Far Out Shootout
Susan King with the 25.7 lb. dolphin that made up a large portion of the "Office 2" crew's winning weight in the 2011 Far Out Shootout. The big 'phin struck a blue/white skirted ballyhoo just north of the Steeples.
Topping the 26 boat field in the 2011 Ocean Isle Fishing Center Far Out Shootout, John Munroe and the “Office 2” crew combined the weeklong event’s heaviest wahoo with a dolphin and a blackfin tuna for a total aggregate weight of 59.55 lbs.
Munroe, of Bald Head Island, who fished the event with John and Susan King, Kendall Hendrickson, and Jim Burton aboard his 33’ L& H express, decided to head away from the crowd on Friday, May 20, their chosen fishing day.
“We didn’t pre-fish, but I knew it was an Ocean Isle tournament,” Munroe explained. “I figured most of the boats would be heading south, so we went to the north.”
Targeting the north side of the Steeples, the “Office 2” crew found action shortly after setting lines in the water.
“We were in fish all day,” the team’s captain continued.
The action started out with dolphin, and around 9:30 that morning Susan King grabbed a rod and battled the 25.1 lb. dolphin (that the crew later weighed) to the boat. A ballyhoo beneath a blue/white skirt fooled the big ‘phin.
The dolphin action stayed consistent for the remainder of the morning, but the Far Out Shootout’s aggregate category requires a dolphin, a wahoo, and a tuna.
Around midday, the anglers solved the second part of that equation when they got a wahoo strike on another blue/white-skirted ballyhoo on the way back line. Hendrickson was first to the rod and held on while the fish made a screaming run.
“He ran hard away from us,” Munroe said, “but then turned and came right back to the boat.”
When the wahoo arrived, the crew was ready, and John King planted a gaff in what would turn out to be the event’s biggest wahoo, a 26.75 lb. fish.
With fat dolphin and wahoo on ice, the crew was looking for a tuna, and they hooked one shortly after adding a natural cedar plug to the spread right at the end of their day. Jim Burton cranked in the little blackfin, and the crew had their three-fish aggregate in the box.
“We were tickled to death with that tuna,” Munroe said, “all 7 lbs. of him. I’d never pulled a cedar plug before that, but I’ve got four of them on the boat now.”
With a 70 mile run ahead of them, the “Office 2” anglers pointed the bow toward Ocean Isle shortly after putting the tuna in the box.
“We felt pretty good about those fish,” Munroe added, “but we didn’t think we had enough to win it. I didn’t think the wahoo and dolphin were as big as they were, but I was driving the boat and not paying that much attention.”
At the scales, the truth came out, and the anglers took the top spot on the leader board and held on to it through Saturday’s fishing to earn the win by over 20 lbs.
Combining an 18.7 lb wahoo, a 17.05 lb. dolphin, and a 3.4 lb. blackfin tuna for a 39.05 lb. aggregate, Richard Boles and the “Toes Up” crew took second place in the Far Out Shootout. The “Caribbean Soul” crew finished third with a 37.20 lb. weight made up of a wahoo and a dolphin.
More information and complete results are available at www.oifc.com.
