Tournament Report: Carteret Community College Spanish Mackerel & Dolphin Tournament
This year’s annual Carteret Community College Spanish Mackerel & Dolphin Tournament was held from July 8-15, with weigh-ins hosted by EJWs in Morehead City.
The event is very popular in the community, and this year enjoyed another great turnout, with 230 anglers scattered across the 51 registered teams looking to enjoy the beautiful and productive waters off of the Crystal Coast.
The prize pool offered a number of opportunities to win based on a team’s Single Largest Spanish Mackerel, as well as TWTs for Single Dolphin, Three-Fish Spanish Mackerel, Single King Mackerel, Single Wahoo, Single Bluefish, and Single Gray Trout. Teams also enjoyed a window where they had the choice to fish at any time over the one-week period.
The CCC Spanish Mackerel & Dolphin Tournament aims to be an extremely family-oriented event with prizes also awarded in the categories of top Kids, Juniors, Ladies, Mens, and Masters.
The Bait Boat, led by Beaufort and Morehead City anglers Ken Lambeth, Lisa Lambeth, Tyler Lambeth, Brian Spink, and Payton Edwards, walked away with the top prize in Tier 1 for their 6.85 lb. spanish mackerel.
Team Flying Low took the top spot in the Dolphin category of the Carteret Community College Spanish Mackerel & Dolphin Tournament with a 20.70 lb. fish pulled off a weedline on a naked ballyhoo.
Ken has spent years watching from the sideline, supplying fresh live bait from the Morehead Basin to multiple tournament winners over the years. This year, he got the go-ahead to enter himself, and he came set with both local knowledge and a strong team of anglers.
The Bait Boat team fished six days in total, entered in both the spanish mackerel and king mackerel categories, and spent those six days running all over the region. They fished the west beaches, the shipping channel, and the east side of Cape Lookout, among other locations.
Being a live bait expert, Ken and the team utilized these tactics specifically, quickly finding out the fish were really picky on the size of baits they were striking, preferring a slot of peanut-sized pogies. Peanut pogies produced both fish that placed for them in the tournament, the Tier 1 winning spanish and the third place king mackerel (39.85 lbs.) caught by Brian Spink.
The winning spanish mackerel came to them early on Monday morning, and the team spent a bunch of nervous days hoping it would last on top of the leaderboard. Seasoned junior angler Payton Edwards (age 15) put the big spanish in the boat, finding the winning fish at the popular AR-315 right off Atlantic Beach.
Team Stringline, led by Jeremy Tillman, finished the event winning Tier 2 with a single spanish weighing 6.10 lbs.
Team Flying Low, comprised of Raleigh anglers Bill Clegg and Philip Strickland, took first place in the dolphin category with their 20.70 lb. fish that was caught on Saturday (the first day of fishing) and held onto the top leaderboard spot all week.
Bill and Philip had plans to run south from the inlet and target a few areas out that way, but just short of the break, they ran across a well-formed grass line that prompted them to pull up and start their fishing efforts. The team chose to keep it simple, dropping back naked ballyhoo and working the edge of the grass.
The Bait Boat took first place in Tier 1 of the Carteret Community College Spanish Mackerel & Dolphin Tournament with a 6.85 lb. spanish caught using a live pogie at AR-315.
It was their first hookup, just after 9:00 am, that ended up being the most important fish they caught that week. When that initial knock down happened, Bill jumped on the rod to land what would be the winning 20 lb. class dolphin. The team ended up with four more dolphin on the day, including two bailers and two gaffer fish.
They ran with the same plan on Sunday and once again found success by landing a leaderboard-worthy wahoo (23.85 lbs. and good for second place) and a couple more dolphin.
The Carteret Community College Spanish Mackerel & Dolphin Tournament benefits Carteret Community College students and programs by giving back through education and building representation in the local community.
To see the complete leaderboard and find out more about next year’s tournament and other great Carteret Community College events and programs, please visit carteretsmt.org or carteret.edu or visit them on their Facebook pages.
