Neuse Backwater Open
Brad Buck and Mark Dudley, of New Bern, with a pair of red drum that made up part of their 32.75 lb. aggregate weight that took first place in the 6th Annual Neuse River Backwater Open. They landed the reds on 4" Gulp pogies while casting to the shorelines.
With nearly 6 lbs. separating themselves from the second place team, New Bern’s Brad Buck and Mark Dudley posted a 32.75 lb. aggregate weight to handily top the leader board at the 6th Annual Neuse River Backwater Open, held October 3 out of Lawson Creek Park in New Bern.
The anglers, fishing aboard a 22’ Triton LTS bay boat, were able to land all of the allowed five speckled trout, two flounder, two red drum, and two striped bass allowed to make up the aggregate, and they earned cash and prizes totaling over $2,000, including custom Oakley sunglasses, TFO rods, a Yeti cooler, and $925 in cash.
“We’ve finished second and third in this tournament before,” Buck explained, “but this is our first time actually winning it. It feels great.”
After checking out at 6:45 on tournament morning, Buck and Dudley ran about 10 minutes to their first stop, a creek off the Neuse near New Bern, and they found quick action right off the bat.
“We were beating the banks on the trolling motor,” Buck continued. “We had five trout and a rock [striped bass] within the first 20 minutes. The plan had been to get our five trout and two rock early and then go downriver to get the drum and flounder, so it worked out pretty well.”
The anglers fooled their specks and the first striper on 17 MR MirrOlures in the mossback color. Feeling like they’d gotten a good start to the morning, they headed six miles downriver to another creek off the Neuse to begin the drum and flounder hunt.
“We were working the river shore again,” Buck reported, “fishing docks, oyster rocks, and stuff. We had seven flounder from 16-18” and one nice drum in there,” said Buck.
White 4” Gulp pogies were the anglers’ bait of choice for the flounder and drum.
“We decided to leave to try and upgrade our trout after that,” Buck continued, “but that didn’t pan out, so we came back and caught another nice drum.”
With every part of the maximum-allowed aggregate but one striper, Buck and Dudley made the call to head back upriver to New Bern in an attempt to pick up the final rockfish.
“We went a little bit up past Hatteras Yachts and hit up some stumps on the edge of a channel,” Buck said.
Casting a topwater plug and a white Gulp pogy, the anglers soon hooked the striper that completed their aggregate.
Posting a 27.00 lb. aggregate weight, Ronnie Mallard and Brian Rowe, also of New Bern, finished second in the event, taking home cash and prizes worth $1,650.
“We found some nice trout when we were pre-fishing,” Mallard said, “and I think that’s what did it for us.”
The anglers were lucky enough to draw the first number in the checkout order, and it didn’t take them long to find some fish.
“We left out,” Mallard continued, “and five minutes after our number was called, we had two rock in the boat.”
The anglers hooked their stripers near the railroad trestle at New Bern, and then headed into Slocum Creek to find some trout.
Casting the same topwater plugs that had fooled their stripers, the second place team put together their five trout in a hurry. They then headed to another creek to target flounder.
White 3” Gulp pogies produced flatfish for the pair, and they soon only had red drum left to pursue.
“We had our two rock, five trout, and two flounder by 9:30,” Mallard said, “so we had the rest of the day to look for our reds.”
Though they caught several drum on Gulp pogies in Dawson’s Creek, the anglers were only able to come up with one keeper. Even without a second red, their bag was enough to keep them in second place by over one pound.
A 25.5 lb. aggregate secured the third place spot for Goldsboro’s Paul Hunter and Jason Arthur, who took home cash and prizes worth over $1,000.
“We didn’t even really get into the fish until after lunch,” Hunter reported. “We basically caught everything between 12-2 that afternoon.”
The anglers ran downriver from New Bern, targeting Turnegan Bay and the South River in their quest for a winning bag. They fished along the banks and oyster rocks in the area, using their trolling motor to cover ground.
Casting 5” MirrOlure soft plastics and 27 and17 MR MirrOlure hard baits, the anglers landed five speckled trout, two flounder, and two reds to make up their bag for the event.
A creel weight of 21.15 lbs. secured fourth place for Billy Copeland and Scott Wood. Michael Odom and Junior Miller rounded out the top five with a 21.05 lb. aggregate.
More information on the Neuse River Backwater Open and full results are available at www.neuseriverbackwateropen.com.
