CCFA Redfish Series 2008
Eric Powell and Jason Nelson with the 7.3 and 6.96 lb. red drum that secured their victory in the second CCFA Redfish Series event, held August 9th out of Hammock's Beach State Park. Both reds were caught on Rapala Skitterwalks. They earned nearly $3000 for the win. Photo courtesy of Lew McCloud.
Although a mid-day thunderstorm threatened the majority of the field of anglers, two teams were able to take advantage of the weather, landing some big red drum early in the day in order to end in an exact tie for the lead in the second CCFA Redfish Series Tournament, held August 9 out of Hammocks Beach State Park in Swansboro. However, Eric Powell and Jason Nelson managed to get their two reds weighing 14.26 lbs. to the scales just two minutes ahead of Capts. Jeff Cronk and Mike Taylor, earning the victory based on time.
The winning team, from Sneads Ferry, took home over $2,500, and they fished the event on Powell’s 17′ Maverick.
While many teams spend days or even weeks pre-fishing for these redfish tournaments, Powell and Nelson only went scouting one day, the Thursday prior to the event, and on that day didn’t find anything too promising.
“We saw some fish,” Powell, of Sneads Ferry’s Power Marine Oufitters, explained, “but they weren’t that big, and we didn’t get them to bite.”
Keying in on feeder creeks off the ICW near Sneads Ferry on the morning of the event, Powell and Nelson started hooking some solid reds a few hours into the morning.
“They weren’t schooled up, so we were basically catching singles,” Powell said.
Though they were casting Gulp baits and Billy Bay Halo shrimp as well, all the winning anglers’ biggest fish came on topwater plugs, specifically Rapala Skitterwalks.
“We were done fishing by 11:30,” Powell recalled, and with two 27″ reds in the live well, the anglers knew they’d be contenders for the event’s top prize.
As the total weights unfolded at the scales, their big 7.3 lb. red turned out to be the second heaviest weighed in, earning the anglers second place in the event’s largest single fish TWT.
Capts. Mike Taylor and Jeff Cronk, of team NCCharterfishing.com, with the two red drum weighing 14.26 lbs. that earned them second place based on time in the second CCFA Redfish Series event. The reds were caught on a Swansboro-area flat. Photo courtesy of Lew McCloud.
Cronk and Taylor, fishing aboard a 24′ Ranger bay boat as Team NCCharterfishing.com, pulled in just behind Powell and Nelson, and although their aggregate weights were tied, NCCharterfishing’s 7.4 lb. big fish took first in the big fish TWT. The captains earned just over $2,000 for their finish.
After pre-fishing the week before the tournament and locating quality schools of fish in both the Swansboro and Morehead City areas, Cronk and Taylor decided to stay local if they could find their fish, making the 30 mile run to Morehead only if the Swansboro school didn’t pan out on tournament morning.
At their first stop, a flat in 2′ of water near Swansboro, the captains located some quality fish pushing headwater and wakes in the shallows. They were able to catch around 15 of them before the tide dropped out and the drum stopped feeding. Gulp baits produced most of their strikes.
Deciding to remain in the area until the rising tide pushed enough water onto the flat for the fish to begin feeding again turned out to be a good decision, as the action resumed after a few hours.
When the drum began feeding again, the anglers landed around 10 more before the school flushed off the flat into a nearby channel.
With a tournament perfect 27″ fish and a 26.75″ fish in the livewell after the school left the flat the first time, the anglers were unable to find the other 27″ fish they needed to win, and they released all 10 reds they caught after the school turned on again.
The NCCharterfishing.com anglers earned second place in the first CCFA Redfish Series event, and they are going into the final tournament, scheduled for Sept. 13, with 396 points, leading the field for the overall series.
Chuck Fonvielle and Henry McFadden, of Georgetown, SC, weighed in a 13.85 lb. two fish aggregate to take third place and $960.
Fourth place and the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) award ($400 presented to the highest placing RFA members not in the top 3) went to Capt. Rick Patterson and his father, for two reds weighing 13.82 lbs.
The Crystal Coast Fishing Association’s Redfish Series tournaments also feature a TWT for the redfish with the most spots, and the Sewell/Orr team delivered a red wearing seven spots to the scales to earn first in that competition and $496. A six-spotted red earned second for the Lamb/Lamb team.
The second CCFA Redfish tournament attracted 34 boats. The final tournament in the points series is slated for Sept. 13, with the Series Championship scheduled for Oct. 11.
Tournament director John Hislop wished to thank all the anglers and the event’s sponsors for making it yet another successful tournament.
