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Liquid Fire Prevails in Tough Conditions at Atlantic Beach

by Barrett McMullan

2005 marked the 27th annual Atlantic Beach King Mackerel Tournament. Often referred to as the grandfather of king mackerel tournaments, this event has long been recognized as one of the most prestigious kingfish tournaments on the trail. Held out of Atlantic Beach, this tournament has contributed to the area becoming arguably known as the epicenter of king mackerel fishing. With all of its history, prestige, and competition this event has become a special yearly event for many fishermen throughout the Carolinas. It is a tournament where no matter if you are a beginner, an expert, in a small boat or large fast boat, the playing field has typically been dramatically equaled due to weather conditions and location of large kingfish. On numerous occasions a boat less than 23 feet has come to the scales with the winner caught less than two miles away from the tournament site. For these reasons this tournament is unique and draws a very diverse crowd of tournament fishermen. The competition is more comparable to the way king mackerel tournaments used to be when they first began back in the 1970’s. For our Florida readers, it is the Greater Jacksonville event of the Carolinas.

This year’s event was exactly as advertised. Heavy easterly winds, small boats catching big fish and an "old school" type tournament atmosphere were all present for the 27th annual occurrence of this North Carolina cultural event. The Atlantic Beach and Cape Lookout coast is positioned in such a way that a northerly and slight easterly winds do not affect the near shore seas much. The land blockage allows fishermen to fish in relatively calm waters in front of Beaufort and on the west side of Cape Lookout Shoals. So, when the weatherman preached doom and despair for the weekend of the Atlantic Beach tournament most fishermen accepted the forecast and continued on with their plans of fishing knowing they could fish comfortably close to shore. More than 330 teams signed up to fish all hoping for a shot at becoming part of the mystique and honor of being an Atlantic Beach tournament winner. None of the top three teams were SKA contestants, but to give support to the statement that the playing field is equaled in this particular tournament more than most is the fact that each of the top three placing teams were in boats of less than 23 feet with the winner catching a whopping 55-pounder.

The tournament’s fourth place team was the SKA’s top finisher in the event. Liquid Fire captained by Mark Henderson came to the scales on day two of fishing with a well-earned 33.65-pound stud, the largest kingfish of the day. According to Mark, the Liquid Fire team is a family run operation reaching far beyond just those who are on the boat. More than 10 members of the Henderson family participate in the Liquid Fire tournament team. "We’ve got fish catchers, boat drivers, rig makers, sandwich makers and much more," says Mark. On this particular occasion joining Mark on the water were co-Captain and brother-in-law Chris Waters and Mark’s two Junior Angler sons Joshua, who is 15, and Crockett, age 9. On Thursday prior to day one of fishing Mark was out drum fishing off of Bogue inlet in Swansboro where he noticed an abundance of baitfish working near the beach. For this reason he opted to stick close to home on day one and hope to catch a smoker on the beach near Bogue. By day one of fishing the bait had pretty much dispersed and the watercolor worsened leaving the Liquid Fire with a long day of fishing and no catching. That evening Mark got a call from fishing buddy Todd Mathews on the Right One Baby. Todd told Mark of some good fish seen that day near and offshore of Barden’s inlet on the west side of Cape Lookout. With very few fish caught that day this was the best report to go on, so Mark loaded up the troops with a plan to fish offshore of Barden’s on the second day. The first fishing day the wind blew hard. The second day it blew the shortening out of the biscuits. A 30-knot and gusty east-northeast wind blistered tournament fishermen all day, but this did not slow the Liquid Fire team. They bought live bait first thing in the morning at Island Harbor thinking that catching bait would be hopeless in the heavy wind. By 7:40 a.m. lines were in the water. Despite the favorable direction of the wind, the strength of the breeze pushed seas between five and eight feet just a couple miles offshore of the beach. At 10:15 a.m. the team’s patience and persistence paid dividends. A naked pogy trolled on the surface made brunch for an aggressive kingfish. Joshua Henderson elected himself head angler and followed the fish to the bow of the boat as it raced off 250 yards of line. By 10:28 Joshua had worked the fish into exhaustion and brought it into range for Mark to hit with the gaff. At 12:30 the team scaled their 33.65-pounder, which would hold off all challengers on day two and secure fourth place overall for the team. The Liquid Fire team would like to acknowledge product supporters of their team including Pro-Chem distributing, Wynn’s Oil Products, Wakerunner marine products, Terminator wire and X-Tools.

An extremely accomplished Southport, NC team, the Tideline, Captained by Dieter Cardwell, was the fifth place finisher in the event and second place among SKA contestants. Two members of the normal Tideline crew could not make it for this event so Dieter called on his long time wingman and king mackerel tournament-fishing guru Mike Lundy to join the effort. With the dream team back together you just knew something special had to happen aboard Dieter’s new 35’ Wellcraft. On day one the Tideline team ventured behind Harker’s Island to collect live pogies for the day’s fishing. In addition to the pogies Dieter was able to secure some freshly caught Morehead City ribbonfish. With quality bait on board they headed out Barden’s inlet and made the interesting trek across the Cape Lookout Shoals in a 20-plus-knot east wind. The crossing was made safely and the decision was reached to head for the 1700 rock. Dieter believed the water conditions would be better there than other spots because the deeper water would be less disturbed by the heavy seas. Lines were deployed and the battle of slow trolling a spot in eight-foot seas began. Just a short time passed before the first bite came on a ribbonfish trolled on the downrigger. Mike angled the oddly behaving fish to the boat to find that a larger four-foot ribbonfish had eaten their bait two-foot ribbonfish. While Mike took the huge ribbon to the bow to unhook and prepare to re-deploy it, the other downrigger trolled at 50 feet with a fresh small ribbon on it took off. Uncharacteristically Dieter grabbed the rod and played angler for the day. Mike quickly cleared the lines and gained control of the boat chasing after the fish. Within ten minutes Dieter had beaten the fish and Mike did his job with the gaff. By noon the team had seen enough and made the unpleasant journey back across the shoals. At the scales the east side kingfish pushed down 32.40 pounds temporarily putting the team into fourth place. By the end of the second day of fishing the Tideline would not better their first day’s fish and would eventually be pushed down one spot to a solid fifth place finish.

Wilmington natives Jeff Morris and Rhett Ricks fishing aboard the Sharon Leigh rounded the SKA’s three best for the Atlantic Beach event. Their day one 29.95 kingfish would be good enough for a sixth place overall finish. Day one began with what seemed to be an endless search for live pogies. Behind Harker’s Island they threw the cast net more than 20 times and eventually were able to get 30 baits in the livewell. After collecting bait Jeff headed his 27’ Contender out of Barden’s inlet and anchored up between the jetties and the barge wreck on a spot where he had caught fish in the past. On anchor Jeff and Rhett chummed the area hard while fishing live baits underneath balloons. With just one other boat in the area they knew that they had a good shot at catching a fish if he came in to investigate the chum. The heavy chumming had begun to work by mid-morning as a school of greenies had surrounded the boat. At 11:00 a.m. they got their shot. A single pogy swimming under a balloon disappeared in the mouth of a hungry king mackerel. The problem was neither Jeff nor Rhett knew that it had happened. The rod was placed overhead in the t-top and the clicker had accidentally been turned off. By chance Jeff looked up and saw the rod doubled over and line peeling off the reel. Quickly he took hold of the situation realizing the fish had already burned off more than 250 yards of line. Rhett ran to the bow releasing the boat from anchor and the chase began. When Jeff finally caught up the fish, she rolled up dead next to the boat for an easy gaff shot. The Sharon Leigh team fished until 2:30 p.m. with one other bite, but would not better their 29.95-pounder caught that morning. On day two the heavy winds and a good fish on the board prompted Jeff to make the call that it would be a better day for surfing than fishing. Their day one fish put them into a sixth place overall finish and put the Sharon Leigh back into the SKA Divisional points race.

Though the top three teams in the event were all in boats of less than 23 feet, among SKA contestants the top finishing Class of 23’ boat was the Bear Cat, which posted a 15.95-pounder placing the team seventh in day two’s daily prize category.

According to www.abkmt.com, . . . [t]he Atlantic Beach King Mackerel Tournament is a non-profit organization that is still one of the largest all-cash tournaments on the east coast. Every year, the proceeds from this event are donated to the two charities that we support. In the last 26 years, this Tournament has funded many needed projects for the Atlantic Beach Volunteer Fire Department and the Carteret County Sportfishing Association. The fire department has purchased state-of-the-art fire and EMS equipment and maintains an intense ongoing training program to increase the services it provides to the citizens and visitors of Atlantic Beach. The CCSA uses the proceeds to purchase reef materials to place on the acres of permitted bottom sites offshore of Carteret County, thus protecting and ensuring the enjoyment of sportfishing for years to come. We are proud of our charities and the services they provide!