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more Mercury Trail stories<< SECOND CATCH TAKES FIRST AT SNEAD’S FERRY
Margaret Ferebee Lands Third Lady Angler Prize of the Year
 by Max Gaspeny
Sneads Ferry, NC - The Snead’s Ferry Rotary Club King Mackerel Tournament has been good to Burt and Margaret Ferebee’s Second Catch fishing team. This year marks the third time in the past five tournaments that Margaret has taken the Top Lady Angler Prize, but the New Bern-based team went a step further in the 2007 event, catching the 44.09 pound king that topped the overall leaderboard and earned them the guaranteed $25,000 first prize and the Class of 23’ victory.
High winds and rain Friday and Saturday forced tournament organizers to change the event’s format from a single fishing day, Saturday-only tournament to a Captain’s Choice, fish Saturday or Sunday event. The Ferebees (and most other boats in the event) took advantage, electing to fish in Sunday’s calmer conditions. They launched their 23’ Contender powered by twin 175 Mercury Optimax’s at Beaufort’s Town Creek Marina Sunday morning, caught bait in Town Creek, and left Beaufort Inlet headed for the 1700 Rock, on the East Side of Lookout Shoals.
The Second Catch found fast action at the rock, but at first, a lack of quality fish. “It was a quick bite at first,” Burt Ferebee said. “We had 7-8 fish real quick, but they were all small—8-10 pounds. We’d just caught a small dolphin, and turned back toward the bottom numbers of the rock, when the downrigger went off at 55 feet. We knew it had to be something a little better. We didn’t know how big it was, but it felt heavy.”
The bite came around 10:45 Sunday morning, and a naked ribbonfish accounted for the strike. Margaret, who fights most of the team’s fish, took the rod from the holder after the downrigger clip popped. The fish immediately took a long run, and Burt began giving chase from the Contender’s helm. “We ran him down,” he recalled “Then he began that slow death roll, swimming big circles around the boat. We still didn’t know if it was a wahoo, a king, or a big barracuda. Then he came and rolled up close one time, and we saw that big brown back. I said: OK, this is our fish.”
A few circles later, the king came into range, and Burt leaned out, planted the gaff, and brought the big king into the boat just after 11:00. Knowing they had a potential winner in the boat, the Ferebees packed the king in ice and immediately headed for the scales. “She was a long fish,” Burt said, “as long as the fish bag. I thought it would be in the high 40’s or low 50’s, but she didn’t have the girth.”
The Ferebees crossed the shoals, came in Beaufort Inlet, and ran for the scales located at New River Marina. Arriving around 1:00, they hoisted their fish to the scales to find out it weighed just over 44 pounds. The king commandingly held the top spot on the leaderboard for the remainder of the afternoon, beating out the second place fish by over 10 pound
Along with the guaranteed first place prize and Top Lady Angler, the Ferebees topped the TWT, earning a total of over $30,000 in the event. They’d like to express their gratitude to their sponsors, Ferebee’s Marine Service, McNaughton McKay Electrical Supply House, and Mercury, for their contributions to the team’s success.
The Finger Bait team, out of Morehead City, captured the SKA second place, 30.56 pound king mackerel. The Snead’s Ferry event was boat owner Mike Marcheselli’s first tournament, but the boat, the 23’ Yamaha-powered Regulator formerly known as the Mr. Stanman, has a long history of SKA tournament success. Marcheselli fished the event with former owner Captain Stan Jarusinski and Dave Newsome.
The trio also chose to fish at the 1700 Rock for the tournament, and were fishing alongside the Second Catch just before they hooked the winning king. “I saw Burt and Margaret turn back toward the rock, and the next time I looked over, they were gone. I knew they had a good fish,” Jarusinski said.
Around noon, a small dolphin took one of the naked pogies in the Finger Bait’s wake, and the second place fish either struck the dolphin, or took the pogy from its mouth.
“Stan fought the fish for around 20 minutes, and we had no idea what it was,” Marcheselli recalled. “It didn’t run like a king. I thought we just had the dolphin for a while. The fish finally came up beside the boat, and I gasped when I saw it. I got real nervous after that.”
Though it came within sight, the fish stayed out of gaff range at first. With Marcheselli at the helm, and Newsome waiting, gaff in hand, the crew had to watch as the king swam several large circles around the boat. It came closer to the boat with each pass, and Newsome waited until the fish came near the boat to sink the gaff.
“He was still a little deep, but Dave reached out with those long arms and gaffed him,” Marcheselli said.
With the 30 pound fish in the boat, the crew continued fishing the 1700 Rock until it was time to head for New River Marina and the scales.
After a frustrating search for pogies the Sunday of the tournament with little success, the Finger Bait crew bought bait in order to stop burning up valuable fishing time. They would like to thank Shimano, Calusa, and KeepAlive for their sponsorship.
SKA third place went to Phil Cottrell and Paul Prystash, on the Long Overdue. The Morehead City team brought a 30.51 pound king to the scales Sunday aboard the 23’ Mercury-powered SeaCraft.
After catching pogies near Harker’s Island Sunday morning, the Long Overdue anglers headed for 30 Minute Rock. They found little action and a lot of grass after 2.5 hours of trolling, and decided to head for new spot around 11:00.
“We probably would have stuck it out there if it weren’t for all the grass,” Cottrell said. “We were headed for some numbers on the lighthouse side of the D wreck when we saw some bait fanning the surface.”
The pair decided to put baits in the water and hooked up almost immediately. They quickly landed a teenager king, and as Cottrell was sending a double pogy rig back into the wake, the 30 pounder hit. “He ate it about 20 feet behind the propwash,” Cottrell remembered. “I was letting it back, and instead of pogy speed, it started moving faster and faster.”
As Cottrell put the reel in gear, the fish put on a demonstration of “kingfish speed.” “He did everything he was supposed to,” Cottrell said. “He ran into the wind offshore, and took about 4 150 yard runs.” In accordance with the team’s usual routine, Cottrell fought the fish, while Prystash followed it from the helm.
After chasing the fish down for a final time, Prystash grabbed the gaff as the king surfaced neat the boat. Just before he gaffed the king, it made a move that may have cost the pair some money.
“He actually spit up a shad underneath the boat,” recalled Cottrell. With only five hundredths of a pound separating the Long Overdue fish from Finger Bait’s, that shad may well have been the difference between second and third place.
After boating the 30 pounder, the anglers caught another smaller king off the bait pod before the action died around 12:30.
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Cottrell wished to thank the Long Overdue team’s sponsors Mercury and Outback Marine.
Morehead City’s White Lightning team weighed in the SKA fifth place 26.39 pound king mackerel. Sam Ballou and Jason Dudley fished aboard the 36’ quad Mercury-powered Yellowfin on Sunday, and like the other top teams, chose to hunt for a money fish on the East Side of Lookout Shoals.
The pair were trolling around 30 Minute Rock around 12:30 when the fifth place king attacked a naked pogy on top. Dudley grabbed the rod as the king ran hard, and Ballou prepared to give chase.
“He took off right on top, but when we caught up to him, we got him up pretty quick,” Ballou related. Around 10 minutes after the king struck, Ballou was able to leave the helm and sink the gaff.
With their 26 pound king in the boat, Ballou and Dudley trolled the East Side for a short time longer, and then fished the Beaufort Inlet shipping channel for in the early afternoon, caching only a shark.
They caught their pogies near Harker’s Island Sunday morning.
Continuing the local domination in this event, the Morehead City Final Draw team caught the fifth heaviest king in SKA competition, at 26.24 pounds. Brothers Tim and Matt Hudson fished with Tim’s son Brandon, the Top Junior Angler in the tournament. The trio competed aboard the Final Draw, a 35’ Yamaha-powered Wellcraft.
The Final Draw king also came from the East Side. It bit around 2:30, just after the anglers had made a move.
“We’d been at 30 Minute Rock, till a bit after one, then we decided to head out to 1700 Rock. We weren’t there 10 minutes before we caught that fish.”
Matt Hudson fought the king, and after the team had chased it down several times, Tim Hudson plant a gaff in the fish 20 minutes after the bite.
Aside from the fifth place fish, the Final Draw anglers caught several in the teens. They bought their baits after looking unsuccessfully for an hour Sunday morning.
The Sneads Ferry Rotary Club King Mackerel Tournament attracted 149 boats for 2007, its 16th year. The weather on Sunday wasn’t perfect, but it was vastly superior to the 20-30 knot winds and rain that greeted the few boats that fished Saturday.
This event functions as the primary fundraiser for the Sneads Ferry Rotary Club, and proceeds generated by the tournament go to fund a variety of charitable causes both locally and worldwide. Tournament director Scott Wheeler wished to express his gratitude to all the event’s sponsors, without whom the tournament could not happen, and to all the participants.
FINAL STANDINGS:
SNEAD’S FERRY KING MACKEREL TOURNAMENT
SNEAD’S FERRY, NORTH CAROLINA
DIVISION ONE:
|
| 1. |
SECOND CATCH•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
44.09 |
| Contender/Mercury
Burt Ferebee
Margaret Ferebee
|
| 2. |
Reel Diamonds•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 33.54 |
| 3. |
Early Riser •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 32.10 |
| 4. |
FINGER BAIT •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
30.56 |
| Regulator/Yamaha
Mike Marcheselli
Stan Jarusinski
Dave Newsom
|
| 5. |
LONG OVERDUE •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
30.51 |
| SeaCraft/Mercury
Phil Cotrell
Paul Prystash
|
| 6. |
Flat Broke•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 27.23 |
| 7. |
WHITE LIGHTNING•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
26.39 |
| Yellowfin/Mercury
Sam Ballou
|
| 8. |
FINAL DRAW •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
26.24 |
| Wellcraft/Yamaha
Tim Hudson
Brandon Hudson
|
| 9. |
MISS TENY•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
25.33 |
| Palmetto/Mercury
Ashley Jones
Randy Chase
|
| 10. |
King’s High•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 25.06 |
| 11. |
AQUA NUTZ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
25.05 |
| Aqua Sport/Yamaha
Michael Dolph
James Dolph
|
| 12. |
OCEAN ATHLETE•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
24.85 |
| Privateer/Mercury
Skip Conklin
Sandy Conklin
|
| 13. |
REEL KRAZY•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
23.89 |
| Key West/Yamaha
Fred Kluge
|
| 14. |
Bait Chaser•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 23.72 |
| 15. |
EAST COAST SPORTS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
23.46 |
| Wellcraft/Yamaha
Randall Edens
George Edens
Mike Jackson
Cole Edens
David Jackson
|
| 16. |
THE RIGHT ONE BABY•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
23.25 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Todd Matthews
Jim Davis
Garland Sewell
Barry Matthews
Brandon Sewell
Brad Sewell
|
| 17. |
FAR FETCHED•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
21.00 |
| Sailfish/Yamaha
Colin McDuffy
Keith McDuffy
|
| 18. |
THREE STOOGES & CHERYL•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
20.99 |
| Donzi/Mercury
Larry Warren
Cheryl Warren
Steve Straughn
Chris Barnes
JohnBarnes
|
| 19. |
BLUE HEAVEN•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
20.84 |
| Angler/Yamaha
Eric Raynor
Trace Raynor
|
| 20. |
BOUT TIME••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
20.75 |
| Fountain/Mercury
Terry Schoenick
|
CLASS OF 23: |
| 1. |
SECOND CATCH••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
44.09 |
TOP LADY ANGLER |
|
Margaret Ferebee••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
SECOND CATCH |
TOP JUNIOR ANGLER |
| Brandon Hudson•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
FINAL DRAW |
TOP SKA / POWER MARINE OUTFITTERS JUNIORS: |
| 1. |
Brandon Hudson •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | FINAL DRAW |
| 2. |
James Dolph ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | AQUA NUTZ |
| 3. |
Cole Edens & Michael Jackson•••••••••••••••• | EAST COAST SPORTS |
|
