Ducks Unlimited Band The Billfish
Capt. Mike King and the "Stream Weaver," from Wrightsville Beach, took home the victory in the Ducks Unlimited Band the Billfish Tournament. They released three sailfish and a white marlin each day of the event to earn 1200 total points and the win.
After going neck and neck into the final day of the Barta Billfish Tournament, the “Stream Weaver” and “Barbara B” crews were right on each other’s heels again in the 17th Annual Ducks Unlimited Band the Billfish Tournament, held July 30-August 1 on the Morehead City Waterfront. This time, Wrightsville Beach’s “Stream Weaver” pulled ahead on the final day, releasing one more billfish than their close competitors to take the top spot in the event after losing by one release in the Barta tournament.
With Capt. Mike King at the helm of the 56’ Taylor Harris sportfisherman, along with Tim Kidwell, Paul Robertson, and Richard Edwards in the cockpit, the “Stream Weaver” anglers left out of Hatteras on Friday morning for the tournament’s first fishing day.
“We were headed straight into that southwest wind yesterday,” King reported, “and we could only get to the 900 Line. We started fishing there on basically nothing but some hard current.”
Though there was little bait in the area, the anglers bumped into some action releasing their first billfish, a sailfish, around 10:00.
Fishing through intermittent downpours, the “Stream Weaver” team found another pair of sailfish and a white marlin to complete their first day of the tournament with four releases worth 150 points each.
“The rain would quit and you’d get a fish,” King continued. “Then the rain would come again and we knew the fish were there because we were marking them, but we’d have a dry spell. The rain would stop again, and you’d get another bite.”
Four releases on the event’s first day weren’t enough to convince King he wanted to fish the area again, and the anglers decided to go further south on day two.
“We left at four in the morning and headed down here [Morehead City],” King explained. “We fished between the 740 and 770 Lines today. I knew they had bait down here, so I wanted to get down this way.”
The anglers got their first bite around 10:00 again on Saturday morning, and they released another sailfish shortly thereafter. Finding their best action in around 80 fathoms, the anglers had a scattered bite for the rest of the day, again releasing three sailfish and a white marlin to total eight releases worth 1200 points for the event.
The crew of the "Barbara B," from Greenville, NC, released five sailfish and two white marlin over two days fishing, amassing 1050 points to earn second place in the Ducks Unlimited Band the Billfish Tournament.
“We kind of picked away at them all day,” King said. “We did have two right together. We released a white and a sail within five minutes of each other, which is a little odd.”
Trolling the same setup that earned them second in the Barta event, the “Stream Weaver” anglers hooked all of their fish on circle-hooked dink ballyhoo and drew them to the boat with mullet dredges pulled off each corner of the cockpit.
‘We missed a lot of fish in the Barta, but they made us look good in this tournament,” King said. “We only had four or five bites each day.”
The tournament’s winning boat almost didn’t fish the event, but with a solid billfish bite on, they got the green light from management at the last minute.
“It’s weird how this worked out,” King explained. “We hadn’t planned on fishing, but the bite’s been good, so the boss told us to go at the last minute. He’s pretty happy now.”
Trailing “Stream Weaver” by just one fish, the “Barbara B” anglers released five sailfish and a pair of white marlin in the tournament to earn 1050 points. Fishing aboard the Greenville, NC-based 61’ Omie Tillett for the event were owner Bill Blount, Capt. Gray Blount, George and Hunter Blount, Matt Godwin, Tom and David Benson, and Mary Mullis.
The anglers fished around the 740 Line on Friday and found their best action in around 70 fathoms.
“I wasn’t actually on the boat Friday,” Bill Blount explained, “but they had four sail releases and saw a couple other fish.”
Like the winners, the “Barbara B” crew trolled mullet dredge teasers and naked, circle-hooked ballyhoo to fool their fish.
Returning to the same area they’d had their action on the first day, the anglers released a sailfish soon after they began to troll on Saturday. They added a pair of white marlin releases in the early afternoon to complete their seven billfish total.
“The whites came pretty close together,” Blount said. “We actually had a doubleheader of whites on at one point, but I think they got crossed up with each other and we broke one off. It was just like the Barta tournament. We were nip and tuck with the ‘Stream Weaver’ all the way through the last hour, but they beat us out in this one.”
The “Salvation” crew, out of Wrightsville Beach, released four sailfish and a pair of white marlin in the event to earn 900 points and third place. Capt. Ben Smith, Sam Smith, Peter Plott, Stewart Merrick, and Clay Whitehurst fished the event aboard a recently acquired 50’ Omie Tillett.
Trolling their way north from Wrightsville on Friday, the anglers found some action in 100 fathoms near the Swansboro Hole.
Like the other winners, they pulled a pair of mullet dredges and circle-hooked ballyhoo. The anglers released three sails on Friday, and then they headed to Morehead.
Saturday they elected to fish in the 700’s, not far from the “Stream Weaver” and “Barbara B.”
“I was looking for those guys, and I found them today,” Ben Smith explained.
The morning bite was slow for “Salvation,” but the anglers got on the fish after lunch, releasing two white marlin and a sailfish before lines-out at 3:00 to complete their 900 points.
