Jolly Mon KMT 2007
Winning any fishing tournament involves a precise combination of luck, skill, and preparation, but when competing against 360 other boats, as the “Simply Storage” team was in the 2007 Jolly Mon King Classic, those elements must be incredibly fine-tuned. The Winnabow-based team, comprised of Mike Kennedy and Rodney Benton, landed a 38.80 lb. king mackerel on Saturday, June 23, to top the record field of competitors and take home over $25,000.
Taking advantage of the Captain’s Choice format that enabled anglers to choose to fish either day of the weekend, the “Simply Storage” crew elected to fish the first day, and got their fish early. “That king hit about 7:45,” Benton said. “After we got him in the boat, we were taking it easy all day.”
Kennedy and Benton were fishing the Jolly Mon aboard “Simply Storage,” a 31’ Contender powered by twin 250 hp Yamaha four strokes.
The winning king struck a naked pogy fished under a balloon while “Simply Storage” was anchored up on a spot between the Cucumber and the Cabbage Patch. Kennedy grabbed the rod after the fish struck, and Benton began clearing the lines and anchor, preparing to give chase to the big king. Over the course of the fight, the two-man team passed the rod back and forth, so both Kennedy and Benton played a hand in fighting the first place fish.
“When he hit, he pretty much ran hard and blistered that reel down,” explained Benton, “and we followed right behind him.” With Kennedy at the helm, the “Simply Storage” stayed on top of the king until it finally surfaced around 15 minutes after eating the fateful pogy. When the king came up, Kennedy was ready with the gaff and planted the steel in the big king’s flank.
With the near-40 lb. king in the boat, the “Simply Storage” crew continued fishing the Cucumber/Cabbage Patch area for several more hours. “We lost another good king,” Kennedy said, “and then some big sharks ran us off of our spot. After that we came back in and fished the Lighthouse Rocks and the (Cape Fear) River Channel. Then we went down to Lockwood Inlet and fished a little bit.”
“We prefished all week, and pretty much stuck to our game plan. We knew where we were going to fish on Thursday,” Kennedy revealed. The crew had no difficulty locating their menhaden baits, and filled up the livewell in the ocean off Holden Beach on Saturday morning.
The “Simply Storage” team would like to thank sponsors Contender Boats, Yamaha Outboard Motors, M and M Mini Storage, and Access Mini Storage.
Second place in the Jolly Mon went to the “No Alibi” fishing team, from Greensboro, with a 37.55 lb. king they caught Sunday. The “No Alibi” king was the only fish in the top five caught on Sunday. Donnie Ward, Bill Edmonds, and Neal Loman were all aboard the 24’ Scout Cuddy Cabin for the tournament, and the trio went home with over $15,000 in total winnings.
“We were about 5 miles south of the Jungle when he hit,” said Edmonds. “His first run almost spooled us. We had to chase him a good bit to get some line back.”
“That’s the longest run I’ve ever seen a king mackerel take,” added Loman.
Ward took the rod during the impressive run, and it took him around 15 minutes to work the king to the boat, where Edmonds was waiting with the gaff.
Samuel Cernugel and the “Coon Dog” crew, of Wilmington, took third place with a 36.0 lb. king mackerel. Cernugel was fishing with friends Chris Nealon and Jeremy Padgett aboard the 36’ Yellowfin powered by triple 275 hp Mercury Verados. The crew took home a check for over $10,000 for third.
The “Coon Dog” king bit at 10:05 on Saturday morning as the crew trolled around the 90/90. Like the top two fish, the third place king fell for a naked pogy, and Padgett took the rod after the strike.
“He made a couple good runs, and we just chased him down,” recalled Cernugel. “We stayed on top of him, and he stayed down.”
Padgett battled the 36 lb. king for nearly 40 minutes while Cernugle ran the boat. When the king finally surfaced, Nealon leaned over the rail and sank the gaff, boating the third place king.
After boating the king, the “Coon Dog” stayed in the same general area hunting for a bigger fish. “We worked about three miles offshore, but yeah, we stayed pretty close to the 90/90,” Cernugel explained.
The crew loaded up with menhaden in around 45 minutes on Saturday morning. Cernugle wished to thank sponsors Yellowfin, Mercury, and Southport Concrete.
The “Zig Zag,” a 29’ Fountain from Wilmington, earned the tournament’s fourth place spot by weighing in a 33.95 lb. king. Elijah Sorenson and Johnnie Johnson collected a $3,500 check at Sunday night’s awards ceremony.
The fourth place mackerel ate a naked pogy around 12:45 Saturday afternoon. The crew was pulling baits in 80’ of water east of Frying Pan Shoals about 20 miles off the beach when the fish hit. Sorenson was the angler, and Johnson gaffed it.
Sorenson and Johnson found menhaden in the Carolina Beach Yacht Basin Saturday morning, and easily filled their livewell. “We haven’t fished in a while,” Johnson said, “but we’re back.”
The “Roofing Contender,” a Contender 33T from Hickory, NC, took fifth place overall for a 32.65 lb. king. They also took the top Junior Angler and Lady Angler titles, and the top Spot in the High Roller TWT. Jon Pugh, the team’s Junior Angler, was fishing with his father, Geoff Pugh, Lady Angler Amy Wallace, and her father Randy Wallace. All told, the “Roofing Contender” team earned over $11,000 in the Jolly Mon.
The “Roofing Contender” big king bit around noon on Saturday while the crew trolled at the Jungle. A pogy beneath a chartreuse skirt proved too much for the fish to resist. It was Amy Wallace’s turn on the rod when the fish struck.
“At first it felt like there was a little snake on there,” Geoff Pugh said, “but then all of a sudden it just took off. Then we had to chase it down.” Amy Wallace fought the king for around 15 minutes before it finally surfaced. When the king came up, Geoff Pugh gaffed it.
“After I gaffed it, I hung it over the side for Randy to see, and he was just shouting, ‘Bring it in the boat. Bring it in the boat’,” Pugh recalled.
In addition to sweeping the secondary categories in the Jolly Mon, the “Roofing Contender” crew won all three categories in Friday’s Junior Jolly Mon Tournament, weighing in the heaviest king, cobia, and sea bass of the event. All three fish came from the Jungle.
Randy Wallace wished to thank Contender and Yamaha for their contributions to the team’s success.
The tournament’s top Class of 23’ boat was Jamey Stewart’s “Black Cat II,” with a 29.25 lb. king. Stewart was fishing with Mickey Todd aboard the Georgetown, SC-based 23’ Sea Hunt powered by a 250 hp Yamaha four stroke. Todd and Stewart took home a check for nearly $10,000.
The “Black Cat II” king bit a naked pogy as the boat was trolling in 30’ of water just off Georgetown. When the fish ran, it swam across another bait in the spread and was foul hooked. With two rods hooked to the king, both Stewart and Todd had to take a rod and fight the fish. It didn’t take long to get the king to the boat with two sets of hooks in it, but gaffing was a bit tricky. “It’s kind of hard to hold a rod and a gaff at the same time,” Stewart said.
The Jolly Mon Saturday was the first time Stewart had the brand new Sea Hunt in the water, and early that morning the live well pump gave out. “After the livewell pump broke, we took a five gallon bucket and kept that livewell water fresh to keep the baits alive,” Stewart said, “and we had to do that until our fish bit at 2:00.”
“We couldn’t have had better weather this year; it was perfect,” said Tournament Director Brant McMullan. “We’d like to thank all our sponsors, especially Yamaha, Sailfish, Anglers Marine, and BB&T. We get tremendous support from area fishermen, and we couldn’t put this on without it.”
