East Coast Got-em-on King Classic
Joel Brown, Richard Gilligan, Barry Bierstedt, and Corey Durako, of the "Blew BYU!" fishing team won the 2010 Got-Em-On Classic with this 56.60 lb. king mackerel that fell for a ribbonfish at the Shark Hole. The massive king earned them over $30,000.
Blasting to the top of an already highly competitive leader board, Wilmington’s Corey Durako and the “Blew BYU!” fishing team weighed in a 56.60 lb. king mackerel to handily win the 2010 East Coast Got-Em-On Classic King Mackerel Tournament. Their fish, the heaviest weighed in an NC king tournament this year, earned the four-man crew $30,086.
With Barry Bierstedt, Joel Brown, and Richard Gilligan aboard a 26’ Mako, the anglers didn’t prefish, but they had a game plan in place for where they’d be fishing the event.
“We knew where to fish,” Durako explained. “We know a lot of guys, and they let us know about a bite.”
The bite was at the Shark Hole, and it was clearly the place to be, as four of the event’s top six fish came from the 65’ deep area off Ocean Isle, NC.
After fishing amidst a crowd of boats with just a 19 lb. king to show for it, the anglers made the call to head in and pick up some fresh baits before returning for an afternoon bite they hoped would come.
“Our baits were looking a little sluggish,” Durako continued, “so we wanted to replenish them. When we came back out, we saw a lot of big fish caught around us.”
After netting a fresh batch of pogies off Lockwood Folly Inlet, the “Blew BYU!” crew returned to the Shark Hole and redeployed their spread. As it turned out, a ribbonfish on a Barefoot Chin Weight rig on the downrigger was what tempted the monster bite at 2:30 that afternoon.
“Oh my, he blistered it,” said Durako. “That fish hit so hard it scared us.”
Gilligan picked up the rod as the smoker king tore line from the reel, and the rest of the team busily prepared to give chase.
“We had to move fast,” Durako explained. “There were boats next to us, and he almost spooled us. We hauled butt; those boats saw us take off pretty quick.”
The fish stayed deep for much of the first half-hour of the battle, but after the blazing first run, the anglers were confident they had a large king mackerel and stayed with it.
After following their fish for around half an hour, the anglers got their first glimpse of the $30,000 mackerel.
“I got a look at him after about 30 minutes,” Durako reported. “We all kind of froze. I mean, that’s a big fish. After we got a look, we knew that would be a good enough fish to go to the scales.”
A big fish indeed, and after catching a glimpse of it, the anglers fought it for 25 more minutes before getting an opportunity to plant home the gaff. Durako was ready when the time came.
“I stuck that fish and we had 1:45 to make the scales,” he said. “We only had 30 miles to go, so we just cruised on here.”
Hoisting the brute onto the scale at 4:52, the anglers displaced the respectable 40 pounder in the lead by 16 lbs., easily earning the “Blue BYU!” crew their first tournament win.
Donald Scott and the “Libra” team, out of Carolina Beach, weighed in the 40.45 lb. king that took second place. Scott and teammates Brent Cousins and Ron Rosso, fishing on a 23’ McKee Craft, pocketed $18,410 for their efforts.
Brent Cousins, Donald Scott, and Ron Rosso, team "Libra," hauled in the 40.45 lb. second place king mackerel in the 2010 Got-Em-On King Classic. Their fish fell for a skirted pogy on top at the Shark Hole and earned them over $18,000
The “Libra” anglers also targeted the Shark Hole despite not pre-fishing for the tournament, and Scott summed their game plan up simply.
“Get bait and go catch a big fish,” he said.
The plan didn’t work out immediately, as they battled through sharks and one small king mackerel first, but at 1:00 on the final afternoon of the event, their big fish inhaled a pogy beneath a blue/silver Blue Water Candy skirt on the long line.
Rosso was first to the rod and held on while the king ran hard and deep.
“He went down on his first run,” Scott stated. “Then he came up to the top. We thought it was a king at that point.”
Rosso continued battling the fish for another 15 minutes before the anglers got their first look at the 40-pounder.
“We had him close and got a look at him,” explained Scott. “We didn’t get excited at that point, just handled him right until we could get him in the boat.”
When the fish was finally within range Cousins and Scott gaffed it in tandem and swung it over the McKee’s gunwale.
Asked if they continued fishing at that point or headed to the scales, Scott replied, “After a 40 pounder? Forget it. We headed in.”
Arriving at the weigh-in with plenty of time to spare, the anglers took the lead until the “Blew BYU!” fish arrived just before the 5:00 closing of the scales.
Hauling a 34.90 lb. king to the Carolina Beach Boat Basin, Tim Hudson and the Atlantic Beach-based “White Lightning” crew took home third place and $9,319.
Winston Salem, NC’s Dieter Caldwell, on the “Tide Line,” earned fourth place for a 33.15 lb. king, and Paul Treusch and the “Reel Lite” rounded out the top five with a 32.90 lb. fish.
Crockett Henderson, of the “Liquid Fire” crew, earned the event’s Top Junior Angler honors with a 29.80 lb. king. Donna Gurganus, aboard the “Ante-Up,” weighed in a 29.25 lb. fish to top the Lady Angler competition.
The East Coast Got-Em-On Classic attracted an even 200 boats for 2010.
