Carousel Flounder Tournament
Chris Hanson with the 6.15 lb. flounder that won him the Carousel Center Flounder Tournament. The big flatfish bit a live menhaden at a dock between Wrightsville and Carolina Beaches while he was fishing with Troy Philip.
Posting his second win in the event in as many years, Wilmington’s Chris Hanson weighed a 6.15 lb. flounder to earn first place in the Carousel Center Flounder Tournament, held June 28 out of Inlet Watch Marina.
Fishing with longtime co-angler Troy Philip aboard a 16’ Panther, the anglers caught and penned up menhaden the night before the event, but were dismayed to find them dead on tournament morning.
“We had to run up the [Cape Fear] river to find some more bait,” Hanson explained. “They were big, too. I like using the smaller pogies, which is what we caught the night before, but all we could get were big ones that morning.”
Since they were already in the river, the anglers hit some spots where they’ve had luck in the past, but they were only able to muster a few small flounder before making the call to head back to waters where they’d found some success the previous weekend.
“I’d found some docks in the ICW that had a good bite at low tide,” said Hanson, “between Wrightsville and Carolina Beach, so we headed up the ICW to catch the low water.”
The new strategy didn’t immediately pay off, either, and with less than an hour to go in the competition, the anglers didn’t have much to get excited about bringing to the scales.
“It was about 3:35 when that fish bit,” Hanson went on, “and I knew it was a good one when she hit.”
The anglers were fishing an area midway down one of those ICW docks, casting baits to around 3’ of water in a small slough behind a sandbar when the big fish bit. A large menhaden fooled the flatfish, and Hanson gave it time to eat before setting the hook.
“I waited a little while,” he explained. “I got that big thump, and maybe 20-30 seconds later she started chomping on it.”
Fortunately for the time-strapped pair, the flounder didn’t take long to put in the boat.
“I actually brought her in pretty easy, and Troy netted it,” Hanson said. “We put that fish in the livewell and rolled on out.”
The well-timed bite gave the anglers enough of a cushion to make the run to the scales before they closed, and Hanson’s fish easily slid into the lead atop a pair of 4.70 lb. flounder that were currently tied for first.
Ken Pearson weighed his 4.70 lb. fish in first, earning second place on time and edging Scott Brown into third. Brian Milliken was right on the pair’s heels with a 4.60 lb. flounder good for fourth, and Steven West scaled a 4.25 lb. flatfish to round out the top five.
The Carousel Center provides critical care and support to victims of child abuse throughout NC’s 15 southeastern counties, and the annual flounder tournament is one of the Center’s principal fundraisers. More information about the organization is available at www.carouselcenter.org.
