Atlantic Beach Saltwater Classic
Linwood Clark and the "Thumpin" crew took first place in the Atlantic Beach Saltwater Classic with this 35.01 lb. king mackerel. The fish fell for a live bluefish at the 1700 Rock on Saturday, the event's second day of fishing.
Local Linwood Parker and the “Thumpin” crew only got one bite over the two fishing days of the Atlantic Beach Saltwater Classic, but they made it count, scaling a 35.01 lb. king mackerel to take home first place and over $21,000.
Parker, fishing with his son Brad, Jack Wood, Greg Theodorakis, and Keith Bell aboard a 38’ Donzi, went strike-less, at least by king mackerel, on day one of the event, catching a few dolphin, but nothing that would be earning themselves a check.
On Saturday, day two of the event, they struck out for the 1700 Rock, east of Lookout Shoals, and struck pay dirt after a slow morning. Around 1:00 that afternoon, the anglers got a solid strike on a naked bluefish pinned to their medium line.
Theodorakis took the rod while their fish ran, and the remaining anglers hurriedly cleared the lines.
“He ran real hard that first time,” Clark said. “He had a couple more good runs, too. He just ran and ran.”
The anglers continued chasing the fish with the big Donzi, closing the gap until Clark was finally able to sink home the gaff.
“The water was really dingy,” he continued. “We couldn’t see that fish until right before I gaffed it.”
While many teams would’ve immediately run to the scales with a 35 lb. fish, the anglers continued fishing the 1700 Rock in search of a larger one.
“We actually thought that fish was a lot smaller than it was,” Clark explained. “We were figuring somewhere between 28-32. We didn’t think it was a winner, but were hoping we’d be somewhere in the top five.”
After going strike-less for another hour at the 1700 Rock, the anglers stopped at the Beaufort shipping channel on the way in to the scales, and they capped their day off by releasing a sailfish before heading to weigh-in.
“You better believe we were surprised when we saw what that fish weighed,” Clark concluded.
Wilson, NC’s Nick Taylor and “Team Toyota” found their big fish on Friday, weighing in a 33.77 lb. king to finish second overall.
With Steve Jones, Lee Minton, and Mark Jackson aboard his 31 Fountain, Taylor also struck out for the east side of the shoals, pausing briefly at the 1700 Rock before deciding to continue north to Drum Inlet in search of cleaner water.
“We fished a hard bottom area about 6 miles off Drum,” Taylor explained.
Around 30 minutes after arriving at their spot, the anglers got a solid strike on a naked pogy in the propwash.
“We didn’t see him bite it,” Taylor explained, “That rod just started screaming.”
Minton was first to the screaming rod, and he held on as the fish went deep.
“He spooled off about 200 yards straight down to the bottom,” Taylor continued. “Then he turned around and just came right back to the boat. It really made us think he was smaller than what he was. He was acting like a 20 pounder.”
Taylor had the gaff and brought the fish over the gunnels around 15 minutes after the bite.
“We got very excited because he was so much bigger than he ran,” Taylor said.
The anglers continued to fish their spot until heading for the scales at 3:00 that afternoon.
Wilmington’s Brett and Alan Barnes, on the “Hot Rod,” scaled a 31.88 lb. fish to wind up third on the leader board. Mark Henderson and the “Liquid Fire” crew, out of Cape Carteret, finished fourth with a 23.71 lb. fish, and the “In X Cess” team rounded out the top five with a 23.15.
The Atlantic Beach Saltwater Classic is part of the Saltwater Classic Series, put on by Blue Water Promotions. Full results and more details about the series of tournaments are available at www.bluewaterpromo.com.
