OIFC Jolly Mon KMT 2009
Preston Nowell, Samantha Nowell, Tommy Rees, Jessie Rees, and Chad Malpass with the 38.10 lb. king mackerel that topped the 305 boat field at the OIFC.com/Yellowfin Jolly Mon King Classic. The fish earned the "Reel Time" crew over $25,000 and fell for a double pogy rig offshore of the McGlammery Reef.
Tournament fishing teams follow some unusual and secretive rituals in their quest for a winning fish, but naming the baits is one most crews wouldn’t even consider.
“We’ve got to thank Pete,” Jessie Rees explained after learning her father’s “Reel Time” fishing team had won the 2009 OIFC.com/Yellowfin Jolly Mon King Classic, “Pete the pogy. I named him after I got him in the water and he was swimming like a champ. I looked at him and said: Pete, you go find us something good.”
Pete ended up finding the 38.15 lb. king mackerel that topped the leader board and earned Southport’s Tommy Rees and the “Reel Time” crew over $25,000. With Preston Nowell, Chad Malpass, and his daughters Jessie Rees and Samantha Nowell aboard his 22’ Yamaha-powered Sea Hunt, Rees got a serious Father’s Day present when the big king and Pete found each other on Sunday, June 22, the second day of the tournament.
“We were just offshore of the McGlammery on a live bottom in 30’,” Tommy Rees explained. The winning fish inhaled Pete and another unnamed teammate on a double pogy rig on top at 9:45 on Sunday morning.
Malpass was first on the rod and held on during the big king’s first run as the crew turned the boat and followed their fish inshore.
“We didn’t even have the lines in,” Nowell explained. “They were waterskiing.”
“We didn’t know what we had yet,” Tommy Rees said, “but there was deeper water inshore of where we were at and that’s where he was headed.”
After recovering most of the line, Malpass handed the rod off to Nowell, who continued the battle.
“The fish never went down,” Nowell continued. “He took off one more time, then came up making a big death circle.”
As soon as the crew saw their fish, they were taken with its size.
“That was an Oh My God moment,” Jessie Rees said.
Travis Ketchie and the "Ketch This" team caught second place in the Jolly Mon King Classic with a 37.1 lb. king that fell for a naked pogy offshore of the Jungle in 60'. The big mack earned the anglers more than $13,000.
When the fish’s circle led it within range, Tommy Rees planted a gaff in it and swung it aboard, but at least one team member still had concerns about the fish escaping.
“Chad tackled him,” Nowell said. “He wasn’t getting back out of the boat.”
With the fish in the boat by 10:00 and the scales not opening until 2:00, the team couldn’t run their smoker king to the weigh-in immediately after bending the 55” fish to fit it into a smaller king bag. They continued trolling the area, catching a blacktip shark and hooking another king before deciding to head for the scales.
With a 37.10 lb. king leading after Day 1, the anglers thought that their fish was bigger, but they would have to wait for the weigh-in to be sure.
They reached the scales an hour early, and camped out at the entrance to the Ocean Isle Fishing Center’s canal to wait it out.
“I could have paddled us in from there if something went wrong,” Nowell explained.
After weighing the 38 lb. class fish, the “Reel Time” crew had to sit through the rest of the weigh-in before being crowned the champions. A 34.8 lb king was the next largest of the day, so the “Reel Time” fish held up for the long haul. The winning fish also earned Jessie and Samantha the shared Top Lady Angler title for the event.
The “Ketch This” crew, out of Gold Hill, NC, took second place in the Jolly Mon with the aforementioned 37.10 lb. king mack. Travis, Bobby, and Katie Ketchie, Payton Kepley, Matt Miller, and Chelsea Lyerly fished the event together aboard a 34’ Fountain, and they pocketed over $13,000 for their high finish. The big king also earned Lyerly the event’s Top Junior Angler honors.
Like the “Reel Time” crew, the “Ketch This” anglers didn’t have to wait too long for their money-winning mackerel.
“That was our first fish,” Travis Ketchie explained. “He bit while we were letting the lines out at 8:30.”
Stopping at a number he had offshore of the Jungle in 60’ on Saturday morning, Ketchie found good bait marks and decided to put out a spread. The choice proved to be a good one before the full spread even hit the water, as a stout king mackerel inhaled a naked pogy on top and Kepley manned the rod.
Barbara and Bill Sears celebrated their wedding anniversary and Barbara's return to tournament fishing by scaling a 34.8 lb. king mackerel that earned them third place and more than $9,000 in the Jolly Mon. Their king took a green Mylar skirted pogy just west of the Cape Fear River Channel.
“We saw the splash but didn’t see the fish,” Ketchie continued. “We cleared all but two lines, but then we got a little glimpse of how big she was and went ahead and cleared the rest. Once he grabbed that bait he took off and went down.”
The anglers gave chase and got on top of their fish relatively quickly, but the battle was far from over.
“It took roughly 45 minutes,” said Ketchie. “We got on top of him quick, and he was just circling. We were trying to gaff him, but he just wouldn’t give us an opportunity.”
Finally Kepley worked the king within range, and Miller sank a gaff in it and boated the second place mackerel. Like the winners, the second place crew felt the need to get a little physical with their fish.
“We all jumped on top of him,” Ketchie said. “He weighed 38.4 lbs. on the boat scales. We were trying to save some weight, so we just kept him iced as well as we could.”
Since the scales didn’t open until 2:00, the anglers continued fishing and found a good dolphin bite, happily boxing up a few mahi for dinner before heading in to weigh their fish.
The “Ketch This” crew would like to thank sponsors Pelagic, Fountain, Mercury, and Lovett Marine for their contributions to the team’s success.
Apex, NC’s Bill and Barbara Sears, on the 29’ Wellcraft “Got-Cha,” weighed in the 34.8 lb. king mackerel that took third place in the tournament. Their fish earned the husband/wife fishing team over $8,000 and secured the Top Senior Angler honors for Bill.
“Our wedding anniversary was this weekend, and Barbara told me she was going to get me something special,” Bill Sears said. “She did it.”
Fishing some numbers west of the Cape Fear River channel they’ve found success at before, they were bump trolling along a small tideline in 35’ when their valuable mackerel struck.
It fell for a live pogy beneath a green Mylar skirt on top, and it immediately took off.
“We didn’t see her bite, but we saw where she tore the water up, and that was good enough for me,” Bill Sears explained. He took the line while Barbara cleared the remaining spread. Then he handed to rod off to his wife, and the couple began chasing their fish.
“We took off after her,” Bill continued. “Once we pulled up to her, she started swimming around the boat and hugging the bottom.”
After around 30 minutes of the up and down struggle, the anglers finally pressured the fish to the surface, and Bill sank home the gaff.
The OIFC.com/Yellowfin Jolly Mon King Classic has become one of the region’s most popular king mackerel tournaments, attracting 305 boats this year.. The event encourages family participation by offering extensive Junior, Senior, and Lady Angler prizes, and a glance at the highly competitive leader boards in those categories proves that it’s working.
Tournament Director Capt. Brant McMullan wished to thank everyone who fished the event and all the sponsors for making it another extremely successful event.
