No strangers to North Carolina king mackerel tournament leaderboards, Morehead City’s White Lightning fishing team weighed in a 34.75 pound king to best the field of SKA competitors at the 2007 Onslow Bay Open, held September 21-23rd out of Casper’s Marina in Swansboro. The fish not only earned the team over $8,000, it contributed over half of the 61.14 point, two fish total that locked up the crew’s fourth place finish in 2007 SKA Division 1 competition

The crew, made up of Captain Sam Ballou, Tim Hudson, and his son Brandon Hudson, fish aboard a 36’ Yellowfin powered by quadruple 275 Mercury Verados.

Along with most of the 81 boats fishing the tournament, the White Lightning anglers decided to search for a money-winning fish in the productive waters just east of Cape Lookout shoals, however, they trolled several spots on the east side throughout the morning and early afternoon without catching much to get excited about, at least in terms of tournament winnings.

“We fished 1700, 30 Minute, the D wreck, all over the east side, really” Ballou recalled.

Eventually the team headed to the George Summerlin Reef, where they got a solid strike as the fishing day neared a close. A naked pogy trolled on top proved too much for their big fish to resist.

“We didn’t get him to bite until 20 minutes to 4:00,” Ballou said. Tim Hudson took the rod when the king bit, and held on for its initial run. With the weigh-in at Swansboro closing at 5:00, the anglers knew they’d have to boat the fish quickly, as Ballou explained.

“He ran a long way, but we just ran him down. We put him in the boat in under 10 minutes, and left for the weigh-in at 10 to 4:00.”

Ballou planted the gaff when the anglers closed in on the fish, then throttled up the boat’s four motors and pointed the bow towards the scales. The anglers made the long run in just 42 minutes, arriving to weigh their king with over 20 minutes to spare.

In addition to taking first place in SKA competition, the near-35 pound fish also earned Brandon Hudson the event’s Top Junior Angler title.

Along with the winning mackerell, the “White Lightning” anglers caught several smaller kings over the day and plenty of nuisance sharks. They caught their pogies at Harker’s Island Saturday morning with little difficulty.

The White Lightning team is sponsored by S.F. Ballou Construction and Tim Hudson Painting.

Second place in the SKA competition went to the Y-Not fishing team, also from Morehead City, who weighed in a 32.43 pound fish to take home nearly $3,000. Team Captain Tony Pavone fished the tournament with Gene Smelik and Dave Arnold aboard his 23’ Mercury-powered Key West, and, in addition to second the trio took top honors in the tournament’s Class of 23’ competition.

The Y-Not anglers found their king at the 1700 Rock, another spot east of Lookout Shoals, where it struck a naked pogy on the surface. The fish inhaled the bait, trolled in the medium position, around 9:00 Saturday morning, and Smelik grabbed the rod.

“He took about 250 yards on that first run,” Pavone recalled, “and he made three or four more runs between 100 and 150 yards.”

After striking the bait, the king went deep and stayed down throughout the fight. The long runs and deep fight led Pavone to worry that the team might have a wahoo, but around 35 minutes into the fight, Pavone got a look at the fish and realized that they had a big king. When the fish finally surfaced 45 minutes after it took the bait, Pavone sank the gaff.

“That fish went absolutely crazy after I gaffed him,” he said. “I’ve never seen a king that spunky.”

After boating the 32 pound king the Y-Not anglers continued trolling until 12:30, when a brewing storm convinced them to head for Swansboro. The third place fish was their only king of the day.

King, NC’s Flat Broke fishing team caught the 30.33 pound SKA third place king in the event. Team Captain Robert Newsome fished with his wife, Elizabeth and Curtis Deans aboard the team’s 26’ Grady-White.

The Flat Broke anglers also fished the east side, and found a hot bite as soon as they reached 30 Minute Rock Saturday morning.

"We got lucky," Newsome explained, “we put out on top of them. We got the lines in the water at 7:20, and as soon as we got the spread out, we started hooking up, and we got that big fish at 9:00.” A naked pogy destined to be the downrigger bait tempted the 30 pounder to strike.

“I was letting out the downrigger bait about 10-15’ behind the boat when I saw him hit,” Robert Newsome said. “I put the lock up on the reel and he started pulling drag.”

Unlike most kings, Newsome’s fish never took a long run. Instead, he explained that it led him through several laps around the boat.

“We never had to chase him; we just put it in neutral. He went under the boat a time or two, then dragged me up front. I went around the boat a couple times with him.”

By the time Newsome worked tired the king, Deans was ready with the gaff and brought the fish aboard.

The Flat Broke crew stayed at 30 Minute Rock for the rest of the day, landing four more kings over 15 lbs. and one in the 20’s.

Newsome wished to express his gratitude to the team’s sponsors Smitty’s Marine, Dudley’s Marina, Morehead Marine, and Grady-White.

Tim Newton’s Deal King fishing team, from Newport, NC, weighed in the fourth heaviest king in the competition, at 29.01 pounds. Newton fished the tournament with Jim Inman aboard the Deal King, a 23’ Irvette center console powered by a Volvo diesel.

The Deal King crew also found their fish at the 1700 Rock. The king inhaled a naked pogy on the surface just after 10:00 the morning of the tournament, and immediately caused some drama for Inman and Newton among the 30-40 other boats fishing the rock.

“He went straight beneath two other boats,” Newton recalled. “Once he went directly under another boat’s outboard. I stuck the rod into the water almost to the reel, and was waving to him to get out of the way and get his downriggers up. I though he might have gone into the guy’s prop, and for a moment I thought I had his prop, but he finally inched out of the way, I lifted the rod up, and the fish was there. It was pure luck.”

Once clear of the other boats, Newton continued to battle the king while Inman manned the boat’s helm. When the pair finally closed in on the fish, Inman sank the gaff and pulled the king aboard. Though they had the near-30 pound king in the box, the anglers continued trolling the area looking for an even larger one.

“I didn’t think that fish would do as well as it did, so we stayed out there,” Newton explained. “We ended up with 9 or 10 others, but the biggest were all between 14-18 pounds.”

Newton wished to express his gratitude to Superior Diesel and Will Harding at Carolina Yachts for the assistance they’ve given him in repowering the Deal King.

The Hampstead, NC-based East Coast Sports/Reel Greedy crew took the SKA fifth place spot with a 27.84 pound king mackerel. Team Captain Randall Edens and his father George Edens brought the fish to the scales aboard their Yamaha-powered 35’ Wellcraft.

Fishing north of most of the other boats in the tournament, the Edens found their king around 20 miles up the beach from the shoals just after noon, as they were anchored up in 50 feet of water off Drum Inlet. Their fish skied on a naked pogy fished on a long balloon line, and with Randall on the rod, the anglers immediately cast off the anchor line to chase the fish.

“We came off anchor because he was a decent fish,” Randall said, “but he went right back to the anchor ball. We were concerned he’d cut us off. Fortunately we were able to work him around it.”

Once clear of the anchor line, Randall fought the fish to the boat quickly, and when it surfaced, George Edens planted the gaff and pulled the king over the gunnels.

Randall Edens wished to thank the team’s sponsors East Coast Sports, Miramar Boat Sales, Yamaha, Treasure Island, Maui Jim, Furuno, and Zander Guy Real Estate.

Aside from providing anglers with an exciting fishing tournament at a time of year when area king mackerel are both abundant and hungry, the seventh annual Onslow Bay Open continued its tradition of raising large amounts of money for local children’s charities.

This year, the tournament’s beneficiaries were Camp E Ma Henwu, Camp Sunshine, Boys and Girls Home of NC, Children’s Flight for Hope, FOP Shop with a Cop, NC Special Olympics, and the Onslow County Christmas Cheer program.