Beautiful weather and another record turnout at 15th Annual Red Drum Tournament

By Mike Regan, NCBBA Red Drum Tournament Chairman

Just after another King Tide event, the 2024 Red Drum Tournament brought 551 anglers and their families to the beaches of Hatteras Island.

The event is growing each year as word gets out, with anglers hailing from 23 states and three countries ranging in age from six to 82.

Temperatures were in the seventies with sunny skies for the three-day event. There were 140 red drum caught and released. The first-place winner was a new angler, Hannable McGarity, who caught a 50 ¾ inch red drum.

Danny Fletcher, a long-time Red Drum Tournament angler, took home three prizes: Second Longest Red Drum, David Flanigan Memorial Judge Longest Red Drum (50 ¾ inches), and Senior Second Longest at 44 inches.

Kyle Berry was on fire this year and landed and released eight red drum ranging in size from 25 ¾ inches to 48 ¼ inches. We are always thrilled to see our young anglers fishing and winning.

This year, three returning young anglers, Malik Clark and brothers Henry Lucas and Wills Lucas, took home prizes for Youth Longest Red Drum (30 inches), Youth Second Longest Red Drum (24.5 inches), and Youth Longest Bluefish (19 ½ inches), respectively.

Our Joe Moore Team Division continues to grow. This year we had 80 self-made teams of 3 to 6 anglers. Teams pool the number of red drum they catch for the team award and can still compete with the same fish in the individual award categories.

The top three teams are all returning anglers and were neck-and-neck throughout the tournament. First place went to Foolproof Fishing, (Kyle Berry, Gale Travis Kemp, Gale Johnson, Blake Mellot, and Scott Williams) with 10 red drum. Second place went to Blue Goobers, (Louis Guzman, Alex Rabb, Alan Vette, Ian Gilmor, Q. Todd Krantz, and Matt Burleigh) with eight red drum. The Third Place Team prize was awarded to Greggofish made up of Jeanne Griffin, Greg Griffin, David Griffin, Jaime Fajardo, Michael Eastridge, and Jason Cooper, also with eight red drum catches. (The tie goes to the first fish caught.)

We couldn’t put on this fundraiser without the 40 volunteers who worked at angler check-in at the Koru parking lot, giving out the angler packets and door prizes and at Frank & Fran’s, manning late registration, and selling raffle tickets and merchandise.

Last but certainly not least are our judges. We are grateful to fifty people who skipped fishing for 1-2 sessions to drive the beaches and measure the catches. Some judges don’t even fish, they just want to assist by judging.

Finally, we want to thank our sponsors and supporters for their generous contributions. 

2024 NCBBA Red Drum Tournament Winners