Outdoors column: Longtime fishing buddies add to trophy collection

A pair of long-time fishing buddies dominated the catches last Saturday, adding to their Murrells Inlet tournament titles by winning the John Payne Memorial Hooks For Hearts trout tournament.

Capt. J Baisch and Peter Gerace won multiple prize categories in the 10th annual tournament, including a three-fish aggregate of 18.07 pounds.

The duo, who also won the 2013 edition of the tournament, claimed Largest Trout honors with a 5.9-pounder and also easily landed the largest flounder with a 3.50-pounder.

Their aggregate of 18.07 pounds is second only to the tournament record of 19.83 pounds, set by Team Skint Back in last year’s tournament.

“There’s lucky and then there’s the whole `when opportunity meets preparation’ thing,” said Gerace. “It was an epic day for us.”

The team of Matt Eisenberger and Paul Pancake finished second with a slightly smaller but still outstanding grade of fish. They weighed in a three-fish aggregate of 11.97 pounds and the second-largest trout, a 5.78-pounder. Team Leach was third in two categories with a 10.56-pound aggregate and 4.87-pound trout.

The duo had prepared by cast-netting their own live shrimp in the inlet, so they had plenty of the primo trout bait to use.

On the morning of the tournament, a blustery, cool day, Baisch and Gerace staked out their spot on the Murrells Inlet jetties.

The fishing started on a falling tide, with Baisch catching a few trout and Gerace struggling to get it going.

“J had a couple three pounders and four pounders but I was having the worst day ever,’’ said Gerace. “I had tangles, everything was going wrong. I was just wanting to contribute.”

When the tide switched from falling to rising, the bite of big trout was on. Baisch, owner-operator of Fishful Thinking Charters, caught one trout weighing 6.75 pounds and Gerace caught two in the 6-pound range, all on live shrimp.

Gerace noted the large trout had been feeding on spots.

With three gator trout in the boat and the bite slowing down, the duo turned their sights to the event’s flounder category and headed inside the inlet.

“We tried one spot for flounder, caught a small one and threw it back,” recalled Gerace. “We went to another spot and J caught a 3.5-pounder. At first we thought it was a stingray. When we got it in the boat, I said ‘I think we just won the flounder (category) too.”

The flounder hit a live mullet fished on a jig head.

Competitors in the tournament had to select one trout to weigh in for the Largest Trout category.

Baisch and Gerace chose the longest trout, but it wound up being their third-largest, a 5.9-pounder. Still, their third largest fish was good enough to win the category.

“They chose the longest which was skinnier than the others,” said tournament director Englis Glover. “We have all been laughing at that.”

The duo went home with over $1,500 in prize money.

George Davis won the Kayak Division with a 6.50-pound aggregate. Shannon Carter was the top Lady Angler with 3.12 pounds followed by Barbara Ann Michels with 2.50. Myra Leach was the top Youth Angler with 2.92 pounds followed by Ava Heise with 1.06.

Tournament officials will apply $400 of the event’s proceeds toward a plaque that will be placed along the Murrells Inlet Marshwalk in honor of the tournament’s namesake, the late John Payne.

Payne was a well-known and liked fisherman in the inlet who passed away at the age of 53 on Jan. 25, 2013.

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Outdoors column: Longtime fishing buddies add to trophy collection."