The Little River Inlet Saltwater Fishing Club's Rumble in the Jungle kingfish tournament has quickly gained popularity on the tournament trail as a fun fisherman-friendly event. These thoughts are echoed by the increasing number of entrants the event has had in each of its first three years. The 2005 edition, like several other tournaments in this area, had to be rescheduled from its original date due to poor weather conditions. The rescheduled event took place October 21st and 22nd during the peak of the southeastern North Carolina king mackerel fishing season. Unfortunately the rescheduled date's weather proved to be a small improvement over the original date's weather. Nevertheless, 117 kingfish teams braved the hard southwest winds and went in search of a winning kingfish. At the end of the day one team would rise above the rest and post a tournament best 34.58-pound kingfish.
Mike McDuffie, Bill Welborn and his two sons Steven and Brent fish aboard the 2nd Mortgage, a 26' Hydra Sport out of Southport, NC. Mike has been fishing kingfish tournaments in this area since the early days of the Arthur Smith King Mackerel Tournament. After dotting the leaderboard for years, it wasn't until this year's Rumble in the Jungle that Mike put his team into victory lane.
Prior to the event Mike had received some information that a decent bite of larger fish had gone off at the Belky Bear, a spot in 55 feet of water off of Murrels Inlet. With no better information the plan was to head south to catch bait and make way towards the Belky Bear. Despite the rough conditions, pogies were located with ease off of Cherry Grove and it was off to the spot. On the way the crew spotted a pack of birds working hard so they stopped and fished the area for a couple hours. Several small fish were caught before they opted to get back on track and make their way out to the Belky. After fishing for a couple more hours at the Belky and once again only catching smaller fish the team debated leaving. Ultimately they opted to stay due to the rough sea conditions limiting where they could run. At 1:30 p.m. sticking with the game plan finally paid off. A stud kingfish engulfed a single pogy on the shotgun line. Immediately the fish spooled off 300 yards of line. The team quickly narrowed the gap between the boat and fish, but again the fish took off on another long run. An epic hour-long battle waged before angler Steven Welborn could slow the fish enough to present a gaff shot. Approximately one mile away from where the hookup occurred the fish was put in the boat. Realizing they had a good fish in the boat the team called it a day and began the rough ride back to the scales inside Little River Inlet. The 34.58-pounder would put the 2nd Mortgage in the lead and would be more than enough to hold off all challengers for their first big win.
The second place finisher has the story you always read about, but never seems to happen to you. Phil Hooks, his wife and Top Lady Angler of the event, Kristen, Scott Heffernan and brothers-in-law Eric and Johnny took the GPS Store boat to a dramatic second place finish with a 30.45-pound kingfish. After collecting plenty of pogies off Cherry Grove tournament morning the decision was to head offshore about 20 miles to an area near the Jungle. In the rough conditions the team was able to catch numerous kingfish but none were leaderboard material. While catching the small kingfish a crewmember was able to jig up one lonely blue runner baitfish, which is very rare for this area. Deciding they had had enough, the team decided to make a run back to shore and finish out the day at near their home at Shallotte inlet. Around 3:15 p.m. Scott was doing battle with a pesky dog shark and Phil was clearing the line with the blue runner. Just as Phil was getting ready to lift the bait out of the water the aggressive kingfish skied about ten feet in the air coming back down between the motors and headed under the boat about 100 miles per hour. Phil managed to avoid cutting the fish off on the underside of the boat as the fish peeled off a quick 150 yards. Scott steered the boat in the direction of the fleeing fish while Phil smoothly worked the fish back to the boat. A short five-minute fight ensued and Scott sealed the deal with the gaff putting an end to a storybook situation. The GPS Store team would like to recognize Mercury, the GPS Store and Marine Service Center for their continued to support.
Rounding out the top three for a SKA sweep was the ever-consistent Hot Rod team composed of Brett Barnes and Junior Angler son Alan Barnes. After collecting pogies near Hog Inlet at Cherry Grove, Brett headed the Hot Rod boat offshore in the rough seas hoping to find schools of larger fish. For the majority of the morning hours the team was only able to find smaller fish. The four or five other boats in the same area had similar reports. Brett and Alan opted to stick it out and the decision paid off. At noon a pogy on the long line rigged on "indestructible" Terminator wire was nailed. Alan, who is a very accomplished Junior Angler in his last year of eligibility, took his position behind the rod and went to work. A short 15 minutes of up and down work yielded a gaff shot for dad who came through and put the solid 29.30-pounder in the box. Knowing they had a decent fish on board and understanding their placement in the Division standings Brett and Alan fished for only an hour longer and headed back in to the scales. This fish would solidify the Hot Rod team as the Division 12 champs and also give Alan the Junior Angler Championship for Division 12.
The Salt & Battery team fishing aboard a 23' Yamaha powered Triton boat took the Class of 23' honors for this event. Captain Blake Holcomb was unavailable for an interview, but his team posted a 28.44-pounder to top the small boat division.
The 2005 Rumble in the Jungle kingfish tournament lived up to the reputation it has built over the last couple of years of being a tournament for the fishermen by the fishermen. Excellent meals were provided for tournament contestants and their families at both the Captain's meeting and awards ceremony by Duffy Street Seafood Shack and Outback Steakhouse. This event is hosted annually by the Little River Inlet Saltwater Fishing Club and operated by tournament directors Fred Coyne and Patrick Bellamy. Considering 117 entrants enjoyed the fishing and festivities this year, with a little help from the weatherman next year's event promises to be bigger and better than ever.
