Choosing to fish Saturday, the first of the tournament’s two Captain’s Choice fishing days, the Reel Justice team weighed in a 33.10 pound king mackerel to top the field of SKA competitors in the Fall Brawl King Classic, held October 26-28 out of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center. Team Captain Ralph Justice fished the final tournament in Division 9 competition in with his son Andy and Jeremiah Williams aboard the team’s 31’ Yamaha-powered Contender, and the trio earned nearly $10,000 with their fish.

While most of the boats competing in the event targeted the waters off Brunswick County, NC, the Pawleys Island-based team fished closer to their SC home, and found fast action after resolving some early bait issues.

Fishing a wreck in around 40 feet of water, the anglers knew they were on some kings, but had to upgrade the baits they’d caught early Saturday morning in order to get the fish interested.

“The first round was all greenbacks, and the fish didn’t take a liking to them” Justice said. “Later in the morning, about 11:30, we found a good school of menhaden. Once we started using them it was like lights on. Those menhaden were definitely the key.”

The anglers began catching fish at their spot, located around 5 miles off the beach north of Georgetown, almost immediately after switching to pogies, and around 1:30, while anchored up near the wreck, they got a multiple strike.

“We had several fish on at once, and we didn’t realize which was the biggest,” Justice reported.

Since they had several fish on and were at anchor, the anglers fought their kings from a dead boat. Around 20 minutes after the bites, they’d tired their fish and worked them back to the boat, and Andy Justice sank a gaff in the 33 pound king that would earn the crew first place.

“Landing those fish was a real team effort,” Ralph Justice said. “We probably ended up with 20-25 over the day, and we turned back a 31 pounder since we’d already kept the 33.”

The action continued for the Reel Justice anglers until they had to head for Ocean Isle in order to make the weigh-in. Though the winds were strong Saturday afternoon, they were out of the WNW, and the anglers were able to hug the southeast-facing coast for a reasonably comfortable ride to the scales.

“I’d just like to thank Brant McMullan for putting on such good events,” Ralph Justice said. “These tournaments are always a lot of fun and family-oriented.”

The GPS Store fishing team, from Ocean Isle, took second place of the SKA boats in the Fall Brawl with a 31.00 pound king they also caught on Saturday. Scott Heffernan and Phil Hooks made up the crew for the event, fishing aboard the team’s 31’ Mercury-powered Contender.

Heffernan and Hooks found the third place fish while anchored up near a concentration of bait in 50 feet of water off Oak Island. The king fell for a naked pogy the anglers were dangling from a kite around 11:00 Saturday morning and immediately tore off a substantial amount of line from Heffernan, who had picked up the rod.

“We let him run quite a while before we decided to break anchor on him,” Heffernan related. “He tore off probably three quarters of the spool before we decided we’d better go get him.”

With Hooks at the helm, the anglers ran the fish down quickly, and Hooks was able to gaff the king without much trouble once they caught up to it.

Like the Reel Justice crew, the GPS Store anglers caught around two dozen kings on Saturday, including another within a half pound of their big fish.”

The GPS Store crew wished to thank sponsors The GPS Store and Marine Service Center of Little River.

A 27.15 pound king mackerel earned SKA third place for Ken Strickland’s All In fishing team, from Greensboro, NC. The 27 pound king also locked up a fourth place finish in 2007 Division 9 competition for the team.

The All In crew, made up of Strickland, his father Roy Strickland, Mike Morgan, and Jeff Shanberg, fish aboard a 26’ Mercury-powered Triton center console, and decided to fish the beach at Oak Island after some successful pre-fishing the day before the event.

“We caught a bunch of fish Friday,” Ken Strickland explained. “The biggest was around 20, but we saw some much bigger ones skying.”

After easily loading up their livewell with pogies from the schools cruising just offshore of the breakers at Oak Island Saturday morning, the anglers didn’t have to travel far before they began fishing, although the action wasn’t quite as fast as it had been Friday.

Around 10:30, the crew got their first strike of the day on a naked pogy trolled midway back in their spread.

“We were fishing some bait balls about three miles down the beach from Southport when that fish bit,” Strickland said.

Morgan took the rod after the bite, and the crew wasn’t even sure they had a king until they moved closer to it in the boat, as the fish didn’t take much line at first.

“I got the boat over to him,” Strickland recalled, “and then he took off.”

The king’s first big run was also its last, and with Strickland at the helm, the anglers chased down their fish. Once they caught up to it, Shanberg planted the gaff and swung the fish aboard around 10 minutes after the bite.

Though they continued fishing the area, the 27 pound fish turned out to be the team’s only king of the day.

Oak Island’s Strickly Business crew, captained by Jeff Crouch, took home the fourth place spot in SKA competition with a 25.25 pound kingfish. Crouch fished with friend Steve Isley aboard his 27’ Mercury-powered Contender.

“It was rough that morning,” Crouch said, “4-5 feet and raining.” Despite the unfavorable conditions, Crouch and Isley worked their way to a spot in 45 feet around 9 miles off Southport before beginning to fish.

Once they arrived, a quick king confirmed that running to the live bottom area just outside the Cape Fear shipping channel had been a good decision.

“We got a 20 right out of the gate,” Crouch explained.

Their big king skied on a single naked pogy on top around 1:00 Saturday afternoon, giving Crouch a good look at the valuable fish before Isley took control of the live bait outfit. Although the fish took a good run at first, it soon tired, allowing Isley to work it to the boat without too much trouble.

“He came in fairly easy after that first run,” said Crouch, “just basically did what a 25 pounder does.”

Once Isley worked the fish back towards the boat, Crouch sank home the gaff.

Continuing to fish within a few miles of their original spot, Crouch and Isley had six bites during the day, and were glad to see the seas calm down over the course f the afternoon, making for a much more pleasant ride to the scales than they’d had that morning.

They located some menhaden Saturday morning near the Hot Hole, just off Oak Island, but the baitfish were somewhat scattered, and the anglers only succeeded in netting around 18 of them before deciding to start fishing.

Stuart Ballard and the Tailwalker Marine crew, out of Georgetown, SC were the fifth place SKA boat, weighing a 24.85 pound king mackerel.

The 2007 Fall Brawl attracted 155 boats despite the weekend’s rough weather.

Addressing the crowd at the awards ceremony, Tournament Director Brant McMullan expressed his gratitude to the many sponsors that make the event possible, including Yamaha, World Cat, Town Creek Marina, SeaTow, Magic Tilt, J.P. Russ and Son, Anglers Marine, R & R Allstate, Marine Max, and Naber Chrysler/Jeep.

“A huge thanks goes out to you guys that fished. We had a less than ideal forecast, and this turnout goes to show the strength and dedication of the anglers that fish our events,” he added.