South Brunswick Saltwater Classic
Capt. Brant McMullan with the 36.45 lb. king mackerel that earned first place in the South Brunswick Saltwater Classic for the "OIFC" fishing team. McMullan, his brother Barrett, father Rube, and daughter Caroline hooked the wining mackerel amidst a flurry of wahoo bites while fishing some Long Bay grouper bottom in 120'.
Capturing the title for the third time in as many years, the “OIFC” crew scaled a 36.45 lb. king mackerel to earn first place at the 2011 Brunswick Islands Saltwater Classic, held September 2-3 out of South Harbour Village Marina.
Rube, Brant, and Barrett McMullan, along with Brant’s daughter Caroline, hopped onto Barrett’s 31’ Yellowfin center console for the tournament and weren’t terribly confident going into the event despite their previous success.
A slow king mackerel bite all summer paired with milky water left from the passage of Hurricane Irene made for tough fishing conditions on tournament weekend, but the McMullans decided to operate on a similar gameplan to the one that brought them victory in 2010.
“We planned on going to some deeper water straight out of here,” McMullan explained, “and slow-trolling some bottom fishing areas we’ve got out there, which is pretty much what we did last year.”
After hitting a few spots that still were covered in dirty water from the storm with little luck, the “OIFC” anglers finally found what they were looking for around midday.
“We bounced around a little and finally pushed a little further off to 120 feet,” McMullan continued, “and we came across a real hard color change from dirty hurricane water to clean blue water. We happened to have some good bottom across the area, so we put out the baits.”
A quarter-hour later, the anglers got a screaming bite. Unfortunately, after battling the fish to the boat, they saw stripes and sank the gaff in a 30 lb. wahoo.
Another wahoo, this one in the 40 lb. class, struck after they’d put their first one in the boat, and the crew was now two for two on wahoo, normally a joyous thing, but not what they were looking for in a king mackerel tournament.
With two wahoo in the bag, the anglers kept trolling, getting another bite on a naked menhaden 60’ deep on the downrigger.
“We knew that one was a wahoo,” McMullan said. “We’d caught the two before and that fish was acting like a wahoo and going nuts.”
Happy at least to be fighting wahoo after wahoo on live bait gear, the anglers gave chase.
While they were at it, something struck a naked, flat-lined menhaden they’d left in the water.
With his brother fighting the first fish, Brant McMullan took the rod on the second and began the fight, believing there was a strong possibility they had a pair of wahoo on.
“Barrett’s fish was faster,” continued McMullan, “and we had to chase it at one point, leaving mine just kind of hanging out there.”
Sharing the angling duties with his daughter, McMullan continued the fight, hanging on as the fish circled the boat and made several strong runs.
When it finally came into view, the anglers knew it was what they’d been looking for and not a twin to Barrett’s fish, a 50 lb. wahoo now on the deck.
“I finally saw the greenish tint and I knew it was a nice king,” McMullan said. “From then till the time we gaffed it was a tense few minutes.”
When the father/daughter team finally worked the fish within range, Barrett was standing by with a gaff and put the big mackerel in the boat.
With a mid-30’s king in the boat, the anglers decided to go ahead and run for the scales.
“This year,” McMullan concluded, “it feels like an accomplishment any time you catch a king mackerel. It felt to us like that fish was 100 lbs. right then. It was already 1:30, so we decided to head on in.”
At the scales, their short, fat king mackerel handily topped the 29 lb. fish in the lead, and in addition to securing the “OIFC” crew’s third back-to-back win at South Brunswick, it earned Caroline and Rube Top Junior and Top Senior Angler respectively. The “OIFC” crew would like to recognize the Ocean Isle Fishing Center, Yellowfin, and Yamaha for their roles in the team’s success.
Securing second place in the tournament with the aforementioned 29.44 lb. king were Donald Clifton and the “Carolina Cat” crew. Wayne Hewett on “Germinator” rounded out the top three with a 27.84 lb. fish.
A full leader board and more information on the South Brunswick and other Blue Water Promotions tournaments are available at www.bluewaterpromo.com.
