Kings Of The Coast
Jimmy Ezzell, of Autryville, NC, with the 30 lb., 2 oz. king mackerel that topped the field at the Ocean Crest Pier Kings of the Coast Tournament.
Catching a 30 lb., 2 oz. king mackerel in the tournament’s 11th hour, Autryville, NC’s Jimmy Ezzell took home the top honors and $2,970 in the Ocean Crest Pier Kings of the Coast Pier King Mackerel Tournament, held October 9-11 from Oak Island’s Ocean Crest Pier.
“We were actually looking at a bluefish behind another bait when that fish hit, so I didn’t see it bite,” Ezzell reported.
Ezzell was fishing in position 27 on the pier’s tee, near the middle of the end of the pier, and a live pogy dangling from a trolley rig fooled the big mackerel.
“He ran strong,” Ezzell explained, “but he came right back in.”
When the fish closed in on the pier, it wove through several of the other anglers’ anchor lines, forcing Ezzell to follow it and the other anglers on the tee to cooperate with the fish.
“He wrapped through a bunch of the other anchor lines,” the winning angler said, “but these people at Ocean Crest, they know what they’re doing when somebody’s hooked up and we got unwrapped pretty smooth.”
As Ezzell worked the king closer, fellow anglers readied their pier gaffs to haul it up to the deck.
When the fish was finally in range, Jamie Baloch lowered a weighted pier gaff and sank home the hooks. Once the smoker king was on deck, Ezzell headed for the scales to see how much the fish weighed and how much he’d be winning by.
When the king hit the scales, it knocked the 21 and 15 lb. kings already on the board down a notch. And as the tournament came to a close, Ezzell was declared the champion.
His $2,970 winnings included a $1,000 bounty for any angler winning the event who’d also fished in last year’s tournament.
“The people that run this pier just do a great job of putting these things on,” Ezzell said. “I can’t thank them enough. I’ll definitely be back next year.”
Oak Island’s Thomas Cutler landed the second place fish, a 21 lb., 8 oz. king worth $672.
Dana Tabrinni, an employee of Bogue Inlet Pier in Swansboro, traveled south to fish the event and landed the 15 lb., 2 oz. fish that took third place, and he took home $472.00.
