Added on Thursday, September 3, 2009  Fish Post

Brunswick Island Saltwater Classic

With a dismal king mackerel bite in their local waters the week before the event, Ocean Isle Beach’s “Ocean Isle Fishing Center” fishing team elected to run far south in their search for big king mackerel in the Brunswick Islands Saltwater Classic, held August 29-30 out of Southport’s South Harbour Village Marina.

The move paid off big, as the anglers landed a 29. 11 lb. king off Georgetown, SC, to earn the $14,495 first place check in the event.

“We hadn’t caught a king mackerel all week,” Capt. Brant McMullan explained, “so we decided to run south and look for some clear, green water. We knew we didn’t want to be where we were, so we checked a different zip code.”

McMullan and fellow anglers Capt. Barrett McMullan, Brian Aycock, and Austin Aycock left Shallotte Inlet aboard the “OIFC.com,” a 32’ Yellowfin powered by twin Yamaha 350 four-strokes, early on the Sunday of the event, finding the water they were looking for around 8 miles off Georgetown at a live bottom area in 65’ of water.

Deploying their spread, they found a slow bite at first.

“There were a lot of jellyfish there when we got there—bad jellyfish,” McMullan continued. “They were there for about an hour, and then they cleared out and the fish started biting.”

Enjoying fast fishing once the jellies disappeared, the anglers caught around a dozen king mackerel between 9:30 that morning and 1:00 in the afternoon.

Their big fish was part of a double header that bit around 10:30, with one fish skying on a live pogy on top and the other inhaling a ribbonfish trolled off the downrigger.

“Barrett fought one of those fish, and Austin had the other,” McMullan said. “Austin’s ended up being the big one.”

After putting the near-30 lb. king in the boat, the anglers kept fishing the area, releasing several more 20+ lb. kings before the bite died in the early afternoon.

“We never in a million years expected that the fish we put in the boat would be a contender,” McMullan related. “We ran back here and fished the river channel until 4:30 trying for a bigger fish. We got here with a couple minutes to spare, and we were shocked when we got here to find out it was the big fish.”

Not only was their king the event’s big fish, it topped the TWT and High Roller’s TWT, inflating their winnings, and earned Austin Aycock the event’s Top Junior Angler honors.

The “Ocean Isle Fishing Center” crew wished to express their gratitude to Yellowfin boats for their contributions to the team’s success.

Finishing less than one pound behind the winners, the “Strickly Business” crew, out of Southport, earned second place and over $8,000 with a 28.38 lb. king mackerel. Jeff Crouch and Jerry Ridenhour, fishing on a Mercury-powered 27’ Contender, stayed closer to home than the winners, but they had to work their way well offshore before finding their money fish.

“We started out in the Cape Fear River Channel,” Crouch reported. “We jumped the shoals, went to the Cucumber, and eventually worked our way to the legs of the Tower.”

After going without a mackerel strike at their inshore locations, the pair of anglers finally hooked a king at 11:40 after trolling laps around the Frying Pan Tower for 30 minutes.

“He bit a single pogy on the long line,” Crouch continued. “I knew it was a good king when he burned it off—it was a 30 pounder run.”

With Ridenhour on the rod, the anglers followed the mackerel.

“It stayed out there long, then sounded and just wouldn’t come up,” the second place captain explained. “We got up to him and were right on top of him for a while before he came up.”

Finally, after Ridenhour had fought the fish for around 25 minutes, the king finally relented to the pressure and came to the surface. Crouch was ready and sank a gaff into the fish when it came within range, then hauled it over the Contender’s gunwale.

Posting a 25.52 lb. king to earn third place, Wilmington’s Corey Durako and the “BlueBYU!” crew took home over $4,000.

Fishing with Joel Brown, Barry Bierstedt, and Richard Coley aboard a Mercury-powered 29 Donzi, the third place crew also had to work their way offshore before finding their big fish.

“We went to the Cabbage Patch and 2-3 other places before we headed off,” Durako said. “We got out there, saw the water was clear out past 20 miles, and knew where we needed to go.”

Heading to a number that’s produced some big kings for them in the past, the “Blue BYU!” anglers pulled back the throttles at a spot rising to 37’ of water on the Frying Pan Shoals 30 miles off the beaches.

Around 2:30 in the afternoon, something inhaled a pogy beneath a purple/black skirt on the downrigger, and Brown took the rod.

“That fish burned it down,” Durako continued. “He did it all; he was up on top, down in the water, under the boat, all over the place.”

Finally, when the fish was coming up to the boat, a surprise visitor gave the fight some urgency.

“We played him so lightly the whole time,” Durako explained. “He was in a death spiral, and then Richard looked down and yelled out ‘There’s a cuda!’ A big barracuda was after him, so we locked down the drag, hauled him up towards the boat, and I gaffed him about 5’ down. We were thinking about jumping in the water to try and scare the cuda off.”

After trolling a short time longer, the anglers decided to head to the scales, feeling good about their chances.

“We heard on the radio that the bite sucked,” Durako said, “so we felt like it could hold up. We got here at 4:10 and figured nobody had a 30 pounder because people usually come in early with a fish like that, so we thought we’d be in the top 5.”

A 23.63 lb. fish earned fourth place in the event for Dean Spatholt’s “Fish Meister” crew, out of Calabash. Jimmy Hall and the “Reel Heat” rounded out the top five with a 19.83 lb. king.