WB Inshore Challenge
Ray Fowler, of Wilmington, with the 10.31 lb. flounder that earned him and team “Flatfin Minded” first place flounder in the Wrightsville Beach Inshore Challenge. Fowler hooked the doormat on a live croaker in Snows Cut.
Competition was stiff on both the flounder and red drum leaderboards for the 70 boats in the 2014 Fisherman’s Post Wrightsville Beach Inshore Challenge, but Ray Fowler and Sam Daughtry rose above their rivals, scaling a 10.31 lb. flounder and a 7.45 lb. red drum to top their respective leaderboards.
Fowler, from Wilmington and fishing with girlfriend Lea Dewyea on the “Flatfin Minded,” had two spots in mind for the morning of the event, but spent the Friday before competition struggling a bit to find bait.
“The mullet were all small—2-3 inches,” Fowler explained. “I’ve been using croakers lately, and I’ve got a croaker hole, so I went there.”
With a well full of finger mullet and around a dozen croaker on Saturday, Fowler and Dewyea fished their first spot for around an hour without much luck before making a short move.
“That second spot I found last year,” Fowler explained. “It goes from 19-23’ deep.”
The action improved at their second spot, and the anglers put several flatfish in the boat, but all were small, which Fowler attributed to their bait.
“I was fishing with those mullet and saving the croaker later when the tide got right,” he explained.
As the rising tide brought some cleaner water into Snow’s Cut, Fowler began fishing with the croakers, and it wasn’t long until he got a better bite.
“I’d just put one about 6-7 inches long down,” Fowler continued, “and I guess he started croaking. I saw that fish hit, and he must have just inhaled it—they usually bite and just sit there, but he started squealing line off.”
Quickly setting the hook, Fowler immediately knew he was fast to a solid fish.
“He was coming up pretty easy, but I knew it was big,” said Fowler. “I told Lea to get the net, but it got hung up on the boat.”
When Dewyea freed the net from the boat, the big fish was nearly at the surface, but the battle wasn’t over yet.
“As soon as she pushed that net under him he got airborne,” Fowler recalled, “trying to spit the hook, I guess. It was scary, but it was pretty. I wish I had a picture.”
After the acrobatics, Dewyea soon had the big flatfish in the net and brought it aboard.
“That’s the biggest flounder I ever caught,” Fowler said. “I was so excited I was shaking, and it took me a while to get a bait back in the water.”
Fowler sent down an even larger croaker next, and lost another large fish to Snow’s Cut’s rocky structure, but his 10-pounder was plenty to stave off the competition and earn him the event’s flounder title.
Fellow Wilmington local Sam Daughtry, fishing with his brothers Dean and Paul as team “Parker,” chose to hit up a spot in the ocean where they’ve had plenty of luck in flounder and drum tournaments in the past, along with some solid flatfish action leading up to the event.
“We caught a dozen 3-5 lb. flounder out there and a slot drum the week before,” Daughtry explained.
Paul, Dean, and Sam Daughtry–team “Parker”–took first place on the red drum leaderboard with this 7.45 lb. fish that Paul hooked on a live finger mullet near Frying Pan Shoals.
The anglers found plenty of action at their spot, a drop-off in 12-20’ of water near Frying Pan Shoals, but it wasn’t the fat flounder they’d seen while pre-fishing.
“I think that northeast wind blew the fish off the beach,” Daughtry said. “We had all drum, all day.”
Though they caught and released several reds through the morning, at first none were small enough to make the 18-27” NC red drum slot limit and bring to the scales.
“I had one that was a quarter-inch over,” Daughty continued.
Finally, around 11:00 that morning, Paul Daughtry landed a slightly smaller red drum after it struck a live finger mullet.
“We had three we thought might make it,” Sam Daugthry explained, “but they were all big. That one looked like he’d be over, too, but I pushed it against the ruler and he measured.”
With a stout drum in the boat, the anglers kept looking for a flounder, but they had to settle for topping the red leaderboard at day’s end.
“I know it’s greedy, but I should’ve pushed offshore a mile and caught a flounder,” Daughtry said. “If we had a 3.5 lb. fish we could’ve taken the aggregate, too.”
Scaling the second-heaviest red drum and topping the aggregate division were John Renn and Southport, NC’s team “Fishbox,” whose 7.14 lb. drum and 4.06 lb. flounder added up to an unbeatable 11.20 lbs.
Greg Kokoski and the “Sol Train” crew weighed in the 6.88 lb. third place red drum and also earned Spencer Kokoski the tournament’s Top Lady Angler honors.
“Team Donovan” and John Donovan were runners-up on the flounder side, scaling an 8.19 lb. flatfish. Dennis McCracken on the “CRACKERJACK” took home third place and Top Senior Angler with a 6.49 lb. flounder.
Stone Tippett, on the “3 Tippetts,” captured Top Junior Angler with a 6.00 lb. red drum.
A full leaderboard and more information on the Wrightsville Beach Inshore Challenge and all Fisherman’s Post Inshore Tournament Trail events can be found at www.fishermanspost.com.
