Tournament Report – Jolly Mon King Classic
The 2017 Yellowfin/Yamaha Jolly Mon King Classic, hosted out of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center, took place over the weekend of June 16-18, paying out for the top 25 places on the leaderboard for the heaviest king mackerel brought to the scales.
There were 185 boats registered for this year’s event. Of the 173 boats that fished on Saturday, 55 of them weighed in fish.
Team “Do Work/OIFC” captured first place with a 42.75 lb. king caught by John Hayes of Taylorsville. Along with the pride of besting an impressive field of anglers, they took home a whopping $32,000 in earnings (that included Kingfish Cup winnings).
Capt. Jeff Beck said the team was fishing in 65’ of water with live pogies on top and ribbonfish down low. The team didn’t get any lines in the water until around 8:30 am, and they fished for an hour before a rod went off.
Team “Do Work/OIFC,” the winners of the 2017 Jolly Mon King Classic, with their 42.75 lb. king mackerel caught on a live ribbonfish in 65’ of water.
Their big fish of the day, the 42 lb. king, was caught on a ribbonfish set on a downrigger at 30’ deep at approximately 9:45 am. Beck added that the water clarity they found had a lot to do with their success.
After boating their big king, the team was making the decision on whether to keep on fishing when Beck looked up and noticed that all of the electronics on his 27’ Contender were out. The engines were the only thing running.
They headed north and cruised the shoreline to Shallotte Inlet, where the team then rode around the Shallotte buoy until 2:00 pm before heading to the scales.
This is the second time that “Do Work/OIFC” has won the Jolly Mon King Classic, and the team has fished in the event every year since 2009. In addition to the top prize, Camdyn Beck (age 11) won junior angler.
Jeff Crouch and “Strictly Business” took second place with a 35.90 lb. king, and Mike Miller, of Team Man O War/AM, came in third with a 31.55 lb. fish.
For a full leaderboard of the Yellowfin/Yamaha Jolly Mon King Classic, please visit www.oifc.com.
