Tournament Report: Topsail Fall Surf & Pier Challenge
The Topsail Island Fall Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge was hosted this year over the weekend of November 3-5, with Tournament HQ (Registration and Awards) beside East Coast Sports in Surf City. The weekend offered mild weather conditions, including relatively warmer air and water temperatures, and 193 surf anglers and 74 pier anglers came together to experience fishing the Topsail Island coastline. Anglers registered for the event by declaring entry in either the Pier Division (bluefish, sea mullet, black drum, and red drum) or the Surf Division (bluefish, sea mullet, black drum, and trout), with separate TWTs available based on which division they fished. Surf anglers could enter the Surf Red Drum TWT, while Pier anglers could enter the Pier Trout TWT (speckled and gray).
This Fisherman’s Post event was also created to be family-oriented, with prizes awarded to the top Lady Angler, Junior Angler, and Senior Angler. In addition, the event offers a Pier Cup Champion, celebrating the pier angler that weighs in the single heaviest fish, as well as recognizing the pier the fish was caught from. In the Surf Division, the largest bluefish was caught by Kevin Horn, of Wilmington, NC, who weighed in a 3.5 lb. blue. His fish hit fresh cut spot on a hand-tied bottom rig. The fluorocarbon leader and fresh bait, Horn said, was the key.
Brian Peterson, of Holly Ridge, NC, was the Surf Trout Division champion in the 2023 Topsail Fall Surf & Pier Challenge. His 3.3 lb. speck came Saturday morning off of an Electric Chicken soft plastic.
The Surf’s winning trout was landed by Brian Peterson, of Holly Ridge, NC. His speck weighed in at 3.3 lbs. Peterson, a last-minute entry into the event, mostly caught bluefish until early Saturday morning when the heavy trout hit an Electric Chicken-colored Gotcha grub.
The top black drum pulled in from the surf came from Robert Hoppe, of Hampstead, NC. His 8.0 lb. black drum was the heaviest fish weighed in over the entire weekend. Hoppe found his drum up on the north end of Topsail, and it was enticed by cut shrimp on a hand-tied bottom rig. The Surf’s largest sea mullet came from Gregorio Almaguer, of Richland, NC. Almaguer’s fish weighed 2.3 lbs. and hit a live shrimp rigged on a bottom-rig.
The heaviest bluefish caught from the surf in the 2023 Topsail Fall Surf & Pier Challenge came from Kevin Horn, of Wilmington. His 3.5 lb. blue hit a piece of fresh cut spot.
The Surf Red Drum TWT, the largest single payout of the weekend, was won by Richard Gainey, of Mount Olive, NC. His slot 5.7 lb. fish came after Gainey lost a bigger red drum less than an hour before. He was targeting white water using pieces of fresh shrimp.  In the Pier Division, the winning bluefish was caught by Doug Stamey, of Randleman, NC. His 2.0 lb. blue hit a white Gotcha plug that he was casting at surface-feeding frenzies off Jolly Roger Pier.
The winning black drum in the Pier Division came from David Mink, of Sneads Ferry, NC, who weighed in a 4.9 lb. fish. Mink was fishing from Seaview Pier on Saturday morning when the drum hit fresh shrimp on one of his hand-tied bottom rigs. Mink’s black drum was also the heaviest fish overall caught from a pier, bringing Mink and Seaview Pier the Pier Cup title.
The heaviest bluefish caught from the surf in the 2023 Topsail Fall Surf & Pier Challenge came from Kevin Horn, of Wilmington. His 3.5 lb. blue hit a piece of fresh cut spot.
David Mink, from Sneads Ferry, NC, weighed in the heaviest black drum in the Pier Division. His 4.9 lb. black drum, caught on fresh shrimp while fishing from Seaview Pier, also brought Mink and Seaview Pier the Pier Cup title.
David Mink, from Sneads Ferry, NC, weighed in the heaviest black drum in the Pier Division. His 4.9 lb. black drum, caught on fresh shrimp while fishing from Seaview Pier, also brought Mink and Seaview Pier the Pier Cup title.
The Pier Division’s largest sea mullet at 1.7 lbs. was weighed in by Darry Sloop, of Surf City, NC. Sloop fished from Jolly Roger Pier (where he won the sea mullet division in 2020) and like the 2020 winner, he caught the winning fish on a bloodworm and shrimp-tipped bottom rig.
The Pier Trout TWT was won by Zach Hollar, of Wilkesboro, NC, with a 2.4 lb. speck. Hollar was out on Jolly Roger Pier watching bluefish schooled up and decided to get below them with a Z-Man Trout Trick soft plastic on a jig head. The Topsail Island Fall Surf & Pier Fishing Challenge donates all fish to First Fruit Ministry, a local food bank that provides thousands of meals annually to the community. To see the complete leaderboard and find out more about next year’s surf tournaments (the Topsail Spring Surf & Pier Challenge will be May 3-5, 2024), go to FishermansPost.com or visit their Facebook page.
