Swansboro KMT 2009
Margaret and Burt Ferebee, of New Bern's Second Catch Fishing Team, with the 33.10 lb. king mackerel that earned first place and $25,000 in the Swansboro Rotary King Mackerel Tournament. The smoker king fell for a live pogy on the downrigger near the Papoose wreck. Photo courtesy of Lew McCloud.
Topping the field by nearly 10 lbs., New Bern’s Burt and Margaret Ferebee, of the “Second Catch,” hauled a 33.10 lb. mackerel to the scales at Hammock’s Beach State Park to win the 29th annual Swansboro Rotary King Mackerel Tournament. In addition to the guaranteed $25,000 first prize, the husband/wife team took the top spots in the 23′ and under and king mackerel TWT’s to bring home a total of $29,628.
Checking out a Roffer’s temperature chart the night before the tournament, the winning anglers were looking for some 76 degree water.
“I feel like that’s a really good temperature,” Burt explained, “and we found it at the Papoose. When we ran out, it went from 74-76 (degrees) two miles short of the wreck, and we hit a bunch of bait and flying fish. I started to pull off, then decided to go all the way to the Papoose.”
When the couple’s Mercury-powered 23′ Contender arrived at the wreck, they were immediately covered up with dolphin.
“I was thinking about leaving and going back to the bait at 9:30,” Burt continued, “but Margaret said we should stick around since the bite time [solunar] was at 10:30.”
They stayed, and just five minutes later something inhaled a pogy on a Hank Brown rig 25′ deep on the downrigger.
“It took off quite a bit of line at first,” Burt said, “and stayed down pretty good. Eventually I could see it shining down there, and we didn’t know whether it was a wahoo, a big barracuda, or a king. When it finally rolled up, we said okay, this is a nice fish. I missed her with the gaff at one point, which made her mad. The second time she swirled up and I didn’t get her where I wanted to, ended up getting her in the tail, but it was enough to put her in the boat.”
With the 33 lb. king in the boat after around a ten minute fight, the Ferebees knew they had a chance to win and to break a tradition in the Swansboro tournament.
For the last few years, the winning fish in the tournament have all come from south of Cape Fear, and that’s where many of the boats fishing the event went, but the Papoose wreck lies much farther north off Morehead City.
“We took a chance fishing up there,” Burt concluded, “but I think we were at the right place at the right time.”
The “Second Catch” crew wishes to express their gratitude to Mercury Outboards, Contender Boats, and Ferebee’s Marine Service for their support.
The 23.58 lb. second place king mackerel that the “Rod Hog” crew brought in also came from north of where many anglers might have expected.
“We were around 30 miles off New River Inlet in 100′ of water,” team captain Miles Bunn explained. “We were fishing some rocky bottom in there where we caught the 11th place fish in this tournament last year.”
Bunn, from Wilson, NC, fished the event with teammates Pat Renfro, Kenny Simma, and Tim Fisher aboard his 23′ Kencraft Challenger.
Also like the “Second Catch,” the “Rod Hog” fish bit early. After arriving at their spot, the anglers found spotty bait but didn’t have to wait long to confirm the presence of a king mackerel.
Their king bit a ribbonfish 50′ deep on the downrigger just before 8:00, and Bunn was the first to the rod.
“He burnt it down pretty good at first,” Bunn said, “but after that he participated with us.”
During the initial run, the anglers began to chase the fish. When they caught up to it, it surfaced almost immediately, and Renfro was able to sink a gaff in it and bring it aboard.
“We got pretty excited then,” Bunn continued, “but we kept it down because of the other boats around. We had to high-five under the gunnels.”
With their fish in the boat by 8:00, the anglers continued fishing the area for most of the rest of the day, catching dolphin, sharks, and amberjacks, but no more king mackerel.
At the awards, the “Rod Hog” anglers were presented with the Swansboro Rotary Tournament’s other guaranteed prize, a brand new 20′ Kencraft Bay Rider with a 115 hp Yamaha 4 stroke. Bunn wished to thank Jones Onslow Electric Corporation and Kencraft boats for their support of the “Rod Hog” crew.
A 21.26 lb. king mackerel earned third place and over $4,000 in the tournament for Pittsboro, NC’s Larry McDuffie and the “Second Mortgage” fishing team. Jeff York, aboard the “Trick C,” took home fourth with a 20.76 lb. fish. The “Release” crew, captained by Mike Williams, scaled a 19.52 lb. king to finish fifth.
The Swansboro Rotary Tournament raises money for college scholarships for local high school seniors, and has give away over half a million dollars in scholarship money in the near 30 years of its existence.
