In an effort to introduce the Coastal Conservation Association to southern NC anglers, the Ocean Isle Fishing Center held the inaugural North Carolina’s Deep Water/Shallow Water Fishing Rodeo September 14-22nd. The weeklong event featured an SKA Division 9 king mackerel tournament offering entrants the unusual possibility to choose to fish two out of seven possible days, and strong winds over much of the week led the majority of boats to fish the final Friday and Saturday.

Capitalizing on a red hot king bite near the beaches south of Cape Fear, Samuel Cernugel’s Coon Dog team, hailing from Wilmington, took top honors in the competition with a fish weighing 32.45 pounds that they caught on Friday, September 21st. Cernugel fished the event with teammates Jeremy Padgett and Chris Nealon aboard his 36’ Mercury-powered Yellowfin.

The winning king bit as the Coon Dog crew was trolling at the Yaupon Reef, just a mile off of Oak Island in 30 feet of water.

The fish inhaled a naked pogy trolled on top around 3:15 Friday afternoon, and Nealon was first to the rod. He picked it up as the king ran on the surface, and after Cernugel and Padgett cleared the spread, they began to chase the fish.

“She stayed on top the whole time,” Cernugel said. After Nealon had been fighting the king for around 15 minutes, the fish surfaced near the boat. “She came right up, and we nailed her,” Cernugel, who gaffed the fish, explained.

The crew headed to the scales at Ocean Isle shortly after boating the big king, which was one of three they caught around the Yaupon Reef Friday. Their next largest fish was in the mid-teens.

Atop the leaderboard with one day of fishing left, the Coon Dog anglers headed offshore to the 90/90, where they caught the 36 pound third place king in June’s Jolly Mon King Classic, to search for an even larger fish. Though they landed 10 kings Saturday, none broke the 20 pound mark. Fortunately for the team, the 32 pound fish held onto the lead by less than a pound through Saturday’s fishing.

Bait, particularly schools of mullet and pogies, was in abundant supply along the beach at Oak Island for most of the week of the tournament. Consequently, the Coon Dog crew had no difficulty loading up their livewells with pogies between the island’s two piers on both days they fished.

The Coon Dog’s winning fish also propelled them into first place on the Division 9 Overall leaderboard with a lead of over 5 pounds and one tournament left to fish.

Cernugel wished to express his gratitude to the Coon Dog’s sponsors Yellowfin Boats, Mercury Outboard Motors, and Southport Concrete.

The Reel Music team caught the second place 31.65 pound king mackerel on the event’s final Saturday. Brothers Gaston and Tolly Hughes make up the Wilmington-based team, and fish aboard a Yamaha-powered 23T Contender.

On Friday, the Hughes brothers started out near Yaupon Reef, but ran offshore due to the crowd of boats in the area. They headed to an area around 20 miles offshore east of Frying Pan Shoals, but despite good king mackerel conditions, found no activity.

“Something wasn’t right out there,” explained Tolly Hughes, “and there was so much bait on the beach we ran back in.” Saturday the brothers followed a similar strategy, and after finding little activity at some offshore spots Saturday morning, they headed back to the beach for some fresh bait and a fresh strategy.

After catching some pogies along the beach, they began slow trolling towards Yaupon Reef, and got a bite just before they got there.

“We had about two hours left to fish when we got the strike,” said Tolly Hughes, who grabbed the rod, “and the fish ran off about 250 yards. With just two of us on board and a bunch of boats around, it was a little tricky.”

After clearing the lines, the brothers were able to regain some line, but the king was far from done. It ripped off another 100 yard run, and then switched directions, charging the Contender.

“He went under the bow,” Hughes recalled “and made a couple swings on the other side of the boat, and then the rod tip popped back. I thought we’d lost him, but Gaston had actually gaffed the fish.”

If Gaston Hughes hadn’t sunk the gaff when he did, the fish might well have been lost.

“He had a treble stuck back in his throat, and he’d been chewing on that wire,” Hughes said.

Like the Coon Dog crew, the Reel Music anglers found bait easy to come by along the beach at Oak Island on both days.

Tolly Hughes would like to thank Contender and Yamaha for their contributions to the team’s success.

The former SKA National Champion That’s My Dog fishing team weighed in the third place, 31.00 pound king mackerel. Team Captain Forrest Taylor was unable to fish the Rodeo, and crewmembers David Hooks, Josh Baker, Chance Goodman, and Keith Burtanes made up the Ocean Isle-based team for this tournament, fishing aboard a 36’ Mercury-powered Yellowfin.

The That’s My Dog king fell for a naked pogy fished on the flat line as the team fished the 65’ Hole Saturday. Goodman fought the winning fish, with Hooks performing the gaffing duties.

Unsurprisingly, given the 15-20 kings (most 20-30 pounds) they caught, the anglers stayed at the 65’ Hole all day.

Taylor wished to express his gratitude to the crew’s sponsors Yellowfin, Mercury, Cannon, and Furuno.

A 29.55 pound king earned fourth place in the event for the Mr. Goodhands/Emerald Marine team, from Shallotte. Toby, Andy, and Rusty Russ made up the crew and fish aboard a Yamaha-powered 29’ Century.

Like the first and second place fish, the fourth place king came from the Yaupon Reef area. The 29 pounder at a naked pogy at 8:15 Saturday morning and immediately took a hard run.”

“We saw him sky on the bait, and then he took off,” Toby Russ said. With Toby fighting the fish and Andy Russ at the helm, the Mr. Goodhands crew took off as well.

“We ran him down and got on top of him really quickly,” Toby recalled. When the anglers caught up to the fish, Rusty Russ leaned over the gunnels and sank home the gaff.

The fourth place king was one of over 20 the anglers caught while fishing Friday and Saturday at the Yaupon Reef. Most were in the teen to low 20’s range, with one of the Friday fish around 25 pounds. They caught bait both days just off of Holden Beach.

The No Alibi crew, from North Myrtle Beach, took fifth place with a 27.35 pound king mackerel. Neal Loman, Kathy Davis, and Donnie Ward were all aboard the team’s 24’ Yamaha-powered Scout for the event.

The event’s final fishing day also gave up the fifth place king, which the No Alibi crew found at a 70 foot deep ledge near the Shark Hole. They headed 18 miles offshore to the spot after growing tired of fishing in the crowd at the Yaupon Reef Saturday morning, but found murky water when they arrived.

“We decided to fish anyway,” Loman reported. “Surprisingly, there was a good fish there.”

The 27 pound king bit a pogy beneath a chartreuse skirt fished 25 feet deep on the downrigger, and in accordance with the team’s usual scenario, Ward was the angler.

“That fish made its first run straight at the boat,” said Loman. “But then it saw the boat and took half the spool.”

Needing to regain some line, the anglers chased their king down with Davis at the Scout’s helm. The long run must have sapped the king’s energy, as Loman was able to plant the gaff with ease when they caught up to it, around 10 minutes after the fish bit.

With the king in the boat, the anglers continued to troll the ledge, picking up one smaller king before they had to head to the scales. They caught bait along the beach the night before the event and penned it up in order to get the earliest start to their fishing day possible.

Crockett Henderson, fishing aboard the 25’ Contender Liquid Fire, took home the Top Junior Angler title in the tournament for a 25.10 pound fish.

Although the first five days of the week were breezy, the weeklong format of the Deep Water/Shallow Water Rodeo enabled boats to wait out the weather, and the stellar king mackerel bite that most of the tournament boats found along the beaches and nearshore structure Friday and Saturday coupled with calm seas made waiting worthwhile.