NewBridge Bank Wild King Classic
Wayne and Kayla Howard and George Page with the 22.50 lb. king mackerel that earned them the victory in the 2012 NewBridge Bank Wild King Classic. The fish bit a live menhaden near the 30/30
Scaling a 22.50 lb. king mackerel that held up over two days of competition, George Page and the “Georgie’s Girl” fishing team took home first place in the 2012 Wild King Classic, held September 21-23 out of Wild Wing Café and Seapath Marina.
Page, fishing on Saturday with Wayne and Kayla Howard (who took the event’s Junior Angler honors) aboard a borrowed 20’ Grady White, didn’t pre-fish for the event, but he let instinct guide his course on tournament day.
“I’ve done this for 35 years,” he explained. “I go where my gut feeling tells me to. I was going to fish Masonboro Inlet and then 10 Mile Rock and the 30/30, but the water wasn’t good as Masonboro so we headed out to the 10 Mile.”
Slow-trolling the area, the anglers caught shark after shark before Page decided it was time to head for greener pastures.
“We’d caught seven sharks,” he continued, “and I only brought 12 rigs with me, so I knew it was time to go to the 30/30.”
The trio got underway, but they were soon beset by several mechanical issues.
“Our livewell pump quit, so we were using an aerator,” Page reported. “Then about 20 miles from the 30/30 the GPS quit working.”
Keeping his heading in mind, Page navigated towards the spot by compass until he saw some boats working the area. The anglers arrived and deployed a spread shortly before 2:00 that afternoon.
“Those other boats left around 20 minutes after we got there,” Page explained. “There were so many schools of spanish out there it looked like they were breeding, so I wasn’t going to leave.”
While pulling their spread of menhaden around the smaller mackerel, the crew suddenly got a triple strike at 2:05 that afternoon.
“The fish we weighed hit first,” said Page. “It hit a naked pogy on a slider rig. Then one grabbed the long line and Kayla took it, and then a fish bit the propwash bait.”
The fish took different direction, so the anglers held on and fought their fish primarily from a dead boat.
“I though the third fish was the biggest one,” Page continued, “but it got off.”
Eventually, the anglers worked their fish back to the boat, and Page held off while Howard prepared to gaff his daughter’s fish.
“I let mine circle under the boat,” he explained. “I saw it was hooked by the nose hook with the stinger in its gill, so it was only breathing out of one gill and wasn’t going anywhere.”
The younger Howard’s fish pulled the hooks before coming into gaff range, but Page worked his fish to the boat. Wayne Howard planted the steel and swung it aboard.
The anglers soon decided to head back to Wrightsville and the scales, icing the fish down in a king bag for the journey.
“We were very happy,” Page said. “We had a great day on the boat, and that’s the first king I’ve won money on in four years.”
Arriving at the scales, their fish grabbed the top spot on the leaderboard. Several boats were fishing Sunday, but Page was unconcerned about them bringing in a bigger fish.
“I knew there wouldn’t be many fish caught on Sunday because of the way the wind switched,” he said.
A 21.70 lb. king mackerel earned Dave Timpy and the “Wavelength” crew second place in the tournament, and Bill Kish on the “Linda Lee” rounded out the top three with an 18.90 lb. fish.
More information on the event and a full leaderboard are available at www.fishermanspost.com.
