FALL BRAWL KING CLASSIC
HOLDEN BEACH , NC
OCTOBER 18-19, 2002
By: Barrett McMullan

Patience and persistence: a lesson team Wild Ride experienced first hand thanks to crewmember and lady angler Shayna Griffin. Without his normal wingman Randy Edwards available, captain of the Wild Ride Randy Griffin opted to make the Fall Brawl a family affair by teaming up with his wife, top lady angler Shayna Griffin and his father Randy Griffin Sr. aboard their 23 foot Wellcraft. Having already qualified for nationals in division 13 the game plan according to Randy was to “go big or nothing at all.”

On Friday before the tournament the Wild Ride team was able to pen up some pogies, which were becoming more and more difficult to capture. When tournament morning arrived, Randy was pleasantly surprised by the condition of their bait, which held up well due to the cooler water temperatures. “We decided to fish the Lighthouse rocks first because that’s where we thought we had the best chance of catching the winner,” said Randy. After fishing the Lighthouse rocks for a couple hours early in the morning with only one short strike, radio talk about a good bite going on offshore at the Shark Hole got the best of Randy and he decided to make the run. At the Shark Hole the bite was definitely on as immediately the Wild Ride hooked up to an 18 lb fish. After fishing at the Shark Hole for a short time and seeing only smaller fish Randy was able to communicate with fishing friend Craig Hewes on the Reel Time who was back a little bit inshore of the Lighthouse rocks. “Craig really helped us out, we’ve been teaming up all year now and it has paid off. He let us know he had caught a 25 and that we might ought to come back in there,” said Randy. A short time later the Wild Ride was back, now a little inshore of the Lighthouse rocks on a ledge. After fishing for a while with no action the thought of running down to Myrtle Beach rock, where a hot bite of mid-twenty size fish was going on, had entered Randy’s mind.

According to Randy, “we actually brought in all the lines at one point and we were ready to make the run when my wife stepped in and made an executive decision. She said ‘Randy, you always run all over the place and end up with a fish in the mid-twenties. Let’s stay here, be patient, and sit it out.’” That was the end of the discussion about leaving where they were for the rest of the day. Like usual, patience and a firm decision paid off. Around 1:00pm the first fish bit and would prove to be a respectable 27 lbs. About an hour later the big boy decided to eat. “We were working the same area the whole time we were there,” said Randy. “About 400 yards behind the Get Fresh boat who was anchored and chumming we found some good bait and the very back edge of his slick. We came through, put it in neutral for about 30 seconds, and boom the fish was on and the rest is history.” The big fish ate a single pogy down 20 feet on the downrigger. After a 350 yard run offshore zig zagging between anchored boats Randy was finally was able to haul the old mossy back in over the side. When the fish was in the boat Randy said, “I think we might actually win this tournament.” Randy’s statement proved true, as their hog was placed on the scale she pushed down 39.85 lbs which secured the Wild Ride’s first big win and a second birth to nationals via division three. Way to go Wild Ride, see you in Biloxi!

The Moon Doggie boys (and girl) continued on their hot streak at Captain Brant’s 2002 Yamaha/Contender Fall Brawl King Classic. For the Wrightsville beach based brothers Billy and Mark Emert this tournament season has been one to remember. Adding to the memory of this season will be their most recent accomplishment of winning a cool 20k by finishing second in the tournament and second in the SKA. This ought to help ease the transition to the fast approaching off-season for Billy and Mark, who were accompanied on this occasion by their father Maurice and lady angler secret weapon Billy’s girlfriend Misty Clark.

The Moon Doggie team opted to catch bait and make the Cucumber rock on the east side of Frying Pan Shoals their first stop. With the beautiful weather, the 15 mile run out of Carolina Beach inlet to the area of ledges and hard bottom was no problem for the 31 Contender powered by twin Mercury Opti-Max engines. Billy reported fishing to be fairly hot all morning but found nothing but small fish. After making a few phone calls around lunch time and hearing of a decent bite going on near the Cape Fear River Channel and the close by Lighthouse rocks the team decided to make a move in hopes of finding a bigger class of fish. This decision proved to be the one that would change the Moon Doggie team’s day. Billy recalled, “We were running towards the river and stopped a mile or so short on the east side near the dump buoy. We saw a good color change and some bait working so we thought we’d just start there and work towards the river.” Fishing intuition is a powerful craft and for the Moon Doggie team they had plenty of it on this day. Not two minutes after they pulled up the first bait put in the water was sent into orbit. “We must have just dropped that three pound bluefish right in his mouth, I’m glad we put them out where we did,” said Billy. The fight was fairly uneventful as the fish tired himself out on a hard first run. The boat was taken quickly to the fish where after seeing him under the boat for only a couple minutes, Mark was able to seal the deal with the gaff. “We knew he was a pretty good fish when we saw him in the water,” said Billy, “but when he hit the deck, that’s when the hootin’ and hollerin’ began.” Radio talk all day had reported good fishing just no real big fish, so with this report in mind the Moon Doggie understandably never put out a second bait as they steered her on towards the hill. At the scales, the river channel smoker pushed down a solid 33.65 lbs, which would hold onto second place in the tournament, and was good enough to bring home second place in the SKA. Congratulations to the “Moon Doggie” team, no one deserves it more!

Third place in the SKA and fourth in the tournament went to the Live Line team with a 32.35 lb stud. Captain Michael Jackson teamed up with his son and first place junior angler David Jackson and friends Mike Savage and Mike Phipps aboard his 28 foot Caravelle. This Wilmington based team opted also to fish the Cape Fear River Channel. According to Michael, “We just decided to go on history for this time of year. It has always produced good fish during this month and plus we caught some good fish there last weekend so our decision about where to go was easy to make.” The Live Line team chose to anchor and chum, a fast growing kingfish tactic, to entice their kingfish strikes. “The fishing was not hot by any means,” said Michael, “but we just sat it out right near the sea buoy all day and had seven bites and caught five of them.” In addition to their big fish, the Live Line team also managed to capture four other mid-twenty class fish and one that went about 30 lbs. The big fish of the day bit a single pogy on a balloon around 2:15pm. Michael recalled, “The fish really burned it down. We had to come off the anchor and chase him down.” To add drama to the fight, as the kingfish was smoking down the reel he headed directly at a fish trap that was placed near the anchored boat just hours before. After circling the buoy several times and with some skilled angling by Michael the fish came clear and was put in the boat. As the fish came in the boat the hooks fell to the deck unassisted. Well done guys, way to kept that line tight!

With team captain Rick Ryan of the King Size unavailable to fish the Fall Brawl, long time fishing partner Joel Wood took the helm and put the King Size back on the winner’s stage once again. Joel and Ronald Crow, formerly of the “Fish’d In,” left out of Georgetown, South Carolina, and searched for pogies to no avail until 9:30am. However, they were able to catch a well full of some of the biggest greenies Joel had ever seen. With greenies and ribbonfish the King Size headed offshore to 70 feet of water on a secret black sea bass fishing hole that typically holds bait this time of year according to Joel. “As soon as we got there it was on,” said Joel. “We caught numerous fish in the mid to upper twenties all day long and the best thing was that we were by ourselves almost all day.” The biggest fish of the day fell victim to a slow-trolled ribbonfish on the downrigger. Joel commented, “The fish ran off a ton of line and at that same time a boat just passing by came extremely close to us and nearly cut him off but we eventually were able to get on top of him.” After seeing the fish down in the water Joel didn’t think he was all that big so instead of gaffing the fish he reached down and tailed him thinking he would unhook the fish and release it. Upon grabbing the tail when he couldn’t reach his fingers all the way around the tail he knew this one was going to the scales. At the scales, the short fat fish pushed down a surprising 32.3 lbs, which would be good enough for fourth place SKA and fifth in the tournament. Joel was very quick to thank his buddies on the Ronda Lynn team who finished sixth place for sharing the numbers to the secret spot with him.

The 2002 Fall Brawl King Classic held a unique position on the SKA Mercury trail this season. With the location of the tournament being in the geographic area of both division two and division three and with the lack of a fifth and final tournament in division three, it was decided that the Fall Brawl would take on a sanctioning for both a division two and a division three tournament. Fishing teams competing in one or both of these divisions had to declare, at the captain’s meeting prior to the Fall Brawl, which division they would be accruing points for, as points earned in the event could only be used towards one of the two divisions.

With the Moon Doggie declaring themselves division two eligible, they jumped right back into the mix for the race of division two champions. There is still one makeup event remaining in division two which will decide not only the overall winner, but also will determine those who will qualify for the national championship. Division three turned out to be a real nail biter as it came down to the very end at the Fall Brawl. With a late charge from the King Size it looked like they might have had it sewn up, but in the end first year competitor and long time fisherman Richard “Waccamaw” Boone on the Sea Duction walked away with the crown on the strength of his clutch 31.25 in this final tournament. Congratulations to the Sea Duction, and the Ronda Lynn, the 23 and under divison three champion, and the rest who qualified for the national championship.

Like usual for this time of year along the southeastern North Carolina coast the king fishing was on fire. The majority of the bigger fish came from the Cape Fear River Channel and Lighthouse rocks but the Myrtle Beach rock, 390/390, and Shark Hole all produced nice fish and lots of them. Live pogies seemed to be the bait of choice but numerous reports of quality catches came on live and dead cigar minnows, ribbonfish and spots. Year in and year out it seems like the Fall Brawl falls on the peak time of the king mackerel migration along our coast. This, combined with the beautiful fall weather that the weatherman provided, made for an outstanding and enjoyable day of fishing and being on the ocean.

Captain Brant McMullan once again put on a wonderfully-run, fun and entertaining event in the form of the 2002 Yamaha/Contender Fall Brawl King Classic. To show evidence that this is a fisherman friendly event Brant writes on his website, www.captainbrant.com, “Tournament prizes were based on 175 boats, we had 50% more entries than that with 270 and thus prize payouts increased 50%.” Since its inception the Fall Brawl has had a record number entries each year and it is showing no signs of slowing down. The great fishing combined with the complimentary home cooked meals and the family fall atmosphere makes the Fall Brawl more like attending a public event than just fishing another tournament. But, if that’s what you are into, it is also one heck of a fishing tournament. With 270 boats on the water the Fall Brawl has now cemented itself as one of the largest and most successful kingfish tournaments in the Carolinas. Look forward to seeing each of you there next year!

Final Standings

"The Sea Horse Tops SKA field in Inagural Year of HOOK Tournament"
SOUTHPORT, NC
SEPTEMBER 27-28, 2002
By: Barrett McMullan

"Finally, we put it all together and caught the right fish on the right day," said James "Buster" Gunter captain of the Sea Horse Fishing team about his success in the final division two tournament. The Sea Horse team has had an amazing year of King Mackerel fishing; unfortunately they have labeled themselves pre-fishing and post-fishing team of the year instead of tournament team of the year. It seems that on numerous tournament weekends they have found the tournament-winning fish but just on the wrong day. However, the October 25-26 HOOK tournament in Southport, NC, brought fishing justice in the form of a first place SKA finish to Buster and his crew Chad Morris, George Metzgar, and Willie Trahah.

The day started out by easily loading the baitwell with good-sized fall pogies off of Ocean Crest pier. With a light northwest wind being blocked by the south facing beaches of southeast North Carolina, the seas were flat calm, which enabled teams to fish a great range of water up and down the coast. Buster elected to head his 35 Wellcraft powered by triple 250 Yamahas straight for Myrtle Beach rocks, an area of hard bottom in 45 feet of water. "After talking to several people and verifying what I had suspected, I knew with these same stable weather conditions that the fish should still be there," said Buster referring to his decision about fishing Myrtle Beach rocks. For a large portion of the fall fishing season there has been a good bite of quality fish at this particular location. On this day it was no different but unfortunately it was not a secret either as over half of the tournament fleet piled into this one spot. Buster reported, "we caught small fish early but we decided to just stick at what we do best and fish."

Their dedication paid off when they got a bite from a monster kingfish estimated at well over 40 lbs. Regrettably the ultimate heartbreak occurred when the sure tournament winner bit through the 40lb wire, gave The Sea Horse the fin, and went on his way. "We thought that was it, we blew our chance. As a matter of fact when there was only a few minutes left of fishing time, I was saying "oh well we had our shot" when luckily we got another chance," recalled Buster. The big fish hit a ribbonfish on the downrigger at 25 feet at 3:45 pm. It was a short, smooth five-minute fight after a long initial run when the log of a kingfish was taken onboard. After a nerve testing full throttle ride to the scales some 40+ miles away with an engine acting up, The Sea Horse team laid their slab on the scales to see their biggest fish of the year caught in a tournament push down 36.0 lbs. Well done fellas, timing is everything!

Jim Milam and his rookie crew of brothers Michael and Johnny and friend Mark fishing aboard the Prime Time saved their strongest performance of the year for the final division two tournament as well. After checkout at Southport Jim steered the 32-foot Mercury powered Donzi south and quickly found bait off of Long Beach. With a well full of pogies the Prime Time team also elected to head for Myrtle Beach rock where the bite had been for the past few weeks. "We caught a low 20's fish in the morning but with all the boats that were on the rocks we decided to pick up and head offshore about 15 miles to an area of live bottom I know of," explained Jim. It wasn't until 3:00 pm at the last minute when the move proved to be the right decision. "He hit the prop wash bait," said Jim of their big fish of the tournament, and after a short battle the fish was brought along boat side and the crew got a good look at the old mossy back. Heart pumping went into double time and after a little bit of the gaffing jitters the fish was stuck, put on ice and the Prime Time was steaming on to the scales. At the scales the fish weighed in at 34.85 lbs and was good enough for a second place SKA finish and was also the biggest fish caught by the team this year. The Prime Time team would like to thank Coastal Carolina Donzi and Mercury for their service and support.

Rounding out the SKA top three was Richard, more commonly known as "Waccamaw", Boone of Little River, SC aboard the triple Yamaha powered 39.5 foot Midnight Express Sea Duck Tion II. Accompanying Waccamaw in this event was crew top lady angler Cari Campbell, Rip Van Winkle, and Tim Kemp. The Sea Duck Tion II opted to check out of Lock Wood's Folly inlet and gamble on bait by running directly to Myrtle Beach in hopes of catching bait quickly and being first to Myrtle Beach rocks. Waccamaw is a local charter captain in the area and his local knowledge certainly paid off in this instance as bait was in fact just inshore of the Myrtle Beach rocks and the Sea Duck Tion II was the first boat to the spot with bait. "I decided about three weeks prior to this tournament that I was going to finish out the last three tournaments of the year at Myrtle Beach rocks and it ended up paying off for me on all three occasions," said Waccamaw about why he chose to fish where he did. The Sea Duck Tion's big fish of the tournament hit a pogy first thing in the morning at 8:00 am. Cari Campbell was on the rod and made short work of the fish after having to skillfully play the fish after it had entangled itself in the props. At 27.25 lbs, this was the first fish of the day and proved to be the largest the Sea Duck Tion II would see. In his first full year of SKA competition Waccamaw has made a name for himself on the SKA tournament trail by not only placing top twenty in three of the Carolina divisions but also securing the division 3 title.

As expected for this time of year at the Carolina coast, the king mackerel fishing was excellent. Most boats opted to stay near shore and were rewarded for doing so as the kingfish were following their typical pattern of feeding on the migrating baitfish along the beaches. The weather for the tournament was also great with only a slight northwest breeze, which allowed for the water to stay clean along the beaches, which also played a roll in the good bite that fishermen experienced. Top lady angler title for the event went to Cari Campbell aboard the Sea Duck Tion II and top junior honors went to Chris Sweetland and Will Austin on Team Mckee Craft. This year was the inaugural year for the Helping Out Our Kids (HOOK) kingfish tournament, which is a division 2 sanctioned event. The event was originally scheduled for the end of September but due to weather it was postponed until October 26th. The tournament, hosted by long time Southport, NC king mackerel tournament fisherman, Mack Aman, of the Scooter Bug fishing team, had a respectable 94 entries in its first year. This is a tournament that is put on by a fisherman for the fishermen in the interest of kids and most certainly has a bright future. So make plans next year to come join in on the great fall fishing off the Carolina coast for the HOOK tournament.

SOUTH BRUNSWICK ISLANDS KING CLASSIC KMT
SHALLOTTE POINT, NC
AUGUST 30- SEPTEMBER 1, 2002
By: Barrett McMullan

The 2002 South Brunswick Islands King Mackerel Tournament champions were none other than the team of Robbie Brown, Bob Brown and Dwayne Foy fishing aboard the Miss La. The Miss La is a 35-foot Donzi powered with twin 250 Mercurys. This combination of crew and rig has seen their share of success in the world of king mackerel tournament fishing. The 2002 South Brunswick tournament marked the second victory for the team in as many years, previously winning the Topsail Island tournament.

I was once told about the three “P’s” of successful tournament fishing. They are in this order, preparedness, patience, and persistence. For the Miss La team, in this their second big victory, it only took one of the “P’s” to land them in the winner’s circle.

Due to constraints such as time, money and weather pre-fishing is not always an option for every team. However, when pre-fishing for an event is possible, many times invaluable information can be collected and thus further fulfilling the preparation side of the equation of successful tournament fishing. So was the case for the Miss La. Robbie Brown reported, “we found a real good bite at the 30/30 the morning before the tournament. We only used single hooks so not to damage the fish too bad and we still caught some good fish. Even though the weather went bad I still knew that would be the place to be.” When tournament morning arrived, the Miss La team along with all tournament competitors was greeted with not so ideal ocean fishing weather conditions. With a stiff east northeast wind the Miss La team hesitated but for a second on making the hard run on the east side of Frying Pan shoals to the 30/30 where they would feel the full force of the weather. The decision to go for it turned out to be a wise one as they were quickly rewarded for their pre-fishing efforts and determination to return to the spot on tournament day.

Before making the run in six to eight foot seas the team captured a well full of pogies at Williams Landing near Wrightsville Beach. According to Robbie the action was fast and furious as soon as they pulled up to the spot. “We got one top line out and then one on the downrigger when we got our first strike. This fish was big. Probably bigger than the one we won with,” he said. Disappointed by the first missed opportunity but not defeated, they repeated the same procedure as the first time by putting out the top line and then one downrigger with a pogy and another one with a pogy when the second strike came. The fish hit and smoked off 100 yards of line and then went deep. “We had a pretty good idea it was a big fish by the way he hit and how he fought,” explained Robbie. After a brief ten-minute battle the fish was brought within gaffing range where Bob stuck the 38.2 lb slab that would be good enough for the tournament win. By 8:30 a.m. the first place fish was already on-board the Miss La and the rest of the fleet was now fishing for second place. According to Robbie, “this was the best fishing day we’ve had all year even though the weather was pretty bad. There wasn’t much bait holding in the area but we had a 27, a 20, and a bunch of other fish before we decided to head for the scales at 11:00 a.m.” On top of the celebrating in store for the tournament win was that for Robbie’s father, Bob’s birthday. What a great birthday present!

Brothers Billy and Mark Emert put their experienced kingfish tournament skills to work this weekend on their 27 foot Contender, the Moon Doggie, and came away with an impressive 2nd place finish. A strategizing meeting between Billy and Mark the day before the tournament yielded the decision to fish the Jungle come tournament day regardless of the weather. Billy explained, “We’ve had some success there in the past and we just had a gut feeling about this one that [the Jungle] was where we needed to go.” When tournament morning arrived the Moon Doggie left out of the Cape Fear River and headed down the beach in the general direction of the Jungle, which is an area of mostly live bottom and ledges about 15 miles offshore of Little River, SC. Catching a well full of pogies was no problem as they were thick off of the Big Hill at Lockwood’s Folly. Arriving to the spot at 8:15 a.m., Billy and Mark went to work accompanied by ten other boats. According to Billy “the fishing was really dead, I didn’t see another fish caught all morning.” However, around 11:15 a.m. their luck began to change. After missing a short strike on a ribbonfish on the downrigger Billy went to rig up another one when the big boy hit. The fish hit a single pogy slow-trolled up top, and when the fish struck Mark was able to get a quick glimpse of the fish and he knew it was a good one. Billy was on the rod and he reported, “the fish is acting crazy. He circled the entire boat, took off, came right back and then took off again and finally went deep. Even though Mark saw him I still wasn’t convinced it was a king.” After a ten-minute fight the extremely long but somewhat skinny fish came to gaff where Mark sealed the deal. With the length of the fish Mark and Billy were a little disappointed to see how skinny the fish was but nevertheless, Billy called their catch, “a pleasant surprise.” They fished another hour with no action and as the weather worsened the Emert’s elected to steer the Moon Doggie to the hill and get their fish on the scales early. The eventual second place fish ended up weighing in at 31.85 lbs and brought home a nice chunk of change for the Moon Doggie fishing team.

Another team composed of two brothers Jim and John Harrison, Ricky Bishop and Joe Menton fishing in his first king mackerel tournament rounded out the top three fishing aboard a local Brunswick County boat, the Reelality. The Reelality team had an opportunity to pre-fish for this event, which ended up paying off big time. The day before the tournament Jim said, “we fished the Georgetown inlet and tide line and caught some nice fish so we knew where we wanted to go.” Unfortunately, with the nasty weather that kicked up on tournament day came the lockjaw from the kingfish on the tideline. “We fished with several other boats all day and I don’t think anyone caught a fish down there,” reported Jim. After freshening up on pogies around 1:00 p.m. and with around two hours of fishing time left the Reelality team opted to stick it out inshore and play hero or zero for the rest of the day. “After we caught bait in the afternoon we were running back to where we had been fishing all day,” explains Jim, “and then we saw a good tide line way in close in the inlet and that’s where we got him.” With nearly all hope departed the lightening bolt strike that we all pray for struck the Reality’s top line at 3:00 p.m. Apparently, Ricky had gone to desperate measures in order to elicit a kingfish strike as he had deployed his super secret triple pogy kingfish rig. This turned out to be the magic needed to make that smoker eat. “The fish made one long run and wore himself out,” explained Jim. By 3:05 p.m. the fish was in the boat and the Reelality was hard running to the scales. Jim was adamant in his appreciation of Chuck Arnold, the northeast representative from Fountain boats, for letting the Reelality team borrow his 38 foot Fountain for the tournament. Jim is in the process of getting a new 31 Fountain but was unable to have it for this tournament. “It was a good thing we were in that 38 this weekend,” said Jim. “We had to run 65 miles from Georgetown to the weigh-in at Holden beach in four- to eight-foot seas. We were able to make 35 to 40 mph and we made it there with ten minutes to spare. Not too many other boats that I know of could manage that kind of speed in those seas.” Once at the scales, the fish pushed down 29.5 lbs and was good enough for third in the tournament and third in the SKA Calcutta.

Other top SKA finishers included the Pork Chop team of Captains Doug Armstrong, Clay Morphis, and Brandon K. Sauls aboard their brand new 27 Contender with a 29.25 lb kingfish, Larry Deal and the Mako Warrior team had a solid 25.3 lb fish and the Cats A Catchin’ team with the first place female junior angler Cassie Ragan posted a 23.1 lb king. With this victory, the Miss La has taken over the division two points lead but with two tournaments yet remaining there are many other teams still in contention for the prestigious honor of division two champ. Stay tuned.

The 2002 South Brunswick Islands King Mackerel Tournament was once again held Labor Day weekend at Holden Beach Marina. For the first time in its history the tournament went to a one-day format with Saturday as the fish day. This year’s event saw 107 entries, which is down a bit from last year mostly due to the disparaging weather forecast given before the tournament. Despite the wind and rain the South Brunswick Islands Chamber of Commerce and Tournament Director Jim McSwain provided a great venue for tournament fishermen to meet, compete and enjoy our sport.

Final Standings

SHALLOTTE INLET CLASSIC
SHALLOTTE POINT, NC
AUGUST 15-17, 2002
By: Barrett McMullan

Local schoolteacher Thomas Hemphill elected to play hooky from his teaching job on Friday and fish the Shallotte Inlet Classic kingfish tournament. Thomas and his stepson, Cane Bellamy, and Frolley Hewes teamed up aboard the Playin’ Hooky, a 21 foot Starcraft boat which was one of the smallest vessels competing in the tournament. Fortunately for this determined team they realized it was the size of the fish caught and not the size of the boat that determined who would walk away with the check in the end. The Playin' Hooky team managed to overcome the boat size disadvantage that some claim and blow away the rest of the tournament field by laying a 47.5 lb slab on the scales, which is quite a big fish for this area. With their first SKA tournament win, a day spent playing hooky aboard the Playin’ Hooky turned into an unforgettable tournament experience for Thomas, Cane, and Frolley.

The Playin Hooky team began the first day of the tournament in normal fashion by searching the beach waters for schools of pogies to use for live bait. Thomas described the bait as "skittish" as it took over two hours to capture a well full of pogies. While they were hunting pogies they had seen a few kingfish skyrocket in the bait schools so they deployed their first baits in this area just off of Long Beach, but after a short while with no action Thomas elected to head the Playin’ Hooky offshore to an historically dependable big kingfish hole, the Cape Fear Shipping Channel. Like many locals know, Thomas also knew that in and out the most consistent place to have a shot at a big fish would be in the shipping channel. Thomas explained his rationale for his location, “I just had a feeling. There have been a lot of fish pulled out of that river so I just decided to go for it.” At 11:00 a.m. they had their first strike. With an awesome skyrocket strike and a short run the estimated 30+ pound kingfish broke the line. Thirty minutes later the second strike came. After seeing what Thomas thought appeared to be a big fish "the wire just busted." Rumored to have been at anchor, the Playin’ Hooky fished the rest of the day with no action until they were about to pull in the lines around 3:00 p.m. and fish inshore at one of the inlet mouths for the last few minutes. The fish hit a single pogy. Thomas recalled the fight, “at first he went slow, and then he took off. He zinged it. The fished smoked down the reel until there was hardly any line left. I told the guys, ‘get the lines in, this is a good one.'” The fish was brought to the boat in sight where Thomas explains the thoughts that were going through his head, “I put the rod down, reached out and gaffed the fish. I was totally amazed. The biggest fish I had ever caught was 18 or 20 pounds.” Word for word this was Thomas’s description of the fish, “When it was on the deck I said ‘that is the biggest fish I have ever seen !'” The fish wouldn’t fit in the boat’s fishbox, so it was laid in front of the cooler and covered with ice bags. The Playin’ Hooky rode Cadillac style back to the weigh-in where they weighed their prize and watched the scales as it settled at 47.5 lbs which would prove to be big enough to take first place honors and a check for over $11,000. The Playin Hooky team once again proved that it doesn’t always matter what size boat you fish in or even your level of experience; you just have to be in the right place at the right time. After all, the fish doesn’t know who or what boat is catching it. Congratulations, guys, on a truly impressive fish!

A trio of "Tar Heels" fishing aboard a Grady White, the Cats-A-Catchin’, took second place with a 34.75 lb kingfish. This Oak Island based team consisting of Ronald Ragan, Todd Combs and J.D. Cople came to the weigh-in on the second day with big smiles as their two days of hard work paid off. On day one according to Ronald, “we fished all day long and didn’t catch nothing but weeds.” This result, however, did not deter this experienced tournament team as they came back with vengeance on day two. Their second day began with a late start but time was made up when the team caught a net full of medium size pogies on the first cast off of Long Beach. The Cats-A Catchin’ team also opted to fish the Cape Fear area on this day. After starting a little bit offshore of the river at the inshore Lighthouse Rocks they drifted into the shipping channel with the tide and wind. Once they had drifted a little to the east side of the river out near the sea buoy this is where the action began. “The reel started screaming a little bit, so I decided I wanted that one since I was the captain,” explained Ronald laughingly. After missing the first bait the big kingfish took another shot at a slow-trolled pogy and this time he didn’t miss. The kingfish started off with a short run and then proceeded to “blister it.” The angling lasted around 30 minutes as the fish was brought within sight several times, which allowed the nerves to set in on the team. The fish was gaffed perfectly and by 10:45 a.m. the biggest fish weighed in on day two and the second biggest fish of the tournament was in the bag on ice.

The She’s All That, a 38 Fountain powered by three Optimax Mercury engines, fished the Georgetown tideline and found a 33.95 lb kingfish on day one to secure third place. Ricky Hobbs and wife Laura had plenty of room to operate as they fished alone on their 38-foot Fountain kingfish yacht. Friday morning started out with ease as bait was not difficult to catch back in the bay coming out of Georgetown. Once bait was captured, Ricky opted to run just a short distance to the tideline to try his luck. This spot has been good to the She’s All That team. Just a few weeks ago, they took home second place in the King of the Cape tournament with a fish from the very same area. Ricky reported a good number of fish being taken all along the tideline Friday morning. At around 10:00 a.m. the She’s All That number was called. “We were just a little bit off the tideline in the middle of a big group of boats and he hit the single pogy on the flat line,” explained Ricky. All the boats near Ricky and Laura showed good sportsmanship as several of them had to clear their lines and power up to keep from interfering with the angling. Ricky recalled, “he burned it down pretty good and we had to run after him through several boats.” The fight lasted about 15 minutes before the fish was brought to gaff. With a nice fish onboard and good weather the She’s All That team fished in comfort for few more hours before making the 60-mile run north to the weigh-in. On day two they returned to the same spot but could not better their day one mark. However, they were able to help out a Fountain team member, Terry Grantham on the My Three Sons, find the second place fish in the ‘Fishing For Miracles’ tournament out of Charleston, South Carolina, that was running in conjunction with the Shallotte tournament. Overall, it was a very successful weekend for the She’s All That.

Junior angler Adam Taylor fishing with his father, Forrest Taylor, aboard his 32-foot Donzi, the That’s My Dog, took home the honor of top junior angler for the tournament. Adam landed a 27.20 lb smoker caught at the Georgetown tide line on a single pogy on the second day of fishing. The top lady angler was Laura Hobbs on the She’s All That with a 33.95 lb fish.

Additional top finishers included: Island Runner’s 32.2, Rock Candi at 30.65, Reel Time with a 27.4, Open Wide’s 26.4, Wave Runner’s 25.9, and Obsessed with a 25.8.

The Shallotte Inlet Classic was the second of five tournaments in division two. With three tournaments still left in this most competitive division in southeast North Carolina everyone competing in the next three events still has a shot at making the nationals and even winning the division.

Robert Causey of Shallotte Marine hosted the Shallotte Inlet Classic in its fourth year at Shallotte Point. This was a two-day boundary enforced event with fishing from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. both days. In total 96 fishing teams, mostly local, took to the water and competed for cash and local bragging rights in this year’s event. With the exception of the first and second place fish, most of the top twenty finishers found their fish to the south at the Georgetown tide line. The tide line has been hot for a few weeks now but look for the kingfish bite to shift a little to the north in the upcoming tournaments, especially towards the Cape Fear area. Although the fishing action left a little to be desired most had a nice weekend on the water as the weather cooperated fairly well with light winds and only scattered storms. The one nuisance that fisherman complained of during the weekend was the abundance of sargassum weed spread throughout most of the fishing grounds from inshore to offshore and up and down the coast. The weed made keeping a spread of baits "clean" a full time task. One local fisherman was quoted as saying “it was real frustrating, it took a lot of team cooperation. I bet there were plenty of heated arguments between boat drivers and those running the lines thanks to all that grass. You needed a lawn mower and a rake out there to keep your baits clean.” The Shallotte Inlet Classic is scheduled for the same time and place next year. If you have interest in fishing next year’s event, contact Robert Causey at 910-754-6962.

Final Standings

YAMAHA/CONTENDER JOLLY MON KING CLASSIC
SHALLOTTE POINT, NC
JULY 5-6, 2002
By: SKA

For once in this year's young tournament season in the Carolinas, things were shaping up just right for a great event. Up until the weekend prior to the Jolly Mon tournament the king mackerel had been m.i.a. along the southern North Carolina coast. However, starting on the Saturday a week before this tournament and continuing right up until the captain's meeting, the fish were biting like bulldogs. Reports of numerous 30's, 40's and even a few verified 50lb fish had the fishing community buzzing and ready to hit the water. That, combined with the beautiful weather that had graced us for over a week, which was forecast to continue right through the tournament, promised for a memorable event.

For a 28 foot Mckee Craft, Team Mckee Craft, the 2002 Jolly Mon will be a king mackerel tournament they will never forget thanks to a 43.55lb slab that put this Carolina Beach based team into the winner's circle for the first time after only one year of competition fishing. Their day started at Carolina Beach where captain Scott Harris had been watching school after school of pogies pass by the beach all week. Unfortunately, like so often is the case, on tournament morning they had all disappeared probably due to the fresh northeast wind that kicked up during the night. Luckily though, just a few miles back to the south of the Cape Fear River the pogies were plentiful as the team was able to get a net full off of Oak Island. After fishing an area known as the "Cabbage Patch" on the east side of Frying Pan shoals all
morning with little success the Mckee Craft team opted to try their luck on the other side of the shoals at an area of hard bottom just offshore of the Cape Fear River Channel known as the Lighthouse Rocks. This proved to be a most wise decision because around 2:30 pm the double pogy rig vanished behind the boat and the Team Mckee Craft sprang into action. Chris Sweetland, a 15-year-old junior angler was on the rod and 25 minutes later according to Harris, 'the fish just bellied up and we stuck him. We knew we had a fish when we put him in the boat so we took off to the scales." When asked at what point did he know he had a good fish on Harris explained, "this was Chris's first kingfish ever, so I had no idea what kind of fish he had. When I saw him all I was thinking was get him in quick!" Not too many anglers out there can say their first kingfish weighed over 43lbs and was good enough for 1st place in a tournament with over 300 competing teams. That's quite an accomplishment. When all the dust had settled at the awards Team Mckee Craft
consisting of Scott Harris, vice-president of Mckee Craft, father Bill Harris, and neighbors Scott and Chris Sweetland walked on the stage and collected over $23,000.

A very respectable 2nd place finish and over $13,000 went to the always respectable King Size fishing team with a 36.15lb smoker. Fishing aboard the King Size in this tournament was the Ryan family of Rick, two sons Mathew and
Kevin and Mathew's girlfriend Courtney. This whole story started as Rick was driving home from Greensboro, NC the evening before the tournament when Mathew called and informed him that he would be coming home from school
at the College of Charleston to fish in the Jolly Mon. So, a nice leisurely drive and a relaxing night at home quickly turned into a mad dash of preparation into the late hours to get the boat ready to fish. Rick commented, "I was filling up the boat at 10:00pm, and I had no rigs made except for some I had left over from Biloxi fishing hardtails." With family
aboard, the King Size team opted to leave out of home waters off Georgetown, SC where they caught bait but were disappointed to find that they would be fishing with small baits. Not deterred however, they pointed the King Size, a 31-foot Yamaha powered Contender, into the wind and headed for Cape Romain.

It didn't take long for destiny to come find them as their biggest fish of the day came calling on a single small pogy at 8:30 am. "Everything went real smooth. Courtney made good sandwiches and the fish came right to the boat," said Rick. There are many different methods and formulas to doing well in a kingfish tournament and this is an example that sometimes all you have to do is get yourself on the boat and in the tournament and just hold on when that big kingfish comes to find you. Rick also pointed out "this was probably the most fun I've had fishing in a long time, just the fun of
fishing with the kids."

Tommy Gray, Bill Bright and Henry Beckam found their name in the bright lights at tournament's end. The local Shady Grady fishing team onboard a 27-foot Grady White successfully brought a 35.9 lb hog to the scales to earn 3rd place. Like many teams, the Shady Grady started off the day catching a net full of pogies just off of Shallotte inlet. Tommy mentioned, "We were lucky with bait, I think. In our first cast we had plenty of big pogies to fish the day with." With quality baits in the well the Shady Grady headed offshore to a historically productive Jolly Mon hotspot, the Jungle. At 8:30 am while fishing around schools of spanish mackerel just off of the pack of 30 or 40 boats the double pogy rig fished on the medium top line went into orbit. At the same time, another line went off but the hooks pulled shortly after the strike. "When the fish struck," Tommy said, "he made a big swirl and proceeded to burn it down. We knew we had a good fish." After a 25 to 30 minute battle, the fish was brought to gaff and pulled over the side with a struggle from the crew. "The hardest part of the whole deal was waiting from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm when the scales opened." The Shady Grady team took an early lead in the tournament but would eventually end up in 3rd and take home almost $10,000. This team is made up if non SKA members. Shawn Raynor and fishing partner David Estes aboard the Buddy Row out of
Carolina Beach caught the biggest kingfish of their tournament careers in this year's Jolly Mon. Their fourth place fish chose a slow-trolled pogy behind a pink and white skirt near the Horseshoe area around 8:00 Saturday morning. According to Shawn, "the fish hit and nearly stripped us twice. I bet he ran off 470 of the 500 yards of line on my TLD 15". After a 20-minute fight, the 34lb smoker was brought onboard the 21 foot Challenger made boat. Fifth place with a 33.55 lb fish fell to the Backstretch fishing team of Jonathan Thomas, Toby Fulford, and Lloyd Ridgeland aboard a 24 foot Grady White. This fish was caught first thing in the morning at Yaupon reef just a couple miles offshore on a single pogy in the propwash. With the "radio fish" award in the Jolly Mon, rumors of this fish were cast through the airwaves early on. The Backstrectch team guessed the fish at 40.2 lbs on the radio but as Jonathan laughingly commented at the awards, "hey we over guessed it, but that's why I don't work at the state fair."

Overall fishing was good, but with the wind change from southwest to northeast things did slow from the week prior. The bigger fish seemed to be caught evenly throughout the day and there was not a concentration of fish at any one spot as anglers caught kingfish from Cape Romain all the way to the east side of Frying Pan Shoals. Team Mckee Craft has an early jump on the Division 2 field, but with this being the first of five tournaments in this division anything could happen. The top 15 24 and over foot boats and the top 10 23 and under foot boats in Division 2 will qualify for the prestigious
national championship to be held in Biloxi, Miss. in November. Division 2 is one tof he largest and most competitive divisions on the SKA tour, so keep a close eye on the standings as we move through the season.

Captain Brant McMullan, wife Captain Amy and family once again put on an exciting, fun-filled, finely organized fishing tournament in the 2002 Jolly Mon King Classic. If you haven't gotten in on all the fun, camaraderie, and good food at the Jolly Mon yet, I highly recommend you put this one on your calendar for next year. This tournament promotes the family and especially children participation as evidenced by the Junior Jolly Mon tournament that is held the day before the regular tournament. Prizes are given away to juniors under the age of 16 for the largest kingfish, cobia, grouper, sea
bass, and grunt. Also, in the interest of getting more children on the water and fishing, both of Captain Brant's kingfish tournaments, the Jolly Mon and the Fall Brawl, benefit the non-profit Teaching Youth To Fish organization. Captain Brant created this organization several years ago and since then numerous underprivileged youths from Brunswick County have enjoyed fishing trips with Captain Brant aboard local headboats. Combined with the family oriented fun atmosphere that the Jolly Mon brings is the competition and big bucks that are brought to the table. This year 310 boats signed up to
compete for cash and fame cementing this tournament as one of the largest of its kind on the east coast. Once again this year's prize money was based on 275 entries but the adjustments were made to increase the prizes as the number of participants passed the 275 mark making this an even more fisherman friendly tournament. Captain Brant commented on the tournament's success, "we've fished a lot of these things for a lot of years and we've pretty much figured out the things we like and don't like. Now, we're just trying to create an event where everyone has a chance to win something and have a good time even if you don't catch a big kingfish." Whether it was by way of the "Jolly Jugs," the "Pogy Bobbing" or the more traditional smoker kingfish, most everyone had a great shot at taking home a prize.

A big thank you and acknowledgement is in order for the Jolly Mon and SKA tournament sponsors of Contender boats, Yamaha, Tailwalker Marine, Magic Tilt, BB&T Banking, Boater's World and many other local supporters without
whom this great tournament experience would not have been possible. Congratulations to Team Mckee Craft, Captain Brant, and the Jolly Mon tournament staff for a great fishing tournament and one heck of a good time. For more info on the Jolly Mon and it's sponsors go to www.captainbrant.com.

Final Standings