour, Hill got a hard strike on a Carolina-rigged pogie.
“He pretty much engulfed it,” he said. “I pulled back, and once he pulled down on it, I hooked him.”
After setting the hook, Hill brought the fish to the boat in short order, but the battle didn’t end immediately.
“He ran straight to me,” he continued. “I thought he was even bigger than he was when he came up. Glen got him in the net on the first try, but he came out of it. The third or fourth time I got him up, we got him.”
“I knew we’d at least cash a check,” Hill said. “We stayed on the waterfront all day until we headed to the scales at 3:00. We caught four or five more, but none like that one.”
Narrowly squeezed out by the near-9 pounder, Chad Davis and Dale Darnell, fishing aboard the “Matt D,” earned second place with an 8.75 lb. flatfish. Their big flounder earned the pair just over $1,700.
After catching bait the morning of the tournament, the Oak Island anglers headed for the quarantine station on the advice of a friend.
“I hadn’t done much there in years,” Davis said, “but a buddy said we ought to try it, so we did.”
It was proven a wise decision an hour after lines-in, when Darnell got a big bite on a live pogie. Fishing a 15-20’ ledge near the station, the angler knew he had a solid fish.
“We never get the net until we can see the fish,” Davis explained, “but he said to get the net and I got over there and finally saw that fish and thought it was even bigger than it was. The current was working with us and it swam that fish right into the net.”
Capt. Wayne Crisco, of Last Resort Charters, and Don Parker hauled a 6.7 lb. flounder to the scales to secure third place. The Surf City, NC crew pocketed $968.
“We’d only had two bites before that one,” Crisco explained.
Fishing a dock with a 15’ hole off the end of it on the west bank of the Cape Fear that the pair had never fished before turned into a good idea.
“I’ve always wanted to try that dock,” Crisco continued.
On one of his first casts to the dock, the big flatfish bit a Carolina-rigged pogie on Parker’s line.
The fish came to the surface a few yards away from the “Last Resort,” but Parker kept it up top and Crisco soon slid the net beneath the big flounder.
Kenneth Crisco earned fourth place in the event with a 5.05 lb. flounder, and Jason McDowell, on the “Uncle Jake,” rounded out the top five with a 4.9 lb. fish.
