Tournament Report – Jolly Mon KMT
Sneaking past their competition with a 36.65 lb. king mackerel earned Billy Goss and Durham’s “Wahooligans” fishing team the top spot on the leaderboard at the 2015 Yellowfin/Yamaha Jolly Mon King Classic, held June 19-21 out of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center.
The “Wahooligans” Fishing Team took first place in the 2015 Jolly Mon King Classic with this 36.65 lb. king mackerel. The fish attacked a live menhaden 30′ deep while they were trolling around the 390/390 off Shallotte Inlet.
Goss, boat owner Aaron Wilkinson, Doug Farlow, and Daniel Blanks stepped aboard the team’s brand-new 24’ Cape Horn for the event. Despite fishing that week, the anglers hadn’t established a clear hotspot to fish tournament day, and the weather complicated their plans further.
“I was going to hit the Jungle, Shark Hole, or 70’ Hole,” Goss explained, “but it was rough and there was a storm moving off Bald Head and I decided to go to the 390’s first and see if we could push offshore a little later.”
The weather eventually eased a bit later in the morning, but the anglers had already found some action and elected to abandon the offshore plan.
“By the time it let up enough to go offshore, we had a good fish in the boat already, probably 28-29 lbs.,” Goss continued. “And there was enough bait around to keep us there and we decided to hang out instead of beating it offshore.”
Just after 2:00 that afternoon, the anglers got a strike on a propwash bait, but the fish failed to find the hooks.
“We’d just gotten reset and made a turn back when the downrigger went,” Goss explained.
A naked menhaden 30’ down drew this bite, and Goss took the rod as the fish ran.
“He never made a crazy long run,” the angler said. “His first one was probably 100 yards.”
After the fish slowed down, the anglers caught up to it with the Cape Horn, but it quickly peeled off another 70-80 yards of line.
“I worked him back after the second run,” Goss reported. “We got on top of him pretty quick and then he just started the death circles. Then we just tried to make sure we didn’t run over him with the boat.”
Working the fish closer with each circle, Goss finally pulled it into range of Blanks’ outstretched gaff. As they swung the king aboard, the anglers realized it was bigger than they’d originally thought.
“I knew it was about 30 pounds, but I didn’t know he was that big until we put the gaff in him,” Goss recalled. “We got pretty excited. There were a few other boats around that definitely heard us yelling.”
After putting the big fish onboard, the anglers made the call to go ahead and close the distance between themselves and the scales.
“As soon as that fish hit the deck, we got him in the fish bag, got him iced, cut the rigs off the rods, and headed for Shallotte Inlet,” Goss continued.
It turned out to be a good decision, as their fish was losing weight by the time they got it in the bag.
“He puked up a black sea bass as soon as he hit the deck,” Goss said. “I know that was 6 or 7 ounces, and we wanted to get him in before he lost any more.”
With only a few ounces separating the “Wahooligans” and the second-place finishers, one more fish or more lost blood could have cost them the victory.
“0.15 isn’t much to win by,” Goss said.
The “Wahooligans” wished to express their gratitude to the team’s sponsors Anglers Marine, Clean Green Environmental, and The Tackle Box for their support.
Nipping at the “Wahooligans” heels were H. Milton Via, Jr. and the “Shock Wave” crew, whose 36.50 lb. king was good for second place. Raymond Coleman and the “Mackerel Mafia” took third with a 35.85 lb. fish.
More information on the Jolly Mon King Classic and a full leaderboard can be found at www.oifc.com.
