Wildlife B & T Flounder Tournament 2005
The 15th annual Wildlife Bait and Tackle Flounder Tournament went as scheduled over the weekend of September 9-10. Wind from the approaching Hurricane Ophelia made for tough fishing conditions, with Friday’s 10-20 mph winds out of the NE as a little friendlier than Saturday’s 15-30 mph winds.
There were 34 boats that participated in this year’s event. They weighed in 73 fish on Friday and 15 on Saturday.
Kenneth Crisco, from Winnabow, was the overall winner with a 10.32 lb. flounder. He caught the fish at 1:45 on Friday in the Holden Beach area. The flounder hit a 6″ mullet minnow.
Crisco was fishing with his son, Cody Crisco, who won the Junior Daily award on Friday.
Adam Sellers, from Bolivia, took second place with an 8.34 lb. flounder caught on Friday around 9:45. He was fishing with Andy Broadwell (the angler) and Wes Knox. They caught the fish on a mullet minnow in the Cape Fear River on the rising tide.
Third place, an aggregate prize, went to Jeremy Russell, from Wilmington. He weighed in a five-fish total of 21.12 lbs. Russell was fishing with April Ingram and Dick Reites. Ingram was the Lady Daily winner on Friday with a 7.94 lb. flounder that hit a mullet minnow in the Cape Fear River near Snow’s Cut.
Ricky Bishop, from Southport, took fourth place with a 6.22 lb. flounder caught on a pogy at the Southport waterfront. His fish also came on Friday.
Fifth place went to Ricky Evans, from Southport, with a 4.82 lb. flounder caught on Friday.
The Lady Daily winner on Saturday was Dianna Taylor. Taylor weighed in a 3.42 lb. flounder. There was no Junior Daily winner on Saturday.
Saturday’s fishing conditions were extremely tough. One angler stated, “It was hard to keep a minnow on the bottom.” Another commented, “Most of the spots I usually fish were underwater with waves breaking on top.”
The heaviest fish weighed in on Saturday was David Mammay’s 4.40 lb. flounder.
