Fish For Tomorrow

This will be the 4th year of this unique flounder tournament. The event started as a humble tournament with misspelled sponsors names on the t-shirts and no advertising budget. At the last minute, an anonymous sponsor who gave Fish For Tomorrow a check for $2000.00.

This took the financial pressure off the Capt. Tim Barefoot (founder of Fish For Tomorrow). “Now, let’s have some fun. We have a lot of fun with this event every year” said Barefoot.

This year proves we are TRULY a grass roots effort.  I have had to step away from a lot of the planning stages of the tournament, due to my work/travel. I have had a lot of help with everything from original art work for the t-shirts, to the captains meeting, weigh-in and the awards presentation.

Thanks to a core group of friends and family, we will have an even larger event this year than ever” says Barefoot.

This tournament is an event that gathers LIVE (hook and line caught) flounder for brood stock at the UNCW aquaculture dept. . (located in Wrightsville Beach) “These flounder that are hook and line caught  have historically fared better in captivity than net caught  flounder. Flat Bottom Girls tournament has been a good source of brood stock for several years now” says Troy Rezek. (UNCW Research Assoc.)

Fact: All flounder over 15 inches long are female.
Fact: Southern Flounder stocks are at a dangerous all time low level.
Fact: Flounder are the most sought after fish in NC.
Fact: 6-10 pound flounder can have as many as 500,000 eggs.
Fact: 95% of all flounder die in first 6 days of life in the wild.
Fact: In a predator free, food rich environment of a hatchery, 70-80% make it thru this first crucial stage.
Fact: South Brunswick High School (SBHS) recieves fertilized eggs from UNCW to grow out every year.
Fact: These energetic SBHS students grow and release flounder fingerlings while learning about aquaculture.
Fact: We can do something about Southern Flounder stocks ! (stay tuned for details)
Fact: NC Division of Marine Fisheries have been very supportive of this event and the stock enhancement pilot program(s).

We would like to invite you out to participate in this annual fundraiser that provides brood stock for UNCW, provides fertilized eggs to SBHS and is the sole annual fundraiser that provides transportation for donated Reinforced Concrete Pipe (RCP) to the state port that is deployed on nearshore artificial reefs sites.

Another BIG THANKS goes out to NC DMF (artificial reef program) for funding the unloading the RCP off the trucks, reloading on the deployment barges and deployment of the material. See video footage of all these events and oyster shell recycling project(s) at the www.fishfortomorrow.org website.

This is “killing three birds with one stone. Thanks to the original and future sponsors, we will certainly continue and  (very likely) grow this proactive tournament” says Barefoot .

You can reach Capt. Tim Barefoot at (910) 617-7637 for more information.