Onslow Bay Open King Mackerel Tournament
Ron McElheney, Tim Spencer, and Aaron and Andy Shepard--Team "Chaos"--with the 42.09 lb. king mackerel that earned them the victory in the 12th Annual Onslow Bay Open. The big king struck a naked menhaden at the Atlas Tanker early on the morning of competition.
“Chaos” reigned at the 12th Annual Onslow Bay Open, at least on the leaderboard, as Sneads Ferry’s Ron McElheney and his teammates scaled a 42.09 lb. fish to take first place in the tournament by over 4 lbs.
Originally scheduled for August 11, the tournament’s committee made a decision early on the Wednesday preceding to move the event’s single fishing day from Saturday to Sunday to take advantage of a better forecast, and though it wasn’t calm Sunday, it was much more fishable than the day before.
McElheney, fishing with Andy Shepard and Aaron and Tim Spencer aboard his 36’ Contender, didn’t pre-fish for the event, but he came up with a simple game plan for the day.
“We ran the boat up there from Sneads Ferry,” he explained, “and decided to catch bait on the way and head to the east side.”
They accomplished the first part of the plan early, catching bait in the ICW before they reached Morehead City, then headed out Barden’s Inlet, east across the nearby Lookout Shoals, and to the Atlas Tanker.
The second part of their tournament plan came together quickly as well, as they got a strong bite on a naked menhaden on top around 7:30 Sunday morning.
Aaron Spencer took the rod as the fish ran, and the other anglers hustled to clear lines and give chase to the fish.
“I had to turn around and get after him quick,” McElheney recalled. “He was running against the waves, and there was plenty of that. It was 3-5’ out there.”
With McElheney at the helm and Spencer cranking furiously, the anglers quickly closed the gap on their fish.
Not following the usual program, the king stayed up top during the fight, and the anglers were soon getting in position to gaff it.
“Andy made the gaff shot,” McElheney continued, “and I was just trying to keep the boat off the fish. It was a true team effort.”
Moments later, the big king was on the deck, and the “Chaos” anglers began celebrating, guessing their fish correctly at somewhere between 40-45 lbs.
“We didn’t know that fish would be a winner,” McElheney continued, “but we were pretty sure we wouldn’t be last.”
With the fish in the boat before 8:00 that morning and scales not opening until 2:30 in the afternoon, the anglers decided to continue slow-trolling around the Atlas, but they found only amberjacks for the rest of the morning.
“We headed back around noon,” McElheney reported, “and took a nice leisurely ride to Swansboro. We were the first boat to weigh and had time to head back to Sneads Ferry and take a shower before the awards.”
Before he made it back to the awards at the Hampton Inn Swansboro, McElheney got a call informing him that “Chaos” had topped the leaderboard.
Hauling a 36.90 lb. fish to the scales to finish second in the event were Mike Sawyer and the “Red Bull/Sawyer Fishing Team” out of Sewell, NJ. Matt Gay and the “Southern Bale” crew earned third with a 36.60 lb. fish. A 33.97 lb. kingfish secured fourth for Randall Edens and “East Coast Sports,” and Leonard Taylor on the “Last Minute” rounded out the top five with a 31.82 lb. king.
More information on the event and a full leaderboard are available at www.obokmt.us and www.captainstanman.us.
