Jodi Tynch King Mackerel Tournament
Randy Griffin and the “Wild Ride” fishing team with the 30.30 lb. king mackerel that earned them first place in the Jodi Tynch KMT. Their big fish bit a naked menhaden near the Cabbage Patch.
After a morning full of minor mishaps, Randy Griffin and the “Wild Ride” crew recovered in style, landing a 30.30 lb. king mackerel to earn first place in the Jodi E. Tynch King Mackerel Tournament, held out of Wrightsville Beach’s Motts Channel Seafood on July 5-7.
After sitting out the first day of the captain’s choice event to wait for calmer seas on Sunday, July 7, Griffin, his wife Shayna, son Ayden, and Ted O’Connor teamed up aboard their 38’ Mercury-powered Fountain. Leaving their dock in Hampstead, the crew planned to catch bait at Wrightsville Beach and hit some spots in 60’+ of water off Topsail. Their plan saw its first hiccup when the crew realized they’d left their downriggers on the dock and turned around to pick them up.
Back on their quest, the crew easily netted bait behind Wrightsville, but it wasn’t quite what they were looking for.
“There was bait at the Lollipop, but it was small,” Griffin explained. “We ended up running down to Southport.”
The crew caught some larger menhaden near Southport, and Griffin decided it was time to change up the game plan.
“We didn’t want to run back up to Topsail, so I decided to cross the shoals and check out the Frying Pan Tower area and some ledges on the way out there,” Griffin continued.
After crossing the shoals, the big Fountain ended up stopping short of their destination.
“We came across the Cabbage Patch,” Griffin said. “The water looked nice and there was some bait there, so we put baits out.”
The anglers trolled the area for around 45 minutes, landing a small king mackerel before deciding to continue heading offshore.
“We went out to Christmas Rock,” he continued. “The water wasn’t as good out there and there was less bait, but we put lines in anyway.”
The crew were soon overrun with amberjacks and decided to head back to the better conditions they’d seen inshore.
Stopping between the Cabbage Patch and the Cucumber, live bottom spots in around 50’ of water, they again set out their spread, landing another small king fairly quickly.
Around 2:00 that afternoon, they got another bite on a naked menhaden fished on top.
Griffin grabbed the rod from the T-top holder, and he didn’t think there was much to get excited about at first.
“Ayden and Ted were clearing lines and Shayna was driving the boat,” he explained. “Once they got the lines in I gave the rod to Ayden and he passed it to Ted.”
Their fish still wasn’t behaving like a tournament-winning king at all.
“He ran like a teenager,” Griffin said. “There wasn’t a blistering run by any means.”
Once the crew closed in on the fish, Griffin finally got a glimpse of it deep in the water and still wasn’t impressed.
“I actually thought that fish was a false albacore,” he reported. “It was short and stocky and down deep. When it came up a bit, I saw it was a king but still didn’t think it was that big. It came up on top and I realized it was a nice fish and stuck it and put it in the bag.”
Though it was certainly their biggest fish of the day, the king didn’t strike Griffin as a tournament-winner.
“We didn’t have a tape measure and I was calling it 24-25,” he said. “Shayna said 27, Ted said 28, and Ayden called it 30.36. He’s really sharp on calling those fish weights.”
Fishing the area until it was time to head for the scales, the anglers headed for Wrightsville Beach. At the scales, Ayden’s guess proved almost exactly correct, and their fished proved heavy enough to best the competition by over 5 lbs.
Griffin wished to express his gratitude to Mercury Marine and Raymarine for their sponsorship, and to Mike Tynch for putting on a well-organized event for a great cause.
Scaling a 25.1 lb. king mackerel good for second place were Joey Crisp and the “Wee Doggie” fishing team. Chad Malpass on “Trigger Happy” rounded out the top three with a 22.6 lb. fish.
The Jodi Tynch tournament is held each year in memorial of tournament director Mike Tynch’s late wife, and serves as a fundraiser for the Lower Cape Fear Hospice Foundation. More information about the event and the cause are available at www.joditynchkmt.com.
