Jolly Mon King Classic
David and D. Logan, the "Logan's Run" fishing team with the 23.60 lb. king mackerel that earned them first place and nearly $18,000 in the Jolly Mon King Classic. Their fish fell for a pogy 50' deep on the downrigger 15 miles off Southport in 60' of water.
“Well, they say the biggest little fish still wins,” Wrightsville Beach’s D. Logan, of the Logan’s Run fishing team, explained.
Indeed it does, as the 23.6 lb. king mackerel he and co-captain David Logan weighed in earned the pair the victory and over $18,000 in the 2011 Jolly Mon King Classic, held June 17-19 out of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center.
Strong winds and a slow bite during the event conspired to keep most of the 185 entrants from putting up fish on the event’s generally competitive leaderboard, and the Logan duo’s little fish stayed at the top of the pack through two days of fishing.
After locating some menhaden the Friday night before the event, D. and David caught them early Saturday morning, then pointed their 34’ Yellowfin offshore of Oak Island to search for their winning fish.
“We went to a spot about 15 miles off the beach,” D. Logan reported, “in about 60’ of water. It’s not a secret hole. Guys have caught fish there the last three weeks in a row.”
They didn’t have to wait long for action, as around 8:30 something bit a naked menhaden 50’ deep on the downrigger.
“We actually thought the fish was bigger than that,” D., the angler, explained. “It took a long time to get him to the boat. He didn’t want to come up.”
After the anglers followed the fish for around 10 minutes, it finally gave in to the pressure and came to the surface, and David Logan was ready.
“He finally came up, we stuck him one time, and put him in the boat,” D. continued.
After putting the 23 pounder in the boat, the anglers continued fishing the area hard, eventually heading back inshore to catch some fresh and larger bait, and then they went back out to their spot. Though they battled plenty of sharks and some dolphin, the early fish was their only king mackerel of the day.
“We had no idea that would be the winning fish,” said D. Logan, “and we were fishing to win. We kept fishing and only weighed that fish in with 30 seconds to spare.”
The fish took control of the top of the leaderboard when they weighed it in, but with another day of fishing left for many of the tournament boats, the Logans knew they could easily be beaten. Fortunately for the crew, the largest king that Sunday’s boats could muster was the 22.5 lb. fish that earned Wilmington’s Austin Eubank and the “Clearly Hooked” crew second place in the tournament and over $7,000.
Eubank, fishing with Margaret Pennstrom (the event’s Top Lady Angler), John Theodorakis, and Amber King aboard his 23’ Contender, caught their only king of the day fairly early, too. After catching menhaden, the anglers also headed offshore of Southport, beginning their hunt for a money fish at the Fairway Ledges.
Around 9:30, they got a bite on a naked double menhaden rig in the propwash. Theodorakis was first to the rod, and he held on while the king ran.
“There wasn’t much to the fight,” Eubank explained. “The fish just ran off, and it took us a while to get it back because it was foul-hooked.”
When Theodorakis finally worked the fish back within range, Eubank planted the gaff and brought the 22 pounder over the gunnel.
“We fished the Fairway for another 2-3 hours,” Eubank continued, “and then ran in and fished the beach, but that bite was our first and only.”
Wilmington’s Brett and Alan Barnes, aboard the 25’ Contender “Hot Rod,” scaled a 19.95 lb. king mackerel to round out the top three and pocket over $3,000. The Barnes team headed out Carolina Beach Inlet after loading up on menhaden in the Cape Fear River, and they bounced around a few spots before finding a decent bite just offshore of the 30/30.
The spot was good to the father/son team on “Hot Rod,” giving up five king mackerel and a trio of dolphin before they pointed the bow for Ocean Isle.
Their big fish fell for a naked menhaden on top as Alan Barnes was setting a line back, and it became part of a double hookup.
“Alan’s fish was the bigger of the two,” Brett Barnes explained. “He ended up fighting and gaffing it himself because I was busy fighting the other one.”
The anglers weren’t too impressed with the size of their fish on the water.
“I said it was a little bigger than the last one,” Alan Barnes.
At the scales, however, the fish eclipsed the fourth place king by an even pound.
Justin Weaver, on the “Justin Time,” scaled the 18.95 lb. king mackerel that earned fourth place, and Stephen Justin Hill, on the “Natural,” rounded out the top five with an 18.50 lb. fish.
More information on the Jolly Mon and a full rundown of the leaderboard are available at www.oifc.com.
