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more Mercury Trail stories<< LAID BACK LANDS A 40-POUNDER!
Waters Wins $27,000 at Got-Em-On
by Max Gaspeny
The Laid Back fishing team from Scott’s Hill, North Carolina topped a field of 220 boats to take first place in the 2007 East Coast Got-Em-On Classic King Mackerel Tournament, held July 6th through 8th out of the Carolina Beach Municipal Docks. Gary Waters and Ted Kalnen managed to bring a 40.70-pound king to the scales on Saturday, June 7th to beat out the second place boat by nearly five pounds
Not only did Laid Back catch the winning king in the tournament, they took first place in the Class of 23’ competition as well. Waters and Kalnen fished the event aboard Waters’ 22’ Pro Kat powered by twin 115 hp Suzuki four-stroke motors, and the pair took home more $27,000, including the $25,000 guaranteed first place prize.
“We were fishing offshore of the Dredge Wreck when he hit,” Waters said, “and Ted was first to the rod.”
The winning fish bit a black and burgundy skirted pogy as the Laid Back was slow trolling at 8:23 Saturday morning. With Waters at the Pro Kat’s helm, Kalnen fought the big king for nearly half an hour before getting it near the boat. When it was close enough, Waters left the helm and grabbed the gaff.
“Gary made an absolutely perfect gaff shot,” Kalnen recalled. When asked if the team “laid back” a bit after boating a 40-pound king early on Saturday, Waters responded, “We laid back some, but we kept fishing hard. We didn’t really realize how big the fish was.”
Other than the 40-pound king, the Laid Back crew landed several barracuda and lost a dolphin on Saturday. They likely would never have caught the big mackerel had they not had some difficulty catching bait Saturday morning.
“We had the boat in the water at 5:30 at Williams Landing looking for bait,” Waters explained, “and we ended up having to go down to the river channel, and still had to run a few miles to find it. We were going to fish some ledges off the 30/30, but we were running late, so I said, ‘We’ve got another nine miles to go, let’s get a line in the water.’ That’s where we got him.”
Waters did some pre-fishing for the Got-Em-On, but scattered weed and a lack of king activity led him to the decision to fish further offshore on Saturday. “I fished off Southport on Friday, and it was just a mess with all the grass,” he explained.
Waters and Kalnen described ideal weather conditions on Saturday, with a morning two-foot swell subsiding to a flat ocean by afternoon.
The Willow Spring, North Carolina based Dig It fishing team took second place in the Got-Em-On, weighing a 35.85-pound king mackerel. Fishing aboard the Dig It, a 36’ Contender powered by triple 275 hp Mercury Verados, were Greg Carroll, his son Daniel, Tony Carroll, his son Bryant, and Greg’s son-in-law Jim Petty.
The family team was working a hard bottom area in 80 feet of water about 17 miles off New River Inlet when they hooked their king. They almost left the area just before the fish struck, but they were convinced that big kings were about to start feeding so they stuck around.
“We were catching nothing but small fish and were fixing to leave the spot. Then we called one of our friends on the radio, and they’d just caught a 28 right there. We caught an 18 right after that, and then we hooked up the big one,” Greg Carroll explained.
The fish struck a live cigar minnow on top around 10:00 Saturday morning. Greg Carroll took the rod after the king inhaled the minnow. “I fought it for probably 20 minutes,” he said. “It was a pretty typical fight, nothing special.”
After the team chased the fish down in the big Contender, Tony Carroll was able to lean over the gunnels and sink a gaff in the mackerel.
The Dig It crew left New River Inlet Saturday morning with a livewell full of pogies, then jigged up the cigar minnows they caught the 35-pound king on near the spot where they fished.
The second place king won the Dig It over $15,000, and Bryant and Daniel Carroll shared the SKA Top Junior Angler title.
Greg Carroll would like to thank sponsors Power Marine Outfitters, New River Marina, Contender and Mercury.
Third place went to the Reel Music team from Wilmington, with a 34.15-pound king. Brothers Gaston and Tolly Hughes fished the tournament together aboard their 23T Contender powered by a 225 hp Yamaha four-stroke.
The Reel Music team found their money-winning mackerel as they trolled around the Cabbage Patch at 11:45 on Saturday. The king ate a naked pogy 35 feet deep on the downrigger, and acted strangely in the moments following the bite.
“Tolly had her near the boat quick, but the fish turned and went under us. I thought it was a shark at first, but then she came up behind the boat, and we started chasing her,” Gaston Hughes related. “When we got up to the fish, Tolly said it was a nice one.”
Gaston left the helm to gaff the fish just ten minutes after it bit.
Like the Laid Back crew, the Reel Music began searching for bait early Saturday morning at Williams Landing, but they had to run south to the Cape Fear River in order to fill their livewell.
The Long Shot out of Little River, South Carolina took fourth place in the tournament by weighing a 32.50-pound king. Wade Long, Eric Stevens and Ryan Thompson were aboard the 36’ Yellowfin powered by triple Yamaha F350 outboards for the event.
The Long Shot team was trolling the Carolina Beach Inlet tide line when their fish struck just before 9:00 Saturday morning. A naked pogy in the prop wash fooled the fish, and Thompson grabbed the rod as the king took its first run.
“He smoked it pretty good about four times,” Long recalled, “then it was just dead weight. We could tell it was a pretty good fish.”
After maneuvering the Yellowfin to the king, Long left the helm, gaffed, and boated the fourth place king.
The Reel Buzz, a 23T Yamaha powered Contender out of Hampstead, caught the SKA fifth place king, at 31.60 pounds. Chip Nifong, Wes Hege, Brain Schoenwisener and Morgan Lawson made up the crew for this tournament.
Their king bit a skirted pogy on top as the Reel Buzz was pulling baits about four miles offshore of 23 Mile Rock on Saturday.
The crew thought they’d gotten a shark bite, Nifong explained. “He didn’t really run at first, just kind of chewed on the bait like a shark. We trolled on for five minutes with him behind the boat, then Wes said, ‘Oh, he just took off,’ and the fish burned off about 200 yards.”
Hege took the rod as the fish ran. He fought it for over 40 minutes, as they were hesitant to put too much pressure on the barely hooked king.
“It was a long fight,” Nifong said. “We saw the king once, and he only had one barb of one treble in him.”
Lawson was at the Contender’s helm throughout the fight, and after the team followed the king for the better part of an hour, Schoenwisener was able to plant a gaff in it, securing fifth place for the crew.
Other than the 31-pounder, the Reel Buzz landed several more kings and did some bottom dropping to put a few grouper dinners in the fish box.
They caught their pogies in the ICW near Figure Eight Island Saturday morning. Nifong wished to thank the team’s sponsors Brookelynn Premium Cigars, Pelagic Fishing Clothing and Contender Boats.
The Got-Em-On’s Top Lady Angler was Susan Kaminsky aboard The Chase, with a 29.35-pound king mackerel caught on Sunday.
The East Coast Got-Em-On Classic is put on each year by the Got-Em-On Live Bait Fishing Club. This year’s tournament benefited the Carolina and Kure Beach Fire Departments, and the event drew 220 boats for 2007, 31 more than last year.
“The weather and forecast was much better this year than last,” Tournament Director Dennis Barbour said. “We had two very fishable days, and the fact that tournament was won by a Class of 23’ boat shows you that anyone had a chance to win.”
The Got-Em-On’s Captain’s Choice format enabled boats to pick either Saturday or Sunday as their fishing day. Although Sunday’s weather was as pleasant as Saturday’s, 182 of the tournament’s boats chose to fish Saturday, the day all top 5 fish were caught.
Final Standings
East Coast Got-Em-On Classic
Holden Beach, North Carolina
Division 12: |
| 1. |
LAID BACK •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
40.70 |
| ProKat/Suzuki
Gary Waters
Ted Kalnen
|
| 2. |
DIG IT •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
35.85 |
| Contender/Mercury
Greg Carroll
Tony Carroll
Bryant Carroll
Daniel Carroll
Jim Petty
|
| 3. |
REEL MUSIC•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
34.15 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Gaston Hughes
Tolly Hughes
|
| 4. |
LONG SHOT ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
32.50 |
| Yellowfin/Yamaha
Wade Long
Eric Stevens
Ryan Thompson
|
| 5. |
BROOKE LYNN CIGARS/REEL BUZZ •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
31.60 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Chip Nifong
Brian Schoenwiesner
Wes Hege
Morgan Lawson
|
| 6. |
Bar Pirate ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 31.50 |
| 7. |
BIG BAD WOLF •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
31.20 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Stacy Wester
|
| 8. |
OCEAN ISLE FISHING CENTER ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
30.55 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Brant McMullan
|
| 9. |
No Name •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 30.50 |
| 10. |
MOON DOGGIE •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
30.30 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Billy Emmart
Mark Emmart
|
| 11. |
Over the Limit•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 29.65 |
| 12. |
SIMPLY STORAGE•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
29.45 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Michael Kennedy
Mark Kennedy
Rodney Benton
|
| 13. |
REEL THRILL••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
29.35 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Clint Hines
Richard Williams
|
| 14. |
Just Right•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 28.95 |
| 15. |
BOBCAT •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
28.75 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Henry Moore
Rick Tudor
|
| 16. |
THE CHASE••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
28.45 |
| Donzi/Mercury
Tim Chase
Mike Kaminsky
Nick Chase
Stanley Chase
Susan Kaminsky
|
| 17. |
FOOTLOOSE•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
28.40 |
| Wellcraft/Yamaha
Craig Lewis
|
| 18. |
Maverick•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 28.30 |
| 19. |
GAMBLER •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
26.95 |
| Hydra-Sports/Yamaha
Allen Kinney
|
| 20. |
REEL GREEDY/EAST COAST SPORTS••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
26.55 |
| Wellcraft/Yamaha
Randall Edens
George Edens
Cole Edens
Sally Edens
|
Class of 23’: |
| 1. |
LAID BACK ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
40.70 |
| 2. |
REEL MUSIC\••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
34.15 |
| 3. |
BROOKE LYNN CIGARS/REEL BUZZ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
31.60 |
SKA Top Junior Anglers
Presented by Profinder Fishing Charts: |
| 1. |
Bryant & Daniel Carroll •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | Dig It |
| 2. |
Nick Chase •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | The Chase |
| 3. |
Cole Edens•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | Reel Greedy/East Coast Sports |
SKA Top Lady Angler:
Susan Kaminsky The Chase |
|
