Added on Thursday, August 20, 2009  Fish Post

Mike Martin Memorial Pier Tournament

Like a schoolhouse at the day’s final bell, Surf City Ocean Pier emptied out as the Mike Martin Memorial Pier Tournament drew to a close on Sunday afternoon. After the 30 hour fishing marathon, which some anglers fished every minute of, the 130 participants were understandably tired and ready for some much-needed rest and recuperation.

The anglers in the event competed for first and second place cash prizes in bluefish, spanish mackerel, flounder, sheepshead, spot, Virginia mullet, pompano, red drum, black drum, and speckled trout categories A month-long king mackerel tournament also came to a close just before the event and shared the Mike Martin event’s awards ceremony.

Clyde Spoon, of Surf City, topped the tournament’s flounder category, landing a 2.24 lb. flatfish just 15 minutes before the competition ended at noon on Sunday.

Fishing with live shrimp in an attempt to earn the event’s $500 heaviest speckled trout bounty, Spoon never hooked a speck, but the money-winning flounder apparently took a liking to his bait.

“I actually thought he was going to get away when I hung him,” Spoon explained. “I hung him, and I saw him go around a pile. I knew it was a keeper, and I actually had to take my hands and pull him away from the piling with the line, and he came loose.”

Without a pier net, Spoon had to enlist the assistance of his grandson Andy to handline the flounder to the pier deck. When the fish hit the planks, the competition was almost over, and Spoon was well on his way to earning the $100 bounty for the largest flatfish.

Mike Martin (unrelated to the tournament’s namesake) earned second place flounder and $50 with a 1.74 lb. flattie.

A 1.11 lb. bluefish took the top prize for that species and $100 for Surf City’s Fred Sands.

Sands was casting a diamond jig/gold hook rig combination towards a school of pogies working off the pier when the blue struck around 4:00 Saturday afternoon.

“I was just trying to catch king baits,” Sands explained. “I kind of figured it was just another bluefish. I’ve fished this tournament all five years, and this is the first time I’ve ever placed.”

A .90 lb. blue earned $50 and second place for John Ferguson.

Landing the only sheepshead in the tournament, J.M. Dupree took home the $100 prize in the convict fish competition. The Angier, NC angler hooked his .83 lb. fish at 10:30 Sunday morning after unsuccessfully targeting the sheeps on Saturday.

“That’s all I fish for is sheepshead,” Dupree explained. “I fished with barnacles, fiddler crabs, and sand fleas, and he bit a sand flea. It was the only fish I caught in the tournament.”

In the spanish mackerel category, David Barnes took the top spot and $100 with a 1.57 lb. fish. Ari Rogers was right behind him, winning $50 with a .94 lb. spanish he hooked on Saturday morning on a red/blue Gotcha plug.

James Nelson’s .43 lb. spot topped the spot category, earning him $100. William Wilson was right behind him with a .35 lb. spot, winning $50.

Doug Keicher caught $100 and the event’s largest Virginia mullet, weighing 1.36 lbs., and Augie Hernandez took second and $50 with a .62 lb. fish.

Weighing in a .76 lb. pompano, Monica Barbour earned the $100 bounty in that category. Al Eastman finished second, taking home $50 for a .60 lb. pomp.

No black or red drum were landed during tournament fishing hours, and no one in the event decked a speckled trout either, meaning that the $500 trout bounty will roll over and next year’s winning trout will earn one lucky angler $1000.

Topping the Mike Martin’s kids division, Taylor Jenkins weighed in a .74 lb. Virginia mullet. Makayla Jackson was second with a .35 lb. spot, and Garrett Burgess earned third place for the youth anglers with a .30 lb. Virginia mullet.

In the pier’s month long king mackerel tournament preceding the Mike Martin Memorial event, Adolfo Gillioz weighed in a 31 lb. fish to earn the top prize. Garrison Lore’s 24.5 lb. king took second place.