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more Mercury Trail stories<< LEE'S MAGIC MARLIN TOPS WILMINGTON!
Katie Mae Lee is Top Junior
 by Max Gaspeny
Wilmington, NC - It wasn’t a marlin, but the 34.00 pound king mackerel that took first place in the Greater Wilmington King Mackerel Tournament must have seemed mighty enchanting to the members of the Raleigh-based Magic Marlin fishing team. Daniel Lee, his daughter Katie, Ricky White, and Tony Fincher made up the crew and took home the winner’s check for over $20,000 in the event, held July 27-28 out of Wrightsville Beach’s Dockside Marina.
The team fished the tournament aboard Lee’s 32’ Jarrett Bay center console powered by twin 275 Mercury Verados. After buying pogies from Captain Stacy’s Fishing Center avoid wasting fishing time catching bait, they left Beaufort Inlet and headed for the famous king mackerel grounds to the East of Lookout Shoals.
“We figured we could at least get a 20-30 pound king on the East Side,” Daniel Lee said. Despite an abundance of bait and perfect water color, their first spot produced only a few sharks after 2 hours trolling.
The team’s game plan was to fish the East Side early, then run south, hitting more hotspots while getting closer to the weigh-in site.
“We decided to hit Jerry’s Reef next,” Fincher recalled. Again they were greeted with ideal conditions but no king activity. “Then we started heading to Christmas Rock. We saw a little Hydra-Sport hooked up on the right side of us, and it looked like their fish was pulling good, so we decided to stop and fish there, at the SE Bottoms.”
Just after Lee deployed the downrigger bait, a pogy beneath a pearl laser Cape Lookout skirt, the reel began to sing a familiar tune much loved by king mackerel anglers and Fincher pulled the rod from its holder.
“It sounded good to start with, but then it died out real quick,” said Fincher. “But he’d just turned around and headed back towards us. So I cranked and cranked, finally caught up to him, then he decided to smoke it down.”
“We had him on a Trinidad 30 with 500 yards of line, and over half the spool was gone in just a minute,” Lee remembered.
During the massive run, Katie Lee turned the boat towards the king, and White took over the helm, chasing the fish down.
According to Fincher, the run exhausted the king, and the fight was easy from then on. “He made one last turn, went under the boat, and we loosened up on him, let him go, and took the rod to the other side of the boat. He rolled right back over on top, and Daniel gaffed him.”
The winning king hit the deck around 1:30, and the crew decided to run for the scales immediately.
At the weigh-in, the team’s only king of the day held on to first place by over a pound, and in addition to the overall win, it earned Katie Lee the Top Junior Angler title in the event.
The Magic Marlin crew wished to dedicate their win to Matthew Lee. “Matt couldn’t make it to this tournament, but he was with us in spirit, so we want to dedicate this one to him,” Daniel Lee said. They’d also like to express their gratitude to sponsor Lee’s Hardwood Floors.
Second place in the tournament and the top spot in Class of 23’ competition went to the Wilmington-based Living Waters Guide Service for a 32.88 pound king. Jody Gay, of Blue Water Candy Lures, and Russell Weaver fished the tournament aboard the 20’ Yamaha-powered Onslow Bay, and took home nearly $10,000. Usual team Captain Rick Croson was unable to make it to this event.
Weaver and Gay were trolling a live bottom 14.5 miles off New Topsail Inlet when their king bit around 11:00 on Saturday. A pink Blue Water Candy skirted pogy trolled 22 feet deep on the downrigger fooled the fish, and Weaver was first to the rod.
“It only took us about 10 minutes to get him in,” Gay said. “He didn’t fight like a king at all.”
Gay ended the quick fight by planting a gaff in the near-33 pound king, and both anglers were pleased to see its size. “We were surprised at how big the fish was. I think the 20 pound king we caught earlier fought much harder than that one,” Gay revealed.
With thunderstorms looming when they boated the king, the pair decided to head back in to the beach and fish a bit more. Catching one shark after a half-hour’s fishing, they headed to the weigh-in.
Gay wished to thank Chris Edens, of the Sarah Jo team, for leading them to their fishing spot. “He gave us some really good intel, and put us right on that spot.”
The crew would also like to express their gratitude to Living Waters Guide Service sponsors Blue Water Candy, Onslow Bay Boatworks, Tex’s Tackle, Penn, and Owner hooks.
A 31.96 pound king mackerel earned third place (and second in the Class of 23’) for the Sic-Em crew, from Fayetteville. Steve Ford, Colin Ford, Jamie Morris, and Dane Butler were all aboard the 23’ Sea Pro for the tournament and won over $9,000. The near-32 pound fish also earned Colin Ford the second place Junior Angler prize.
The Sic-Em king bit a naked double pogy rig as the crew trolled at the 1700 Rock, east of Lookout Shoals. The strike came around 11:00 Saturday morning, and Colin Ford took the rod after the king bit. With Morris at the helm, the crew followed their fish for 10 minutes before Steve Ford could gaff it.
Other than the third place fish, the crew caught two more kings and a number of sharks during the tournament. They found their pogy baits near Harker’s Island Saturday morning.
The Greater Wilmington’s fourth place SKA team was the Reel Music, who weighed in a 29.34 pound king. Brothers Gaston and Tolly Hughes made up the Wilmington-based team and were fishing the event aboard their 23T Contender, giving them third in the Class of 23’.
The Hughes found their king while trolling a ledge near the Cabbage Patch. A naked pogy fooled the fish in to striking at 10:00 Saturday, and Gaston picked up the rod.
“I’ve never had a king fight like that before,” he said. “We went through a bunch of grass, and the fish got hooked into a big clump of it. He never really ran. The biggest run he made was about 70 feet—straight down. I’d get him to come up, and he’d just go straight back down there.”
The up-and-down battle continued for almost a half hour before Gaston was able to battle the fish into gaff range. As soon as the fish was close, Tolly sank the gaff and boated the king.
The Reel Music searched for pogies at the Carolina Beach Boat Basin and Williams Landing before finally locating them just north of Snow’s Cut in the Cape Fear River.
James Demyan’s Final Approach team, from Oak Island, NC, caught the SKA fifth place 28.6 pound king. Demyan fished the event with the usual crew of his son John, Donald Johnson, and Jason Tierney aboard the Final Approach, a 32’ Yamaha-powered Pursuit center console.
The fifth place fish bit a naked pogy on top around 12:30 while the team was already fighting another king. They found both fish around two miles east of the 30/30 in 80 feet of water. “We were fighting one off the bow, and that big fish hit the only line I’d left out,” James Demyan reported. “We just concentrated on the first fish, got it in the boat, and paid attention to the second one.”
At some point during the double battle, the bigger king became tail wrapped, and consequently, it did not give up easily for Tierney, who was the angler. With Johnson following the king from the helm, the team worked it boatside in around 25 minutes. James Demyan sank the gaff as soon as the king presented an opportunity.
The first fish was around 22 pounds, and the second, larger fish was the 28 pounder. Aside from those two kings, the Final Approach crew released six more in the 12-15 pound class at the same spot along with a big amberjack.
The team caught their pogies on Friday in Wildlife Creek, and penned them overnight in order to get an early start to Saturday’s fishing.
The tournament’s Top Lady Angler was Amy Jordan, aboard the Lumberton, NC boat Captain’s Choice.
In 2007, the event’s seventh year, the Greater Wilmington King Mackerel Tournament attracted 160 boats. The tournament benefits the Take a Kid Fishing Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to giving disadvantaged youth the opportunity to experience the thrill of going fishing.
Despite a few thunderstorms Saturday afternoon, Tournament Director Tom Aberle was pleased with the overall weather during the event. “It’s the best forecast we’ve had in a while, mostly 2-3 foot seas,” he commented. Aberle also wished to express his thanks to the event’s many sponsors.
FINAL STANDINGS
GREATER WILMINGTON KING MACKEREL TOURNAMENT
WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA
DIVISION 9:
|
| 1. |
MAGIC MARLIN•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
34.00 |
| Jarrett Bay/Mercury
Daniel Lee
Tony Fincher
Katie May Lee
Ricky White
|
| 2. |
LIVING WATERS •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
32.88 |
| Onslow Bay/Yamaha
Russell Weaver
Jodie Gay
|
| 3. |
SIC-EM ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
31.96 |
| Sea Pro/Yamaha
Steven Ford
Jamie Morris
Colin Ford
|
| 4. |
Fujimo•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 30.10 |
| 5. |
REEL MUSIC•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
29.34 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Gaston Hughes
Tolly Hughes
|
| 6. |
Marcia D••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 28.84 |
| 7. |
FINAL APPROACH •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
28.60 |
| Pursuit/Yamaha
James Demyan, Jr.
Donald Johnson
Jason Tierney
|
| 8. |
FINAL DRAW •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
26.62 |
| Wellcraft/Yamaha
John Lewis
Braden Lewis
|
| 9. |
DIG IT•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
25.96 |
| Contender/Mercury
Greg Carroll
Tony Carroll
Bryant Carroll
Daniel Carroll
|
| 10. |
THE CHASE•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
25.24 |
| Donzi/Mercury
Tim Chase
William McNeilly II
William McNeilly III
Nick Chase
|
| 11. |
OIFC WORLD CAT •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
24.16 |
| World Cat/Yamaha
Brant McMullan
Amy McMullan
|
| 12. |
Strickly Business••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 23.92 |
| 13. |
Corona Daze•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 23.76 |
| 14. |
ON A MISSION •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
22.58 |
| Fountain/Mercury
Chris Bryan
Jim Heine
Ned Garber
Austin Heine
|
| 15. |
CAPTAIN'S CHOICE•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
22.52 |
| Hydra Sports/Yamaha
Don Williamson
Jordan Williamson
Amy Jordan
Robert Jordan
|
| 16. |
ALL IN••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
22.42 |
| Triton/Mercury
Kenneth Strickland
Jeff York
Lynn Fox
Mike Morgan
|
| 17. |
LIVE LINE••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
22.06 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Mike Jackson
David Joyner
David Jackson
|
| 18. |
SEA MINT••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
22.04 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Jerry Vereen
Scott McClary
Jessie Vereen
|
| 19. |
Blue Moon••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 21.94 |
| 20. |
BROOKE LYNN CIGARS/REEL BUZZ•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
21.04 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Chip Nifong
Brian Schoenwiesner
Wesley Hege
Morgan Lawson
|
CLASS OF 23: |
| 1. |
LIVING WATERS ••••••••••••••••• |
32.88 |
| 2. |
SIC-EM•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
31.96 |
| 3. |
REEL MUSIC •••••••••••••••••••••• |
29.34 |
TOP JUNIOR ANGLER: |
|
Katie May Lee••••••••••••••••••••••• |
MAGIC MARLIN |
TOP LADY ANGLER: |
| Amy Jordan••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
CAPTAIN'S CHOICE |
TOP SKA JUNIOR ANGLERS
Presented by Guy C. Lee Building Materials: |
| 1. | Katie May Lee •••••••••••••••••••• | MAGIC MARLIN |
| 2. | Colin Ford ••••••••••••••••••••••••• | SIC_EM |
| 3. | Bryant & Daniel Carroll •••••••••• | DIG IT |
Weather |
| Sunny and calm in most offshore locations, Heavy rain and lightning throughout the entire weigh in. |
|
