Chasin Tails Speckled Trout Tournament March 12, 2009
Mac McIntosh with the 6.84 lb. speckled trout that took first place in the first annual Chasin Tails Speckled Trout Challenge. McIntosh hooked the fat trout on a green/white MirrOlure in a creek off the Neuse River.
Pitting some of the area’s top speckled trout fishermen against each other in a four month test of their speck-seeking skills, Atlantic Beach’s Chasin’ Tails Outdoors organized the first annual Chasin’ Tails Speckled Trout Challenge last fall. The competition lasted from October 1 to January 31, and was tight till the end. A big trout was caught three days before the final bell, and it took over first place by just 3/100 of a pound.
The race for first in the event was won by Mac McIntosh, of Beaufort, weighing in a 6.84 lb. speck.
While a great deal of the speckled trout fishing effort around Morehead in the winter is concentrated around Cape Lookout, McIntosh found his big trout in a creek off the Neuse River.
“I don’t fish Cape Lookout. I just don’t like that style of fishing,” McIntosh explained.
McIntosh’s big trout came while he was fishing an 8′ deep hole in a creek he discovered several years ago on a Sunday in mid-January.
A 52MR18 Mirrolure (green/white) fooled McIntosh’s near-7 pounder, and along with his big fish, he caught a number of others from 3-6 lbs. In fact, the fishing was so good that he returned to his hole and continued casting after driving to Chasin’ Tails to weigh his fish.
His winning fish was a redemption moment for McIntosh, as he had a near-6 lb. trout caught on a topwater knocked off the leader board early in the competition.
Barely edged out of first, Morehead City’s Luke Glennon weighed in the 6.81 lb. trout that secured second place. A Mirrolure also fooled Glennon’s fish, but his came from the Cape Lookout rock jetty at night.
Black Mirrolures produced most of the fish while Glennon and friend Thomas Bennett were casting near the Lookout Rocks.
Rounding out the winners in the event, Ricky Hardison weighed in a 6.72 lb. speck to take third place. He caught his fish the night of January 27, shaking up the leader board at the last minute.
A Purple Demon Mirrolure fooled the third place speck while Hardison was casting from the beach at Cape Lookout at night.
“I’d caught a few five pounders earlier, but I knew what was on the leader board so I didn’t bother weighing them in,” Hardison said. “With this one and only 2 or 3 days left in the thing, I thought I might have a chance.”
Trout anglers hungry for competition can look forward to the fact that Chasin’ Tails will be holding their second Speckled Trout Challenge in fall/winter of 2009-10, and the event should be even bigger and better than last year’s.
More information about the tournament is available by calling Chasin’ Tails at (252) 240-3474 or visiting their website at www.chasintailsoutdoors.com.
