Outdoors: SALTT teams finally get in some quality competition

It finally all came together for coach Rayburn Poston and his Student Angler League Tournament Trail last Saturday in Georgetown.

Poston has staged a total of eight tournaments for middle school and high school student anglers since starting SALTT a little over a year ago. Many of the events have been plagued by rainy or cold weather, or abnormally high tides.

This year’s second event, held out of the Carroll A. Campbell Marine Complex on the Sampit River in Georgetown, featured good weather conditions, good fall fishing and good participation.

“This was the best tourney yet,” Poston said. “Half the boats brought fish to the scale or reported catch and release (of red drum) over the slot limit (of 15-23 inches).”

Starting this year, the trail features separate divisions for red drum and largemouth bass, with divisions for middle school and high school anglers for both species.

A total of 18 boats, or teams, registered for the tournament with 14 schools represented. A team consists of an adult (21 years or older) fishing with one or two students registered in grades 6-12 from any South Carolina public, private, charter, virtual or home school.

From the centrally located Campbell Complex, teams can fish in a number of areas including Winyah Bay, North Inlet or southward toward Charleston down the Intracoastal Waterway to target red drum. Bass can be found up the Waccamaw, Pee Dee, Black and Sampit rivers.

Most of the competition was in the red drum divisions, with two teams competing in the high school bass division and none in the middle school bass division.

The Spot Tail Hunters team of Noah Payne of Rosemary Middle School and Collin Newton of Waccamaw High School won the high school red drum division with two fish weighing 9.10 pounds.

The Fish Slayers team of Daniel Rourk and Asher Damon from Waccamaw High School took second with a two-fish aggregate of 6.34 pounds.

Conway High School’s Ben Cooper of Team Coward snapped a photo of a 27.5-inch red drum and then released the fish to win the big fish honors.

In the middle school red drum division, no fish were caught within the 15-23 inch slot limit but Charlie Holmes of the Southern Salt team won big fish honors by catching and releasing a 24.25-inch red drum.

In the high school bass division, Georgetown’s Bass Team of Chase Todd and Lauren Dyer weighed in five fish for an aggregate of 6.96 pounds to win first place. The duo also took big fish honors with a 2.11-pounder. The River Ratz team of Conway, with Bradley Thompkins and River Squires, weighed in one bass at .82 pounds.

The trail resumes in 2016 with events set for Feb. 20 and March 5. Both events will be held at the Campbell Complex on the Sampit River.

Hooks For Hearts

The 10th annual John Payne Memorial Hooks For Hearts tournament, targeting spotted seatrout, will be held next Saturday in Murrells Inlet.

The captains meeting will be held Friday at 6 p.m. with fishing set for Saturday (Nov. 21) in the inlet.

“I think we’re going to have great participation this year,” said Capt. Englis Glover, the tournament director. “I’m expecting 35-45 boats, and that’s a good, comfortable number to settle in on.”

The tournament is named in honor of the late John Payne, an avid and well-known fisherman in Murrells Inlet who passed away on Jan. 25, 2013.

The tournament benefits the American Heart Association. Contact Glover at 843-655-5459 for more information.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Outdoors: SALTT teams finally get in some quality competition."