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Copyright 2006 Brandon W. Smith. All rights reserved.
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Fishing Team
2000 Reports
GREATER WILMINGTON KING MACKEREL TOURNAMENT
Day 1:
I awoke to the ka-chink of Old Milwaukee's Best beside my ear, as Mikey said, "It's time to go." Mikey, Ryan, Brian, and myself head out the door to meet Toney at the dock twenty minutes away. We load the boat and leave the dock at Carolina Beach by 6:30 a.m. One problem, we need gas.
We begin looking for bait at the Carolina Beach inlet, but have no luck. Our plan was to fish out of the Cape Fear River Shipping Channel; so we decided to get gas, and then look for bait in the Cape Fear. One would think that during a large king mackerel tournament, the gas docks would open a little earlier, but no. It was 8:00 before we gassed up.
Finally we head off toward the Cape Fear, stopping occasionally to throw the cast net at scattered bait (we had the wrong net on board). As we approached Snow's Cut, we hear others plagued by the lack of bait, and as if by a miracle, at least to us, the boat named "Live Bait" appeared. Granted that fresh bait is always considered best, at the rate our morning was going, we would be glad to take what we could get.
Finally put our lines in, dragged, and dragged, and dragged them all day with only one shark, a plethora of Natural Light cans, and a slight case of sunburn to show for it. We give up for day one, drunken and tired, we head back to Carolina Beach.
Though we didn't catch fish, everything that could break did, so we spent the night drinking away our misery and fixing the broken tools of the trade.
Day 2:
We left the dock at 6:30 tired but excited, newly rigged downriggers, repaired rod-tips, and renewed hope leads us on. We waste no time finding bait, we quickly called the "bait-boy," met with him, and are off.
The ocean was again ruff, but we decide to push our way out to the Cabbage Patch, 20 miles off of Carolina Beach. Quote of the day, "If it had been a damn shark tournament, we'd won the damn thing."
We fish all day, many sharks, and no kings. Three o'clock rolls around, the tournament was over for us, due to the long ride in the ruff sea, and just then, one reel screams. It wasn't a shark, but it wasn't much of a king either, but it was something. We head in, but decide it would have more value as table fare rather than spend the gas to go to the weigh in, and our first tournament was over, with no fish weighed.
JOLLY MON KING MACKEREL TOURNAMENT
The Jolly Mon tournament was a one-day tournament on July 1, 2000. The entry fee was $275, with the payout based on 250 boats. The first place payout was $10,000. This was the first tournament to be fished on The Reel Estate.
We were able to pre-fish the day before the tournament and decided to stay near-shore and focus our efforts at the 390/390 area. Finding pogies was fairly easy, locating them near the Ocean Isle Beach pier. We had pretty good success with the downrigger about 15 feet off the bottom with a ribbonfish, but only located kings in the 10-15 pound range. After a day of fishing, our team made the decision to head further off shore and fish the Jungle in search of our winning king.
We woke at 5 a.m. and rustled out of bed and started our usual fishing morning routine. We looked at the seas and headed out, to get our biscuits. After battling with the Virgin Mary who prepares our biscuits with great care and love, we loaded the boat and left the dock at about 6:15. Heading out of the inlet, we had prepared to locate the bait at the same location, but found that they have moved. Fortunately, we quickly locate the bait before the rest of the fleet and begin our slow journey to the Jungle.
Because our boat lacks the typical characteristics of the tournament boat, being a dual console rather than a speedy center console, it takes a little while for us to reach our destination. Though we got a good jump on the fleet by loading up with bait early, the time difference is quickly lost as they pass just a few miles offshore.
We put our lines in the water, and within the first ten minutes we have the tournament winner on the line. I have never heard a reel scream like this one. Within seconds the spool is bare. We do all we can to clear the lines and begin the chase (which isn't easy on our boat). Thirty minutes into the battle, we are starting to draw some attention from the crowd. It angered me that one Grady White was within 20 yards trying to see what we had. Forty-five minutes into the battle and I'm starting to wonder if the reel is actually working, are we ever going to get this fish to the boat? My worries become fears as I see a large fin in the direction our prize king awaits. Almost in panic I yell to get the fish to the boat before our prize is mutilated. Five minutes later we all stare over the side in awe, as a 15 foot hammerhead swims beside the boat.
It looked like the hooks were in his back (whether or not he ate our bait, or another fish that ate our bait we'll never know), and I can only assume he came to the boat just to see what was bothering him. To this day, the largest fish that I've ever caught. Our saying from the GWKMT prevails, "if it had been a shark tournament, we'd won the damn thing."
A little disappointed at the results of our first strike, we still had a whole day of fishing ahead. We continued with success for mid-teens, but could only manage an 18# on the scales.
Our first official tournament as The Reel Estate Fishing Team held excitement, and success.
SOUTH BRUNSWICK ISLANDS KING MACKEREL TOURNAMENT
The first day of the South Brunswick Islands King Mackerel Tournament finds our team short two members due to the beginning of school. This makes preparation a little lengthier, but Reed and I manage and leave the dock a little before 6 a.m. The seas are a little rough, and we travel up and down the beach looking for bait, finally finding some bait tat the mouth of the Cape Fear. We decide to fish close to shore, starting at Yaupon Reef, and then moving to the Channel. At both places we have no luck, other than a couple of sharks. First day and we're skunked.
The second day and the whole team is together. Because of the ruff weather yesterday and the lack of fish, we decide to leave especially early and head towards Carolina Beach inlet where some good fish had been caught the day before. The inlet held lots of bait, but it was skittish due to the large number of boats around. We get bait and put out our spread and begin to wait. First fish is a shark that takes not just one bait, but two. We weren't going to lose this fish; we caught him on both rods. Later that day we saw the boat next to us land a nice king while they skyrocketed around us. We end up with and 18lb king, our only of the day.
CAPE FEAR BLUEWATER TOURNAMENT
Day 1:
Our first blue water tournament, the setting was a little different. The Captain's Meeting held an atmosphere of upper class (one would not recognize some of these guys as fishermen). Personally, I had no reason to be there, my main contribution was a steady outflow from my wallet to some lucky bastard on the other end. We leave at dawn, I mean early. We truck out at a steady pace tired, but excited. We arrived wherever we had been headed towards and put in our lines around a scattered weed line and several other boats. An hour or so passed before we had our first strike, albeit our last, a small 18lb Wahoo. That was our excitement for the day, and our only excitement fishing wise for the weekend.
Day 2:
Begin in the same manner, arriving to our fishing destination only to find that the only strikes we would see were those of lightning bolts all around our boat. We fish, no success, no fun.
FALL BRAWL KING MACKEREL TOURNAMENT
We head out and search for bait at 6:00 a.m., looking outside the Lockwood Folly inlet for the elusive pogy. Bait is skiddish today, with many boats searching the hump off Oak Island. We nose our way into the pack, and are immediately enraged by an inconsiderate Fountain who chooses to ignore us because we are in a smaller boat and damn near runs over us. Funny how things work out, soon after we cut them an eye I throw the net and load up on enough jumbo pogies to fish three teams. We enjoy tossing the excess baits tauntingly back at the inconsiderate Fountain.
Our plan has us starting out towards the Lighthouse #1 and #2, then pushing off towards the Sharkhole, or coming in to Youpon Reef or fishing the Cape Fear River Channel.
Our first bait out is hit within five minutes, and the excitement is high. Unfortunately, our first fish is a low teenager. We put our spread back out, but after a few more small teens, we realize that we need to move. Next stop is AR 440 where we had landed some nice kings a couple of weeks ago, but there was only one king home, and only a prince at that. So we are off again all the way back to Youpon Reef; we decide that the Sharkhole is too far and too ruff and hope that all the hogs are in the shallow water. As we arrive at Yaupon, we see the only other tournament boat leaving, not a good sign. We still fish the area, but have no luck. We could see the river channel from Yaupon, and debated whether or not to join the gazillion other boats there. We unfortunately decide to stick it out at Yaupon and hope for a miracle, but none comes. The winner is caught in the Channel, maybe we should have moved. Oh well, we weigh a 17lber and will wait and see if we make the Nationals.
The first year as a team, and we are invited to the Southern Kingfish Association's National Championship. If only we didn't have school.
