OIFC NC Kingfish Championship
Mike Williams, Gordon Dunn, and Quinn Morris with the 51.50 lb. king mackerel that anchored their 78.65 lb. winning weight in the 2010 OIFC NC Kingfish Championship. The mega-mackerel fell for a live bluefish on the surface at Chicken Rock.
Cold water and poor fishing dominated the scene early in the week of the NC Kingfish Championship, but competitors kept their eyes on a finger of warm water moving up from the south that finally reached the tournament grounds, setting off the bite.
Mike Williams and the “Release” crew, from Clayton, NC, capitalized on the improving conditions, pairing a 27.15 lb. king with a 51.50 lb. fish for a 78.65 lb. total to take home the Championship by just a third of a pound.
“We were up there all week,” Williams recalled, “and the water had been in the low 60’s. We noticed warmer water starting to show up on Thursday, getting closer on Friday, and finally it showed up on the Chicken Rock and Atlas Tanker on Saturday.”
After passing their time in Cape Hatteras by wahoo and grouper fishing, Williams, Gordon Dunn, and Quinn Morris took off in Williams’ 33T Contender to the south and Chicken Rock in search of a money-winning mackerel on Saturday. They found more than a few.
“The bite was very, very good down there Saturday,” Williams continued. “We caught 15 fish: two in the 40’s, four in the 30’s, and the rest all over 20.”
Included in that 15-fish count was the monster 51.50 lb. mackerel that anchored their winning weight.
The huge king fell for a live bluefish on the medium line around midday, and Dunn was first to the rod.
“It was a pretty typical big fish fight,” Williams said. “He ran hard offshore but we followed him, and we probably had him to the boat in 10 minutes.”
Morris handled the gaffing duties when the fish was within range, and the “Release” anglers soon had their big fish in the boat.
With a one fish per day format, the anglers knew they’d need another solid king on Sunday to have a shot at winning, but the bite had taken a nosedive overnight.
“We went back to Chicken on Sunday,” Williams explained. “The conditions were great, but the fish either weren’t there or weren’t feeding. We weren’t marking bait like we had been on Saturday, either.”
After a strike-less morning at Chicken Rock, the anglers ventured offshore to look for a better bite, but didn’t find much action. Finally returning to Chicken Rock in the afternoon, they found what they’d been looking for.
“I think the fish were there,” Williams revealed, “because we’d have the bluefish get nervous and start jumping out of the water every so often, but never get a bite.”
Finally, around 3:30, with a 5:00 weigh-in deadline looming the anglers saw a large fish sky, eased over to it, and hooked their 27.15 lb. fish.
Dunn again was on the rod, with Williams performing the gaffing duties this time, and the anglers then headed for the scales. After losing last year’s tournament by under one ounce, and having seen the big fish caught the day before, they were a little uneasy about whether their pair of fish would hold up; however, as the scales closed, they sneaked past the second place boat and into the winner’s circle.
The “Release” crew would like to thank Contender Boats, Yamaha Outboards, and Power Marine Outfitters for their support.
Weighing in the largest fish of the tournament, a 52.55 lb. king, the “Dig It” fishing team, from Raleigh, took home the Big Fish TWT and second place in the overall tournament with a 78.30 lb. aggregate.
Ocean Isle’s “OIFC” crew took third place in the tournament, scaling a pair of kings in the 30’s for a 70.85 lb. aggregate.
