Jolly Mon King Mackerel Tournament
Dave Canady and Preston and T.K. Nowell with the 41.6 lb. king mackerel that earned them first place in the Jolly Mon King Mackerel Tournament. The big king bit a naked pogy at the Shark Hole.
After a much-maligned king mackerel bite in the weeks leading up to the event, the action went white-hot during the 2012 Jolly Mon King Mackerel Tournament, held June 22-24 out of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center, resulting in 10 kings that broke the 30 lb. mark on the leaderboard.
Southport’s Dave Canady and Preston and T.K. Nowell, aboard the “Snap One,” finished at the top of the pack, scaling a 41.60 lb. king to earn first place in the event.
Work and weather conspired to keep the “Snap One” anglers from pre-fishing for the event, but they climbed aboard Canady’s 26’ Sea Hunt that morning with high hopes nonetheless.
After a frustrating time looking for bait in the ocean, the anglers got a tip from a friend that helped fill their livewell.
“Preston got a call from a friend that the pogies were in the river,” Canady said. “We went up there, floated the net, and went fishing.”
Stopping first at the old sea buoy position off the Cape Fear River mouth, the anglers quickly realized they needed to move on.
“The weed was so bad out there that we couldn’t keep a bait in the water,” Canady continued. “We pretty much flipped a coin and decided to head for the Shark Hole.”
Though they encountered more scattered grass at their next destination, they also found much improved fishing.
“There was weed out there, too,” Canady explained, “but we caught some smaller kings, dolphin, and a 6 lb. spanish after we got there.”
The action was enough to keep the crew in the area until their big fish bit around 1:00 that afternoon.
A naked pogy trolled long fooled the big king, and Preston Nowell took the rod as the fish made its initial run.
“We got a pretty good run out of him,” Canady said, “and then he went deep.”
With T.K. at the helm, the anglers caught up to their king, but the battle wasn’t over yet.
“We could see him down there circling,” Canady recalled. “We were scared we’d pull the hooks, so we took it easy.”
Finally, around 20 minutes after it bit, the king came to the surface and Canady was waiting with the gaff.
“Once he came up top,” he explained, “he made one more circle, came back toward the boat, and I got him.”
With the 40 lb. king in the boat, the anglers began to celebrate.
“There was a lot of hooting and hollering,” Canady said. “We knew that was a money fish, so we headed back for the scales.”
Arriving at the scales at 2:30 on Saturday, the “Snap One” crew was the first to weigh a fish in the event.
Their fish maintained the top spot on the leaderboard through the close of the weigh-in on Saturday, but the anglers still had to hope the boats fishing Sunday wouldn’t find a larger one.
“There’s always that possibility,” Canady said. “Thank goodness nobody did.”
Walstonburg, NC’s Matt Gay and the “Southern Bale” crew earned second place in the tournament with a 37.50 lb. fish, and Jackson David, of Wilmington, and the “Intracoastal Angler” team took third with a 33.95.
More information on the Jolly Mon and a full leaderboard are available at www.oifc.com.
