Wahoo Challenge results

eppefour · 10-23-2009, 08:22 AM

The 2009 Wahoo Challenge

This year The Wahoo Challenge had something new to celebrate - the weather! Finally in the 5th year of the tournament the fishermen did not have to deal with "challenging" weather. Although I don't believe the jokes about the weather being why the tournament is called "The Challenge" will go away any time soon, this year we had 3 days of great fishing. A total of 45 boats competed for a purse of over $75,000 and the leaderboard was changing right up to the last hour of weigh ins. Over 50 wahoo were weighed in over the 3 days of fishing and that kept our weigh masters Randy Gregory and George Lott along with our emcee Rick Cowell quite busy. In the end it was Capt. Jerry Jackson and crew on the "Ava D" who took first place with a 54.80 lb. wahoo and took home a check for over $25,000. Congratulations "Ava D"! It was a close call on Saturday, the last day of fishing, when Capt. Curtis Strange backed in the "Lady Sarah" with a nice size wahoo and the crowd was waiting for the announcement- it was a 54.00 lb. wahoo and the Lady Sarah crew shook up the leaderboard and took second place. Capt. Cameron Guthrie and crew on board the "Impulse" were big winners as well, placing 3rd overall with a 52.05 lb. wahoo and also winning the Individual Aggregate level with an 87.15 combined weight of two fish, one from each day of fishing
The Small boat category had 14 boats entered and the top three places brought in some nice size wahoo with first place going to Capt. David Argay on the Sandy Beach for their 51.60 lb. fish. The Lady Angler prize of over $1,000 worth of gift certificates from Tassels Shoes and Maui Jim was awarded to Susan Chapman on the "Finish Line 1st" for her 36.85 lb. wahoo. Our Junior anglers have definitely caught the tournament fever and I expect we will be seeing them year after year! Guy Brunell III fished on the "Liquidated Assets" and brought a 20.7 lb third place wahoo to the scales. Jordan Allen from the "Impulse" weighed in the second place wahoo at 26.85 lbs. First place went to Henry Gregory on the "Lady Sarah" with his 29.3 lb. wahoo and was thrilled to receive a Calcutta backpack, which was given to all the junior anglers, as well as a surprise award of tiled artwork by Mark Ray. We look forward to seeing Henry, Jordan and Guy join us again!

Not only was the fishing fun and exciting but that all continued under the tent each night. Last year I was thrilled to see so many folks at the tent having such a good time, but this year well surpassed that with a packed tent every night. Of course a lot of the credit for that goes to the fantastic food and drink provided by the Watermark Restaurant, Carlone's Pizza, Outback Steakhouse, Amos Mosquitos, Chef's 105, Floyds 1921, Ruddy Duck Tavern, Scotch Harbor, Shepard's Point, William's Restaurant, Bistro by the Sea, Mallard Oil's donated Wilmington Grill, Hog Slat, Roland's Barbecue, Sanitary Restaurant, Somerset Cellars, R.A. Jeffrey's Distributing and Republic National Distributing.

It was definitely a party each night and the raffle and auction were a hit with a ton of people being there to participate. So many local businesses contributed such awesome items for our Friday night raffle and our Saturday night auction that we had to include a silent auction as well. It turns out that the big winners were our charities, Take a Kid Fishing Foundation and Crystal Coast Hospice House, which will benefit from the proceeds from the event. Our local community businesses are known to step up to the plate for charity and it seems as if they are involved in everything and I can only hope that this loyalty is rewarded and that folks who live here and visit here continue to support our area restaurants and businesses.

The Wahoo Challenge is a success not because of any one individual but because of the efforts of many, many people. The Town of Morehead City, our sponsors including Calcutta, Regions Bank, Shimano and Harris Teeter, the participants and the volunteers are the stars of this event and I can't thank them enough for all they do to make this such a great tournament. I would like to say a special thank you to Mike at Time Warner Cable, Terry at Down East Rent-a-john, Capt. Terrell Gould, Jason Yates and Rid-a-Pest for helping out the event this year in a couple last minute requests. Again, it amazes me every year how wonderfully helpful our community can be - we are lucky to live in such a unique place!

On behalf of the Executive Board, the Working Board and your Tournament Director, we thank you for participating in the 2009 Wahoo Challenge and hope you all are looking forward to next year as much as we are!

Going Deep · 10-23-2009, 09:12 AM

Very well run event. Look forward to participating again next year

10-23-2009, 08:22 AM	#1
eppefour Crab mustard is good Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 883 Credits: 7,291.4 Boat: 26 Wahoo Home Port: Ocean City Occupation: pharmacist Blog Entries: 9	Wahoo Challenge results The 2009 Wahoo Challenge This year The Wahoo Challenge had something new to celebrate - the weather! Finally in the 5th year of the tournament the fishermen did not have to deal with "challenging" weather. Although I don't believe the jokes about the weather being why the tournament is called "The Challenge" will go away any time soon, this year we had 3 days of great fishing. A total of 45 boats competed for a purse of over $75,000 and the leaderboard was changing right up to the last hour of weigh ins. Over 50 wahoo were weighed in over the 3 days of fishing and that kept our weigh masters Randy Gregory and George Lott along with our emcee Rick Cowell quite busy. In the end it was Capt. Jerry Jackson and crew on the "Ava D" who took first place with a 54.80 lb. wahoo and took home a check for over $25,000. Congratulations "Ava D"! It was a close call on Saturday, the last day of fishing, when Capt. Curtis Strange backed in the "Lady Sarah" with a nice size wahoo and the crowd was waiting for the announcement- it was a 54.00 lb. wahoo and the Lady Sarah crew shook up the leaderboard and took second place. Capt. Cameron Guthrie and crew on board the "Impulse" were big winners as well, placing 3rd overall with a 52.05 lb. wahoo and also winning the Individual Aggregate level with an 87.15 combined weight of two fish, one from each day of fishing The Small boat category had 14 boats entered and the top three places brought in some nice size wahoo with first place going to Capt. David Argay on the Sandy Beach for their 51.60 lb. fish. The Lady Angler prize of over $1,000 worth of gift certificates from Tassels Shoes and Maui Jim was awarded to Susan Chapman on the "Finish Line 1st" for her 36.85 lb. wahoo. Our Junior anglers have definitely caught the tournament fever and I expect we will be seeing them year after year! Guy Brunell III fished on the "Liquidated Assets" and brought a 20.7 lb third place wahoo to the scales. Jordan Allen from the "Impulse" weighed in the second place wahoo at 26.85 lbs. First place went to Henry Gregory on the "Lady Sarah" with his 29.3 lb. wahoo and was thrilled to receive a Calcutta backpack, which was given to all the junior anglers, as well as a surprise award of tiled artwork by Mark Ray. We look forward to seeing Henry, Jordan and Guy join us again! Not only was the fishing fun and exciting but that all continued under the tent each night. Last year I was thrilled to see so many folks at the tent having such a good time, but this year well surpassed that with a packed tent every night. Of course a lot of the credit for that goes to the fantastic food and drink provided by the Watermark Restaurant, Carlone's Pizza, Outback Steakhouse, Amos Mosquitos, Chef's 105, Floyds 1921, Ruddy Duck Tavern, Scotch Harbor, Shepard's Point, William's Restaurant, Bistro by the Sea, Mallard Oil's donated Wilmington Grill, Hog Slat, Roland's Barbecue, Sanitary Restaurant, Somerset Cellars, R.A. Jeffrey's Distributing and Republic National Distributing. It was definitely a party each night and the raffle and auction were a hit with a ton of people being there to participate. So many local businesses contributed such awesome items for our Friday night raffle and our Saturday night auction that we had to include a silent auction as well. It turns out that the big winners were our charities, Take a Kid Fishing Foundation and Crystal Coast Hospice House, which will benefit from the proceeds from the event. Our local community businesses are known to step up to the plate for charity and it seems as if they are involved in everything and I can only hope that this loyalty is rewarded and that folks who live here and visit here continue to support our area restaurants and businesses. The Wahoo Challenge is a success not because of any one individual but because of the efforts of many, many people. The Town of Morehead City, our sponsors including Calcutta, Regions Bank, Shimano and Harris Teeter, the participants and the volunteers are the stars of this event and I can't thank them enough for all they do to make this such a great tournament. I would like to say a special thank you to Mike at Time Warner Cable, Terry at Down East Rent-a-john, Capt. Terrell Gould, Jason Yates and Rid-a-Pest for helping out the event this year in a couple last minute requests. Again, it amazes me every year how wonderfully helpful our community can be - we are lucky to live in such a unique place! On behalf of the Executive Board, the Working Board and your Tournament Director, we thank you for participating in the 2009 Wahoo Challenge and hope you all are looking forward to next year as much as we are! __________________

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10-23-2009, 09:12 AM	#2
Going Deep Stop staring at my Avatar. Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 397 Credits: 1,796.5 Home Port: Beaufort Inlet Occupation: Electrical Contractor	Very well run event. Look forward to participating again next year