Hatteras Grand Slam
Capt. Fin Gaddy, mate Chris Kubik, Casey Carr, and Rob Warren--the "Qualifier" crew--earned 1000 release points and their third consecutive victory in the Hatteras Grand Slam by releasing five sailfish over two days of fishing.
Good things come in threes, at least for Capt. Fin Gaddy and the “Qualifier” crew, who released five sailfish on their way to their third consecutive victory in the Hatteras Grand Slam Billfish Tournament, held July 11-14 out of Hatteras Harbor Marina.
Gaddy, fishing with mate Chris Kubik, Casey Carr, and Rob Warren aboard the 57’ Paul Mann sportfisher, stayed busy charter fishing out of Oregon Inlet in the days preceding the event. They were unable to do any billfish scouting off Hatteras, but the lack of pre-fishing didn’t hinder their continued success in the event.
Taking off on Thursday, the first day of fishing, the anglers heard of some action from a local boat as they worked their way offshore.
“There was one charter boat that had some bites on the 170 line,” Gaddy explained, “in about 40 fathoms, so we worked north and south of the 170 that first day.”
Trolling a pair of dredge teasers with two squid daisy chains above them, the crew had an uneventful morning.
Things changed after lunch, and the crew released a trio of sailfish in the last hour and a half of the fishing day.
“All three of those fish came up on the same squid chain,” Gaddy continued, “pink squids with a red/black Hawaiian Eye trailer.”
Carr was in the right place at the right time, hooking and fighting all three fish. At 200 points apiece, the sails earned the team 600 points, but they fell to second place based on time of last release.
“Stephen on the ‘Bill Collector’ had released a blue marlin and a sail a little earlier,” reported Gaddy, “so he got his 600 before we got ours.”
The crew decided to take their mandatory lay day on Friday and see what the rest of the fleet could come up with before the final day of fishing.
“We figured we’d lay Friday,” Gaddy said, “so we’d know on Saturday what we had to do to win it.”
None of the competing boats were able to top 600 points on Friday, so the “Qualifier” anglers set out Saturday looking to add to their total, top “Bill Collector,” and take the win.
“We fished just above where we caught fish on the first day,” Gaddy explained, “around the 240 in 40 fathoms. We rode around and found some marks before lines-in and put them out in that area.”
Unlike their first fishing day, the anglers found action fairly early, adding another 200 point sailfish release to their total at 8:35. They let another sail go at 9:05 to put an exclamation point on their victory, as the second and third place boats stalled at 600 points each.
Carr again had the lucky touch, as he was the angler on both the team’s Saturday fish as well.
“Casey does the electrical work for Paul Mann,” Gaddy said, “so he rides down to Mexico with us in the winter. He came with us in this tournament last year, too.”
The aforementioned blue marlin and sailfish release earned Stephen Draughon and Morehead City’s “Bill Collector” second place, and local boat “Sea Creature,” with Capt. Steve Coulter, also released a blue marlin and a sailfish to earn 600 points good for third.
More information on the Hatteras Grand Slam and a full leaderboard are available at www.hatterasgrandslam.com.
