The Flounder Pounder Open 2019 Final Results

Flounder Pounder Open 2019 The Largest Flounder Tournament In The World Ended on Sunday.

Sunday was the final day for the Flounder Pounder Open 2019. There were 120 boats out fishing, there were ten times that many people at the scales. The bar was packed at Paradise. Everyone wanted to see who would win, would there be a turnover for first place? Who would get bumped off the leader board?

The daily calcutta board was wiped clean for the day. At 4 Pm when the scales opened there wasn’t a fish in sight. These boys were staying out as long as they could fish to the last minute. Last day, you never stop fishing. Lines were in at 5 PM, anglers had until 6 PM to get to the scales, marina, or parking lot. The first five fish always make the daily calcutta board.

The first few fish that came to the scales made it on the board. The Dogfish team made it on and as long as they stayed on the board Dogfish was free until they got knocked off. That beer was flowing for a solid hour.

The teams I was rooting for would show up and look at me and I could tell, “we got nothing good”. Everyone has been catching a huge amount of fish, the problem is they aren’t good enough to rank on the board. Lots of good sized twenty inch fish. The first few fish that made the daily calcutta were small compared to the day before. That wouldn’t last long. The five pounders were coming to the scales.

Team Dirty Hatch was one of the last few fish to come to the scales. Angler Jamar Campbell was the winning calcutta angler with Patrick West as the captain. Caught on 3 ounce leadhead and 5 inch mackerel colored gulp. They caught the winning calcutta fish at five minutes before lines in, they fished till the end. You never stop fishing in a tournament. Even if you think you have a winning fish.

The awards were going to start at 7:30 at the main stage. It is always exciting to see everyone get their trophies, and big checks in a shower of champagne. That is one of the exciting things, the other is to see how much money was raised for the Beebe Tunnell Cancer Center. They were presented a check for $14,050 that was pushed up to an even $15,000 by Paradise.

The really exciting money raised was for the family that were victims of the tragic fire in the Pot Nets Bayside community. There was an auction for a week long stay at Pot Nets for next year’s Flounder Pounder Open 2020. That auction raised $4,000. Through out the tournament every day raffles were done with items donated by sponsors to raise money for the family as well. When the teams came up to get their big checks, many donated $500 to $1,000 of their prize money to the family as well. Josh Wharton head of the Good Ole Boy Foundation has been helping these folks since day one of this tragic fire. The Good Ole Boys are one top notch group of people.

It was a exciting year for the Flounder Pounder Open 2019. New Jersey dominated three of the five stop spots. The Delaware Boats did well and Lewes boats dominated. It was six Delaware teams and four New Jersey teams on the board. While on stage, Al Tortella said he didn’t know why those Lewes boats do so well. I can answer that. Lewes is a drinking town, with a serious fishing problem. Nice job everyone, see you next year.

Fish On!
Rich King