‘Tis the season for catch-and-release fishing tournaments on the South Strand
When cooler weather and water temperatures combined with a hot trout bite arrive in late autumn, so do a pair of tournaments based in Murrells Inlet.
Both the Marshall’s Marine Marsh Walk Mafia Live Release Inshore Slam and the Speckled Studs Trout Tournament have embraced the concept of catch-and-release fishing, with all fish weighed in required to be released alive in order to count in the tournament standings.
Check out the details of both events:
Marshall’s Marine Marsh Walk Mafia Live Release Inshore Slam
Twenty-plus boats competed in the late-November tournament, looking to accumulate the heaviest aggregate weight of one spotted seatrout, one red drum and one flounder.
The Back The Blue fishing team headed by Englis “Capt. E” Glover and Tony Carter of the Southern Anglers Radio Show won the tournament and was one of only two teams in the field to weigh in one specimen of all three species.
Glover and Carter had a special guest aboard Glover’s Key West 230 Bay Reef – Officer Scott Sullivan of the Horry County Police Department. Glover and Carter, who team with Kenny Moore to air the show on Saturday mornings at 8 a.m. on Gator 107.9, had staged a Back The Blue event on the show prior to the tournament.
In October, listeners were able to nominate a law enforcement officer to fish with Glover and Carter. Sullivan was selected and the fishing date agreed upon happened to fall on the day of the tournament.
Armed with a live well full of live shrimp along with fresh dead shrimp for bait, the trio headed into the inlet in search of the three species.
“The big thing is scheduling out your day – you’ve got to figure out where you want to be at what tide for which species,” said Glover. “You’ve got to get out there and find all three.”
Using slip-float rigs for the live shrimp and Carolina rigs for the dead shrimp, the crew caught a, well, Gator trout to cement their winning first-place aggregate of 8.34 pounds. The 4.85-pound trout was the largest trout weighed in, and they also won third place in the flounder category with a 1.60-pounder.
Aside from the prize money, the threesome claimed a snazzy first-place trophy which found an appropriate resting place for the Back The Blue fishing team.
The trophy is on display at Sullivan’s work-place, the Horry County Beach Patrol Headquarters in Surfside Beach.
“We wanted to do it to thank the men and women in blue,” said Glover. “It worked out well. I know Scott has some jealous coworkers.”
Capt. Dan Connolly of O-Fish-Al Expeditions, with John Parker and Ricky Moser aboard, finished second with a 7.83-pound aggregate and was the other team to weigh in all three species. Fly Girl (7.2 pounds) finished third, Keepin’ Her Wet (6.96 pounds) was fourth and Outlaw Fishing (5.73 pounds) fifth.
Speckled Studs Trout Tournament
It’s tough enough to win a fishing tournament in the first place, but achieving back-to-back wins? Extremely difficult.
Captains Jimmy Dever and Tripp Hooks pulled it off last Saturday in this 5th annual event, staged by Capt. Dan Connolly of O-Fish-Al Expeditions out of Marlin Quay Marina.
Dever and Hooks, fishing aboard Capt. Tim Disano’s 24 Pathfinder along with Capt. Nick Palombi, even went so far as to name their entry Back 2 Back, hoping for some good karma.
The boat full of captains did it, winning first place in the event with a 9.49-pound aggregate for two spotted seatrout, including the biggest trout caught by the field of 17 boats, a 4.77-pounder.
Connolly and Nicholas Skodras finished second with an 8.03-pound aggregate, just barely ahead of Team O.G.’s Capt. Jason Burton and Capt. Chris Ossman with 8.02 pounds. The Southern Anglers Radio Show, with Glover and Carter aboard, were fourth with 6.83 pounds and Trout Bumz finished fifth with 6.05 pounds.
Dever had pre-fished a spot at the Murrells Inlet jetties during the week leading up to the tournament and found some large trout holding there. That is where the Back 2 Back crew headed to stake out their claim the morning of the tournament, and Dever was determined to not give up on the spot.
“We had a game plan and said we were going to sit at this spot all day long and that’s what we did,” said Dever. “We were lucky to get that spot right off the bat. Pre-fishing, I knew those quality fish were there.”
The foursome worked live shrimp on slip-float rigs and the action was relatively slow, but the large trout proved to be there.
“We caught seven or eight all day but we had a 4.77 (pound trout), a 4.72 and a 4.41,” said Dever. “We had all three fish in the live well, weighed them all at once and they all swam off.”
The tournament featured a first-time Kayak Division with each angler measuring two trout for a total length aggregate before releasing them.
M.L. Moser was the winner with two trout measuring a total of 45 inches. Gerald Tongson Paquio and Stephen Trainor finished second and third, respectively.
A total of 17 boats with 47 anglers competed in the tournament plus 12 kayak anglers.
The tournament was a benefit for the Student Angler League Tournament Trail, and raised $1,030 for the student fishing organization.
SALTT Summary
It’s three down, three to go in the 2020-2021 school year for the Student Angler League Tournament Trail (SALTT).
All events in the series for elementary, middle and high school anglers are held out of the Carroll Campbell Marine Complex in Georgetown.
The three fall semester tournaments were held on Sept. 12, Oct. 10 and Nov. 14. In the spring semester, the chase will be on to earn the championship for the school year in separate categories for red drum and largemouth bass.
The three spring semester tournaments are set for Feb. 27, March 27 and May 1. Each team is allowed to enter one daily bag limit of two fish for red drum or five fish for bass in each tournament. The top three in each division with total weight through three events heading into the spring semester follow:
- High School Red Drum: 1, Donovan Harris and Wyatt Moore, 18.58 pounds. 2, Chappell Miller and Elliott Miller, 15.59. 3, Joseph Falcon and Luke Russell, 14.13.
- Middle School Red Drum: 1, Chloe Skipper, 16.15 pounds. 2, Fisher Gallup and McCoy Gallup, 13.4. 3, Cubby Weaver 12.38.
- High School Bass: 1, Gavin Porter, 30.5 pounds. 2, Allen Ledford and Colton Ledford, 29.89. 3, Jacob Martin and Austin Winburn, 24.74.
- Middle School Bass: 1, Tucker Howard and Wilson Hewitt, 25.71 pounds. 2, Cody Wilder and Dalton Williams, 20.61. 3, Dawson Hawley, 16.24.
- Elementary School Bass: 1, 5.37 pounds. 2, Cooper Porter, .85.
For more information on SALTT and to view full standings, visit www.SALTTfishing.com.