Cape Fear Red Trout Celebrity Classic
Adam Meyer and Liz Pitts, of Charter Lakes Marine Insurance in Wilmington, Liz's 23" speckled trout that took first place in the Largest Trout category of the 2009 Cape Fear Red Trout Celebrity Classic. She hooked the speck on a live shrimp in the Cape Fear River while fishing with Capt. Jot Owens.
Anglers George Openshaw and Jason Crowder rounded up an impressive collection of accolades in the 2009 Cape Fear Red Trout Celebrity Classic, topping five of the event’s categories on their way to earning the Team Grand Champion honors in the event, held October 15-17 out of the Figure Eight Island Yacht Club.
Guided by Jacksonville’s Capt. Ricky Kellum, of Speckled Specialist Charters, the anglers landed, photographed, and released a total of 29 speckled trout and one red drum over the event’s two fishing days.
Along with Team Grand Champs, the 1620 points their fish earned them garnered Crowder the Individual Grand Champion, Most Trout, and Spin Division titles, and Openshaw received the Bait Division crown.
On Friday, the event’s first fishing day, the anglers headed north from Figure Eight to Kellum’s home waters around Sneads Ferry. Targeting speckled trout with the Speckled Specialist seems appropriate, and the anglers found them.
Fishing the 172 Bridge over the New River, the anglers landed and sent on their way a total of seven specks.
“We caught all the trout yesterday on live shrimp,” Kellum explained at Saturday’s awards ceremony.
Crowder added a red drum he hooked on a Rapala Skitterwalk topwater plug to the team’s total before they headed in for the day.
Though the trout bite was good at Sneads Ferry, Kellum found out that it was even hotter far south, and he changed the game plan for the event’s second day.
“I saw what Jot had from yesterday and decided to fish the Cape Fear River today,” Kellum continued.
On day two, the anglers headed south to the Cape Fear and targeted trout some structure north of Southport. They found a quick bite soon after arriving.
“We caught most of our fish on the early morning tide change,” Kellum said.
Most of their Saturday specks again fell for live shrimp, but Crowder also picked up the five that earned him the Spin Division title on artificials.
Capt. Ricky Kellum, of Speckled Specialist Charters, and Jason Crowder with the awards for most trout and Individual Grand Champion in the 2009 Cape Fear Red Trout Celebrity Classic.
“He was throwing the Berkeley Power Shrimp and a Riptide Swimming Mullet,” explained Kellum. “The tide runs so hard down there that that mullet just about works itself.”
The bite slowed down as the morning wore on, but the afternoon tide change produced a few more final fish before the anglers had to make the run back to Figure Eight.
“We caught a few, maybe five more in the afternoon,” Kellum concluded.
The afternoon fish brought the team’s total to 29 specks for the weekend, which, along with their sole red, was more than enough to capture the Team Grand Championship.
Liz Pitts, of Charter Lakes Marine Insurance in Wilmington, also collected a number of superlatives in the event, winning Top Lady Angler, Largest Trout, and runner-up Grand Champion. Fishing with Adam Meyer (also of Charter Lakes) and Capt. Jot Owens, the anglers targeted the Cape Fear River both days of the event.
Fishing banks and oyster rocks along the river’s grass islands, they didn’t have to wait long for action.
“We were fortunate. We had perfect tides,” Pitts said. “We were pretty much able to fish that falling tide all day.”
The falling tide proved kind, as Pitts landed a total of 10 trout on a mixture of live shrimp and Bass Assassin and D.O.A. soft plastics, including the 23” speck that took the top spot in the Largest Trout Division.
Returning to the same area on Saturday morning, the anglers found slightly slower fishing, but they still managed to put together a decent day.
“Some areas were more productive than others,” Owens explained, “but overall, we had a good day and our plan was solid.”
Along with a trio of speckled trout, Pitts added a red drum on Saturday to her total for the event.
“We’d lost a big drum right after we pulled up to one spot,” Pitts continued, “but we caught another one right away so I stopped crying.”
After pulling the hooks on an estimated 29” red near the boat, Pitts hooked up on a 23” fish that made it to the net while casting a live finger mullet beneath a rattling float.
“All in all, this was a great two days fishing,” Pitts concluded. “It was really cold, especially yesterday, but as long as you’re catching fish, it doesn’t matter if it’s snowing.”
Keith Gallaher, fishing with Capt. Jon Huff of Wilmington’s Circle H Charters, captured the event’s Most Red Drum title, landing 10 over the two fishing days of the event. The fish also earned him the top spot in the tournament’s Fly Division.
A 25” red drum earned the Largest Drum prize for angler Jerry Todd, who was fishing with Capt. David Baxley.
The Cape Fear Red Trout Celebrity Classic is part of the Redbone series, a succession of inshore light-tackle celebrity tournaments along the east and gulf coast benefitting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. Over the last 19 years, the Redbone organization has made a total contribution of over 10 million dollars to the foundation.
