Onslow Bay KMT
Seth and Heath King and Phil, Phillip, and Brandon Mitchell with the 43.84 lb. fish that earned them the win at the 14th Annual Onslow Bay Open. The big king struck a menhaden beneath a blue/white Blue Water Candy skirt near the 1700 Rock.
“We felt real good about that fish,” Phil Mitchell of the “Triple Trouble” fishing team explained. “But we didn’t know we’d win, because it seems like every time you think you’re doing good, somebody beats you.”
The crew didn’t have much to worry about, as the 43.84 lb. king mackerel they hauled to the scales at the 14th Onslow Bay Open King Mackerel Tournament bested their nearest competition by over 6 lbs.
Mitchell, from Hurdle Mills, NC, and fishing with his sons Phillip and Brandon and cousins Heath and Seth King aboard a 35’, Mercury-powered Triton, didn’t do much pre-fishing for the event, but the captain had an idea of where he wanted to fish on Saturday, August 9.
“We like to fish the east side,” Mitchell explained.
The anglers checked out that morning and crossed Cape Lookout shoals, briefly stopping at the Summerlin wreck before pushing offshore to the 1700 Rock.
They’d only had action from sharks as it grew late in the morning, but around 10:30 something a bit faster grabbed a live menhaden with a blue/white Blue Water Candy skirt behind the big Triton.
Seth King grabbed the rod as the king raced offshore, and the team hit the throttles to give chase after clearing the rest of their spread.
After a pair of long runs, the anglers caught up to the fish, and it sounded, circling beneath the boat.
“We could see him down there and knew it was a pretty fish,” Mitchell reported.
King was able to pressure the fish to the surface around 20 minutes after the bite, and Phillip Mitchell was ready with the gaff. Once the big mackerel hit the deck, the excitement level aboard the “Triple Trouble” swelled.
“Everybody was jumping, hollering, high-fiving,” Mitchell went on. “It was a 51-inch fish, but it was very fat. We thought it was in the 38 lb. range, but it was a good surprise when we put him on the scale.”
Reasoning that where they’d found one big king there might be another, the anglers headed back to the 1700 Rock and redeployed their spread. Shortly after, they had another screaming run and a 45 minute battle with a fish that turned out to be a 64” wahoo.
“I don’t know how much that wahoo weighed, but he was a nice one,” Mitchell said. “We got dinner and a check!”
The anglers hooked another healthy king after returning to their spot, but nothing else that would rival the 51” fish they had in the boat.
As the afternoon wore on and weigh-in drew near, the anglers’ menhaden supply dwindled.
“We stuck it out at 1700 until we ran out of bait around 2:45 and packed up and put it to the scales,” Mitchell reported.
At the weigh-in, the “Triple Trouble” anglers’ pleasant surprise turned to an unpleasant one for the competition, and the fish remained atop the leaderboard until the scales closed.
David Lucas and the “Amanda Gail” crew, of Atlantic, NC, secured second place in the event with a 37.63 lb. fish, and a 35.22 lb. king earned “Sea Dub” third.
The Onslow Bay Open has reached its inaugural goal of raising $250,000 for local children’s charities in its fourteenth year. Tournament Director Stan Jarusinski would like to thank all the participating members and Island Harbor Marina, Casper’s Marina, and The Reel Outdoors for their support over the years.
More information on the event and a full leaderboard can be found at www.obokmt.us.
