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Trick Z Wins South Brunswick King Classic With a 40.47

by Capt. Barrett McMullan

Tournament director Terry Adkins of Bluewater Promotions recently took on the mission of bringing the South Brunswick Islands King Classic back to prominence. For many years this event had been a favorite among North Carolina anglers, but due to poor weather and lack of sponsorships in the past few years the tournament has struggled. In this, his first year of operating the South Brunswick event, Terry was able to secure significant sponsorship, but the weather was still an obstacle that had to be dealt with. The original scheduled date was for the last weekend in August, but the Coast Guard's posting of a small craft advisory due to heavy winds quickly nixed that plan. The tournament committee opted for a rescheduling of the tournament until the weekend of September 24th, which would prove to be a great call as the original date did in fact bring severe weather and the new date turned out to be a chamber of commerce postcard-type day.

One team that doesn't seem to mind good or bad weather forecasts is also this year's South Brunswick Islands King Classic champion. The Trick Z boat has come onto the scene strong in the past few years. They won the Fall Brawl King Classic two years ago amongst a small craft advisory and now they have a victory in the South Brunswick event in perfect weather conditions. According to Jeff he has his three-year-old daughter to thank for his team's latest success. She told her dad the evening before fishing that he was going to catch two small fish and one big fish. As it would turn out that is exactly how it happened.

The Trick Z's Captain, Jeff York, was joined by his recreational team composed of top Lady Angler Sherry Jones, father and top Senior Anglers Sonny York and Tommy Lewis for a shot at the South Brunswick title. After departing the inlet the crew was able to locate a school of pogies just offshore of the lighthouse at Oak Island. With a load of bait on board the team made a quick jump offshore less than two miles and began fishing at the famed Yaupon reef alongside 50 other boats. For the first two hours action was slow with only a few boats hooking up in the area. After a while Jeff made the call to start working inshore of the reef and towards the Ocean Crest Fishing Pier where a number of good kings had been caught during the week. While trolling inshore Jeff marked a good piece of structure holding bait so he began the zigzag trolling pattern covering the area thoroughly. The first pass over the structure yielded the first fish of the day, which was the first small one Jeff's daughter had forecasted. The second pass over the structure brought the second small fish that was in the plan. On the third pass just as Jeff's daughter had predicted, the big girl came calling. At 12:20 p.m. the long line trolling a single pogy with a chartreuse/white/orange Fat Boy skirt went screaming. Jeff quickly snatched the rod from the t-top as line poured from the reel. While Sherry and Jeff took turns battling the spunky kingfish Sonny handled the boat and Tommy worked the deck. An intense 15 minutes of angling had coaxed the mossy back towards the surface and with one swipe Tommy Lewis had the stud on the end of the gaff and in the boat. It was such a beautiful day the crew opted to stay and fish for most of the day before heading to the scales. The Trick Z team in their 35' Donzi managed a few other fish throughout the day, but none would top the hog they already had in the bag. At the scales 40.47 pounds was announced followed by, "we have a new leader." The new leader would not relinquish the title for the rest of the weigh-in and the Trick Z earned their second big tournament win, top Lady Angler honors and top Senior Angler honors.

Coming in second place was Stacy Wester's Big Bad Wolf team. These guys have been one of the best North Carolina teams for many years, but recently have pushed more of their focus towards the Pro Division. Just to remind all their competitors where their home field advantage is, the Big Bad Wolf team went ahead and posted a 34.57-pounder in the South Brunswick event. Accompanying Stacy for this tournament was a young enthusiastic crew composed of Field Hucks formerly of the Mean C fishing team out of Murrels inlet, SC and Brian Justice. Field had some good information about water conditions down south around the Georgetown area so the decision was reached to head the big 36' Yamaha powered Contender south 80 miles to fish Field's home waters. After collecting bait at the Georgetown jetties the first fishing stop was the 6CR buoy at Cape Romain Shoals. The water conditions were good but only small fish were encountered. The next stop was offshore of 6CR by a few miles and this stop would prove to be the answer. At 1:00 they got their only bite at this location on a single pogy trolled on the top medium line. Field was able to see the fish take the bait and knew they had hooked a good one. Brian was on angling duties and for 15 minutes he was in hot pursuit. Stacy worked the boat over the fish where Field was able to get a successful gaff shot. At 2:45 the Big Bad Wolf team packed it up and made the long run back to the scales where they were rewarded with a strong second place finish. Stacy and crew would like to recognize their supporters Power Marine, Contender and Yamaha.

Finishing in the third position was Wes Hamilton's Reel Commission team. Wes is co-owner of Angler's Marine located on highway 17 near Shallotte where he sells various boats and engines. For this particular event Wes was waiting on his brand new 34' Yellowfin to arrive so he had to call on fishing buddy Dirk Parsons to borrow his 31' Fountain. With a more than capable boat now at his disposal Wes gathered up his crew of Craig Brown and sister Dana Hamilton to help him catch a smoker kingfish. Like many other tournament teams Wes opted to collect fresh pogies near the Lighthouse and then head to Yaupon reef. During the morning session the team was successful in landing two 25-pounders and two 18-pounders but still were looking for the daddy. Around midday the decision was made to go back inshore and rebait and then head back out to Yaupon with fresh bait for the afternoon bite. Once they arrived back at Yaupon Wes got a call that the bite had fired off at the end of the Cape Fear River Channel. The 31' Fountain was put on the pins heading in the direction of the end of the river. The first bait in the water yielded a third 25-pounder for the crew. At 3:00 p.m. the 25-pounder streak would be broken when a stud kingfish skied on the prop wash bait and proceeded to smoke line off the reel. For 45 minutes Wes angled the tail-hooked fish very gently fearing that the hooks would come loose from the jerking tail. Finally, with help from his sister the fish was gaffed and swung on board. This would be the big fish of the day at 33.84 pounds earning the team a third place finish.

Taking home the SKA's award for the top placing 23' and under boat was the Ocean Isle Beach team Ashley D captained by John McLaurin and crewed by Jimmy Powell. The Ashley D checked out of Lockwood Folly inlet tournament morning and went looking for live bait. Unfortunately the day didn't start off so great when the crew figured out they had run in the opposite direction of where the bait was located. That obstacle was overcome, but next they faced an electrical problem that had knocked out the GPS. Fortunately the fishing that was ahead of them that day was going to be done in sight of land around other boats so they could get by without precise navigation. The rough start to their day was quickly put behind them when a skirted pogy on the downrigger was nailed at the end of the Cape Fear River Channel. At 10:00 a.m. the bite came and John put himself into the angling position. A short five-minute fight followed as the fish was cooperative in coming towards the boat. The gaff man did his job and the biggest fish of the day was put on ice. The Ashley D's fish weighed in at 27.97 pounds giving the team the SKA's top 23' and under spot.

The 2005 South Brunswick Islands King Classic faced some weather adversity to begin with, but the decision to reschedule ended up putting the event on a perfect day. The great weather combined with the major body of fish being located within sight of land made for fun and competitive event. Some 91 boats participated in the tournament, which was considered a victory due to the high fuel prices and other tournament just up the coast taking entries away. For more information on this event go to www.sbikingclassic.com.