Two local Beaufort anglers beat the redfish pros earning $8K in cash and bragging rights

“When it is this close, it’s pretty exciting,” said tournament owner Chris Condon of the Southern Redfish Cup, a professional fishing event that was held over weekend in Port Royal. It did not disappoint by delivering a nail biting conclusion with less than an ounce deciding who would beat the other 36 teams and walk away with the grand prize of $8,000.

The total weight of the three redfish caught by Beaufort’s Bradley Brown and Travis Malphrus of Team Nomad was 13.5 pounds. That combined weight was 18.14 grams, or .06 ounces, more than the fish caught by the second-place team, Jason Dail and Allen Jernigan, a professional team from North Carolina. They have won the Lowcountry tournament previously.

The team with the three largest fish between the legal slot limit length of 15 and 23 inches wins the title. That means redfish brought in by the winners averaged over 4 pounds — a healthy redfish for that size range.

Brown and Malphrus also tied for “big fish” with Tyler Rudd and Jack Trolan. Both teams caught fish weighing 4.76 pounds and split the $1,200 prize.

A regional contest of the best anglers

Besides South Carolina, the tournament draws teams mainly from North Carolina and Georgia. Teams of two fishermen compete. The Southern Redfish Cup series also includes stops in Georgetown, on Oct. 26, and Isle of Palms Dec. 14. The field for these tournaments includes both professional and locals. Brown and Malphrus are not regular tournament professionals but have competed before in the Port Royal tournament. Second-place finishers Dail and Jernigan are a professional team that has won tournaments in the series on multiple occasions.

Port Royal is the first stop in the series and professional teams and locals blasted off at first light Saturday. This year’s tournament was dedicated to Beaufort’s Chuck Lather, a long-time tournament angler who died in 2021, and hosted by Shellring Ale Works.

Many of the teams seemed to do “their damage” in the morning during the incoming low tide right near the docks in Port Royal, Condon said.