Tournament Report: Johnnie Mercers Dogfish
With the region in the full grip of winter, most anglers are full of excuses on why not to get outside and wet a line as they wait for warmer weather or better fishing reports. However, knowing that in Southeastern North Carolina the season never really ends, Johnnie Mercers Pier ran their 18th annual Dogfish tournament this year on February 4th and marked off a yearly tradition of bringing anglers together for a day of fishing fun and community support.
This year was met with cooler but sunny conditions, as the group of 80 anglers gathered for the opportunity to walk away with one of the top prizes for landing the largest dogfish shark of the day. Anglers had from 1:00-8:00 pm to accomplish this task.
As the leaderboard hung empty over most of the fishing time, anglers relied on each other’s spirits and the overall positive experience of the day to push through the lack of action.
Finally, angler Tyler Hill was the first to earn a spot on the leaderboard. The catch? Not a target dogfish shark, but a pufferfish that, for the sake of fishing action, was deemed worthy by the tournament organizer Al Baird and fellow leaders to be counted as the first fish caught of the day.
It wasn’t until after sunset when angler Jacob Thompson truly set the bar with an 8.2 lb. dogfish shark caught on a chunk of bluefish fished on a Carolina rig, a catch that was weighed and quickly/safely released per the tournament requirements.
There are always plenty of raffle prizes available for anglers regardless of fishing successes on the day. Businesses such as Tex’s Tackle and local rod builder Mike Cowen are a couple of yearly standouts in support of the tournament.
No two tournaments are ever the same, and one down year of catching doesn’t mean much when compared to the great successes of tournaments in years past. Interested anglers can always find out more details, as well as photos and video from the day, at www.facebook.com/johnniemercerspierfishing.
