(* Denotes a Class of 23 Team)

Reel Heel is Top Gun in Town Creek Shootout
Bear Cat Nails Down Class of 23 Win
Sam White, Southern Kingfish Association
October 2, 2000

Morehead City, NC—Don Westbrook and the Reel Heel team were in an unfamiliar situation during the recent Town Creek Shootout tournament, held in conjunction with the final Pro Tour event of the 2000 season. They were actually sitting at the dock early, awaiting the scales opening at 3 PM later that afternoon.

“We always seem to catch our fish right at the last minute,” Westbrook said, “so this is all kinda new to us. But it sure is a good feeling, knowing we’ve got a good fish this early.”

The Reel Heel team has had several top tournament finishes so far this year, including a win at the Topsail event with a fish they boated literally at the eleventh hour on the final day of competition. They broke their tournament routine at Town Creek, though, bagging their 38.5 pounder right off the bat Saturday morning.

“We ran off the beach into 30 to 40 feet of water where we had caught good fish in the past,” Westbrook reported. “Most of the other boats ran right past us, but we saw a bunch of fish skyrocketing bait there and put the lines out.”

At 8:30, the team had a solid hookup on a toplined pogy and were trailing this fish when another even larger king mackerel nailed a bait they had purposely left out behind the boat. Angler Lee Westbrook gamely fought the nice king as it lead them directly offshore, a classic big-king move.

“The water was real dirty,” Don said, “so all we saw was a shadow of the fish. But we did see that it had girth.” A short while later, their fish was aboard the Mercury-powered Glacier Bay. “The bite seemed to die off around noon, so we talked about it and decided to head on in,” said the proud captain. “We didn’t think it would hold up, but it did. It’s great to finally catch one early.”

Barrington Page and Chad Holdridge have been top competitors in the Class of 23 for several seasons now, and were just waiting for a break to come their way in tournament competition. They had their shot at Town Creek when a 37.7 pound kingfish came calling.

“We went out to the rock jetty at the Cape,” Page reported. “It looked the fishiest that I’ve ever seen--there was a ton of bait in the area, there were pelicans diving, schools of bluefish working glass minnows, everything just looked really good.”

Their big king nailed a pogy fished far behind the Suzuki-powered Otech catamaran, nearly spooling a fully-loaded TLD15 in the process. Holdridge battled the fish for the better part of a half-hour, slowly regaining line the entire time as Page ran after the big king. The pair continued to fish a bit longer at the Cape before heading inshore to the popular Dead Tree Hole. However, they couldn’t better the one they already had aboard, and soon decided to run to the scales, where it would hold up as the winner of the tournament’s Class of 23 division.

Mitch Yates captained the Sea Rat to a second place in the Overall division with a 29.3 pounder. The team elected to purchase bait before checking out in order to be one of the first boats at their selected spot, the Barge Wreck in fifty feet of water offshore of Beaufort Inlet. They quickly set up over the Barge and began a series of power drifts with the wind and current. On their first drift over the structure, their fish was hooked up.

Trent Callahan fought the fish for over 45 minutes in the rough and building seas before it could be brought to the boat. “All our bites came on top,” Yates reported. “It was too rough to use our downriggers.” He also wanted to thank Mike Webb at Webb’s Fiberglass and Sports for his help throughout the season, as well as KenCraft boats and Evinrude outboards.

Roy Byrd and Bear Croft finished third overall in the Town Creek tournament, adding to their winnings in the Pro Tour during the weekend. They are also known for pulling out a good king at the last minute, and this weekend would reinforce the fact that you can never give up in tournament fishing.

“We were fishing out the day at the Dead Tree Hole with only about a 12 pounder in the box to show for our efforts,” Byrd said. “We had a lot of fish, but they were just all small.” Then the Wild Injun team moved offshore a bit into 50 feet of water. That’s when their best fish of the weekend decided to chew, at 3:45 in the afternoon.

The pair boated the feisty 28.2 pounder at ten minutes after four before making the fairly short run to the scales, which closed at 5 PM! They would be followed in the standings by Fred Piper and William Dowd on the Sand Piper with a 27.1 pound kingfish. Brad and Linwood Clark put the Thumpin into fifth with an identical 27.1 pounder, weighed in shortly after the Sand Piper’s. Michelle Cameron was the tournament’s top Lady Angler on the Ole’, and Marcus Denning was the top Junior for his participation on the Reel Heel.

SIDEBAR: TENACITY TOPS DIVISION ONE

Edward and Cathy Dineen, fishing with Jack Barnes aboard the Yamaha-powered Contender Tenacity, won the highly competitive Division One this year by better than ten pounds over their nearest competitor. Dineen captained the boat to a win at the Raleigh tournament with a 48.8 pound king mackerel.

They went on to several more top tournament finishes on the way to a season-ending total of a whopping 106.75 pounds. They were followed by Don Westbrook’s Reel Heel team, campaigning a Mercury-powered Glacier Bay in the Division One trail. Westbrook was aided by his tournament-winning 38.5 pound kingfish caught during the final event of the season in the division. The Reel Heel had a total three fish score of 96.80 pounds.

Henry Moore’s Bobcat team came in third place, anchored solidly by their 43.94 caught during the season opener at Swansboro. This is another team from the Yamaha and Contender camp that’s doing extremely well on the SKA circuit.

Barrington Page’s Suzuki-powered Otech catamaran, the Bear Cat, won the Class of 23 in Division One. He was also helped by his class-winning 37.7 pounder during the Town Creek Shootout, winding up with a total of 82.85 pounds.

Johnny and Shea Lewis came in second place in the division with 77.87 points on the Second Chanze. They run a Mercury-powered SeaCraft.

Craig King’s CK1 wound up in third with a total score of 71.34 pounds on a Nissan-powered Twin Vee. The new breed of small catamarans certainly came on strong in this class in North Carolina, with two of the craft in the top three.

Final Standings

1. REEL HEEL..............................38.5 Glacier Bay/Mercury Don Westbrook Leigh Westbrook Larry Denning Mark Denning Marcus Denning 2. SEA RAT...................................29.3 Kencraft/Evinrude Mitch Yates Mike Yates Trent Callahan 3. WILD INJUN...............................28.2 Donzi/Mercury Roy Byrd Bear Croft 4. SAND PIPER...........................27.1 HydraSports/Evinrude Fred Piper William Dowd 5. THUMPIN...............................27.1 Donzi/Mercury Linwood Clark Brad Clark	6. TEAM YELLOWFIN...........................26.3 Yellowfin/Mercury David Van Lent Wylie Nagler John Strome Dan Hockett 7. FOUNTAIN VENGEANCE.............................26.3 Fountain/Mercury Clayton Kirby Bryan Gillikin Russ Russell 8. RELEASE................................................24.7 Contender/Yamaha Mike Williams Gordie McAdams Rick Tudor 9. TEAM DUPREZ..........................23.7 Donzi/Mercury Don Workman Mike Collins Kerry Townsend 10. GATORBAIT.............................23.3 Fountain/Mercury Sandy Smith Matt Pitman
Final Standings Class of 23
1. BEAR CAT........................37.7 Otech/Suzuki Barrington Page Chad Holdridge 2. SECOND CHANZE....................21.2 SeaCraft/Mercury John Lewis Shae Lewis 3. KING’S JESTER............................20.9 Key West/Mercury Tim Staley Tommy Staley	4. TEAM BADFISH............................20.0 Albemarle/Mercury John Travis Owney Phil Cottrell Paul Prystash 5. PRIME TIME................................19.7 Irvette/Evinrude David Cantrell Ashley Cantrell Dick Smith

Got-Tu Bests the Field at Hardees
Sam White, Southern Kingfish Association
Interviews and Photos by George Summerlin
September 11, 2000

Atlantic Beach, NC—The Hardee’s Atlantic Beach King Mackerel tournament continues to be one of the premier events on the SKA Mercury Tournament Trail, hosting well over 500 boats every year. It’s the one that everyone who has ever fished in a tournament dreams of winning, and this year that dream became a reality for Randy Smith and Richard Williams on the Got Tu.

The pair elected to fish over the East Rock off Cape Lookout in search of a winner. Around noon on Day One, their number was finally called when a big smoker lunched on a live pogy fished midway back in the spread.

“Other than a few small sharks, it was our only good bite of the whole day,” Smith reported to George Summerlin later that afternoon at the docks. “I grabbed the rod and fought the fish while Richard drove the boat. It was pretty rough out there, but we were able to get on top of the fish after about 15 or 20 minutes.” The fish made one long initial run and several shorter ones before heading deep below the Yamaha-powered Grady-White. Several minutes later, Richard was able to successfully gaff the fish and bring it aboard, where it was immediately deposited into their well-insulated fishbag along with plenty of ice.

“We knew it was a good fish but had no idea at the time that it would hold up to win,” Smith reported. However, after checking in at the weigh in dock the team learned that no other large fish had been reported. They now had their shot at the big win--it was just a matter of waiting for another large kingfish to appear. When the scales finally closed on Day Two, their names stood alone at the top of the leaderboard. The event’s top prize money of over $50,000 in cash was theirs.

Boyce, Adam and Andy Broadwell, fishing with Neil Cecil, placed third in the Hardee’s behind non members on the Richochet. The Nauti Lady team fished in 80 feet of water on the East Side on Day Two, hooking up with their 36.25 pounder on the long line baited with a live pogy. Junior angler Adam bravely fought the big king in the rough seas for well over thirty minutes before dad Boyce could sink the gaff and bring the prize aboard the Johnson-powered Fountain 31. The whole team was overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment, knowing that they had boated a good fish in such challenging conditions. When the scales opened at noon, the Nauti Lady was waiting to weigh in their kingfish. It would be good for third place overall, earning Adam Broadwell a First Place in the SKA Junior Angler category as well.

The Miss Micki, captained by Richard Rowland, captured fourth place in this year’s Hardee’s tournament with a 35.15 pound kingfish. They headed off Drum Inlet on Day Two, deploying the spread in 45 feet of water. As angler Buddy Harris was dropping back a big pogy on a Penn spinning reel, the fish surfaced and nailed the bait. “I was really afraid the fish would spool me,” Harris said later. “But we were able to regain some line and eventually get him to the boat.” After thirty minutes, their 35.15 pounder was in the boat. Rowland headed the Suzuki-powered Wellcraft in the direction of the inlet and safety, but not before stuffing the bow into a cresting wave. The water tore the spray curtains off and filled the boat with water, but the quick-thinking captain immediately goosed the throttles and was able to clear the water in short order preventing another wave from swamping the boat.

Jack Russell, Jr. David May and Joe Beasley teamed up to scale a 33.35 pound kingfish to put the Big Time into fifth place overall. They also fished the East Side over the 30 Minute Rock, hooking up with their biggest king of the tournament around 9:15 in the morning on Day One. May battled the fish while Russell followed it in the Mercury-powered Privateer. “We could tell by the long runs that it was a good fish,” Russell reported to Summerlin later. “We stayed out until about 2:30, then decided to head on in and weigh him.” The team went back to the same area on Day Two, but word of the fishing there had quickly spread among the fleet. They counted roughly 125 boats there! Unfortunately, the team was unable to better their Day One fish and would have to settle for fifth overall in this year’s Hardee’s.

By all accounts, the Hardee’s continues to be a successful and well-organized event. They continue to raise money for the Atlantic Beach Fire Department as well as the Carteret County Artificial Reef program, among others in the community. If you’ve never had the opportunity to fish in this tournament, you really owe it to yourself to compete next year to see for yourself.

Final Standings

1. GOT-TU...............................40.00 Grady-White/Yamaha Randy Smith Richard Williams 2. Richochet................................38.00 3. NAUTI LADY.............................36.25 Fountain/Johnson Boyce Broadwell Andy Broadwell Adam Broadwell Neil Cecil 4. MISS MICKI..........................35.15 Wellcraft/Suzuki Richard Rowland Shannon Suggs Bill McLamb Buddy Harris 5. BIG TIME................................33.35 Privateer/Mercury Jack Russell, Jr. David May Joe Beasley

6. Jeannie Lynn............................33.10 7. TERESA GALE II.........................32.20 Fountain/Mariner Benson Ybanez Stan Jarusinski Scott Wilson 8. TEAM MAY CRAFT............................31.75 MayCraft/Mercury John Wilkins Johnathon Wilkins Ken Wilkins Doug Wilkins 9. KING CREECHER.........................31.25 Fountain/Mercury Al Fulford Kyle White David Rourk 10. REEL SCREAMER.................................30.15 Kencraft/Evinrude Chip Sanders Chad Sanders

Lewises Use Second Chanze to Top CCSA Tourney
Sam White, Southern Kingfish Association
July 25, 2000

Beaufort, NC—The Budweiser Cartaret County Sportfishing Club’s annual King Mackerel tournament has a slightly unique format--one full day of fishing followed by an abbreviated second day on the water. Most teams took advantage of the five o’clock cutoff on Day One to scale their points fish, then they went “hawg hunting” on Day Two.

That’s exactly what happened aboard the Second Chanze, Johnny and Shea Lewis’ black-hulled SeaCraft 23. After scaling a modest fish for divisional points, the husband and wife team headed back to sea in search of a winner. They would return with such a fish shortly after the scales opened at noon on Sunday.

Day Two found them back over the Portland on the East Side. Their fish hit a bait that was just being dropped back into the spread, but initially didn’t make a strong run. “We didn’t think it was a king, you could feel him shaking his head,” Lewis reported. Ten minutes into the fight, however, the fish suddenly came alive and smoked for the horizon. Angler Shea Lewis went to work recovering line, then the team saw the fish circling far below in the clear water. “That’s when we knew it was a good one,” Johnny said. “Shea backed off on the drag and we took our time.” As he gaffed the fish, he knew it was a good one but wasn’t sure if it would be enough to top the Day One leader, a 43.15. “We’ve had a lot of seconds and thirds, but never a win. We decided to head inshore to some big fish spots to see if we could do any better before heading to the scales,” Lewis reported.

Once the big king was handed over to weighmaster Dale Ward, the team held their collective breath as the scale settled on 45.2 pounds. The gathered spectators let out a cheer, the Second Chanze was in first place for good.

Mel Hoard and the Tidewinder team would have to settle for second place, after leading the event throughout the first day of fishing in their purple and yellow Contender fisharound. “It’s a little disappointing,” he said later, “but it’s still great to finish so well in such a competitive group of fishermen.” He reported fishing inshore of the Chicken Rock on the East Side in 75 feet of water.The big boy hit a ribbonfish down some 55 feet,” Hoard said. Angler Margaret Johnson fought the big king slowly to the surface, determined not to put too much pressure on the fish during the 30 minute battle. “Once he was in range, we put two gaffs into the fish--we were not going to take any chances!” Hoard reported. Their 43.15 would be the second fish over forty pounds weighed in by the field during the weekend.

Dan and Ken Upton, fishing with John Lee Ingram, put the Team Donzi into third place in the tournament with a 37.70 pound king. The team began the day off Drum Inlet, finding only small fish there. Radio chatter indicated much the same on the normally-productive East Side spots, so as the bite slowed around noon the team moved to the Atlas Tanker offshore.A short quarter-hour later, the medium flatline took off. “

That one was baited with a naked pogy, and the fish just nailed it,” the younger Upton reported. “About fifteen minutes later, we saw the fish after it had made two long runs for John Lee who was on the rod. She just rolled up dead tired at the boat, so Dan had a pretty easy gaff shot in the clear water.” Ken said sea conditions were “about average for the East Side,” and the team had a smooth ride in to the scales. “This is our first tournament in our new 32, and the boat definitely catches fish!”

Scott Davis, Matt Funtal and Steve Sparks put Davis’ Yamaha-powered Cobia, Wishbone, into fourth place overall. They fished an undisclosed spot to locate their 35.45 pound king mackerel during the first day of fishing. Davis and the Wishbone team were followed by Eddie and Michelle Cameron in fifth on the Ole’. They scaled a 34.9 on the second day of fishing to round out the top five.

Despite the rainy weather during the event, the staff and volunteers of the CCSA are to be congratulated for another fine tournament this year. From the captain’s meeting to the awards, the entire weekend was well-organized and well-run. The record number of participants that turned out this year attests to the hard work of the staff.

For a complete recap and photos of the CCSA tournament, see the upcoming issue of Angler Magazine, the official publication of the SKA.

Final Standings

1. SECOND CHANZE.........................45.20 SeaCraft/Mercury Johnny Lewis Shae Lewis 2. TIDEWINDER..........................43.15 Contender/Yamaha Mel Hoard 3. TEAM DONZI.....................37.70 Donzi/Mercury Dan Upton Ken Upton John Lee Ingram David Lane 4. WISHBONE.......................35.45 Cobia/Yamaha Scott Davis Matt Funtal Steve Sparks 5. OLE’.....................34.90 HydraSports/Evinrude Eddie Cameron Michelle Cameron 6. REEL HOOKER.....................34.80 Mako/Yamaha Mark Williamson Donald Pittman 7. CRYSTAL TE............................34.20 Grady-White/Evinrude John Parks Kevin Barbee Keith Overman 8. REELIN AND ROCKIN........................33.80 Paramount/Mercury Kenny Lane Dawn Lane Mike Spencer

9. HOT GRITS........................33.10 Parker/Yamaha Andy Hinton Greg Theodorakis David Stallings 10. RAWHIDE...................32.35 HydraSports/Johnson Terry Godwin Jake Godwin Richard Keck Todd Summerlin 11. MACK-A-RONI.........................32.10 Contender/Yamaha Charlie Satterwhite Jacky Johnson 12. CHAIN SMOKER.........................32.05 Privateer/Mercury Ty Conti Brian Bracey Chip Jackson Randy Brant 13. TEAM KENCRAFT...................31.65 KenCraft/Mercury Clay Croom Perry Johnson John Rouse 14. CHASER I.......................31.20 Ranger/Mercury Cecil Wallace J.L. Nichols Don Whelen 15. FISH MARKET......................30.75 Robalo/Johnson Bill Medlin

Tenacity Tops Record Field for Raleigh Tournament
Sam White, Southern Kingfish Association
June 26, 2000

Conditions (one day tournament):
Winds: Southeast, 10 Kts. or less and switching during the day
Seas: 2-4 ft.
Air Temp: mid-80s

Atlantic Beach, NC—The husband and wife team of Edward and Cathy Dinneen and their good friend Jack Barnes knew that they had a great fish aboard the Yamaha-powered Contender, Tenacity. However, they probably had no idea it would be the largest kingfish boated during the Raleigh Saltwater Sportfishing Club's 16th Annual King Mackerel Tournament.

This year's event broke all participation records for the club, as they hosted over 260 boats for the second tournament in North Carolina's Division One. The Snead's Ferry-based team began their search for bait around marker 18 in New River, soon filling the Contender's livewell with large, hearty pogies. "We spent the first 90 minutes working the tideline around the inlet hoping for a big hit early on the outgoing tide," Dinneen reported. "But we were dogged by some big sharks that were in the area with the shrimp boats, so we picked up and headed out to an area off New River Inlet. Within 20 minutes of putting the lines out, we had a good strike on the starboard downrigger, baited with a big pogy and set at 20 feet." After 20 minutes, the fish was boated, bagged and iced down, all before 9 in the morning.

By 12:30, the team elected to head for Bogue Inlet, "with following seas and big smiles." They would arrive at the scales shortly before they opened at three in the afternoon. The team erupted into cheers as the weighmaster called out the fish's weight: 48.4 pounds! "We were figuring low forties by sight," Edward reported. "I thought it was a strong money fish so we didn't bother with the digital scale, but 48 pounds sure was a pleasant surprise. We're all on cloud nine!"

Denny Spence, his son David, Steve Walton and Gary Unger finished second in the Raleigh tournament, boating a 40.3 pounder. They saw the Dinneens weigh in their fish and realized it was now a scramble for second place in the tournament. Unger had planned on fishing his own boat, In The Red, but an onboard electrical fire laid waste to those plans. The Greenville Marine boat was positioned off Bogue Inlet when their 40 pounder came calling on the long shotgun line.

Angler Steve Walton is no stranger to catching big kings, having been a veteran of the SKA tournament trail for many years now. But even he was surprised at the strength and power of this particular fish, which continued the pattern of running long on the surface then going deep over ten times. Walton was on the rod for over thirty minutes, but according to the angler, "it felt like two days." When Spence was finally able to gaff the fish, it was still full of fight, threatening to rip the gaff from his hands. Once aboard, the hooks fell right out onto the boat's deck. The team then decided to run to the Morehead sea buoy to fish for a few hours before heading to the scales at Seawater Marina. David Spence was the SKA's Top Junior Angler for the tournament for his participation during the weekend.

Tony Ross' Mariner-powered KenCraft Wet-n-Wild was the first boat to the scales during the one day event with another good fish aboard. Ross and his team fished over his pet numbers early in the morning without success, then hit several other spots before finding themselves over the East Rock. "We fished a couple spots before moving to the Chicken Rock. No fish there, so we left and went over to the East Rock and that's where we got him," Ross reported. After a short fight, Ross had the prize aboard and was off and running for the weigh in.

The Backlash, captained by Ven Faulk and crewed by Billy Long and David Crisp Jr., finished fourth in the tournament and first in the SKA's Class of 23. Faulk runs a Johnson-powered McKee Craft 23. They elected to fish off New River Inlet in just 25 feet of water to locate their fish, a fat 34.65 pounder. "We got out there late, about 8:30, and fished for about 45 minutes before the strike," Faulk reported. The bite occurred on a ribbonfish down 15 feet, at which point Ven grabbed the rod as the fish smoked offshore in typical big king fashion. They had him on the deck in short order. "This is our first good tournament finish," Faulk said. "And we're looking to have a good season this year."

Don Westbrook's Mercury-powered Glacier Bay Reel Heel continues to be successful on the NC kingfish circuit. He fished with Leigh Westbrook and Larry, Mark and Marcus Denning to round out the top five in the Raleigh tournament with a 32.7 pounder. "We went back to the tideline off Carolina Beach that had produced some big fish the week before," Westbrook said. "We caught a small fish and then a 24 there, then moved out to the 30/30 area." The bite turned on late in the afternoon at the 30/30 in 75 feet of water, as the team immediately got back into the fish. That's when the big boy came calling with just twenty minutes left before they would be forced to make the long run to the scales. "We've caught several good tournament kings in the last few minutes, though," Westbrook reported.

Bruce Andrews and the entire staff of the Raleigh Saltwater Sportfishing Club deserves a hearty pat on the back for their hard work during the tournament. They continue to do a great job and the increasing participation by the fishermen is proof of this dedication to running a first class event.

The next tournament in North Carolina's Division One will be the Budweiser Cartaret County Sportfishing Association's KMT, to be held July 21-23 at Town Creek Marina. Call Gary Unger at 252-726-2543 for more information. And for a complete recap of the Raleigh tournament, see the upcoming issue of Angler Magazine, the official publication of the SKA.

Final Standings

1. TENACITY........................48.4 Contender/Yamaha Edward Dinneen Cathy Dinneen Jack Barnes 2. GREENVILLE MARINE........................40.3 Fountain/Mercury Denny Spence Steve Walton David Spence Gary Unger 3. WET N' WILD..................................38.05 Kencraft/Mariner Tony Ross 4. * BACKLASH.......................................34.65 McKee/Johnson Ven Faulk Billy Long David Crisp, Jr. 5. REEL HEEL......................................32.7 Glacier Bay/Mercury Don Westbrook Leigh Westbrook Larry Denning Mark Denning Marcus Denning 6. * GRIN & BARRETT...................................32.05 Parker/Yamaha Barrett Davis John Phillips John Humphries 7. JACKPOT.....................................31.35 Contender/Yamaha Tat Fearing Gary "Mullet" Johnson Benji Doughtie

8. MISS DAWN.......................................29.7 Aquasport/Johnson Bill Hogshire Teresa Hogshire Stephanie Brown Wesley Brown 9. * GI JOE.................................................29.7 Kencraft/Johnson Joe Marlette Nancy Marlette 10. HOT GRITS...................................28.65 Parker/Yamaha Andrew Hinton Greg Theodorakis David Stallings 11. * GOD'S COUNTRY..............................28.6 Parker/Evinrude Bobby Norville Bobby Parker 12. SORRY BOY..............................28.45 Oceanic/Evinrude Joe Beam, Jr. Ronnie Ennis David Newsom David Ennis, Jr. 13. THE CHASE...........................27.75 ProLine/Mercury Tim Chase Courtney Chase Stan Chase Harriet Chase 14. * STEEL FISHIN'.................................26.85 Key West/Yamaha William "Pod" Alligood

SKA WELLCRAFT JUNIOR ANGLERS 1. David Spence.....Greenville Marine     2. Marcus Denning.....Reel Heel     3. David Ennis, Jr......Sorry Boy

 

Blues Traveler Nabs Division One Opener in Swansboro!
Jack Holmes, Southern Kingfish Association
May 30, 2000

Swansboro, NC— Jonathan Popkin lost his Fountain boat to a traffic accident three weeks ago and had to use Ken Urangell's new Mercury powered Jupiter to start his teams quest for a division one win and a hometown advantage in this years Nationals. "It's a beautiful boat and did everything we asked of her and then some, it really wasn't nice out there this weekend," said an excited Urangell as he was given the thumbs up for the first Division one tournament win of the new millennium.

"We worked the tide line hard," said Popkin, as they weighed their first day's fish, a 35.17. We were off the river channel working a ledge in 40 feet when she hit a double pogy rig on the downrigger." The secret however, in winning a tournament with a two day aggregate is putting that second fish on the scale the next day. "We worked the internet hard," said the third team member Tim Moore. "We looked for water temp breaks and warm water flow and came up with the 30 / 30." The fish they needed came at 1:30 pm, a 25.76. Their two fish aggregate went 60.93.

Fred and Dane Piper had the lead and as a strong storm approached the weigh in site around 3 pm there was talk of even money bets that the Piper's Sandpiper, a spanking new Hydra Sports, was a shoe in. They had put a 36.03 on the scale the first day that they caught at 8 am south of Frying Pan Tower using an angelfish for bait. Then they squeaked in before the storm and weighed a 20.8 for a 56.83 aggregate. They earned second.

Mercer Marine earned third place honors on the strength of a 16.09 caught the first day, then scaling a 30.35 on day two. Charles Bowden's new Mercury powered Donzi with Billy Hines and Danny Phelps on board, nailed a 46.44 aggregate, bettering 273 other teams and taking a big chunk of change homes for their efforts.

The big fish of the tournament was the Bobcat's, a 43.94. A beautiful fish that earned Henry Moore III, Eric Swain, and Tracy Moore fourth place in the tournament and tops in the big fish TWT. Tracy was awarded the top female honors. Had they had a fish on the first day, who knows, they may have been your winner. "It was our first bait out," said Swain. We were dropping a double pogy rig back and it hit. We only fished for 45 minutes." They were fishing Jesse's Ledge off Topsail.

Mark Moore rounded out the top five aboard his Grouper Nancy. The popular restaurateur was one of the real consistent teams this weekend. He scaled a 20.67 on the first day and a 18.39 on day two for a 39.06 agg.

Final Standings

1. BLUES TRAVELER....................60.93 Fountain / Jupiter...Mercury Jonathan Popkin Tim Moore Ken Urangell 2. SANDPIPER II....................56.83 Hydra Sports...Evinrude Fred Piper Dane Piper 3. MERCER MARINE....................46.44 Donzi...Mercury Charles Bowden Billy Hines Danny Phelps 4. BOBCAT....................43.94 Contender...Yamaha Henry Moore III Eric Swain Tracy Moore 5. GROUPER NANCY....................39.06 Hydra Sports...Evinrude Mark Moore

6. CAROLINA BANDIT....................38.90 Contender...Yamaha Lonnie Jones III Lonnie Jones 7. CK ....................38.30 (Top 23') Twin V...Nissan Kevin Alley Craig King 8. LIVE WIRE....................36.97 Regulator...Yamaha Earl Clewis Stanley Rehder 9. THREE QUARTER TIME....................33.84 Boston Whaler...Mercury Lou Owens Pete Owens Lynn Philyaw Ed Brooks 10. RAWHIDE....................32.97 Hydra Sports...Johnson Terry Godwin Todd Summerlin