Rumble In The Jungle 2008
Dan Upton, Ken Upton, and Jack Wood won the Rumble in the Jungle King Mackerel Tournament and $13,000 with a 34.00 lb. fish they landed on a double pogy rig at Yaupon Reef.
The ability to adapt and thrive under changing and challenging conditions is one of the qualities that separates truly great tournament fishing teams from their peers. Fishing in 20-25 knot sustained winds that had shifted from the forecast overnight, Greenville, NC’s “Team Donzi,” former SKA National Champions, adjusted their game plan and were able to scale the 34.00 lb. king mackerel that topped the field by nearly six pounds, securing them victory in the 2008 Rumble in the Jungle, held Oct. 13-14th out of Harbourgate Marina in Little River, SC.
Dan Upton, Ken Upton, and Jack Wood, fishing aboard a 32′ Mercury-powered Donzi center console, also fished the SKA Pro event taking place concurrently with the Rumble, and found some decent fish while fishing the Pro tournament on Friday.
“We had a 25 and one a little over 26,” Dan Upton said, “so we headed back there.” Originally planning to fish much further north, the team had to scrap those plans, as the wind and seas forced them to stay in the lee of the south-facing beaches of Brunswick County, NC.
“We were between Yaupon Reef and the beach in 30′ of water on Friday,” Upton continued, “but we hadn’t had a strike on Saturday. I talked to my wife on the phone around 10:00 and told her it was horrible. The wind was 20-25 and gusting to 30, and it was raining.”
After trolling for a short time longer, the team planned to make a move down the beach, and they got a call that helped influence their decision from friends aboard the “Clearly Hooked” boat.
“They were about a mile west of us,” Upton explained, “and they had seen some fish jumping nearby. The wind had been NE on Friday, but it went more east on Saturday, so we thought our Friday fish might be moving with the wind, and we headed over there.”
After seeing a solid king sky about 400 yards shy of the “Clearly Hooked,” they pulled back the throttles and began to set out a trolling spread, but didn’t get close to deploying all their baits.
“We’d just knocked it out of gear and put a bluefish out there first, and then I was sending back a double pogy rig when it bit,” Upton said.
As he threw the reel into gear, the fish streaked off into the sizeable seas, and the “Team Donzi” crew gave chase with Ken Upton at the helm.
“That fish ran good, made two real strong runs, but we got on top of her pretty quick,” Upton reported.
Shortly after they caught up to the big king, Wood was able to lean over the gunnel and plant the gaff, swinging the fish that ultimately won them over $13,000 into the boat.
“I called my wife right after that,” Upton said, “and told her the weather just got a whole lot better. We stayed there for a little while longer and called some friends into the bite. We knew we had the biggest fish out of the boats there, and we knew not much was going on up at Morehead, so we thought our chances were good, but 10 or 12 boats went south to the Not So Secret Hole, and we didn’t know about them because we weren’t in radio or cell phone range. They caught a 49 down there the day before, so we were a little nervous.”
After boating the fish just after noon, the anglers eventually headed back to Little River and the scales to learn that none of the teams further south had been able to produce a larger fish. They were crowned the Champions, though in the two fishing day pro event, “Team Donzi” finished second to their closest competition in the Rumble, team “Posse.”
The “Team Donzi” anglers would like to express their gratitude to sponsors Donzi, Mercury, Pinnacle Trailers, American Fishing Wire, and Strike Zone Fishing.
Running over 70 miles south to fish the Not So Secret, St. Augustine, FL’s Dan Crowley, Travis Crowley, Lewis Rogers, Muller Otto, and B.J. Pearson came up with a 29.18 lb. king mackerel on Saturday to secure second place and earn just over $5000 (in addition to the $40,000 they won in the pro event).
The “Posse” king actually fell for the first bait the anglers were setting out just behind the 36′ Yellowfin’s transom, and Rogers put the reel in gear and was able to subdue the fish quickly, bringing it to the boat for Travis Crowley to gaff.
The “Laid Back” crew, from Wilmington, NC, secured third place in the Rumble with a 28.10 lb. king. Gary Waters, Ted Kalnen, and E.B. Evans, fishing aboard a 22′ Prokat, joined the majority of the tournament anglers fishing just offshore of Brunswick County and caught their fish after an inauspicious start.
“We were late, so we didn’t make the checkout,” Waters explained. “We came out Little River Inlet and were going to run back in Shallotte Inlet to look for bait, but we saw some flipping out in 19′ of water, caught it, and I looked around and said heck, let’s fish here. We knew the fish were inshore feeding on all these mullet, pogies, bluefish, and spanish we’d been seeing.”
Quickly catching a king after setting out their spread kept the anglers in the area, and just 45 minutes after beginning to fish, the big one struck a skirted pogy on the downrigger around 10:20.
Evans grabbed the rod as the fish ran offshore, and the anglers quickly cranked up the downrigger and headed off after their fish.
“With the waves the way they were, we didn’t want to pull him back to us,” Waters said, and the anglers caught up to their fish fairly quickly.
“He circled the boat once, and I leaned over and gaffed him,” he continued.
With the 28-pounder in the boat, the anglers continued fishing the area for a few more hours, stopping to fish for 45 minutes outside Little River Inlet on their way back to the scales, where they learned they’d finished third overall and won over $3000.
A 27.04 lb. kingfish secured fourth place for Michael Kennedy and the “Simply Storage” team, from Winnabow, NC. Larry McDuffie, of Pittsboro, NC, aboard the “Second Mortgage” took fifth with a 26.85 lb. fish.
Larry, Allen, and Mark Denning, aboard the Carolina Beach boat “Screamin’ Deacon,” took the top spot in the Class of 23′ and over $3000 with a 22.70 lb. king. The anglers, fishing aboard a 23′ Sea Strike, also found their fish close to the beach of Oak Island.
The “Screamin’ Deacon” fish fell for a double pogy rig around 1:00 as the Dennings trolled near Yaupon Reef. Mark Denning fought the fish for around 20 minutes before Larry was able to gaff it.
“The Screamin’ Deacon” anglers wish to express their gratitude to sponsors Sea Strike, Yamaha, and Tea Creek Outfitters.
A 23.62 lb king mackerel earned Travis Gunter, on the “Steel Fishing,” the event’s Top Junior Angler title, and Jesse Williamson, aboard “Koolau,” took Top Lady with a 23.35 lb. fish.
