Chasin’ Tails Speckled Trout Challenge
Doug McMullen with the 6.86 lb. speckled trout that earned him first place in the 6th Annual Chasin’ Tails Outdoors Speckled Trout Challenge along with $2,310, a Dog Island Art reproduction of the fish, and a tackle package. The big speck fell for a Spook, Jr. topwater plug off the Neuse River.
After entering the event on a whim, Doug McMullen proved himself a strong competitor by scaling a 6.86 lb. speckled trout to earn first place in the 6th Annual Chasin’ Tails Outdoors Speckled Trout Challenge, held September 1-December 21, 2013. The fat speck earned McMullen, who hails from between New Bern and Havelock, a $2,310 prize check, a Dog Island Artwork reproduction of his fish, and a Penn/Star Rods combo and tackle package.
Fishing with friends Jimmy Buck and Gary Caton on October 12, gator speckled trout weren’t the first thing on McMullen’s mind the day his decision turned into a good one.
The anglers had been catching some striped bass (rockfish) and red drum on topwater plugs over the course of that afternoon, and they saw a school of fish chasing bait between their boat and the shoreline as the day wound down.
“Just about sundown we saw some drum and rock up on the shore,” McMullen said. “Instead of casting in at them, I casted out off the shoreline and had a little bump. I kept twitching, and he came back and got it.”
A Zara Spook, Jr. with chrome sides attracted the strike, and McMullen had his hands full once the hooks were set.
“We fish ultra-light gear,” he explained. “I knew that wasn’t a rock, but I thought it might be a drum.”
Taking it easy on the fish, McMullen allowed it to tire itself out, and still didn’t know what he had by the time he’d worked it to the boat.
“I didn’t want to horse that fish,” he added. “I probably fought it for 5-8 minutes, and I was really surprised to see it was a trout.”
After scaling the fish at Chasin’ Tails, McMullen kept up his typical routine of fishing 4-5 days a week without much hope the fish would hold the lead for the next few months.
“Usually that fish would be third or so in that tournament,” he said, “but I did see that one year a 6.84 lb. fish won it.”
Fortunately for McMullen, inconsistent weather over the fall made the typically hot fall/winter trout bite a bit lackluster in 2013, and his fish held off its nearest competitor by over half a pound.
“There were a lot of big fish at the Cape Lookout jetty and in the surf the last year,” he explained, “but it never really happened this year.”
A 6.33 lb. speck earned Jim Reilly second place, a rod/reel and tackle package, and $1,155 in the tournament. Mark Jones scaled a 6.15 lb. trout to take home third, $385, and another rod/reel and tackle package.
More information on the Speckled Trout Challenge and a full leaderboard can be found at www.chasintailsoutdoors.com.
