Carolina Beach Inshore Challenge
Brian McCloskey and Butch Davis–team “I’d Hit It”–with the flounder and winning 7.45 lb. red drum they weighed in at the Carolina Beach Inshore Challenge. Both bit mullet near a grass bank at Wrightsville Beach.
With a split flounder/red drum leaderboard and some serious talent on both sides, the anglers fishing the 2014 Fisherman’s Post Carolina Beach Inshore Challenge had some stiff competition, but Wilmington’s Christian Wolfe and Butch Davis rose above the pack, weighing in 6.67 lb. flounder and 7.45 lb. red drum to take the respective titles.
Wolfe, fishing with friend Wade Currie as the “Coastal Pride” crew, had a gameplan going into the event and stuck to his formula to produce their winning fish.
Anchored off a grass island in the Cape Fear River with some shelly bottom nearby, the anglers immediately began catching red drum, putting a 26” fish in the boat before the tide drew slack. The bite turned back on as the tide began to fall, and Currie landed both an upgrade red to their 26” fish and the crew’s big flounder in under an hour.
Wilmington’s John Donovan with the 4.12 lb. flounder that he weighed in at the Carolina Beach Inshore Challenge, one of the three fish that made up the 16.65 lb. aggregate weight that earned him first place in the Flounder Division of the Fisherman’s Post Inshore Tournament Trail. The “3 Tippetts” crew, also of Wilmington, put together a 20.22 lb. three-fish aggregate to take home the honors in the Red Drum Divsion of the Trail.
Fred Davis and the “Turnitup” crew earned second place with a 5.68 lb. flatfish, and Sam Daughtry’s 5.24 lb. fish secured third for “Parker.”
Davis, aboard the “I’d Hit It,” fished with partner Brian McCloskey, and the pair had also located a strong group of reds in the week leading up to the tournament, but they found their fish well to the north at Wrightsville Beach.
The big fish came around 8:00 the morning of the event and fell for a live finger mullet cast near a marsh edge at Wrightsville.
A whisker behind the “I’d Hit It” anglers were Kevin Harmsen and “The Struggle is Reel/ConunDRUM” crew, whose 7.44 lb. fish was good for second. Bryan Wilder and “Whatevers Chewin” rounded out the top three with a 7.13 lb. fish.
Full results for the event are available at www.fishermanspost.com.
