Tournament Report: Southport Inshore Challenge
The Southport Inshore Challenge, held August 19-20, was originally scheduled to be a flounder tournament, but the shortened season moved the event to feature a two red drum main leaderboard.
The tournament allowed anglers the use of live, dead, or artificial bait, as many anglers on your boat as you wish, no checkouts or boundaries, and fish could be weighed in alive or dead. Fishing began on Saturday, with lines in at 6:30 a.m. and the scales opened at 1:00 p.m. at Morningstar Marina (formerly Southport Marina).
Team Off the Chart, captained by Tanner Batten, of Ocean Isle Beach, NC, took first place with an impressive 13.86 lbs. two red drum aggregate weight.
Team Off the Chart, comprised of Tanner and Parker Batten, won the 2022 Southport Inshore Challenge with a two red drum aggregate of 13.86 lbs. They caught both reds targeting docks with live pogies.
Tanner and his brother, Parker Batten, started their morning off early catching live mullet and pogies before heading to some docks off the intracoastal waterway. Their first fish, weighing 6.78 lbs., struck early at 6:50 am on a live pogie and gave them almost a ten-minute fight before settling into the bottom of the net. After this first fish, the bite went cold, so they moved around.
No other spot produced, so the pair turned back to the same docks around noon and hooked up with a 7.08 lb. red drum. These two red drum, the only two boated by the pair that day, secured the first-place victory.
Team Lunar Low, captained by Wayne Newkirk, of Carolina Beach, NC, came in second place with a final weight of 13.76 lbs.
Newkirk, fishing with teammate David Langley, started their morning catching live finger mullet before trying to head to an area they regularly fish. Unfortunately for the team, the low tide early in the morning kept them from accessing the spot.
Fishing some other structure, the two faced a hit-and-miss morning bite, while they waited for the tide to rise enough to get them back in the area they wanted to fish. Around 1:00 pm when the rising tide finally gave them enough water, the pair headed back. The move paid off big, as they found a school of good, healthy fish, many over the slot, which they had to work through to generate their aggregate slot fish.
The larger of their two fish, a 7.17 lb. red drum, was the single heaviest red drum weighed in in the event.
Third place went to Team Rotten Pogy, captained by Jonathan Lanier, of Southport, NC, with an aggregate weight of 13.50 lbs. (6.67 and 6.83 lbs.). Jonathan fished this year’s tournament with his father, Marty Lanier. The pair set out in the morning, after finding some live finger mullet, to some spots they had been eyeing all week on low tide scenarios. Unfortunately, the rain the previous night had put a good dent in the water quality, forcing the two to move to some new grounds.
The team picked up and moved to some oyster and shell beds, and this new area produced well for them starting around 11:30 a.m. The two worked through over a dozen slot fish, finding their best pair before heading to weigh-in.
In the Trash Fish TWT, Boyznthabay won with their 1.42 lb. lizardfish. The title of Junior Angler went to Aiden Frye, Lady Angler was won by Landa Bridges, and Barry Fowler took Senior Angler.
Wayne Newkirk and David Langley, of Team Lunar Low, finished in second place overall with a two-fish aggregate of 13.76 lbs. Their single heaviest fish was also the heaviest fish of the event at 7.17 lbs.
The Southport Inshore Challenge benefits the Wilmington Elks, a local non-profit that continually invests in the community to promote childhood programs that center around healthy, drug free lifestyles.
A more complete leaderboard, as well as information on the next event—the Carolina Beach Inshore Challenge on Sept. 9-10 that will feature a split leaderboard with both Red Drum and Flounder Divisions—can be found at www.FishermansPost.com.
