Padrick/Smith/Smith Win CCA Inside Out Tournament

by Lee Padrick, October 13, 2013

On Saturday, October 12th, Dwayne Smith, Jeff Smith, and I fished the 2013 CCA Inside Out Tournament, held at Portside Marina in Morehead City, NC.  The goal of the tournament is to bring in one redfish, one speckled trout, and one flounder.  The redfish must be 18-27", the trout must be at least 18", and the flounder must be 16".  

We started fishing at 7 AM, on a falling tide.  Low tide was at 8:47 AM, so it was going to be tough to catch the trout on that tide.  As we worked down a marshbank, Dwayne catches a 3 lb redfish.  A few minutes later, we upgrade the red when I catch a 5+ lb fish, so we hit our target weight for the redfish.  Its time to catch a trout and a flounder.  

We caught several trout in the first spot, including a 17.5" fish, just barely too short to meet the tournament minimum.  We moved about 3 miles east and stopped to fish in another trout hole, where we caught about 10 trout, including another 17.5" fish.  Decided a change in venue was needed, so we boated another 2 miles east, where we caught about 20 trout, including another 17.5" trout.  


This is beginning to get frustrating, so I appointed myself the Director of Morale and passed out white donuts and Monster Energy drinks.  We kept our focus and continued to try for the trout and the flounder.

Moved about 4 miles northeast, and started catching trout around a marsh island, including another, you guessed it, 17.5" trout.  Jeff Smith caught a flounder at this spot, and we had our 2 of the 3 species.  

On the way back to the 4 PM weigh in, we stopped for 30 minutes at a trout hole, and caught some more trout, but not the one we were looking for, so we headed in to weigh our catch.

With the bonus pound for each live fish, we ended up with a total aggregate of 9.93 lbs and in 1st place.

It was a beautiful windless, overcast day, which is perfect for inshore fishing.  I had a great time fishing with my good friends and enjoyed competing against some great anglers.  

Great job by Jay Dail and the CCA for putting on a very fun event.  I look forward to next year!  


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