NewBridge Bank Spanish Mackerel Open
Ken Pearce with the winning three-spanish aggregate in the Newbridge Bank Spanish Mackerel Open. The 3.9 lb. trio of spaniards bit Clarkspoons while he was trolling near Carolina Beach Inlet.
Topping both the three-fish main leaderboard and the event’s Single Big Spanish TWT, Wilmington’s Ken Pearce and the “IO 1” crew scaled a trio of spanish mackerel weighing 3.90 lbs. to earn first place in the NewBridge Bank Spanish Mackerel Open, held October 11-12 out of Wild Wing Café and Seapath Yacht Club.
Pearce, fishing with friends Johnson Phillips and Jason Allen aboard a 22’ Sea Hunt center console, didn’t pre-fish in the days leading up to the event but relied on some intel from the weekend before in their hunt for money-winning mackerel.
“We rode around on the boat drinking beer, but didn’t pre-fish,” Pearce explained. “Jason had caught a decent fish in Masonboro Inlet last Saturday, so we decided to start there.”
The anglers began trolling Clarkspoons behind planers in and around the inlet on the morning of the competition, landing one legal spanish mackerel, but they soon decided to head for some new water.
“We went to the Liberty Ship after that,” Pearce reported, “and then headed down between Johns Creek and Carolina Beach Inlet.
The spanish bite didn’t fire off at first at the new location, but the anglers saw some promising signs of life and decided to stick around.
“There were some boats there and we saw bait pods on the depthfinder, so we decided to work that area,” said Pearce.
Their efforts produced a few smaller spanish, but many more bluefish, before a fellow tournament angler offered some insight.
“We’ve got to thank Robbie McGee,” Pearce continued. “He told us what depth to troll. We’d been catching more blues, and he told us to troll deeper. That helped us catch the bigger spanish.”
With the new strategy in effect, the anglers put an estimated dozen spanish in the boat, releasing the smaller fish as they tried to upgrade their three-fish aggregate.
The “IO 1” anglers also added a “schooling rig” featuring multiple spoons to their spread, landing the final fish of their aggregate on it.
“We had a double header on the schooling rig, and one of the fish was the smaller one we weighed,” Pearce explained.
When it came time to head for the scales, the anglers felt they’d put a decent catch in the boat, but the victory came as a surprise.
“I thought somebody would have a four-pounder,” Pearce said, “and beat us all.”
John Wright and the “Marine Max” crew earned second place in the event with a trio of spanish weighing 3.48 lbs., and Brian Corrigan rounded out the top three with a 2.93 lb. aggregate.
More details on the event and full leaderboard are available at www.fishermanspost.com.
