Onslow Bay Open
Rube and Barrett McMullan with the 40.77 lb. king mackerel that easily earned them first place in the 2010 Onslow Bay Open. They hooked the fish on a live bluefish in 70' of water east of Lookout Shoals and pocketed over $15,000.
“It was just a very leisurely day on the water,” Capt. Barrett McMullan, of the “Ocean Isle Fishing Center” crew said of winning the 10th annual Onslow Bay Open King Mackerel Tournament. “It was pure luck.”
Pure luck perhaps, but the 40.77 lb. king they landed on August 14 topped the second place fish by over 6 lbs. and earned the team over $15,000.
With brother and usual tournament accomplice Brant away to fish a tournament in Georgia, Barrett and his father Rube made the journey to Morehead City and did a little bait scouting the afternoon before the event in Barrett’s 31’ Yellowfin. After locating some pogies, they took their time getting on the water on tournament morning.
“We got up a little later than normal,” McMullan explained. “We wanted to try and let the pogies get on top at Harkers Island.”
The first part of their game plan went smoothly. The anglers easily netted bait, and then headed over the east side of Lookout Shoals.
“We stopped at a few areas,” McMullan continued, “and looked at the water color and the conditions but never put out lines.”
Finally, the father-son crew found what they were looking for at an area of bottom structure in 70’ of water.
“After fishing about an hour, we hadn’t had any action,” McMullan said. “We finally caught a barracuda, then a shark, and after we got done dealing with them, the fish bit.”
A naked bluefish on top fooled the 40-pounder around 10:45 as Rube watched the baits.
“I was doing something in the front of the boat,” the winning captain explained, “and we’d somehow taken the clicker off the reel, but he fortunately saw the bite.”
Trading places at the rod, the helm, and clearing lines, the pair were finally able to give chase as the big king took a textbook run.
“He smoked it down straight into the sea just like the big ones do,” said McMullan. “Once we got up on top of him, he made a couple circles that had us nervous as heck since we could see it was a good fish in that clear blue water.”
Soon after the circles began and several more rod handoffs later, Barrett was able to plant a gaff in the 40 pounder and bring it over the Yellowfin’s gunwale.
With the big fish in the bag 15 minutes after the bite, the McMullans made a call to go ahead and head for the scales.
“We figured we’d done enough damage,” McMullan finished. “We were so shocked to have everything come together and though it was pretty unlikely we’d catch a bigger one, so we just headed for the scales. I think we thought the fish was a little bigger than it was, too. It was a long, skinny one.”
As the weigh-in drew to a close, the “OIFC” king handily held on to the lead.
The McMullans wished to express their gratitude to the Ocean Isle Fishing Center, particularly the staff, Yellowfin, Yamaha, and Coastal Mobile Marine.
Scaling a 34.27 lb. king, Bill McLamb and the “On The Fly” fishing team, out of Raleigh, earned second place in the Onslow Bay Open. Fishing with Troy Simmons, Dan Vinent, and Hunter Avery aboard a 23’ DV Pathfinder, McLamb and the team also headed for east of Lookout Shoals the morning of the event.
They found what they were looking for after a slow morning around 10:00, when a big king inhaled a naked bluefish on top behind the Pathfinder while the anglers were trolling an east side ledge in 80’.
“We didn’t see it bite,” McLamb said, “but we heard the reel. Troy’s always the first to the rod, and he grabbed it.”
With Simmons holding on while the kingfish ran, the other anglers cleared the lines and began the chase.
“When we got back on top of him, he made several more runs,” McLamb continued.
After the anglers finally got the fish close enough to the boat, the captain sank a gaff in it and boated the 34-pounder. Almost immediately, the crew caught a 25 lb. king, but that was the end of their action for the day.
The “On The Fly” anglers wished to thank Berkley and Pure Fishing for their support.
Kevin Tedder and Cape Carteret’s “Bubble Gum” crew nailed down third place with a 33.44 lb. king mackerel. Tedder fished with Matt Truex and James Lawrence aboard a 23’ Maycraft center console.
The “Bubble Gum” anglers began their day at the George Summerlin Reef, moving offshore to the 30-Minute Rock after a few hours of slow fishing.
Around 9:30, their big fish inhaled a live pogy under a blue/white Blue Water Candy skirt and took a hard run.
Tedder was on the rod and held on for the run.
“He nearly spooled it,” Tedder explained. “We were almost out of line when we chased her.”
With the fish staying deep, the anglers didn’t know how large it was.
When it finally came to the surface, they were able to plant the gaff and put the third place fish in the boat.
A 32.23 lb. king mackerel earned fourth place for Al Morris, Jr. and the “Sea Drag’N,” and the “Miss Micki” crew scaled a 27.49 to round out the top five.
The 2010 Onslow Bay Open represented the tournament’s 10th anniversary. The event raises money for a variety of Onslow and Carteret County children’s charities including Onslow Christmas Cheer, Children’s Flight for Hope, Carteret County “Shop with a Cop” Program, NC Special Olympics, and the Boys and Girls Home of NC.
