Swansboro Rotary King Mackerel Tournament
Cole, Randall, and George Edens--team "East Coast Sports"-- with the 54 lb. winning king mackerel in the Swansboro Rotary KMT. The giant king bit a live menhaden at the Atlas Tanker.
Hauling a huge 54.00 lb. king mackerel to the weigh-in, Randall Edens and Hampstead, NC’s “East Coast Sports” fishing team earned victory and over $21,000 in the Swansboro Rotary King Mackerel Tournament, held October 14-16 out of the Swansboro Civic Center.
Fishing with his father, George, and son, Cole (who captured the Senior and Junior and Angler titles), aboard a 23T Onslow Bay Center Console, the anglers didn’t do any pre-fishing, heading up to the Crystal Coast early Sunday morning to try and catch some bait before fishing.
“We got there before daylight and caught some bluefish,”Edensexplained, “and then caught pogies in the ocean after the sun came up.”
After loading their livewells, the “East Coast Sports” anglers headed for the Atlas Tanker, a hotspot for big king mackerel east of Cape Lookout shoals.
A naked menhaden on top drew their first king mackerel bite, and the fish took off as Randall Edens grabbed the rod.
“He ran fairly hard,”Edensexplained, “but nothing that would make you think it was a 50+. I thought we might have a 30 pounder.”
The fish continued to run offshore as the anglers cleared their remaining lines, and they began to follow the fish with the boat.
“At first we were just idling up on him and gaining line,” Edens continued. “When we finally got close I got a look at it and didn’t know whether it was a king or a wahoo, but I knew if it was a king it was a good one.”
A few moments later, Edens caught a glimpse of the fish and confirmed that it was indeed a very large king mackerel. Passing the rod off to his father, he grabbed a gaff and took the first opportunity to put the fish in the boat.
“We typically don’t get that excited” Edens said, “or do a whole lot of celebrating putting a fish in the boat, but that was the biggest we’d ever caught.”
Breaking out a measuring tape, the excitement grew as they took stock of the fish.
“I said I didn’t know if he was 50 lbs.,” he continued, “but he taped out around 56 inches and I couldn’t get my hand around the base of his tail, which is always a good sign, so I thought it probably was.”
Putting the spread back out, the anglers continued trolling, but they were primarily riding out the clock.
“We fished a little bit longer,”Edenssaid, “but we knew the weigh-in opened at 3:00, so we left about 12:30 to give ourselves plenty of time. We knew we wanted to put that fish on the scales.”
Randall Edens wished to express the team’s gratitude to Onslow Bay Boatworks, Yamaha, Loadmaster Trailers, and East Coast Sports for their roles in the crew’s success.
Scaling another impressive fish, a 45.58 lb. king, D. Logan and the “Logan’s Run” crew, out of Belville, NC, earned second place in the event. Beaufort’s “Windy Conditions” anglers took third place with a 41.80 lb. fish.
More information and full standings for the event are available at www.kingbluewater.com.
