Raleigh KMT
Henry II and Wendy Tillett with the 33.54 lb. king mackerel that earned the “Windy Conditions” team victory and over $21,000 in the Raleigh Saltwater Sportfishing Club KMT. The big king bit a naked menhaden near the end of the Beaufort shipping channel.
Less than a quarter-pound made up Henry Tillett and the “Windy Conditions” fishing team’s lead on their competition, but the narrow margin earned the crew a $21,510 payday for weighing in the 33.54 lb. first place fish in the Raleigh Saltwater Sportfishing Club KMT, held July 25-26 out of Atlantic Beach’s Sea Water Marina.
Tillett, his wife Wendy, and son Henry II, all from Beaufort, did some pre-fishing for the event aboard their 30T Contender, but they didn’t find anything to return to on tournament day.
“We didn’t catch much, just ruled some places out,” Tillett explained.
The morning of the competition found them in an area called the Watermelon Patch around 10 miles south of Beaufort Inlet.
“We hadn’t caught fish there before or heard about much,” Tillett continued, “but we knew people had caught some fish at AR-315 that week and figured with all the rain they’d probably pushed off a little bit. We actually got it right for once.”
Upon arrival, the trio found plenty of life just past the end of the Beaufort shipping channel.
“Spanish mackerel schools were passing through there and eating glass minnows,” Tillett added. “It was some clean, pretty water. I think the kings were there to eat the spanish. We also saw a sailfish a bit later in the day.”
The anglers didn’t have to wait long for a stout fish, putting a 30+ lb. king in the boat by 7:20 that morning. They picked up a few smaller fish as well, but found the bite died later in the morning.
“We had to wait for them to bite again,” Tillett said. “We had four smaller fish, and all but one were real early in the morning. It was just sharks aside from that.”
The bite finally re-energized as fishing time in the event grew short, and the anglers got another strong run around 2:00 that afternoon.
A naked pogy trolled long fooled the fish, and Wendy Tillett was quick to grab the rod as it ran.
After clearing the rest of their spread, Henry II took the wheel and the crew gave chase to the big king. Though it was their biggest fish of the day, the king didn’t give the anglers much trouble to get to the boat.
“It was a very uneventful, kind of standard fight,” Tillett recalled. “That fish took out offshore, and we followed it.”
Staying on the surface, the king gave the elder Henry a chance for a gaff shot fairly quickly after the bite.
“We had that fish caught within 10 minutes,” he explained. “Our other big fish was like that, too, a quick, uneventful fight.”
Though the second place team “Blue Water Candy” was nipping at their heels with a 33.3 lb. fish, the field couldn’t top “Windy Conditions” and the trio walked away with the big check.
The “Reel Blessed” crew scaled a 32.24 lb. fish to end up in third place. “Triggermack” secured fourth with a 31.72 lb. king, and “Reel Destruction” rounded out the top five at 30.28 lbs.
More information on the event and a full leaderboard can be found at www.raleighkmt.org.
