WINYAH BAY, SC (WBTW) – A Georgetown County duo won a prize worth almost $30,000 in the IFA Redfish Tour at Winyah Bay this Saturday.
Rob Elgin of Pawleys Island and Eric Gobbett of Georgetown took first place in the tournament with a two-fish total weight of 8.03 pounds. The win got them a brand new Ranger boat package with a Mercury 90 4-stroke engine, along with $2,200 in cash.
The two took an early lead and managed to hold it as the rest of the field weighed in. There were a total of 62 teams participating in the tournament, which was the second visit of the year to Georgetown by the Inshore Fishing Association.
The second-place team, Hank Edwards of Darlington and Ian Matthews of Florence, was just ounces behind with a two-fish weight of 7.93 pounds. They just missed out on the boat package, but took home $3,522 in cash.
Another local team, brothers Clay and Mark Gallup of Georgetown and Pawleys Island, took third place and a $2,317 cash prize with a two-fish weight of 7.85 pounds.
Cash payouts of a minimum of $500 were awarded to the top 12 teams.
The IFA Kayak Tour on Sunday saw four more anglers take home cash prizes out of 18 entrants.
Dave Jaskiewicz of Wando took first place and more than $1,500 in prize money with a 28.75-inch redfish and a 23.5-inch trout. He had the biggest trout of the day, adding $100 to his pot.
“It was a good morning,” Jaskiewicz said. “I got a red pretty early that was 21 inches.” He then found a school of red and kept catching bigger and bigger fish, so he decided to go look for trout. After catching a 16.5-inch trout, he was satisfied.
“I was going to leave and try to go somewhere else and try to upgrade my red,” he said, but the blazing heat of the day ultimately proved to be a deterrent to moving around too much, and he opted to stay put. That ended up being a blessing.
“At about 11:30, I stuck that trout. Ten minutes later, I got that red, so I upgraded two fish within 30 minutes,” he said.
Taking second place in the Kayak Tour was Steve Healey with a 27.63-inch red fish and an 18.75-inch trout. That nabbed him $455 in prize money.
Justin Rienerth had the biggest redfish of the day at 29.5 inches. That with a 16.75-inch trout got him third place and a $380 prize.
Rigel Jessen won the Jr. Angler prize with a 19-inch trout. The IFA generally brings its Redfish and Kayak fishing tours to Georgetown twice annually, and the county is looking forward to the group’s return in the spring.
