Fishing

The 26th annual Sudan Daredevils Flounder Tournament takes place Friday and Saturday. Last year the winner was decided by 0.01 pounds. Jeff Shaver’s winning weight of 7.27 pounds edged Randy Parnell’s weight of 7.26 pounds. Ricky Lefler had the five heaviest flounder (19.39 pounds).

Mike Potts, one of the organizers, said he expects competitors in 100 to 130 boats to take part in the tournament. The captains’ meeting will be from 6-10 p.m. June 11 at the Shallotte Point Volunteer Fire Department.

June is probably the best month for all-around good fishing in our area. The Gulf Stream is still good for dolphin. There will not be quite as many dolphin as there were in May, but the overall size will increase and average 20 pounds, with the biggest dolphin of the year typically caught in this month. In addition, the blue marlin fishing is peak from our area during May as they follow the tail end run of dolphin.

Flounder season is upon us, and reports are starting to come in about the flatfish being caught in all the usual spots. At the same time, speckled trout and redfish are staging their usually early-summer early-morning runs.

One of the most common methods to target these fish is with live minnows. Different anglers, however, prefer to use different minnows, while some folks just use whatever is available. There are benefits to each of the different types of baitfish commonly utilized by flounder and trout anglers.

We’ve reached the unofficial start of the summer fishing season, which always arrives a bit before the actual summer. The next three months will be dominated by hot days, afternoon and evening thunderstorms and strong fishing that can come and go depending on the time of day. For the most part, the success of pier, surf and boat anglers will be measured in how they do fishing for our warm-water species: flounder, bluefish, pompano and Spanish mackerel, as well as the ever-present speckled trout.