Tidelines – June 7, 2012
Normally in early June the Fisherman’s Post staff lets out a deep breath following the heavy workload involved in hosting our first tournament of the year. In years past we may have experienced a little trouble transitioning from the weekend festivities into the mindset involved in getting the next issue to print, but still there’s something of a relaxation in energy as the business of Fisherman’s Post funnels into the simple, repetitive, and predictable tasks of the weekly print schedule.
Not so much this year.
This year’s Wrightsville Beach Inshore Challenge finished like others have. On the Saturday evening following the event, we sat in the parking lot of Wild Wing Café, with tables and chairs folded and the trailer packed with the leaderboard, sound system, leftover captains’ buckets, and myriad of other items that collect in large, organized (somewhat) plastic bins.
We chatted about the weekend—the fish that were brought to the scales, teams that didn’t make it to weigh-in, and who we were happy to see win a raffle prize or two. We also shared on the lighter moments of the tournament—the team that requested (with a giggle) to be boat #69, the friends that got stuck on a sandbar and lost three hours of fishing time, and the little girl in the crowd that ended up winning the “Fisherman’s Friend.”
I think we were talking about the good times that could be produced if we took the Rex & Sons’ RV on the road to Southport when it dawned on us that we would be repeating the entire tournament workload in only three weeks. The summer is usually event-free for us, as the next tournament we host is typically in September, but this year with our brand new Inshore Tournament Trail we only get 21 days before the Southport Inshore Challenge.
So much for exhaling. Time to refocus. And that should be easy to do since hosting an event in Southport/Oak Island has long been on our list.
Tommy Rickman at The Tackle Box (one of our event’s big sponsors) has the Fisherman’s Post crew staying overnight in a couple of the rooms he has for rent overlooking Southport Marina. And with Southport Marina serving as tournament HQ, we’ll conveniently wrap up our Captains’ Party on Friday night, wander down to Southport’s waterfront for a nightcap (I’ll bet I can find Thomas Hughes—the artist of the Tournament Trail logo—somewhere in the area), and then drift back to our rooms.
Then on Saturday morning the crew and I will be faced with a tough question: sleep in and be pleasantly rested before strolling over to set up for weigh-in, or dawn patrol on some local fishing holes and recharge around noon with Red Bull or Monster Rehab.
I don’t think we can choose wrong, and either way we’ll be excited to see the fish that the Southport event produces. I predict lots of both flounder and red drum weighed in, plenty of fish coming in alive to be released or donated to the South Brunswick High School Aquaculture Program, and a strong showing overall by junior, lady, and senior anglers.
It’s anyone’s event to win. Last weekend’s Wrightsville Beach Inshore Challenge saw a leaderboard of flounder that had less than one pound separating first and tenth places, and just a little over one pound separating all the red drum winners.
This is your chance to win the inaugural Southport Inshore Challenge to be held June 22-23 (see ad copy on page 2). Come to Southport and eat our pizza and wings, drink our beer, soda, and water, and take home our predicted $15,000 in total prize money.
And if that’s not enough, I promise to put another “Fisherman’s Friend” on the raffle table.
