Carousel Center Flounder Tournament 2007
Any angler lucky or skillful enough to catch a near-9 lb. flounder will remember that day for years, but catching one during a tournament will probably make it a lifetime memory. Leland angler Melton Bordeaux did exactly that, landing an 8.95 lb. flatfish to win $1000 and the Carousel Center Flounder Tournament, held June 16, out of Carolina Beach’s Inlet Watch Yacht Club.
Bordeaux was fishing Saturday aboard the 17’ Carolina Skiff “Fishful Thinking” with friend Tommy Batten, who caught the third place, 4.5 lb. flounder. The pair chose to fish the Cape Fear River in search of the winning fish, and found it near a point.
“Basically, when I’m looking for bigger fish, what I try to do is to get somewhere near the main river channel and make sure there’s plenty of bait using an area where you have deep water near a flat up top,” Bordeaux explained. “You usually get that around points.”
While most anglers stick to the tried and true Carolina rig when flounder fishing, an equipment malfunction forced Bordeaux to try a rig many would consider unorthodox.
“My livewell pump went out on me, and I couldn’t keep my pogies alive,” Bordeaux said. “So I took a 3” Gulp Shrimp on a jighead and hooked a dead pogy onto the end of that.”
Beginning with the livewell issues, Bordeaux and Batten had an inauspicious start to the tournament. Their trolling motor, which they use frequently when flounder fishing, had mechanical problems that they eventually solved. Then, when the pair were finally ready to fish, another boat was anchored on the spot where they wanted to start the day.
Their second choice spot ended up working out, though, and the big fish hit around 9:00 Saturday morning. Bordeaux didn’t wait very long before setting the hook.
“I don’t wait long with the jighead,” he said, “maybe 20 or 30 seconds at the most. If I’m fishing with a Carolina rig, I’ll wait 2 minutes minimum, but I feel like a big fish just engulfs that whole jighead when it hits.”
The big flounder made several runs during the fight, and towards the end of the battle gave Bordeaux a few moments of apprehension. “That fish scared me. When he came up, he turned, looked at me, opened his mouth and started shaking his head,” he recalled.
Despite the tense moment, the jig’s hook stayed lodged in the flounder’s mouth, and when Bordeaux had it within range, Batten scooped it into the landing net.
Several hours later, fishing a spot just a few hundred yards away from where they caught the big fish, Batten hooked up with the third place flattie. The 4.5 lb. fish also hit a jighead/Gulp/dead pogy combination, and Batten quickly brought it to the net that Bordeaux had waiting. The third place fish earned Batten a plaque and a check for $250 to match Bordeaux’s plaque and $1000 first place winnings.
Capturing first and third place in the event surely made up for the day’s tough start for the “Fishful Thinking” team, who caught several smaller flounder over the day, and lost another 5 lb. class fish boatside.
Mike Dennis, of Carolina Beach, took second place with a 4.75 lb. flounder. Dennis operates Lookout Charters, and was fishing the event with friend Bill Neely on the 20’ Pathfinder “Lookout 4.”
Dennis and Neely didn’t have to wait long for action Saturday morning, as they set up on their spot at 6:10 and hooked the number two fish at 6:25. The flounder hit a menhaden Dennis had pinned to a Carolina rig.
After Dennis hooked it, the flounder came to the boat fairly easily, and Neely was able to slide the landing net under the fish and bring it aboard.
“We were right at the point,” Dennis said, gesturing over his shoulder to the sandy south end of Masonboro Island. “We stayed on top of it most of the day.”
The second place fish was the “Lookout 4” team’s only flounder of the day. Second place earned them a check for $500 along with a plaque.
Fourth place in the Carousel Center Flounder Tournament went to Shane Berry, for a 3.57 lb. flounder. Berry won $100. Dennis Durham took home the $50, fifth place prize for a 3.47 lb. fish.
There were 108 anglers that registered for this year’s Carousel Center Tournament, over a third more than competed in the event last year. “That’s over 30 more boats than last year,” Tournament Director Tom Banks said. “The weather was as good as it gets. We can’t complain a bit. We’ll keep taking anglers 30 at a time.”
As the name implies, the Carousel Center Flounder Tournament benefits the Carousel Center, a Wilmington-based organization dedicated to meeting the needs of abused and neglected children and to preventing child abuse in southeastern NC.
“Contrary to those of you who just came up here to get checks, I’d say the Carousel Center is the big winner of this tournament,” Carousel Center Board Member Margee Herring said at the awards ceremony. “We had an awesome turnout, and we were able to raise over $9,000 for the Center this year.”
Banks and Herring wished to express their gratitude to all the event’s sponsors, including Tex’s Tackle, Reel Bait and Tackle, and Island Tackle and Hardware.
