Tournament Report – Wide Open Tech Spanish Mackerel Open
A long day of fishing and dodging weather paid off for team “Tailwalker,” whose crew, consisting of Sam Franck, Kevin McCoy, and junior anglers Cameron and Jackson Franck and Harrison McCoy, brought the winning three spanish mackerel to the scales. Their 5.00 lb. aggregate weight was enough to take the win in 2016 Wide Open Tech Spanish Mackerel Open for the second year in a row. The event, held August 19-21 out of Wilmington’s Wild Wing Café and Dockside Restaurant & Marina, is a fundraiser for the Cape Fear Community College Sea Devil Club.
The Francks fished the tournament in 2015 with the same crew, and they decided to try to repeat last year’s performance by heading south towards Carolina Beach. So at 6:15 am the group left Masonboro Inlet and headed south, getting lines in the water about 6:45.
“We found fish pretty quick,” said Franck, “on some rocks about a mile off the beach. We caught several smaller spanish right away before we saw some birds working right on the breakers on the beach. We followed them and found a bigger class of fish in about 6’ of water.”
Franck explained that in the school there were quite a few jacks mixed in, and the junior anglers on board hooked 12-15 of them. “The fish were scrappy, and the kids had a great time fighting them,” he said with a laugh.
Getting spanish mackerel in the boat was a team effort, explained Franck. “All three boys took turns on the rod, and we had a nice rotation going. One angler, one leader man, and one on the net.” The crew pulled a variety of baits behind the boat, including Clarkspoons, a Blue Water Candy squid chain, and a couple of dead bait rigs.
“The fish hit everything,” said Franck, noting that the three fish weighed in were caught off larger Clarkspoons and the squid chain.
Although the group didn’t catch any single studs like they did the previous years, they knew they had some on board that were bigger than average, and that left them optimistic.
Franck explained that the event was a favorite in their family due to the kid-friendly nature of the event.
“We fished in shallow water, with a light breeze all day out of the southwest, and it was relatively calm and friendly. We just had to dodge a bit of weather, but that was true for all of the boats.”
The success of the crew last year made the boys eager to fish again. Franck explained that spanish mackerel fishing is one of the boys’ top choices when they want to fish, and they were eager to see what the weight of their three fish was going to be this year.
“You can’t beat the enthusiasm of a child on a boat,” said Franck.
Pulling in a close second to team “Tailwalker” was David Mitchell and the “Ourstride” weighing in three fish for a total of 4.51 lbs. Jack Brandon and “Jack Brandon Media” scaled a 3.76 lb. single spanish to round out the top three.
The Wide Open Tech Spanish Mackerel Open features three divisions for youth anglers, with the young anglers on the “Tailwalker” taking the spot for Junior Anglers (ages 0-8). James and Owen Hurley took home the top spot on the Pre-Teen (ages 9-12) leaderboard, and Tommy Lewis III and Nolan Murray were the tournament’s top Teen Angler (ages 13-17).
For more information and a full leaderboard on the Wide Open Tech Spanish Mackerel Open and all Fisherman’s Post events, visit www.fishermanspost.com.
