Tripletail Triple Play

Photos by Sarah Spivey, The Darkroom Photography Fishing attire and equipment provided by Kennedy Outfitters

Fishing, fundraising, and fun are three things that combine perfectly to make up the ACS Victory Board’s Reelin’ in a Cure Tripletail Plus Fishing Tournament and Band Party. The tournament is being held on Saturday, May 14, this year for prime angling conditions and Director of the Coastal Resources Division of the DNR, Spud Woodward, has joined the team as Rules Committee Chair. Victory Board member Alexa Scott says that Spud’s involvement has been invaluable. “He has been on (continues)

Thank you to our angler and junior angler models: Kevin Dunn, Butler Melnyk, Scott Reid, Richard Scott, Rett, Will, and Hamp Thompson.

board advising us from the beginning, helping us pick the optimal date, writing the rules, adding different species to the competition, and adding a junior angler category. He will also be running the captains meeting and weigh-in.”

Woodward explains the thinking behind the later May tournament date: “Tripletail can be abundant early in the spring, but fishing conditions in the open Atlantic are often unpredictable during April. So, when planning the 2016 tournament last summer, we made a decision to move the tournament to a later date in May in hopes that we’ll have calm seas and bright sunshine, plus good numbers of tripletail in the area.”

Even if the tripletail aren’t biting, tournament rules have been adjusted to maximize fun. “While the wily tripletail is the primary quarry of anglers during this event, we’re including redfish, spotted seatrout, and whiting as eligible species. In the event that conditions are not favorable for sight fishing tripletail in the open ocean, participants will have the option to target these species in our tidal rivers and creeks,” clarifies Woodward. “As an incentive for conservation, we’re giving adding bonus points to the weight of tripletail, redfish, and seatrout brought to the scales alive in a condition where they can be released. New this year, we’re also giving bonus points for fish caught on fly tackle.”

“From the beginning, conservation has been a central theme of this event with catch-andrelease emphasized in the format,” says Woodward, “We’re also hoping this event will be a great opportunity to get youngsters out on the water to experience firsthand our wonderful coastal environment and to learn about their responsibility as stewards of our natural resources.” To encourage youth involvement, they’ve added a junior angler category to the tournament for participants 15 years old and younger with a reduced registration fee of $50 and prizes for the top junior angler. Woodward

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further explains, “While youth anglers, age 15 years or younger, can compete in all categories, we created a special whiting category for them knowing that whiting are easily accessible to even novice anglers. We’ve also lowered the entry fee for youth anglers in hopes that parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts or maybe just a family friend will be more inclined to take a kid fishing in this year’s event.”

The tournament will begin with a mandatory captains’ meeting at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, May 13 at the Morningstar Marina pavilion. Lines can go in the water beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 14, and all fishing stops at 4:00 p.m. The weigh-in will be held back at the pavilion between 4:00-5:00 p.m. and the public is welcome to attend.

Prizes will be awarded in tripletail (both number and weight), red drum (weight, most spots), spotted seatrout (heaviest), whiting (as described above) categories, as well as for top male angler and top female angler. Davis Love III donated a standup paddleboard as top prize, so brush-up on your fish finding skills! If fun on the water fishing with friends and family isn’t enough incentive to bring you to the tournament, the event should also appeal to non-anglers, because the fun is just getting started when the boats return to the marina for weigh-in. There’s a Band Party kicking off at 5:00 p.m. with popular local singer/songwriter Owen Plant providing the music, Southern Soul Barbeque catering the food, and Parker’s donating wine and beer. Ticket price is $35/person or $65/couple and includes all food and beverages. There are lots of great raffle prizes too, including Yeti Coolers, a set of Williams knives, a print by local artist Kevin Lokey framed by Face2Face, and gift cards from local restaurants.

Last year, the event raised more than $25,000. This year, the Victory Board is hoping to exceed that amount – so whether you bring the kids out to fish, put together a team for some serious tripletail competition, or just come out to cheer at the weigh-in and stay to party – join the festivities for a day of fun, great food and music. Registration is open now at acsvictoryboard.org. All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society.