McMullans Win Second National Championship Title!

By Jack Holmes

Biloxi, Mississippi—Two trips to the Championship in Biloxi has netted the Ocean Isle Fishing Center team two Open Class National Championship titles, once in November of '09 and now in November 2011

Barrett, Brant, and Rube McMullan went back to the area which produced the '09 title but added Brant's wife and daughter, Amy and Caroline, to the team.

The Yamaha powered Yellowfin team arrived early at the check-in site at the Biloxi Small Boat Harbor. Being one of the first teams to check out, Brant powered up at 6:40am and headed for open water. Their destination was virtually the same as all of the other one hundred fifty teams, the Horseshoe Salt Dome eighty-four miles away. With calm seas, the Ocean Isle Fishing Center team arrived at roughly 8:00am and immediately went to work deploying baits.

As they scanned the horizon, virtually every boat that was already there was hooked up. "Literally as fast as Barrett and Rube's baits hit the water they too had bent rods," explained Brant. "I was hooked up and immediately handed the rod to Amy while I got the fourth bait out. While we released several kings in the mid thirties, Amy's fish was particularly stubborn and hard to move. I jumped in and helped her get the king to the side of the boat where we determined she would probably go mid-forties."

As the National Championship is a two fish aggregate event and after a cancellation of day one due to heavy seas, the McMullans assumed that a hundred pound plus two fish aggregate could get them a paycheck so Amy's fish was put on ice.

They left the Yellowfin at idle while they chose to pitch baits to a sea alive with skying fish. A fast look around confirmed they were not alone; everyone was doing the same thing. They were witnessing what the Gulf is famous for in Mississippi in November: thousands of king mackerel waiting for the mullet to leave backwaters to spawn offshore, an easy feast for their palate. Most anglers can't fathom this scenario until they've experienced it. It's what makes the Championship the most thrilling event any king mackerel fisher person has ever experienced.

As the McMullans and others continue to fight one thirty- to forty-pound fish after another, Brant pauses to find a big bluefish in their well and sets it adrift. It swims down deep, stops, makes a few nervous twitches, and gets inhaled. The big king immediately takes several hundred yards of line off the spool and the team is forced to run her down.

Rube grabbed the gaff, stuck her, and hoisted the long king over the gunwale. Brant appraises the fish and the team concludes that she is at least as big if not bigger than their first fish in the bag.

At 11:30 the bait wells are empty and the OIFC team is forced to run fifteen miles to another area to hopefully fill their wells. "We could only find small runners but Barrett caught two five-pound jack type unknown fish," said Brant. "We were taking valuable time so we opted to take our chances with what we had and get back to the bite. It proved to be the right move."

Back at the salt dome the first jack got cut off. One big bait left. "I sent her out and waited," Brant added. "Only minutes went by before the rod bends over and line creeps off the reel. Barrett grabs the rod and sets the hook with visions of a big run."

Instead the king sulks, then explodes and heads right for other teams fighting fish. After some great boat maneuvering they are to the point of an up and down stalemate, but you know who wins.

As Brant uses the entire twelve-foot gaff, the fish belongs to them. It's their biggest fish of the day.

Arriving back at the weigh-in dock, they hear that the Reelentless / Big Bad Wolf team has the biggest stringer of the day, 100.60 pounds. "I just couldn't estimate the two fish we had," Brant explained. "I really thought they would be around 99 pounds."

Their first fish went 48.43 while their second fish tipped the scales at 54.70. To the amazement of the McMullans they had just scaled a 103.13 pound two-fish aggregate, which a short time later was proclaimed the biggest stringer in the Open Class. They had repeated their victory of 2009 and earned a National Championship title for the second time in their fishing career.

"We knew we had a good catch but certainly not the winning catch; this is absolutely amazing," Brant told the large spectator crowd.

For their efforts they won a 21' Contender Boat, Mercury powered, sitting on a custom aluminum Loadmaster trailer, plus cash totaling over $55,000.

Wear your title well, you certainly earned it!

Second place fell to the Reelentless team, Bennie Goldman Sr. and Jr., plus Jeremy Goldman, Pam Goldman, John Wallington, and Stacy Wester, with a two fish aggregate of 100.60.

Fishing a Yamaha powered Contender, the team arrived at the Horseshoe salt dome with the rest of the fleet. "Like most of the other teams we were drifting and pitching baits," said the elder Goldman. "It was such an incredible bite, absolutely amazing. If you didn't enjoy this fishing you need to get out of this sport."

The team worked hard, many times with six kings hooked up at the same time. "It was a process of elimination," Goldman went on to tell me. "We caught our 41.95 early but it wasn't until 10:30 when we hooked up to the 58.65 when she ate a rouge mullet we caught in the Back Bay."

The team never quit and after going through a hundred mullet and forty hard tails the team had to re-bait. "We caught thirty more hard tails but as the afternoon progressed we just didn't see a fish better than the 41. I truly believe we caught a hundred kings Saturday."

The team qualified out of Division 7 earning third in the overall standings. Their biggest fish in Divisional competition came in Fourchon, a 51.03. They certainly have to be considered one of the best family fishing teams in the country today.

The third place team could have won the event except a hammerhead shark got their second good fish right at the boat.

The No Mercy / Dealer's Choice Yamaha powered Contender team caught a nice 52.45 at ten thirty while drift fishing also at the salt dome. Steve Cunningham, Shawn Steverson, John Hall, Chip Sheehan, Ike Maulden, and Lindsay Duffield still had a really good event.

Their bait, large hard tails and as Ike tells it, "The bigger the better. I caught our second king, a 45.58 at 12:30 and we had a couple more that looked like twins but the one the shark got, which was as big as the 52, would have given us the win but it just wasn't meant to be."

The team has nothing to be ashamed about, knowing that they did the same thing as everyone else but just couldn't get that one other big fish. How many teams experienced the same dilemma?

Their two-fish aggregate totaled 98.03.

In the Open Class Championship, there were kings in the fifty-pound range and in the forties. That's just incredible!

The No Mercy / Dealer's Choice team wanted to thank Contender, Yamaha, Daiwa Reels, and Leeward Rods of Miami for their help this season.

Perry Warner got a great deal after Ken Clinton, Intrepid Boat President, let them fish Intrepid's new 40 foot boat they brought to the Nationals to give demo rides and showcase the new boat. They named their team Team Intrepid / Triple Edge, the name they use, in Division 6 competition.

Perry, along with John Molfetto, Steve Hays, and Kevin Grissinger, bought good fresh mullet before check-out and had a very easy ride out to the Horseshoe. "We had a mountain of mullet and really needed every bit of what we had," Perry told me. "It was the most incredible bite I've ever experienced. Kevin caught the 49.70 while Steve reeled in their 47.41 for a 97.11 fourth place finish. We had a shot at a couple more big fish but just couldn't get them in the boat. I believe the secret to getting better fish in the bite was having the biggest and freshest bait you could get. They're waiting for the mullet run offshore so that's what we went with."

Perry certainly wanted to thank Intrepid for the use of the great boat. "I couldn't have been more impressed," Perry elaborated. "We had tons of room, a super comfortable ride, and a design perfect for tournament fishing. We put 300 pounds of ice into the coffin box up front on Monday and we still had plenty of ice left when we finished up Saturday evening. Ken even had the latest in Garmin Electronics installed which I use on my boat so it made everything very easy."

ProMarineUSA.com/Hannon's Cannon earned fifth with a 95.70 aggregate.  "As usual we were not disappointed," said Kevin Hannon who fishes with Jim Naset, Chris Blackwell, and Rick Cook. "Jim caught the biggest king, a 56.50, we've ever caught on the Yellowfin. We were just drifting just like the rest of the fleet using skirted hard tails deep. We got her in the boat and of course had high hopes but the best we could do the rest of the day was to bring in a 39.20."

Kevin was extremely grateful for the team's sponsors this year, ProMarineUSA.com, Dogfish Tackle, and Fisherman's Ideal Supply House.

In retrospect many will look at the close results and the extraordinary bite everyone experienced once again in Biloxi. The experience will last at least till we can get back to Biloxi. Some may elect to change tactics somewhat but second-guessing is not the answer. Everyone who was there did his or her best but sometimes fate has a lot to do with it and, remember, everyone was basically doing the same thing. Unfortunately, there were just too many high twenty- and thirty-pound fish in the mix. 

Just look at Paul Jacquin, Robert Jacquin, Tony Crouch, Chris Player, and Kevin Beeten who were fishing the Lil' Devil.com/Team Motor Boatin, a Yamaha powered Contender. They scaled a 47.78 and a 47.22 for a 95.00 sixth place finish. What a great tournament! Either one of these two fish would have won just about any event the SKA sanctions. It had to be the best day the team has ever experienced. They didn't win the event but did they really lose? Only monetarily!

“This being our first time fishing here, we just followed the fleet to the Horseshoe,” Paul elaborated. “We were on the west side of the fleet and caught three fish in the forties between 9:30 and 11:30. I have to tell you we were not prepared for what the environment handed us. We had east coast tackle for these giant fish. It won’t happen again!”

The team had to make a twenty-mile run mid day to re-bait. “After we caught bait, we stayed and caught the biggest fish right there in 65 to 70 feet of water.” It was extraordinary. We just don’t see this off Ft. Pierce. I do hope we have a chance to go back there next year. We want another shot at these extraordinary fish.”

I talked to Pete Harper, who heads up the Mr. Magoo team out of Georgia's Division 4. Harper, Buddy Webb, and Michael Karwacki had a 57.85 in the boat at nine o'clock. Shortly after the fish was on ice they put out their fifth bait of the morning and immediately were hooked up again. Pete told me, "As we got her close to gaff we realized she was as big as the one we had just put on ice. All I could see was that gold trophy and the title going back to Georgia. Then it happened, she chewed her way through a three-hook rig with number six wire and was gone. I watched as my trophy swam away and it didn't go down well." The best they could the rest of the day was a 32.33 for a 90.18 aggregate.

The Briar Creek Fishing/Miss Kimberly team with Gary Wammock, Mark Tanner, David Rountree, and David Faircloth finished eighth with an 89.97 aggregate.

"We had our 49.36 and 40.61 in the boat before nine o'clock," said Gary. "We were using mullet down, caught a lot of fish but the early bite, which was on when we got there, was the best for us. It seemed to slow and the fish got a little smaller as the day progressed."

They fish a Yamaha powered Yellowfin.

Erik Bergerman, Brian Brandano, and Aaron Salvant make up the Under Armour/Caliente team fishing a Mercury powered Yellowfin, who earned ninth place with a 46.03 and a 43.84. That's an 89.87 aggregate.

Rounding out the top ten were Thomas Mangan, Mo Mangan, Jason Hehr, and Steve Schmidt who scaled a 49.73 and a 40.06 for an 89.79 aggregate.

They fish a Yamaha powered Contender.

As the scales closed on Saturday night, five fifties were hung, fifty-two in the forty-pound class, and ninety in the thirties. Pretty spectacular for one day's fishing and we're only talking about the Open Class. You must read the story about the Small Boat competition.

That's the type of fishing we're talking about! Fishing that everyone who was there will be talking about for many years to come or at least till we get back to Biloxi!

Open Class