Southport Inshore Challenge
Wilmington's Luke Donat, of Donat Marine Solutions, with the 7.25 lb. red drum and the 6.87 lb. flounder that earned him first place red drum, second place flounder, and first place aggregate (among a host of secondary prizes) in the inaugural Fisherman's Post Southport Inshore Challenge. The flatfish bit a finger mullet in Snow's Cut and the red fell for a menhaden in the lower Cape Fear River.
With the top ten red drum separated by just one pound and eight of the top ten flounder weighing over 5 lbs., the participants in the inaugural Southport Inshore Challenge faced some stiff competition. Held out of Southport Marina on June 22-23, the one-fishing-day tournament attracted 64 boats.
Fishing solo, Wilmington’s Luke Donat, of Team Donat Marine Solutions, rose to the top of the pack, scaling the winning 7.25 lb. red drum and the second place 6.87 lb. flounder to dominate the event’s flounder and red drum aggregate leaderboard.
Donat caught finger mullet the night before the event and menhaden first thing on the morning of the event to ensure he wouldn’t have to worry about bait over the course of the fishing day.
In position at his spot under Snow’s Cut Bridge before the lines-in time of 7:00 AM, Donat didn’t have to wait long after competition began to hook his big flatfish.
“I’d been fishing about 15-20 minutes when that one bit,” Donat reported.
A live finger mullet in about 7’ of water fooled the big flatty, but the angler wasn’t sure what he had initially.
“He hit it hard and took off,” Donat explained. “I thought it was a drum at first.”
A few moments into the fight, the fish started acting more in line with its species.
“Halfway to the boat he hunkered down and I realized what he was,” Donat continued. “Each pump he got heavier and heavier, so I knew it was a good fish.”
The flatfish cooperated after its initial burst, however, and Donat soon slid a net under the near 7-pounder and hauled it into the boat.
While most people landing a flatfish that size would’ve immediately began the quest for a drum, Donat stayed put.
“I usually catch bigger fish with the cooler, cleaner water on the incoming tide cycle,” he explained, “but that was the only flounder I caught that day.”
Around noon, as the tide began to fall, Donat decided it was drum time, and he headed south to the marshes near Buzzard’s Bay.
“I set up on a grass point off the Thorofare,” he said, “with a little oyster bed and a perfect current eddy.”
His first bait in the water found an immediate customer, but not what the angler was looking for.
“A tarpon skied that first bait and took off,” Donat continued. “Fortunately he jumped off after screaming off about 100 yards of line.”
A red was next to take one of his baits, but it was slightly over the 27” slot limit.
His next bite proved to be one he was looking for.
Ray Fowler, of Wilmington, with the 7.42 lb. flounder that earned him and the "Roscoe" first place flounder and the largest check in the Southport Inshore Challenge. He hooked the big flatfish on a live menhaden at the west end of Snow's Cut.
“I got the last one’s little brother after that,” Donat said.
The 26” and change fish bit another menhaden that Donat had set out in his spread of six rods, and it gave him a bit of a struggle before he put it in the boat.
“I was literally bringing in my other lines with my toes,” Donat explained. “That fish wanted to stay off the bow of the boat and go back and forth under the anchor line.”
After he got the rest of the lines clear, the battle still wasn’t over.
“Every time I’d get him to the boat, I’d dip the net, and he’d get his body in the current and take off again.”
The fish finally allowed Donat to scoop it up, and he wasted little time heading for the scales.
“My phone was dead so I didn’t know what time it was and I didn’t want to push the limit,” he explained.
Ray Fowler, also of Wilmington and fishing on the “Roscoe” scaled the 7.42 lb. winning flounder to take home the event’s largest prize check. Like Donat, he fished solo in Snow’s Cut and was loaded with bait and in position at the Cut’s west end before the tournament began.
“I’d been catching some big fish, so I wanted some big baits,” Fowler explained. “I spent 2.5 hours in the dredge pond throwing the cast net to get them.”
Fowler’s first fish took a bit longer to bite than Donat’s.
“I caught the first one around 7:45 and had one about every 15 minutes after that.”
He’d already put a 6.5 lb. flatfish in the boat by the time the big one bit around 7:45.
Robert, Jim, and Jimmy Strickland with the 5.47 lb. red drum that earned Robert the Top Junior Angler honors in the Southport Inshore Challenge.
“He hit real hard,” Fowler continued, “just inhaled the bait.”
After the vicious strike, however, the battle quickly went in the angler’s direction.
“He came right up to the top of the water,” Fowler recalled, “and I pulled him to me and netted him.”
Like Donat, Fowler continued looking for a larger flounder in the cut after landing his big one, finally going off in search of a drum when the tide turned.
“I headed towards Southport and stopped at a few places along the way,” he explained, “but I didn’t get one.”
Bringing the first flounder to the scales around 1:30 that afternoon, Fowler knew he had a good fish, but was nervous about a bigger one arriving after he did.
“I fish all these tournaments,” he explained, “and I just knew somebody was going to catch a 10-pounder.”
Despite his misgivings, Fowler’s fish was the first weighed in and held the top spot until the scales closed at 4:00.
Southport’s Ricky Evans came up with a 6.21 lb. flatfish to take third place on the flounder leaderboard. Ricky Lefler was right behind him with a 6.17 lb. flounder, and John Donovan scaled a 5.98 to round out the top five.
One the drum side, John Renn, of Southport, weighed a 7.21 lb. fish to finish second. Wayne Crisco slid into third with a 7.18 lb. red. Kenneth Jones’ 7.16 lb. fish earned fourth, and Chris Lovell scaled a 6.61 lb. drum to earn fifth.
More information on the Southport Inshore Challenge and other Fisherman’s Post Inshore Tournament Trail events is available at www.fishermanspost.com.
