Southport Inshore Challenge
Bethany and Fred Davis and Leah Inscore with the 5.63 and 5.30 lb. flounder that brought the “Turnitup” crew victory in the Southport Inshore Challenge. Both fish bit live menhaden at an oyster rock near Fort Fisher.
Posting their second flounder tournament win in as many weekends, Wilmington’s Fred Davis and daughters Leah Inscore and Bethany Davis—the “Turnitup” crew—scaled a pair of citation flatfish totaling 10.93 lbs. to top the leaderboard at the Fisherman’s Post Southport Inshore Challenge, held June 20 out of Southport Marina.
The trio elected not to fish the Shallotte River, which brought them their winning fish in last weekend’s Sudan Daredevils Flounder Tournament, instead keying in on spots closer to home around Carolina Beach.
“We only caught three last weekend and were lucky to get our big fish,” Davis explained. “And I heard a lot of people would be fishing down there.”
After netting menhaden, the trio started their day in Snow’s Cut, landing one flounder, but soon decided to turn their fortunes over to the Cape Fear River.
“There were a lot of people in the Cut,” Davis continued, “so we didn’t stay there for too long.”
Hopping from spot-to-spot along grass islands and other structure in the river, the “Turnitup” crew gradually made their way south towards Fort Fisher, and began connecting with some solid flounder.
“We’d catch one or a couple and then move,” said Davis, “and move again. We weren’t burning them up any one place.”
Late in the morning, while the anglers were casting around an oyster bed near Fort Fisher, Inscore got a solid bite on a live menhaden. Soon after she hooked the fish, it pulled some drag off the reel and Davis knew she had a solid fish.
“I’d checked her drag and it was pretty tight,” he explained, “and that fish was all up under the boat trying to wrap us up.”
Soon, the pressure took its toll and the lady angler was able to work the fish to Davis’s waiting landing net.
“We were pretty excited about that one,” Davis explained. “I thought it might be 6 lbs. Five minutes later she turned right around and did it again.”
Inscore’s next cast resulted in another solid bite, and after another brief tussle, Davis swung another fat flounder aboard with the landing net.
“I thought that one was at least 5, too,” reported Davis.
It was Inscore’s third citation flatfish in a week, as she also hooked the 7+ lb. fish that earned the “Turnitup” crew victory the previous weekend.
After the tide started falling, the family team continued their run-and-gun approach, spot-hopping their way back upriver towards Snow’s Cut, and Davis reported that the action improved further.
“We fished all the way back up to Carolina Beach,” he recalled, “and they started biting better up that way when the tide started falling good. We had three more over 4 lbs.”
Though they continued catching quality flatfish, the trio couldn’t best Inscore’s pair, and they headed for the scales shortly after 3:00 that afternoon.
“I’d thought we’d beat the board with those two,” Davis said. “But once I saw that six pounder and all those other good fish come up to the scales, I didn’t know where we’d be.”
While the other anglers in the event did manage to come up with some impressive fish, the “Turnitup” pair were able to fend off their competition by nearly half a pound to end up on top of the two-fish aggregate leaderboard when the scales closed. They also earned first place in the Two-Fish TWT and third in the High Roller Big Fish TWT.
Capturing a pair of flounder weighing 10.47 lbs. earned Southport’s Ricky Evans and the “Redemption” anglers second place overall and in the Two-Fish TWT.
Last year’s Carolina Beach Inshore Challenge and Inshore Tournament Trail Champions, Al Fulford and the “Flounder Nuttzz,” earned third place with a two-fish aggregate of 10.38 lbs.
Larry Lefler and the “Dogg House” snared fourth and the top spot in the High Roller TWT with a 6.01 lb. flatfish anchoring a 10.32 lb. aggregate (which also earned Jacob Starnes the event’s Top Junior Angler honors). Scott Blevins and “Vinsanity” rounded out the top five with a pair of flounder going 10.10 lbs.
Shannon Kirby earned Top Lady Angler in the tournament with a 6.35 lb. fish weighed in by team “SHE’S MAD,” and Lynn Creech’s 3.46 lb. flatfish was good for Top Senior Angler.
More information and a full leaderboard from the Southport Inshore Challenge, as well as the other 2013 Inshore Tournament Trail events, are available at www.fishermanspost.com.
