Houses For Sale in Wilmington NC - On the Carolina Coast, Summer Means Fishing Competitions

If you asked the biggest sports fan you know to list every professional sport, they may be able to rattle off a few dozen different games. They’d start with football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis and golf. They may also go on to mention Pickle Ball and Cornhole- yes people make their living playing those games. The question is would your friends think to mention fishing?

Fishing is something most people do for leisure. Some actually do if for business, selling their catch to local restaurants and private chefs. And others still, do it for competition. Competitive fishing is huge in this part of the world. From early spring to late fall tournaments of all different sizes, for a variety of different species, are held up and down the Carolina coast. Some of these events are so well known that they attract thousands of tourists with the winners pocketing seven figure checks.

JFB friend Raeford Brown competed last month in the 16th annual Spanish-Dolphin Tournament just up the coast from Wilmington in Carteret County. “Unfortunately we picked up three sharks pretty fast, saw schools of Spanish, but could not entice them to take our bait. The schools were on the move, likely because of the sharks in pursuit. So, we moved a short distance away when one of the reels started singing. My buddy Shaun grabbed the rig, and after a brief fight, he brought in a nice dolphin.”

Here are pictures Raeford snapped during the tournament.