Tournament Report – CCCF
“That was the biggest spanish either one of us had ever caught and one of the biggest we’d ever seen,” said Trey Carroll of the 8.08 lb. spanish mackerel that earned he and Brandon Cole—team “Got Em”—first place spanish in the 8th Annual Carteret Community College Spanish Mackerel and Dolphin Tournament, held out of Front Street Village July 25.
Trey Carroll and Brandon Cole with the 8.08 lb. spanish mackerel that earned them victory in the 2015 Carteret Community College Spanish Mackerel/Dolphin Tournament. The big spaniard bit a small menhaden near a bait school at the Dead Tree Hole.
Fishing aboard a 24’ Southern Skimmer, the anglers initially tried to fish around the Beaufort Inlet sea buoy but found the northeast wind made conditions too rough for the flat-bottom boat. Sharks were their only action while trolling the sea buoy, so the pair decided to head inshore to calmer waters.
“We came in close to the beach,” Carroll explained. “And found some bait near the Dead Tree Hole.”
Deploying a spread of small menhaden near the bait, the anglers slow-trolled the area and quickly got a bite they knew was something different.
“It definitely wasn’t a shark,” Carroll said. “When we saw it in the water as big as it was I thought it was a little king mackerel.”
Upon landing the fish, however, the anglers found the telltale marks of a spanish.
“We checked his lateral line and saw the black on his dorsal fin,” Carroll recalled. “We looked at each other then and knew we’d be in the money if we didn’t win it.”
With the big spaniard on board and nothing but sharks to show for the rest of their fishing, the anglers decided to go ahead and head back to the scales.
“We figured when we saw that fish in the boat we’d done everything we were going to be able to do,” Carroll said.
Chad Morgan and the “Fish Hook” secured second place in the event with a 6.02 lb. spanish mackerel. The “Grady White 20’” and Barbara Melton were third with a 5.68 lb. fish. Rylee Tosto and the “Honeybun” earned fourth place with a 5.52 lb. spaniard, and Vann Davis’s 5.12 lb. fish rounded out the top five.
Charles Fuchs on the “Colton’s Toy” won the event’s dolphin division with a 14.86 lb. ‘phin.
The CCCF Spanish Mackerel/Dolphin Tournament serves as a fundraiser for Carteret Community College students and programs. More information about the event and the leaderboard are available at www.carteretsmt.com.
