Barta Boys & Girls Club Billfish Tournament
Three generations of Blounts: Bill, Hunter, and Hunter, Jr., of the "Barbara B," surrounded by their many awards in the Barta Boys and Girls Club Billfish Tournament. Aside from the overall Billfish Release Points win, the crew took home Top Junior Angler and Top Amateur Boat, along with several other awards. They released one sailfish on each day to the two-day tournament to amass 800 release points for the win.
Battling rough seas to release a sailfish on both fishing days of the competition, Greenville, NC’s “Barbara B” crew took home Top Junior Angler and several other awards on their way to the overall win in the 2010 Barta Boys and Girls Club Billfish Tournament, held July 14-16 out of the Beaufort waterfront.
Capt. Hunter Blount fished the event with his son Hunter, Jr., father and boat owner Bill Blount, mates Scotty Capps and Morgan Morgan, and Hunter Barta and another junior angler offshore aboard the 61’ Sportsman.
Unable to see a satellite water temperature shot before the tournament, the anglers polled some friends who had fished during the week to get an idea of the bite.
“It was cloudy, so we couldn’t get a water shot,” Hunter Blount explained. “We talked to some friends, but where we ended up fishing was more dictated by the sea conditions than anything else. I didn’t want to go way up the beach and beat those kids up coming home.”
Fate and preparation collided for the crew just after 11:00 on the morning of Friday, July 16, the event’s first fishing day, when a sailfish came up and ate a naked ballyhoo on the long rigger as they were trolling near the 550 Line in 23 fathoms of water.
After the sail ate and Morgan hooked it, Hunter Blount, Jr. took the rod and began the battle.
“That fish jumped a little after we first hooked it but stayed down after that,” the winning captain continued.
A few minutes later, the leader was in hand and the “Barbara B” was on the release points leader board.
After releasing the sail, the anglers kept trolling and heard a few boats talking sailfish a bit closer to the beach.
“A few boats caught fish in shallow Friday,” Blount said, “so we trolled in that way. We had a few wahoo bite-offs and caught some dolphin, but didn’t see any more sails.”
The “Barbara B” almost didn’t fish on Saturday, as conditions were sloppy on Friday and forecast to be worse Saturday, but they had a last minute change of plan.
“It was blowing hard Friday night,” said Blount. “Thought about not fishing Saturday, but we got up, got down to the boat, and it wasn’t blowing as hard as we thought. My son was pumped up and really wanted to go, and I’m glad we did.”
Putting lines in near the 90’ Drop, the “Barbara B” trolled down a color change until they hooked the sail that put them over the top around 9:30 Saturday morning.
“The water kept getting hotter and hotter the further we got offshore,” Blount continued. “This is basically a sailfish tournament since they’re worth 400 points, so we decided to stay inshore.”
Again their plan worked out as the sail crashed a rigger bait that Capps was reeling in. After a quick dropback, he hooked the fish and passed the rod off to Hunter, Jr., who battled another sail to a quick release.
“That one stayed in the water the whole time,” Blount explained, “which was good because it was rough. We got lucky with that fish. When we got it to the boat it was pretty much lassoed around the bill.”
Despite working the area hard for the rest of the event, the anglers didn’t see another billfish. They tallied their second release before the only other boat with two sailfish releases, though, so they took home the win.
“This is a great tournament,” Blount said in conclusion. “Hunter doesn’t get to handle the rod much in the big money tournaments, and this one’s all about the kids, so he got to catch both sails, which was great. And the kids had almost as much fun at the docks catching shrimp and minnows as they did while we were out fishing.”
Posting their second sailfish release just under an hour after the “Barbara B” crew’s second, Todd Saieed and the “Miss Marilyn” crew, out of Raleigh, earned 800 billfish release points with two sailfish to take home second place overall in the event.
Finishing third overall, second in the Junior Angler Division, first in the Wahoo Division, and first in the Volvo Penta Grand Slam division was the Goldsboro, NC-based “Chainlink” crew.
Wes Seegars, owner of the 54’ Jarrett Bay, fished with Capt. Ralph Griffin, mate Jonathan Oglesby, and a host of family and friends for the event.
Trolling in 23 fathoms inshore of the Big Rock, the “Chainlink” struck early when angler John Winstead released the event’s first sailfish at 8:16 Friday morning. A dink ballyhoo on the long rigger fooled the sail.
“John’s fished this tournament with us the last couple of years,” Griffin said, “and it’s always been rough, but it finally paid off for him.”
After releasing the sailfish, the anglers continued working the area and found a scattered dolphin and wahoo bite. Angler Reid Walters landed the 27.63 lb. wahoo that took first place in that competition before the crew headed for the hill.
Returning to the same general area on Saturday, the anglers raised a few billfish, but they were unable to get them to bite. Keaton Smith did, however, crank in the 11.82 lb. dolphin that, combined with the crew’s wahoo, earned them the Volvo Penta Grand Slam title.
Noah Turner, fishing aboard the “Run-Off,” captured the event’s heaviest dolphin at 32.36 lbs.
This is the Barta Boys and Girls Club Billfish tournament’s sixth year, and as the name suggests, proceeds from the event go to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Coastal Carolina.
