(* Denotes a Class of 23 Team)
"OBX
Girl Leads the Way at Toys For Tots"
BEAUFORT, NC
NOVEMBER 7-9, 2003
By: Andrew Winburn
The last tournament of the year in
North Carolina usually is full of excitement. Great
expectations of large fish coming from the Hatteras
area mixed with the hopes of teams qualifying for
the Nationals. Add that together with a tournament
making a large contribution to the US Marine Corps
Toys For Tots program and you have a great weekend
despite the cold weather that November brings to the
Carolina's.
Last season the OBX Girl team used Division 9 to qualify
for Nationals. They made it and found themselves driving
north from Biloxi with second place honors. This year
they caught a 45.75 at the Toys For Tots tournament
that gave them an opportunity to try and move up that
one spot and go home with a National Championship
trophy. "We felt confident about fishing the Toys
For Tots tournament. We made our way to Hatteras and
fished with all of the other boats," said Jim Dupree.
Jim, Sam and Dan Dupree deployed a spread of pogies
in the midst of the other boats and got lucky as they
pulled out the biggest fish of the weekend. Dan Dupree
was the angler. He also took home the top Junior Angler
award.
Second place went to the Ole captained by Eddie Cameron.
"We found a temperature break away from the pack of
boats up in Hatteras," explained Eddie. Ole drifted
in the 20 knot winds and had a 30 plus king hit a
pogy just before they reached the pack. They continued
to drift and the 36.45 second place king hit a monster
pogy. Michelle Cameron, top Lady Angler, angled the
fish to the boat to secure second place. "That fish
was hooked in the tail. Michelle did a wonderful job
of making sure that fish didn't get away from us,"
said Eddie.
Third place went to the Class of 23 Yellowfin Frequent
Flyer. Richard Short, Brian and Kristine Phillips
also fished near Hatteras. "It was extremely rough
out there in a class of 23 boat," Richard said. "It
took us a little bit longer to reach the spot but
once we got there we started to hook up to 30 pound
fish." The largest would tip the scale at 33.91 pounds.
That fish took a pogy at 11am. Frequent Flyer fished
until noon and then made the ride back to Morehead
City.
Andy Hinton and Jack Wood on the Hot Grits landed
a 30.95 to take fourth place honors. Hot Grits caught
the national record fish in Division 9 last season.
Alden Thornton, Dwayne Paugh, Mike Collins and Rick
House took fifth place on the Job Site Too with a
29.30.
Harold Williams and David Williams
on the Travel'n Man finished as the second place Class
of 23 boat behind Frequent Flyer. Travel'n Man had
a 25.3.
Dan Dupree was the top Junior Angler
followed by David Hill on the R/C Homes.
"Joe
Winslow's Hooligan tops the SKA Field at Coral Bay"
MOREHEAD CITY, NC
OCTOBER 24-25, 2003
By: Andrew Winburn
The cold,
gray and overcast weekend in North Carolina didn't
stop the avid King Mackerel angler from making his
presence at the 4th annual Coral Bay Open KMT. While
there were no records broken, the fleet of boats had
hopes of catching a smoker king during the famous
fall kingfish bite near Hatteras.
Joe Winslow and Fred Coyne normally fish 25 tournaments
during the North Carolina kingfish season. This year
they only fished 14- but they were always a threat
to take the top spot. "We did our homework before
the Coral Bay tournament and decided to work a temperature
break for about 25 miles," said Joe. The 31' Yamaha
powered Yellowfin caught numerous kings during this
time. "The closer to Hatteras we got, the bigger the
fish got. But we still didn't have one that would
put us in the money," Joe stated. Hooligan continued
to fish the warmer side of the temperature break with
the majority of the fleet, but decided to move to
the cooler side with their last few types of bait.
Joe explained, "There was a strong bite all day. Fred
and I had used about 50 baits and were getting a little
frustrated with all of the small kings. We changed
things up a little and moved over to the cooler side
of the break and got lucky at about 2pm." That 29.0
that Joe angled gave the Hooligan a second place finish
in the tournament and a top SKA finish. Hooligan is
sponsored by Hot Rods Marine, a maker of great marine
care products.
Andy Hinton, David Stallings, Mike Schulte and Ned
Grady on the Mercury powered 32' Donzi the Hot Grits
found the third spot for the tournament. "Our boat
fished up near Hatteras at the temperature break with
most of the other boats," said Andy. At 2pm the biggest
fish for the Hot Grits team ate a surface pogy. Andy
brought the fish into gaffing range for David within
minutes and the Hot Grits team was off to the scale.
"It was rough out there but our Donzi didn't skip
a beat. We made it back without any problems," commented
the captain. Hot Grits also has sponsorship from Mercury,
Furuno and Loadmaster Trailers.
Chad and Chip Sanders fished their 23 foot Ken Craft
the Reel Screamer into the fourth position. Reel Screamer
had a 27.65. Another Class of 23 boat, the Saltwater
Redneck had a great showing. Lee Buck, Matt Christian
and Kenny Sullivan caught a 25.75 to earn fifth.
Brant and Barrett McMullan took sixth on the Carolina
Contender with their 24.65. These two brothers have
had a good year fishing off the coast of North Carolina.
Shannon Rowland from the Miss Micki was the top Lady
Angler and Jason Broughton from the Miss Micki was
the top Junior Angler. Teresa Hogshire finished as
the second place lady on the Miss Dawn. And Gregory
Stephen Asby, Jr was the second place Junior Angler
on the 4 Reel.
"Chapman'S
Just Natural Top SKA Boat at Onslow Bay!"
SWANSBORO, NC
SEPTEMBER 26-28, 2003
By: Andrew Winburn
Finally the King Mackerel
have been found in North Carolina! With a cold front
moving in just a week after Isabel, everyone was anxious
to see how the fish would respond. They responded in
favor of the tournament angler, as close to 70% of the
field of 86 boats weighed a fish at the one day Onslow
Bay Open. The top two boats were non-SKA members.
Richard Chapman's Just Natural has been on top of the
fish all season long. The time and patience of his crew
paid off once again as they landed the top SKA position
with a 32.13. "We knew the fish were on the beach so
we headed towards Topsail Island," said Richard. Once
there, Richard, along with Glenn Tillman and Glenn Tillman
Jr., deployed a few pogies. "There is one out there
close to 50 with one of our hooks in it," Richard told
everyone on the dock. That fish hit one of the first
baits in the water and went screaming for deeper water
before biting through the wire. Shortly after that rush
of excitement, Glenn Tillman Jr. took control of the
rod with the surfaced pogy. In 20 minutes he saw the
32.13 that would be the largest king of his career.
His father put the gaff in the fish and they were off
to the scale to claim the SKA top spot and top Junior
Angler awards. Just Natural was fishing in water just
over 10 feet deep when their fish was caught at 9:30am.
Some people take the long and hard road to the top.
This is the case for the Class of 23 boat 4 Reel. "We
have been fishing for a long time. We have paid our
dues and are so excited about catching such a nice fish,"
a proud Greg Asby said. Their success could be explained
just by seeing the smile of Greg's son Steven as he
realized that his fish was going to put him near the
top of the leaderboard. "It is great to do so well,
but Cliff Price and I are more excited about our Junior
angler doing so well," Greg commented about Steven's
second place Junior Award. Their 31.69 was caught on
the east side near 30 Minute Rock at 9:30am on a dead
Cigar Minnow. Junior Angler Steven had the fish to the
boat in 15 minutes with Cliff waiting with gaff in hand.
4 Reel is a 21 foot Ken Craft. With the team working
together and coming on strong, look for them to be a
sponsored team in the future.
Jack Wood, Greg Theodorakis, David Stallings, and Mike
Schulte lead the Hot Grits team into the SKA's third
position with a 28.96. Their 32 foot Mercury powered
Donzi fished an area near Topsail about 10 miles to
the south of Richard Chapman's Just Natural. "We caught
bait together, but Just Natural made its way a little
North of us," explained Jack. "After we put the first
bait in the water, a nice king skied right behind the
boat. We waited for a line to go off but the fish had
taken a pogy that wasn't on our line." This event convinced
the veteran team to anchor up and start chumming. The
plan worked out as Greg took the rod holding the surfaced
pogy at 1pm and battled the 28 pound slab to the boat.
Chevy II took the fourth place SKA honors with Tom Eshbach,
Bill Boaz, Larry Wicker and Brent Smith on board the
25 foot Carolina Classic. Larry began his fight of the
fish at 12:30 and had her in gaffing range for Bill
before 1pm. Chevy II fished near D Bouy with a group
of 5 boats. "Miss Micki called us in to that spot because
they were hooking up to some teenagers. We put a cigar
minnow down 15 feet and that did the trick after having
lost a nice one only a few minutes earlier," Tom explained.
That 27.55 was put in the bag, and Chevy II came right
to the scales knowing that a fish over 25 pounds would
put them in the running.
The Loose Lucy team earned the fifth spot on the SKA
leaderboard. Susan Kaminsky took top Lady honors with
Loose Lucy's 27.30.
Captain Stanman and the
Onslow Bay Open officials did an excellent job with
this tournament. The one-day event is geared towards
the betterment of the anglers and also keeps children
in mind. The OBO KMT was produced to benefit the Eckerd
Youth Alternative program that aids underprivileged
kids in Eastern North Carolina.
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