Cape Fear Inshore Classic 2006
The inaugural Cape Fear Inshore Classic Fishing Tournament was held over the weekend of September 22-24, 2006. This event, based in Wrightsville Beach, NC, is the first installment of what will become a yearly tournament, and it is designed as a conservation-based event promoting the release of all three of its target species.
The eligible species in the tournament were flounder, red drum, and speckled trout. The heaviest five fish of each species won prizes, and there was also a TWT for heaviest aggregate weight of one of each of the three species.
Hank Martinez caught the whopping 15.33 lb. first place flounder in the tournament, dwarfing the second place fish by nearly 12 lbs. He was fishing with Fred Davis aboard the 22′ Triton “Turn It Up.”
Martinez was fishing a ledge in the ICW near Carolina Beach when the massive flatfish struck. It fell for a 5” finger mullet on a Carolina rig towards the middle of the falling tide. The huge flounder moved off with the bait immediately, and Martinez set the hook. After a few good runs, the flounder surfaced. Davis then netted it, and the team headed for the scales.
Davis and Martinez also topped the TWT, adding a trout and a red drum to their flounder for an aggregate weight of 21.5 lbs.
Danny Musselwhite, aboard the “Sound Machine,” caught the second place 3.65 lb. flounder. And Adam Sellers, on the “Magic Stik,” took third with a 3.40 lb. flounder.
Capt. Mike Hoffman of Corona Daze Charters had the heaviest red drum. His red dragged the scales down to 7.38 lbs. Fishing with his wife Donna aboard the 22’ Sea Hunt “Corona Daze,” the Hoffmans caught the drum off of an oyster bed in the ICW. The fat drum ate a peanut pogy on a Carolina rig on the high and falling tide. After it was weighed, Hoffman’s drum was released behind Mott’s Channel Seafood.
The red also brought Donna Hoffman the tournament’s top Lady Angler prize, a full day fishing trip for two aboard the head boat “Continental Shelf.”
The second place red drum was a 7.14 lb. fish caught by Trey Wright on the “Baitlicious.” Sam Daughtry aboard the “Rusty” caught a 6.21 lb. drum to finish third.
The top speckled trout was a 3.08 lb. fish caught by Capt. Ricky Kellum of Speckled Specialist Charters. Fishing alone aboard his 220 Triton LTS, Kellum caught his trout off an oyster bed in the New River near Snead’s Ferry. His money-winning trout swallowed a Berkley Powerbait Shrimp fished on a 3/16 oz. jighead. He caught the trout near the end of the falling tide.
A 1.50 lb. trout nailed down second place in that division for Tom Watchorn on the “Bay Flight.” Robbie Garner caught a 1.34 lb. trout to place third.
Second place in the TWT went to Adam Sellers aboard the “Magic Stik” with an 11.79 lb. aggregate weight. And a total of 8.65 lbs. put Trey Wright and the “Baitlicious” in third.
The second place Lady Angler was Portia Johnson with a 6.08 lb. red drum. Christine Boston caught a 1.99 lb. flounder for the Lady Angler third place.
The top Junior Angler was Charlie Musselwhite who caught a 4.08 lb. red drum. Musselwhite won a free full day trip for two aboard the head boat “Capt Stacy IV.”
Capt Jody Lang, one of the tournament’s organizers, was proud to report that all the red drum and approximately half of the flounder and speckled trout were released alive after they were weighed.
The organizers of the Cape Fear Inshore Classic gratefully thank its hosts Mott’s Channel Seafood and Cape Fear Yacht Sales, as well as its many other sponsors.
For more information, you can log on to www.capefearinshoreclassic.com.
