FALL BRAWL KINGFISH CLASSIC
MYRTLE BEACH, SC
OCTOBER 18-19, 2002
By: Barrett McMullen

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

FALL FRANTIC ATLANTIC
MYRTLE BEACH, SC
OCTOBER 11-13, 2002
By: SKA

Final Standings

TAILWALKER MARINE'S KING STING
"Laperla's 60.15 Aggregate Captures Georgetown"
GEORGETOWN, SC
AUGUST 1-3, 2002
By: Jack Holmes

The object of most of the pros you talked to was to come out of Georgetown, South Carolina, with 50 more points on your side of the ledger. Most did! Some, however, improved their standings. While the weekend seemed to be a Team Wellcraft, Wal-Mart-Evinrude show, when the dust settled it was pretty evenly spaced throughout the brands. In the top ten there were three Fountains, three Contenders, two Donzis, and two Wellcrafts.

As the overall standings after two of the five events have been completed, let’s look to see who’s on first. Mark Malizia’s Ambitious took over the lead from Ken Thompson’s Penn Boat with a four fish agg of 118.8 points followed by Bill Butler’s Crawgator with 109.89. Both the Penn Boat and Clayton Kirby’s Fountain Vengence are third and fourth now with three fish aggs. Kirby’s third with 103.91, and Thompson with 101.52. Ed Mecchella’s Fish Fever, who is always in the hunt, is fifth with a four fish agg of 99.91. Close behind is the Wester’s Big Bad Wolf with 96.88 and Terry Grantham’s My Three Sons with 93.63. Last year’s runner up is within striking distance, Sandy Smith’s Gatorbait, 92.5.
As this represents Fountain, Contender, Wellcraft, Donzi, and Yellowfin, you can bet the factories are are giving many words of encouragement to the representative teams.

Randy Keys, past National Champion, did what he does best, digs hard. “It was another one of those last minute fish,” said the popular Captain. “Just like Miami two years ago, it was four o’clock and we didn’t have a good fish. Then she hit.” The 32.42 pound king, coupled to a 27.73 10th place first day fish, gave the La Perla team a 60.15 aggregate, first place win and the $25,000 payday. “We needed this weekend,” he added. “We didn’t catch a thing in Fort Pierce so now were back in the hunt.” One thing to remember about Randy, when he gets the mojo he’s hard to stop. “My secret weapon this year is my fishing partner, west coast ace Harry Thomas,” he added. The team fishes a 32’ Yamaha powered Donzi.

Conrad Lau’s Whopper Stopper caught the biggest fish of the event, a 40.23 on day one. “It was 1:30 and we had just gone to the beach to re bait,” said Lau. We set up north of the inlet on the tide line rip because south of the inlet was stacked up with tournament boats. We had earlier success there but nothing to brag about.” Lau was only there about 20 minutes when he began adjusting the long line. “She skied on the pogy and I knew it was a good fish,” he added. On day two Lau credits his Wellcraft team members with helping him get his second fish, a 17.07. The 57.30 agg gave the team second place, $14,000 cash, and enough points to move the team into the top 25. “I really think that the Evinrude Direct Injection harmonics helped us catch our fish, said Lau. I really couldn’t do this if it wasn’t for my sponsors, Stren, American Fishing Wire, Calusa Nets, and Shimano. Fishing the 32’ Wellcraft with Lau is Patsy Stancil and Nelson Railey.

How about this team for talent? Perry Johnston, Tommy Brower, Randy Spainhour, and Ricky Spainhour. Fishing Johnston’s Yamaha powered Wellcraft, the Marcia D, the team fished with great consistency placing a 28.17 on the scale the first day, then backing it up with a 25.61 on day two for a third place 53.78 aggregate. The team now finds itself in 17th place in the Pro standings with just three fish. Remember, this team will close the season in familiar waters. “I especially want to thank Brad Grubbs at Grubbs Marine for their sponsorship and quick response to any and all repairs required to keep our team fishing every tournament,” said Johnston.

Like a lot of competitors, Greg Carroll had a tough time in Fort Pierce, but boosted his points and confidence after this event, thanks to a strong fourth place finish. It also helped the bank account. Fishing with Lonnie Jones III and Tony Carroll aboard the Dig It II, a Yamaha powered Contender, the team scaled a 28.76 on day one and a 24.62 on day two for a 53.38 aggregate. That’s only four tenths of a pound out of third place. Competition was tough. The team is now just out of the top 25 but have only three fish in their column. If they have a good Georgia tournament they’ll be in the hunt for sportfishing’s most coveted award. Glenn Slaughter needed a couple of good fish and got them. Fishing the Mercury powered 32’ Donzi, Carolina Girl, with his son Gary and Jerry Gibson, the team caught a 31.81 on the first day and backed it up with a 21.48 for a 53.29 aggregate good for fifth place. This moved the team into the top ten with three tournaments to go and remember, the last event is in their home waters, Morehead City.

The Haulin Ace, a 31’ Yamaha powered Contender captained by Mark Strickland, earned sixth place honors. With Brent Elvington and Pernell Roberts on board, the team weighed a 22.72 on day one, then backed it up with a 30.38 on day two. A nice payday and, more important, they moved into 20th place in the standings.

Clayton Kirby caught a 51.42 in Fort Pierce. He knew he needed two decent fish here if he was going to stay near the top. With Dennis Sergent, Rick Stoker, and Brian Gilligan on board they accomplished their goal and put some change in their pocket to boot. The Mercury powered 34’ Fountain team, Fountain Vengence, bagged a 22.55 and a 29.94 for a seventh place agg of 52.49. Clayton is good in the Gulf and he knows Morehead City waters like the back of his hand. What he lacks in knowledge he has a really strong team to back him up. Is this the year he ties Dave Workman Jr. for three Top Angler titles?

Derrick Blanton has put together a high powered team this year and joined the ranks of the pros. With two tournaments under his belt, the team of Chris Blanton, Wayne Hill, and James Mc Adren fishing a 35’ Mercury powered Fountain, My Boat, added a 27.47 and 24.98 to the score sheet to earn eighth in this event and move into 26th place with just three fish.

Terry Grantham’s My Three Sons is always a threat in any tournament it fishes. This weekend David Baker, Ron Enslen, and Joel Coker found a 23.14 and 28.92 to give the team a ninth place finish and move them into seventh in the rankings. This team has the talent to win it all, they have the boat, a 38’ triple Mercury powered Fountain, and the experience. If they do well in Biloxi, they’ll be in the hunt when everything is decided in Morehead.

Steve Cunningham fishes the pros for three reasons, he loves to fish, wants to be with fellow Contender owners, and uses the tournaments to help develop Contender boats. The company’s Vice President, along with Lee Rodenberry and Gary Ryals netted 51.54 more points thanks to the 23.76 and 27.78 they weighed this weekend—tenth place in the tournament and fifteenth in the Pro standings. They fish a triple Mercury powered Contender.

The Yamaha Pro Tour moves to Golden Isles, Georgia the last weekend in August then on to Biloxi, Mississippi in mid September. The tour ends in October in Morehead City, North Carolina.

Our hats off to Stuart Ballard and his Tailwalker Marine team who allowed us to piggy back with his divisional event. It was one of the best tournaments of the year!

Final Standings

HYDRASPORTS FRANTIC ATLANTIC SUN FUN CLASSIC
"Goin' Deep Wins big bucks Tournamnet"
MYRTLE BEACH, SC
MAY 31- JUNE 1, 2002
By: SKA

The weather held up nicely for Brad Hughes and Goin' Deep on the first day of fishing when they brought in the winning king tipping the scales at 33.28. The crew of Brad, Kyle, and Kevin Hughes took their Century, sponsored by Marker 350, out to water 70 feet deep and got lucky around 1pm the first day of fishing. 'It ran slow at first but put pressure on it and it took off,"said Brad as he described the winning fish that was thought to be a shark at first. Brad got a 40 minute fight out of the large king and once the fish was on board they knew they had a great chance to lead the tournament and
headed back to the scales as soon as possible. The excitement and nervousness of being on the top spot lasted more than a full day. After the long wait until the scales closed on Saturday Brad said, "'bout time,' of his first win in three years of tournament fishing.

Goin' Deep looks to finish out division 3 and also compete in division 2 looking for that chance to make it to Biloxi in November. Hopefully they will be joined by Team Century Marker 350 who finished second with a 29.78 king. "It's a team effort," said Barrett McMullan of his and Rube McMullan's second place finish in their 23 foot Century. Team Century got
the boat on Thursday the week of the tournament and was pleased with the outcome the first time the boat was put in the water. It's not too often that a boat will bring in a fish with no electronics in the boat, but that is what Barrett and Rube were able to do. They had no fish finder and no depth finder leaving them only able to guess that they were running in about 115 feet of water. The boat was equipped with a handheld VHF radio and GPS but they proved to be of little help. At about 1:30 the first day they were fighting a fish when another line went off. The excitement began for them as they fought the first 15 pounder and then went to work on the second fish. What turned out to be a 29-pound king looked much bigger for the 15 minutes they could see the fish in the water. "Our hearts broke," said Barrett speaking of opening the fish bag and realizing the king wasn't as big as first thought, but he was very pleased with the outcome on his new Century sponsored by Marker 350.

"Extraordinarily coincidental." These are the words of third place Captain Brant McMullan of Carolina Contender. Captain Brant was referring to the sweep of second, third, and fourth place by Captain Brant's Fishing Adventures including fourth place finisher Sea-Duck-Tion II. Carolina Contender, powered by Yamaha, fished in water about 120 feet deep and near
9am Brant and wife Amy got a 26.20 king to hit their trolling Ballyhoo. Carolina Contender, Team Century, and Sea-Duck-Tion II did not fish near each other. Carolina Contender hopes to compete in a few more tournaments this year, and look for the presence of, but no fishing from, Captain Brant at his Jolly Mon King Classic at the beginning of July. Richard Boone and the Sea-Duck-Tion II were able to hold off that fourth spot with their 25.36 king. They were excited with their catch and pleased to come off the water with a fish in the boat.

This was the second of three Hydra-Sports Frantic Atlantic tournaments this year. There are three events remaining in division three including the Fall Frantic Atlantic in early October. This division is sure to be exciting to watch develop and the winner could come down to the last event in mid October. We look forward to the rest of those Myrtle Beach days.

Final Standings

HYDRASPORTS FRANTIC ATLANTIC SPRING CLASSIC
MYRTLE BEACH, SC
MAY 3-4, 2002
By: SKA

Final Standings