OIFC.com KMT Tournament
Rube and Barrett McMullan with a 47 lb. king mackerel they hooked on the east side of Lookout Shoals on a live pogy while fishing the OIFC.com King Mackerel Tournament.
With well under one ounce separating the top two boats, as well as the winning weights comparable to the average ones at SKA Nationals (yet substantially fewer boats participating), it’s fair to say the fishing was on fire for the OIFC.com King Mackerel Tournament, held November 7-15 jointly out of Cape Hatteras and Morehead City. The “Ocean Isle Fishing Center” team ended up eking out the win for the second year in a row with a 97.0 lb. aggregate weight, besting the “Release” crew’s 96.95 by just a twentieth of a pound.
Choosing to start on the second day of the fish two out of eight format, Brant, Barrett, and Rube McMullan found some pogies on the beach quickly and headed out to a temperature break between the Bad Bottom and the Smell Wreck.
Once offshore, they and the several other boats fishing the area found a wild bite, with consistent double and triple hookups, but most of the fish were a little bit smaller than the massive smokers Hatteras in late fall is known for. After picking their way through a large number of 15-30 lb. kings for the day, the McMullans managed to find a bigger bite, and they landed a 46.95 lb. smoker that led the pack as the scales closed for day two.
The event has weigh stations at Morehead City and Hatteras, and reports out of Morehead indicated that the bite had been comparable at the wrecks and rocks east of Lookout Shoals, with many boats landing fish in the 30’s and 40’s, but none larger than the McMullan fish.
Heading out the next morning, the “Ocean Isle Fishing Center” anglers again began cruising south along the beach and looking for pogies, but ran 40 miles before they finally encountered some off Drum Inlet.
Recalling the excellent bite reported the day before by the Morehead fleet, and at this point closer to Morehead than Hatteras, the crew elected to head for the East Rock, where many of the previous day’s fish were hooked.
“There was no question we were in the right spot,” Brant McMullan said, “because there were eight boats there and all eight were hooked up.”
Before long, the McMullans had joined the fray and were hooked up themselves. It didn’t take much time for them to put a big fish in the box either, as they landed a 50+ lb. fish shortly after arriving.
The red hot bite never slowed that day, and the team landed a total of 12 king mackerel over 35 lbs. over the course of the day, with six over 40 and two surpassing the 50 lb. mark.
“Our second might have been even bigger than the one we had in the box,” McMullan said, “but we couldn’t bring ourselves to kill two fish that size in one day when we didn’t need to.”
Electing to run to the closer scales at Morehead when their fishing time came to a close, the crew found out their boxed king was a healthy 50.05 lbs.
Stealing their thunder that day, however, was the “Release” crew of Mike Williams, Gordon Dunn, and Quinn Morris, who hauled a 53.90 lb. king back to the scales from the East Rock.
They’d also fished the previous day at East Rock, and found a strong bite after catching pogies near Harkers Island. The action was fast enough to keep them in the area all day, and Dunn ended up landing the 43 pounder that proved to be their big fish of the day.
The “Release” anglers returned to East Rock the following day, and caught a 48 lb. king on their first bait in the water.
“I thought we had a chance at winning after we caught that 48 first thing,” Williams explained. “I knew the OIFC guys were still up at Hatteras, bait was tough up there, and most boats had had trouble finding the fish.”
Eventually the OIFC crew showed up at the East Rock, and soon after arriving, they landed their first 50 pounder.
“I heard they’d landed a huge fish,” Williams said, “and I knew we’d have to upgrade in order to be competitive.”
Upgrade they did when the 53.90 lb. fish inhaled a pogy around 1:30 and Williams angled it to the boat where Dunn was waiting with the gaff.
“The OIFC fish turned out not to be as big as we’d thought,” Williams said, “but we ended up just .05 lbs. behind them. What a tight finish!”
While their massive kingfish was just a sliver shy of carrying them to victory, it handily topped the event’s single big fish TWT, so the “Release” still earned a superlative in the event.
The “HooYah” crew rounded out the top three in the OIFC.com event with a pair of kings weighing 73.40 lbs.
The Ocean Isle Fishing Center crew came up with the idea of the November OIFC.com tournament to highlight the incredible fishing between Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras during the fall, and with everyone reporting a wide-open bite for kings running 20-50+ lbs. this year, it’s safe to say they’ve done that.
Anglers interested in more information about the event can find it on the OIFC website at www.oifc.com.
