Fall Brawl King Classic
Jason Einbinder, John Snyder, and Jay Bucklen, of the "Cape Contender" fishing team with the massive 56.80 lb. king mackerel that won them the Fall Brawl by over 16 lbs. The fish fell for a double pogy rig near Lighthouse Rocks.
Blowing away the field by over 16 lbs., Wake Forest, NC’s Jay Bucklen and the crew of the “Cape Contender” won more than $15,000 in the 2010 Fall Brawl King Classic, held October 22-24 out of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center, with a 56.80 lb. king mackerel that they caught within sight of the majority of the boats fishing the event.
Bucklen was joined by Jason Einbinder and John Snyder aboard his 21’ Contender for the event, and the anglers found a decent bite at Lighthouse Rocks while pre-fishing for the tournament the Friday before competition. Unfortunately, an intermittent temperature alarm put whether the team was fishing the event in doubt.
“I’ve got to thank Tom Jones with Wake Falls Marine,” Bucklen said. “He helped me re-do the entire cooling system on my motor on Saturday.”
With the boat running right, the anglers got an early start Sunday morning, caught bait off Ocean Crest Pier, and headed for Lighthouse Rocks.
After putting three fish in the boat early, the anglers got a double-strike.
“The first fish hit our long line,” Bucklen explained. “Then we saw that big fish come after a bait, miss it, come across the spread, and hit another bait. When we saw the second fish, we pulled the hooks off the other one and immediately began chasing it.”
A naked double-pogie rig fooled the big king, and Einbinder took the rod as his teammates cleared the lines and prepared to chase the fish.
“She ran, not real hard,” Bucklen continued, “but we chased that fish a long way.”
After the fish finally slowed, the anglers caught up to it in the Contender but weren’t able to put a gaff in it for quite some time.
“After she chilled out from that first run,” Bucklen said, “she just went down and stayed down. Then she took a couple more runs. We kept following her and turning around her. We didn’t want to put any pressure on those hooks after seeing that fish.”
Finally, Einbinder was able to ease the fish to the surface, and Bucklen was prepared with the gaff. At the first opportunity, he planted the steel in the big king and eased it over the gunnel.
“We were extremely excited,” Bucklen related. “We put her on ice and chilled out for a second. I was saying the fish was 40, maybe 50, but I’m a bad estimator. When she bottomed out our 50 lb. hand scales, we went on in.”
Weighing their big fish just after 2:00 that afternoon, the anglers learned that indeed it was over 50 lbs., and they’d taken over the lead by nearly 20 lbs. over the 37 lb. fish atop the board. In addition to topping the Fall Brawl leader board, the “Cape Contender” fish may well be the largest ever weighed in an NC tournament.
In addition to Wake Falls Marine, the “Cape Contender” crew would like to express their gratitude to Contender and Yamaha.
Scaling a very respectable 40.35 lb. king, David Gore, of Wilmington, and the “Top Choice” crew earned second place and over $20,000 by virtue of winning the Big Fish and High Roller TWT’s.
Fishing with David Cavenaugh and Mike Lucas aboard a 31’ Fountain, the “Top Choice” anglers also chose to fish Lighthouse Rocks Sunday in their search for a big king.
David Gore, David Cavenaugh, and Mike Lucas with the 40.35 lb. king mackerel that earned them second place and over $20,000 in the Fall Brawl King Classic. Their fish fell for a naked pogie 10' deep on the downrigger at Lighthouse Rocks.
“We felt from what we heard yesterday that was the place to be,” Gore said.
After landing a 35 lb. king around 9:00 that morning, the anglers hooked into their big fish around noon.
A naked pogie 10’ deep on the downrigger fooled their king, and Gore was first to the rod.
“It was a pretty typical big king fight,” he explained. “He made a good run, then went down, stayed down, and made another good run.”
The “Top Choice” crew followed their fish throughout the 100+ boat crowd at the spot, and finally it surfaced near the Fountain. Cavenaugh sank a gaff in the 40 pounder as soon as it was within range. Feeling that the bite was so hot that other boats probably had some big fish, the anglers gave the spot around 3 more hours before heading to the scales.
“I’m really surprised that fish held up with the bite going off like it was,” Gore said.
The “Top Choice” crew would like to thank Gore Marine and Mike’s Body and Marine for their support.
Scaling a 37.45 lb. fish that led the pack after day one, Wilmington’s “Prime Time” crew ended up taking home third place and over $9,000. Jim, Jamie, and Joey Milam made up the team, fishing aboard a 23 Tournament Onslow Bay Center Console.
After finding slow fishing and dirty water around the Cabbage Patch Saturday morning, the Milams headed for Lighthouse Rocks.
Their only fish of the day came when the 37 pounder fell for a double pogie rig around 1:00 that afternoon. Jamie Milam fought the fish to the boat, where his father, Jim, gaffed it, and the anglers kept fishing until they headed for the scales.
Jamie Milam wished to express his gratitude to Brad at Onslow Bay Boatworks, Don Ewing, and Yamaha for their roles in the team’s success.
A 36.55 lb. king earned fourth place in the Fall Brawl for Stuart Ballard and the “Tailwalker” crew, and the “Reel Buzz” fishing team finished fifth with a 35.20 lb. fish.
