NCCHARTERFISHING-Capt.'s Jeff Cronk and MIke Taylor-Crystal Coast, Swansboro, Emerald Isle

Well, with my baby girl almost here i put the boat up for a couple weeks... But late Friday night Chris Pope of Boats Unlimited in New Bern called and said he had a new boat he wanted to test.... So, at the crack of dawn on Sat. I met up with Chris and his friends at Dudley's Marina in Swansboro to try our luck on some Trout and Reds. It was only 28 degrees out but the recent warm weather kept the waters warm as they were still 54-55 degrees in the sound and creeks. The first spot we stopped on starting producing trout from spikes to 2lbs. After an hour and several dozen trout we opted to move into the surf and look for some redfish. Within several minutes we were on a school of about 500 redfish ranging from 24 to 30 in. We worked them for a short while and moved on to locate a larger school which was holding several thousand fish with some larger. These guys had a ball sightcasting to these big reds and watching them explode on their topwater baits! We fished them until about 11am and lost count of all the fish we released. Great Job guys!

What a day! After pre-fishing on Thursday and locating some 3 to 5lb fish holding in a couple of holes, I had a pretty good idea on where Mike and I needed to fish to do well in this years Swansboro Speckled Trout Tourny. When we got to our hole the tide was still wrong for the bite but we managed to pick up a 5lb trout on 2nd cast. We caught a couple more 3 to 5lbers before the tide slowed and turned around 11am. By this time we already had a good jump on the competition for the top positions as we now had over 15lbs for a 3 fish aggregate and had over 4hrs left to fish. We watched several other boats in the location put a couple of 5 to 6lb fish in the boat and received a couple of calls from other who had similar fish so, we were'nt confident in the weight of our fish. As soon as the tide began moving well the bite picked up for us. We put up some 4 to 5lb fish with a 6.75lber which brought our aggregate up to just over 16lbs for 3fish. Soon after, Mike fought two fish to the boat in two casts. Their weights were 6.96lbs and 7.4lbs. We were totally stoked as we now had a 3fish aggregate of just over 18lbs! The bite slowed down and for some reason we felt that others might have been catching fish just as large or larger. It's rare here in NC to bring a 3fish aggregate weight of 18lbs to the scales in a trout tournament. But, with the doubt still in our minds, we kept on looking for bigger fish. About 1:45pm I hooked up with a monster and for a moment I thought it was a big sheepshead. But, the fish surfaced quickly which left no doubt it was a big trout! In fact, it turned out the be the largest trout I've caught to date. This fish was 8.76lbs, bringing our 3fish aggregate to 23.12lbs! We only caught three more fish before heading toward the weigh-in around 3:30. We got to weigh-in and culled through our fish to find that we had landed fish with the following weights: 8.76lbs, 7.4lbs, 6.96lbs, 6.75lbs, 6.6lbs, 4 more just over 5lbs, 4 more just over 4lbs, and the last 7 fish weighed between 2.5 and 3.75lbs.
WHAT A DAY! I've never experienced such a great trout bite (for size) in my life. Our catch earned us 1st Place Aggregate of 23.12lbs (3fish), 1st Place Big Fish 8.76lbs, and we set a new aggregate record for the Swansboro Trout Tournament which is in its 16th year. Great Job to my other team members(Mike Taylor and Ryan Taylor).
Congratulations to all the other participants that placed. The rest of the top 5 positions went to 2nd Place- Buddy and Jake Gainey, 3rd Place- John Gainey/RD Benedict, 4th Place- David Moore/Mike Phillips, 5th Place- Ricky Kellum. Thanks to all who helped put on the tournament again this year. The last 3 warm Winters have definately helped produce some large trout and hopefully it continues.
CAPT. JEFF CRONK
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS

I hit the water this morning looking for some good sized trout. Fished from Swansboro through Bogue Sound and MHC. Wound up landing 29 Trout by 1pm. All but 4 were over 2lbs and wound up with a 4lb 6oz., 4lb 6oz, and 4lb 10oz as our largest for a 3fish agg. of 13lb 6oz. We caught our fish on live shrimp and Berkley Gulp Shrimp.
Capt. jeff Cronk
FISH'N4LIFE CHARTERS
WWW.NCCHARTERFISHING.COM
910-326-7512

The 2007 5th Annual Ed Sewell Speckled Trout Tournament, held on Sunday, October 4th, was a success. Chris Sewell and his family organized this annual event 5 years ago in honor of their beloved grandfather because of his love and dedication to trout fishing. As a local business owner in Swansboro for years, the Sewell name is very recognized and respected for their hardwork. The Sewell Trout Tournament has become one of the most popular local events over the past few years. Chris and his family put the tournament in the hands of the newest inshore fishing club in the Swansboro Area this year. The Crystal Coast Fishing Association, presided over by John Hislop, is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of recreational fishing, researching the development of a local fish hatchery, and keeping the Crystal Coast informed about Marine Environmental Concerns. The club's website address is www.crystalcoastfishing.net and should be operational before the end of the 2007 season. Thanks to all the tournament participants, local businesses, and other sponsors the Ed Sewell Tournament was able to pay out over $6000 in cash prizes, over $1000 in food and other prizes, and raise over $1500 to help the CCFA accomplish their mission. The tournament awarded prizes for the following positions this year:
MAIN TOURNAMENT: 1ST THROUGH 10TH PLACE AGGREGATE FOR 5 TROUT,
TWT BIG FISH: 1ST AND 2ND PLACE FOR BIGGEST TROUT
TWT 1ST THROUGH 3RD PLACE FOR LADY ANGLER WITH THE BIGGEST TROUT
TWT 1ST PLACE SENIOR ANGLER
EVERY JUNIOR ANGLER THAT WEIGHED IN A FISH!!!!
TWT 1ST PLACE BIGGEST LIZARD FISH

BELOW ARE PICTURES OF THE WINNERS!

5THPLACEJUNIORANGLER Graham Guthrie


3RDPLACEJUNIORANGLER Jake Gainey


2NDPLACEJUNIORANGLER Meagan Russell





















1ST PLACE JUNIOR ANGLER 2.99LBS David Behan
























2ND PLACE LADY ANGLER 3.86LBS Krystyn Hall























1ST PLACE LADY ANGLER 4.82LBS Chrissy Taylor

















1st PLACE BIG TROUT 4.4LBS Buddy and Jake Gainey
























2nd PLACE BIG TROUT 4.2LBS Brent Banks






















10TH PLACE AGGREGATE 9.78LBS Mike and Ryan Taylor



















9TH PLACE AGGREGATE 10.07LBS Doug Bucher





















7TH PLACE AGGREGATE 10.67LBS David Moore and Mike Phillips

























6TH PLACE AGGREGATE 11.3LBS Jerry Johnson






















5TH PLACE AGGREGATE 12.18LBS Jeff Cronk and Jason Guthrie




















4TH PLACE AGGREGATE 12.99LBS Ashley Melton and Charles




















3RD PLACE AGGREGATE 13.68LBS Brent Banks























2ND PLACE AGGREGATE 14.39LBS Buddy and Jake Gainey






















1ST PLACE AGGREGATE 14.42LBS John Gainey and RD Benedict