Tournament Reports – SHARE KMT
The 2019 S.H.A.R.E. King Mackerel Tournament brought together 171 teams to compete out of Tournament HQ Dockside Marina in Wrightsville Beach over the weekend of August 10-11. With two full days of fishing (Saturday and Sunday), anglers had plenty of fishing time to search the area’s nearshore and offshore waters for the heaviest pair of trophy kings.
Team “Keepin’ it Reel,” from Pawleys Island, took home the first-place prize of $62,835 with an aggregate fish weight of 76.62 lbs.
Clay Gallup and his partner Jared Floyd, along with crew members Bruce and Mark Gallup, started out Saturday morning by bait fishing for pogies just outside of the inlet. Then the morning king bite was modest—the team landed two small kings and a 60” wahoo while heading out towards their spot, the Chicken Coop, which sits in about 110’ of water.
Around 9:30 am, B. Gallup, the team’s primary angler, landed the first of what would ultimately be a prize-winning king. The fish weighed in at 33.34 lbs. and was gaffed cleanly with a one-shot, one-kill by M. Gallup. Instead of fishing more and trying to upgrade, the team headed back to the scales and weighed in around 4:00 pm, figuring they could get a head start preparing for day two.
On Sunday morning, after spending the majority of the morning bait fishing for mullet to no avail, the team decided to move to the ocean to catch pogies again. With a full livewell, they headed back out to their day one spot.
- Floyd, who was captaining at the time, made only two laps around the Chicken Coop before the team hooked up with what they thought could be their winning second fish. C. Gallup says, “We had two reels get hit at the same time, and we chose the one that was screaming offshore.”
- Gallup fought the fish perfectly with the help of the captain keeping the king in front of the boat the whole time. With another great gaff by M. Gallup, they landed their heaviest fish, a 43.28 lb. smoker.
The second place prize of $43,202 went to the team “Hoo Hunters,” of Cape Carteret, and the third place prize of $16,876 went to “East Coast Sports,” from Hampstead.
The Senior Angler winner George Edens, the Lady Angler champion Carsyn Gaddy, and the Junior Angler winner Riggs Edens were all on Team “East Coast Sports” that scored an aggregate weight of 67.62 lbs.
Approximately 3,624 total pounds of king mackerel were weighed in over the course of the weekend, and over $158,131 in cash prizes was awarded.
S.H.A.R.E. is a non-profit organization based in eastern North Carolina and dedicated to assisting children and their families who are facing difficult circumstances. Serving 5 counties—Duplin, Pender, New Hanover, Brunswick, and Columbus—they hope to make a difference in not just one individual or family, but the community as a whole by focusing on the philosophy “pay it forward.”
More information on the event, including a complete leaderboard, can be found at facebook.com/SHAREKingMackerelTournament.
Clay Gallup, Bruce Gallup, Jared Floyd, and Mark Gallup (l-r), of Team “Keepin’ it Reel,” with the winning pair of kings, weighing a total of 76.62 lbs., in the SHARE KMT. The team took home over $60,000 in prize money..
