Raleigh Saltwater KMT 2008
Posting their second field-topping fish in five years in the event, Blake Justice and Team Concept brought a 39.55 lb. king mackerel to the scales to earn the victory in the 2008 Raleigh Saltwater Sportfishing Club King Mackerel Tournament, held August 1-3 out of Atlantic Beach’s Sea Water Marina. Not only did their fish earn the Graham, NC-team $17,571, the big king also earned Deborah Hood the tournament’s Top Lady Angler title.
The day didn’t start out as a textbook tournament win, as Justice and teammates Arthur Hall, Robin Hood, and Deborah Hood had difficulty finding pogies on tournament morning.
“We got a late start,” Justice explained. “It was 9:30 before we got our pogies at Harkers Island. There are a lot of boats looking, and some got small baits, but we got some very large ones.”
With the bait tank full, the anglers throttled up the 36′ Concept’s twin Mercury outboards and crossed Lookout Shoals bound for the famous king mackerel grounds on the east side, but they ran between a number of well known spots before beginning to seriously fish.
“We hit the Summerlin,” Justice continued, “but I didn’t like what I saw, too many boats. Then we went to 1700 Rock, and didn’t stop.”
Deciding to put lines in at their third stop, the Atlas Tanker, the anglers were quickly overrun with amberjacks, so they kept moving.
“Next we hit Chicken Rock, and didn’t like what we saw,” said Justice. “We didn’t start seriously fishing until 1:00 PM and we were back close to the 1700 area.”
Finding several ledges previously unknown to the team that were holding bait, the anglers again deployed their spread. Within a few minutes, something inhaled one of their pogies, and the anglers began fighting their first promising fish of the day.
When a mid-30’s king mackerel popped up beside the boat, the anglers grew excited, but the fish pulled the hooks before they could reach it with a gaff.
The loss hurt, but 20-30 minutes later something took off with a double pogy rig the anglers had on the long line. The first run was manageable, but on the second the anglers had to chase their fish down. They knew they had a good one.
“Arthur got the rod,” Justice recalled, “and fought that fish down. We had a 30 lb. barracuda hanging around the boat the whole time, and I couldn’t get him to go away. That was a long 20 minutes. That fish came in to the nose of the boat, and I stuck it right beside us.”
Lifting the money-winning mackerel into the boat and away from the cuda’s teeth, Team Concept had their king on deck shortly after 2:00.
“We got that fish in the boat, ” Hall explained, “took some pictures, got him in the bag and iced down, tidied the boat up, and eased back in.”
Crossing the shoals and riding back into Beaufort Inlet, Team Concept arrived at the weigh-in just a quarter-hour after they opened at 3:00, and their winning fish was the second brought to the scales. The near-40 lb. king was the only one they landed during the event.
Blake Justice and Team Concept wished to express their gratitude to Concept Boats and Mercury Outboards for their support of the crew.
A 37.85 lb. kingfish earned second place and $9,369 for Tommy Allen and Justin Cosgrove, fishing aboard the 24′ Hydra-Sport “Tenacious.” They also targeted the east side of Lookout Shoals; however, unlike the tournament’s winners, they found their fish early in the day.
“We were in the middle of a bunch of boats,” Allen explained. “That fish bit about 9:00.”
The anglers were trolling the George Summerlin wreck when their fish inhaled a large naked pogy on top. Cosgrove grabbed the rod while the king ran, making the anglers sweat a little in the pack of competing boats.
“He gave us a time,” Cosgrove said. “I had to really tighten down on him to keep him out of the other boats.”
After he tightened the drag, the king chose to fight it out in the depths.
“He went down,” said Allen, “but we finally got him up and stuck him.”
Allen was waiting with the gaff when the fish finally surfaced, and he swung it into the boat around 15 minutes after the strike.
With a high-30 lb. fish on board, Cosgrove and Allen decided to get closer to the scales and take it easy for the rest of the day until the weigh-in began. They moved in to the Dead Tree Hole, a short distance off Shackleford Banks, and fished out the rest of the morning and early afternoon, losing a cobia but seeing no more kingfish.
The “Tenacious” crew would like to recognize Tommy Allen Construction for their support of the team.
“Overtime,” a 23′ Wellcraft crewed by Charles Coates, Buddy Avery, and Chip Suitte, took home third place overall and the top honors in the Under 23′ division with a 34.05 lb. king worth $6,999.
Like “Team Concept,” the third place boat hooked their fish fairly late in the event, as it fell for a live 14″ bluefish under a pink/black skirt around 3:00. The anglers were also trolling on the east side and found their big fish at East Rock.
Suitte took the rod as the king took off, and the “Overtime” crew followed suit.
“We had to chase after him a little bit on that initial run,” Avery explained. “After we caught up to him, he stayed near the boat, but he went up, down, and all over. He finally rolled up top about 10′ from the boat, and I reached out and stuck him.”
Using a 10′ gaff to reach out to the fish, Avery boated the fish, and the anglers resumed trolling the area for another hour. While they were unable to boat a larger fish, their king held on to third place and the top spot in the small boat category.
The “Overtime” anglers wish to thank Babara’s Harbor, of Harker’s Island, for keeping their bait pen.
Randall Edens and the “East Coast Sports” fishing team took fourth place overall with a 33.30 lb. fish. Along with fourth, the anglers, fishing aboard a 23′ Onslow Bay, took home second in the Under 23′ competition. The fish also earned Cole Edens the event’s Top Junior Angler honors.
A 32.45 lb. king mackerel secured fifth place for the “Footloose.”
This year’s Raleigh Saltwater Sportfishing Club tournament attracted 147 boats, several more than last year’s event. The event raises money for the Take a Kid Fishing Foundation, and Tournament Director Bruce Andrews presented Eddie Cameron with a $2500 check for the foundation at the awards ceremony.
Andrews wished to thank everyone who fished the event and all the sponsors, particularly title sponsor Bobby Murray Chevrolet and gold sponsors West Marine and Enpuricon.
