TJM Kayak Tournament
Cameron Kinlaw with the winning red drum in the TJM Memorial Kayak Tournament. He hooked the 29.5" fish in Tubbs Inlet on a 3/8 oz. swimbait.
Attracting 78 anglers from across North Carolina and several other states in competition for three of the area’s favorite inshore species, the 3rd Annual TJM Celebrity Charity Kayak Fishing Tournament was held July 30 out of Wrightsville Beach and Hook, Line, and Paddle Outffitters and produced some impressive catches. The photograph-and-release tournament features competition for flounder, speckled trout, and red drum, and it raises money for Alzheimer’s research.
Capturing the event’s biggest fish (on camera) and the largest red drum, Cameron Kinlaw, of Shallotte, NC, won a Liquid Logic Versa Board and a host of other prizes. He hooked his 29.5” red while fishing some of his home waters with friends Derrick Smith and Jonathan Sullivan. Smith and Sullivan’s grandmother Doris Danford succumbed to Alzheimer’s in 2008, and Kinlaw’s grandmother, Helen Roberson, is in the early stages of the disease, so the event carries special meaning for the trio, who fish it every year.
After past success with flounder and red drum in Tubbs Inlet, the anglers decided to fish the tournament there.
“We thought we’d stay close to home and try it out,” Kinlaw explained.
It turned into a good idea around 9:30 on tournament morning, when something struck a 3/8 oz. Storm swimbait he was casting to a grass flat near the inlet.
“It took about 10 minutes to land that fish,” Kinlaw continued. “It was pulling me all around and trying to hang me up in the grass. I was just trying to keep it out of the weeds—nothing else.”
When he was finally able to get the red in the kayak, the struggle wasn’t quite over.
“I was so excited when I got him in the boat,” Kinlaw said. “I didn’t even think I’d be able to measure it on the tournament ruler because it was so big. I was in a 12’ kayak, so I kind of had to sit towards the back of it to get the measurement photo.”
With a half-inch to spare on the 30” measuring board, Kinlaw’s fish just barely fit, and after a few more photos, was sent swimming on its way.
After missing out on the prizes in the speckled trout category by less than an inch last year and feeling solid about the red, he began trying for a trout for the rest of the day, but the big red proved to be his final action.
Securing the victory in the event’s always-tough speckled trout category, Malibu Kayaks pro-staffer William Ragulsky, of Norfolk, VA, caught and photographed a 17” speck to take home a Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5 Tandem kayak among other prizes. He fished with fellow Virginians Wayne Bradby and Seth Goodrich, and the trio looked for trout unsuccessfully in the two days before the event.
Despite the trout-less days of pre-fishing, Ragulsky still headed back to Fort Fisher and set his sights on specks on tournament morning. It didn’t take him long to find them.
“I lost one on a MirrOlure on my first cast,” he explained. “Wayne caught one right after that, and then I hooked up about 15 minutes later.”
Casting a pearl/chartreuse Marsh Works paddletail grub towards the rock wall of Buzzards Bay when the fish bit, Ragulsky knew he had something special when he got it to the kayak and on the measuring board.
“When I realized it was bigger than Wayne’s fish, I knew it would be competitive,” he continued. “I moved on to looking for reds after that.”
He found the reds in short order, too, releasing several to 24”, but none large enough to make the leader board.
“I spent the last four hours looking for a flounder for the grand slam,” Ragulsky said. “I think I was the only person in the tournament not to catch one.”
Also fishing the bays at Fort Fisher, Wilmington’s Ken Maus landed the event’s largest flounder, a 20” fish that earned him a native Watercraft Magic 12 Angler kayak among other prizes.
A Fort Fisher regular, Maus knew exactly where he was headed the morning of the event.
“I know that place like the back of my hand,” he explained. “I knew where they were at, and I actually drew on a piece of paper just about where I caught every one the night before.”
Catching 10 flounder and 22 red drum during the tournament confirmed his confidence, and he’d already photographed 18 3/8” and 19” fish when he caught his big one.
“That one was just a guarantee,” Maus said.
A Strike King Shadalicious swim bait fooled most of his flounder and reds, with several more falling for live finger mullet.
“I caught most of those fish in a 100’ stretch of bank,” Maus explained. “The flounder was by an old piling in about 4’ of water.”
Putting the finishing touches on his impressive catch of reds and flounder, Maus spent the remainder of the day looking for a speckled trout but, in a familiar theme, was unable to find one.
Wayne Bradby pulled off the victory in the tournament’s grand slam category, landing a red drum, a flounder, and a speckled trout with a total length of 62” to take home a Go Pro HD Video camera, the Grand Slam trophy cup, and other prizes.
Bradby’s 16.5” trout earned him second in that category, as he turned in the photographic evidence at 3:12 pm to knock Calvin Almond’s 16.5” speck (turned in at 3:17) to third.
Joey Sullivan took second place in the tournament’s red drum category with a 27 1/4” fish, and Michelle Little had a 25 7/8” red to finish third.
An 18 15/16” flounder earned second in that category for Joe Little, and Erick Bell rounded out the top three flatfish with an 18 1/2” fish.
Hook, Line, and Paddle Kayak Outfitters would like to thank all the event’s sponsors, vendors, celebrities, anglers, and volunteers for making this the most successful TJM Charity Tournament yet and enabling the event to make a sizeable contribution for Alzheimer’s North Carolina, Inc.
