(* Denotes a Class of 23 Team)

Reel Young Tops SKA Fleet at SC Outdoors Mack Attack
By Sam White
September 12, 2001

CHARLESTON, SC--Freddie Travis knew his team on the Reel Young neededjust a couple more good kings on their side of the board in order to be in contention to possibly win the division. Travis, fishing with teammate Trey Young, got the fish they wanted during the first day of the South Carolina Outdoors “Mack Attack” tournament.

The Reel Young topped the field of SKA-registered boats with a third place finish in the event. A tip on good fish holding well offshore prompted Travis to run the triple Yamaha-powered Contender 36 into deeper water, where the team found a hot bite of fish in progress. “We probably caught and released a half-dozen kings over 25 pounds,” Travis reported. “Then we got the one we were looking for in 90 feet of water on a double pogy rig in the propwash.” This was the first time that
Travis had ever fished the spot, but close friends had reported hordes of ravenous kings on the numbers.

The Reel Young actually went through three livewells full of bait in the process, and had to quit fishing by 1PM due to a lack of live bait. “We left there and headed into the Not So Secret to try and jig up more bait, but it just wasn’t happening,” Travis reported. The team would have to be happy with the one they already had in the box. Their 29.11 pound king lifted the team into second place in the divisional standings with just one event to go in the new Division Fourteen. The father and son team of David C. and David L. Yates rounded out the top five during the Mack Attack with a 28.28 pound kingfish to finish as the next highest SKA team in the tournament. The Yates Sea is another triple-engined
Contender 36. They too headed well offshore to locate their 28.28 pound fish. That now gives the team over 55 pounds with just two fish to their credit and one more event to go in the division. 

The top SKA Class of 23 captain for the tournament was Bill Hughes. He had just purchased a new Yamaha-powered Sea Pro 21 prior to the Hanckel Marine tournament, and hasn’t even had a chance to name his new boat yet. Hughes
also learned a valuable lesson in tournament fishing right off the bat: never give up until it’s all over. His team had their biggest fish of the day on the second day of the tournament some 21 miles off the beach. There was just one hour of fishing time remaining when the king struck, prompting Hughes and his team to immediately clear all lines and get the fish to the boat without delay. The Sea Pro made it back to the dock in time to check in and weigh their fish, which pulled the scales down to 27.70 pounds. A nasty thunderstorm had moved into the area, and they were quite happy to be back on dry land with a good fish in hand as well.

Tournament veteran Rosemary Van Lent was the SKA’s Top Lady Angler for the Mack Attack event aboard Team Yellowfin. Her 27.65 pound king nailed a pogy fished deep on the downrigger roughly 30 miles south of Charleston Harbor. The big king smoked off 200 yards of line, forcing Rosemary to battle the fish for over 20 minutes before it came to boatside, as her father Robert Gabler took the helm of the Mercury-powered Yellowfin in an attempt to regain lost line.

A short while later, David Van Lent was able to sink the gaff into the fish and bring it aboard. As a result, Gabler now occupies third place in the Senior Angler standings, while Rosemary holds down fifth place in the Lady Angler standings for Division Fourteen. This is an experienced team with many years of tournament competition under their collective belts, so watch out for them in the final event of the season in Charleston. Bill Haire, Bobby Martin, Ronda Abshire and the entire staff of the Kingmasters television show were on hand throughout

Final Standings

1. Judgment Day...............40.91 2. Luna Tuna..................32.28 3. REEL YOUNG................29.11 Contender/Yamaha Freddie Travis Trey Young Mark Gallup 4. Skurvy Dog.......................28.56 5. YATES SEA...................28.28 Contender/Yamaha David C. Yates David L. Yates 6. * NO NAME.................27.70 Sea Pro/Yamaha Bill Hughes	7. TEAM YELLOWFIN.............27.65 Yellowfin/Mercury David Van Lent Rose Van Lent Robert Gable 8. * TRIPLE GOBBLE................27.21 HydraSports/Johnson Jeff Weathers Greg Weathers 9. * MIKEY LIKES IT II................26.64 Grady White/Johnson Mike Hubbard Michael Hubbard Carolyn Hubbard 10. SOLID SURFACE..............26.52 Palmetto/Mercury Andy Nettles Mike Rumph

 

Fishing for Mircales win Falls to Reel A Meal
By Sam White
September 12, 2001

CHARLESTON, SC--The level of excitement was off the board prior to the captain’s meeting for the Fishing For Miracles tournament. This event is the largest saltwater tournament in the state of South Carolina, hosting over 200 boats annually, and everyone was looking forward to a fun event. This year, 221 boats turned out for a shot at the top prize of $25,000 in cash.

The weather forecast called for the ocean to be a bit bumpy but still quite fishable, and locating bait didn’t seem to be much of a problem either. The fish also seemed to be found close to shore, giving the small boats an equal shot at the win. And when Rob Bonifay eased his 20-foot Mariner-powered Key Largo to the weigh in dock just after the scales opened on the first day of fishing, I knew that the fishing reports were indeed correct.

 “We went right to the lighthouse and baited up first thing this morning,” Bonifay reported. “No problem finding pogies, so we headed straight offshore about 14 miles.” The team ended up fishing in 60 feet of water. When asked why he chose that location, Bonifay said the team had prefished and found decent kings there. “It’s known as a big fish location, even though there isn’t any bottom structure to hold bait or kings,” he said. “There are schools of Spanish that move through the area, though, and the kings are normally there.” The team put out a spread of pogies and ribbonfish at 7:30 in the morning and were quickly rewarded by a doubleheader of nice kings.

The largest of the two ended up being a 34.05 pound king,while the other would weigh only about 18 pounds. “I was gladtoseethatwegotbothfishintheboat,”Bonifay reported. “We knew it was a pretty good fish, so weheadedonin.”Little did he know that their 34 pounder would hold up for two days to win the tournament wire-to-wire.

Matthew Montgomery’s Winsor Ann boated the tournament’s second place fish at 33.24 pounds. Montgomery fishes from a 23-foot Kenner, so he didn’t venture far offshore to find his winning fish, either. The Winsor Ann team also weighed in their fish early in the afternoon on the first day of the tournament.

Stuart Ballard’s new Contender 36, Tailwalker, showed up late in the day on Day Two with a good fish to weigh. Ballard and his team were literally soaked from head to toe, so I could tell he had caught the fish at the last minute before heading for the scales at top speed. “We ran this boat as hard as it’s ever been run before,” Ballard said. “We were a long ways away when we caught this one.” In fact, they were in such a rush to weigh their king, they didn’t even slow down long enough for a photo at the dock.

Their last minute fish would weigh 32.71 pounds. Joe and Paula Wells took the ladies fishing during the tournament, and finished fourth with a 32.71 pound kingfish. Everyone apparently had a great time on the water, as they were very excited to hold their fish up for the cameras at dockside. This is a top family fishing team based in South Carolina.

Congratulations are in order for all who participated in the Fishing for Miracles tournament this season. The event donates much of their proceeds to some great charitable organizations, and it’s an event that the SKA is proud to support. Their volunteer staff worked extremely hard to make the event a success. Combine that with a great location and you’ve got a real winner.

Final Standings

1. REEL A MEAL..................34.05 Key Largo 20/Mariner Rob Bonifay Alex Bonifay 2. WINSOR ANN..................33.24 Kenner 23/Evinrude Matthew Montgomery Tomas Mellage HC Robinson Jr. Jason Matkins 3. TAILWALKER........32.71 Contender 36/Yamaha Stuart Ballard Frank Clemons Chip Luchicotte 4. DIRTY WORK................32.71 Regulator 26/Yamaha Joe Wells Paula Wells Amelia Wells Logan Wells Suzanne Cauley Holly Purcell

5. C-Cooter.....................31.63 6. GREENWICH................31.26 Contender 21/Yamaha Michael McClain Donna McClain Chad Stewart 7. Skervy Dog................30.07 8. SEA JAY..................30.06 Grady White 20/Johnson James Johnson Marlene Augustine Kenny Pettit 9. Cathnany...................29.51 10. ADAM’S EVE...............29.17 Bertram 26/Mercruiser Adam Hampton

 

HANCKEL MARINE KINGFISH CLASSIC TURNS BITTA SWEET
By Sam White
August 8, 2001

CHARLESTON, SC--Jerry Tumbleston will tell you that it's a great feeling to get a new boat, a Yamaha-powered Contender 27 in his case, and put it into the winner's slip right off the bat. "We went to the Not So Secret hole on the first day, and had lots of small fish. It was pretty frustrating," Tumbleston reported. "Then we heard of good fish coming from the south, so we headed there on Day Two but again we only had small fish. A bunch of people were on the radio talking about a hot bite inshore, so we picked up and headed that way." But as any good fisherman will tell you, it's important to pay attention to the conditions when you're moving. Jerry and his team of Chuck Miller and Mike Hatfield ran across a three degree temperature break and literally acres of Spanish feeding on glass minnows on the surface. "It looked good, so we put out two lines on top," Jerry said. "We had one hookup and kept one rod in the shotgun holder out back, and that's the one that the big fish hit." Once the team saw that the first fish wasn't a king, they concentrated on the second. "The team really hasn't had much experience kingfishing, although they're good fishermen, so I didn't want to pressure them too much. Once I saw the fish, though, I knew it was a good one," Jerry related. Just over one hour later, the worn out king rolled up at the boat and came aboard without further struggle. At the scales it would weigh 40.42 pounds, giving the Bitta Sweet team enough for the win. "I was just having a great day running the new boat," said the proud captain. "To catch a winning fish was just the icing on the cake for us!"

Rick Ryan, Joel Wood and Bruce Gallup have already had a successful season this year, with a win at the Greater Wilmington on another Yamaha-powered Contender, the King Size. They travelled back to their home waters during that event to top both the pro and divisional tournaments, and were definitely looking forward to better fishing closer to home as the season progressed. They only had a 16 pounder to their credit once the scales closed on the first day, so they charged offshore on Day Two. "We caught lots of fish, but just nothing worth weighing in," Ryan reported, "so we headed for the Georgetown tideline around noon. There were about forty boats to the north, so we headed south to get away from the pack and put the lines out." And they didn't have long to wait. Their 35.38 pound kingfish smacked a double pogy rig on the "way back" rod at one in the afternoon before smoking the reel down on its' initial run. "The fish ran over 200 yards on top, then just died," Ryan said. "Joel only fought the fish for about 10 minutes before we could gaff it. It was a pretty good day in all--we weren't really looking for the win, just a good solid points fish, and we did what we came to do in the tournament."

Jim Banks and the Bonnie B team finished up behind the King Size with a 33.93 pound kingfish. Banks, fishing with John Gaeto and Chris Vines, elected to head well south of Charleston, fishing in 54 feet of water. A secret number, perhaps? Maybe. They also nailed their biggest fish of the weekend during the second day of competition as they were battling another fish. "We had one on, but intentionally left another pogy out behind the boat, and that's the one our bigger fish hit," Banks reported. Gaeto angled the big fish to the HydraSports 28 after a spirited thirty minute fishfight as the king made several nice long runs.

Billy Hubbard's Jolly Mon team topped the SKA's Class of 23 standings in the tournament. Hubbard and teammate Roy Butler headed offshore in their Yamaha-powered Grady-White and were rewarded with a 33.73 pound fish. They would hold onto fourth place in the tournament, as well as also gaining some valuable points for the small boat class. Paula Wells was the tournament's top Lady Angler. She fished with husband Joe on the Dirty Work, a Yamaha-powered Regulator, and fought a 28.54 pound king all the way to the gaff. The Dirty Work team rounded out the top ten for the event.

Final Standings

1. BITTA SWEET...................40.42 Contender/Yamaha Jerry Tumbleston Chuck Miller Mike Hatfield 2. KING SIZE..............35.38 Contender/Yamaha Rick Ryan Joel Wood Bruce Gallup 3. BONNIE B V....................33.93 HydraSports/Evinrude Jim Banks John Gaeto Chris Vines 4. * JOLLY MON...............33.73 Grady White/Yamaha Billy Hubbard Roy Butler 5. GOTTA LUV IT.................31.94 Palmetto/Mercury Bob White Gene Roberts Sheldon Peoples Gar Rozier

6. * SEA JAY......................31.61 Grady White/Johnson James Johnson Marlene Augustine Kenny Pettit 7. DONNA'S WORRY...................30.81 SeaVee/Mercury Ernie Diloretti Scott Flanders Ralph Bell Ryan Diloretti Mark Drolshagen 8. TEAM WINNER'S WORLD.................30.90 Fountain/Evinrude Ralph Turner Michael Smith Will McLeod 9. CAROLINA COCKY..................30.54 Contender/Yamaha Gene Seiveno Mike Watson Ed Burnette Tommy Johnston 10. DIRTY WORK...................28.54 Regulator/Yamaha Joe Wells Paula Wells Paul Douglas

 

G'S TOY TOP SKA BOAT AT RUMPH BROS. TOURNAMENT
by Sam White
Charleston, SC
May 25, 2001

Rusty Dunn and the G's Toy team were the top registered SKA team at this year's 13th Annual Rumph Brothers Marine King Mackerel Tournament.

Dunn, an SKA member since 1998, topped the standings by default since the winning boat didn't register for their points in the tournament. The G's Toy team of Dunn and his uncle Donald White (no relation to the author) started the day by filling the livewell with fresh pogies caught off Morris Island. "It was real foggy most all morning," Dunn said later. "We headed for the October Hole, which is 26 miles south of Charleston in about 50 feet of water to put the lines out. We were actually the first boat there, then a few more showed up after a while."

Being the first one certainly helped. Dunn was deploying the second line from the T-top when their 34.49 pound king nailed it. "He made one really long run out, then circled back and went right under the boat. I could see the bottom of the spool on the reel, and I was hollering at Donald to turn the boat around," he said. "Fifteen minutes later, we had him in the boat."

Dunn also reported releasing many other kings that day, going through forty or so baits in the process. "It was a great bite--we caught and released probably 25 fish that day. It was just perfect," he said. When asked about fishing in the Class of 23, Dunn replied that he's not afraid to run with the big boys, taking his Mercury-powered Mako just about anywhere the bigger boats are finding the fish. The G's Toy team now has a good lead in the new division's small boat class, and they're looking forward to a shot at qualifying for the SKA National Championship later this season.

Dirk McDonald's Sea D's team placed third in the event. McDonald, Steve Vernarec, Steven Beckham, Drayton McDonald and junior angler Keith Vernarec boated a 30.43 pound fish at an undisclosed location aboard their Yamaha-powered Contender 31. Keith was the SKA's top junior angler for the event as well.

Freddie Travis captained another Contender, the Reel Young, to the tournament's fifth spot behind non-members. Travis fished the triple-Yamaha powered Contender 36 with Mark Gallup and Ronald Crowe. They had a 28.83 pound kingfish in the tournament.

The real news during the Rumph Brothers event was the misfortune of the winning team, David Yates' Yates-Sea. During the captain's meeting, Yates thought his father David Senior had signed up the team for their points, while the elder Yates assumed his son had done the paperwork for the team. Unfortunately, neither had registered the boat.

They headed to the Not So Secret Hole, where they boated the tournament-winning 47.03 pound kingfish. It would have easily beaten the SKA state record for South Carolina of 46.52 pounds, set in 1997 by Allen Kinney. The fish would have been worth an added bonus of $50,000 (since the team was in a Yamaha-powered Contender) as part of the SKA's Break the Record promotion. "We had probably caught and released 20 kings by 9AM," Yates reported later. "Then that one hit the shotgun line with a big pogy, so we put him in the boat and came on in. That's when we realized that no one had signed up for the points. We were absolutely sick at the time when they announced that we would have broken the record, believe me. But what's done is done--we'll break it again next time around. And we will NEVER miss signing up for the points again, I can promise you that!"

The team also missed out on having a healthy lead in the new SKA division's points race for the National Championship. I would have loved to write an article about the record-breaking fish as well, so best of luck to the Yates Sea team in the future.

Final Standings

1. Yates Sea................................47.03 2. * G'S TOY............................34.49 Mako/Mercury Rusty Dunn Donald White 3. SEA D'S............................................30.43 Contender/Yamaha Dirk McDonald Steve Vernarec Steven Beckham Drayton McDonald Keith Vernarec 4. Sea Jay.......................................29.8 5. REEL YOUNG.................................28.83 Contender/Yamaha Freddie Travis Mark Gallup Ronald Crowe 6. TEAM WINNER'S WORLD........................28.54 Fountain/Evinrude Ralph Turner Michael Smith Will McLeod

7. STRETCHED OUT............................................28.25 Wellcraft/Yamaha Bill Bendell Ernie Melin Elvis Matzelle George Gayle 8. MIKEY LIKES IT 2..........................................28.18 Grady-White/Johnson James M. Hubbard Sr. Michael James Hubbard Jr. Carolyn Hubbard 9. TEAM YELLOWFIN...........................26.25 Yellowfin/Mercury David Van Lent Rose Van Lent Robert Gabler 10. LOOSE LUCY..............................................25.53 ProLine/Mercury Mike Kaminsky Susan Kaminsky Kevin Hoffman