Surf City Pier tournament & a catching report

Saltwater tournament fishing has become very popular on our coast. There is a tournament of some sort just about every week-end and sometimes several. Many of them have huge cash prizes and big entry fees. Some are smaller and designed more for fun than for winning money.

But almost all of them are based on fishing from a boat. There are a few exceptions including the Mike Martin Memorial tournament. This annual event is held at Surf City Ocean Pier in memory of their former manager, Mike Martin.

This event was actually the brainchild of Martin. His idea was to promote the fun of fishing and some bragging rights during the hot weather time of the season.

Tragically he passed away suddenly while still planning the first tournament. Later the pier management team picked up the ball and ran with it. Fittingly they decided to name the tournament for Martin.

This year’s tournament will be the third annual event and will be held August 18th and 19th at the pier. Fishing starts at 6am on Saturday and continues through noon on Sunday. The award presentations will be made at 2pm on Sunday.

There are ten categories of fish ranging from flounder to king mackerel. An angler can choose one or more categories to compete. The entry fee is very reasonable at $5 per category or $35 if you wish to enter all 10.

Each category except speckled trout has a payout of $100 for first place and $50 for second place. The grand prize of $500 goes to the angler that catches the heaviest Speckled trout. They also have a special category for children. For further details visit their web site at www.surfcityoceanpier.com or call them at 910.328.3521

Catching report

The piers are reporting many, many catches of king mackerel with many of them over 20 pounds. Regulars on the pier are saying this is the best year for king fishing they have seen in years. Bottom fishing is yielding a few mullet and an occasional flounder.

The puppy drum continue their usual summer pattern of feeding near the marsh grass on the high tide half of the cycle and around the docks and other structure at low tide. Flounder are being caught on live finger mullets, fin-s lures and Gulp as well as other soft baits. There have been some big red drum caught on cut mullet in the surf with the best bite being at the north end of Lea island.

Offshore the kings and mahi continue to chew and can be caught on a variety of natural bait or on lures. A few sailfish continue to be caught in the 5 – 25 mile range.

Tight lines to all!