Kings Of The Coast Pier KMT 2008
Joe Usery, Bob Davis, and Ethan Brown pose with Pier Manager Dave Cooper and their winnings as the top three anglers in the Ocean Crest Pier Kings of the Coast King Mackerel Tournament, held Oct. 13-14 from the Oak Island pier.
Despite the strong northeast winds that marked the days preceding and during the event, a full house of 50 anglers signed up to fish the Ocean Crest Pier Kings of the Coast King Mackerel Tournament, held Oct. 13-14 from the Oak Island pier. Unfortunately, the winds trapped a layer of dirty water against the island’s beachfront. The anglers were unable to hook a king during the event’s two fishing days; although, they watched boats hook king mackerel just a short distance offshore in cleaner water.
Fortunately, Ocean Crest has a backup plan for king tournaments when the conditions short-circuit the mackerel bite, with the event decided on the heaviest bluefish landed on a king rig during the competition.
While it could have been a bait for the tournament’s intended quarry, the 2 lb. bluefish that angler Joe Usery landed earned him the event’s top prize–$1300 in cash, a brand new Penn Senator fighting combo, and a season pass to the pier for 2009.
This isn’t the first time the Kings of the Coast tournament was good to the Blacksburg, SC-based angler, as he actually won a season pass in the tournament’s raffle last year.
Hooking his valuable bluefish on a live finger mullet around 9:30 Saturday morning, Usery quickly landed the fish and hauled it up the pier to the scales.
“He was on a normal king rig,” Usery reported, “a 4/0 Senator, so it was no problem getting him in. I locked down on him and cranked him up.”
Although he weighed the blue in at the pier house, Usery had no idea the blue would hang on to the top spot on the leaderboard until the official lines-out time came Sunday at 3:00.
“I knew the way the water looked that it was pretty doubtful a king would be caught,” said Usery, “and I thought I might be in the money, but I didn’t think it would hold up from 9:30 yesterday until today. When I woke up this morning, I thought sure, I’m probably in the money, but how much of the money was still up in the air.”
One strong run did raise Usery’s blood pressure for a moment on Sunday.
“Another guy got one good run and I got kind of scared,” the winning angler explained, “but I took a good look at it, and the run slowed down, so I knew it wasn’t a king.”
The other angler soon landed a shark around 3′ long, and Usery’s fish was looking good again. And as the lines out call sounded at 3:00, the bluefish was on top.
Two anglers landed blues weighing exactly 1 lb. 11 oz. during the tournament, so second and third places were decided narrowly on time caught.
Bob Davis, from Ellenboro, NC, was fortunate enough to land his blue at 9:40 Saturday morning, squeaking into second place by just 10 minutes. Davis’s fish fell for a live sugar perch, and he quickly landed it on the king mackerel tackle, though his hopes weren’t high for taking home some money until Sunday rolled around.
“I though he’d never hold up,” Davis explained, “but when I got up and saw the water we were fishing in today, I thought he might have a chance.”
Indeed, the fish had more than a chance, and Davis took home $600 for second.
Greensboro, NC’s Ethan Brown took home third place and $400 for his 1 lb. 11 oz. blue, landed at 9:50.
Though there weren’t any kings landed, the tournament anglers were still in a jovial mood Sunday at the awards ceremony, where dozens of secondary prizes were awarded through a drawing based on the numbered spots the anglers had been fishing. The fact that this tournament attracted 50 entrants despite a forecast calling for 20-30 knot northeast winds over the competition is a testament to how much the many regular anglers enjoy and look forward to these events.
