Tournament Report – Hook-A-Hoo
With a crew consisting of over half youth anglers, Wrightsville Beach’s “Blue Eyes” crew landed a 61.9 lb. wahoo that held the top spot on the leaderboard for over two weeks, finally earning the crew the win in the 2015 Martini’s Fall Hook-A-Hoo Rodeo, held October 12-31 out of a variety of NC and SC ports.
Boat owner James Finnerty teamed up with Sam Franck, Ryan Lisk, Danny Adams, and Kyle Priestley to fish the event, and seeing calm seas forecast on their chosen fishing day, the crew added junior anglers Tripp and Reid Finnerty, Jax and Cam Franck, and Taylor Lisk to the roster before heading offshore on Friday, October 15.
Ryan and Taylor Lisk; Tripp Finnerty; Sam, Jackson, and Cam Franck; and Reid Finnerty with the 61.9 lb. wahoo that earned them victory in the 2015 Martini’s Hookahoo Rodeo. The big fish bit a ballyhoo under a Blue Water Candy JAG while they were trolling in 35 fathoms of water near the Same Ol’ Hole off Wrightsville Beach on the “Blue Eyes.”
Calm seas and an early start from Wrighstville had the team on the break near the Same Ol’ Hole before the event’s 7:00AM lines-in time, and the crew had the cockpit prepared to deploy a full spread as soon as the time came.
The first few hours of the fishing day weren’t as smooth as the seas, with the “Blue Eyes” anglers 0/6 on bites by 10:00 that morning.
Their luck turned at 10:30 however, as their planer rod got struck and line began peeling against the 30 lbs. of drag on the Penn 80.
Tripp Finnerty was first up on the rod, and began making steady progress against the fish with the reel in low gear and plenty of encouragement from the crew. As Finnerty tired, the rest of the junior anglers took turns on the reel, and the adults were soon clearing the planer and got a glimpse of their fish.
“I immediately opened the tuna door,” Franck recalled.
The wahoo didn’t accept the open-door invitation immediately, however, and tried to dive and swim into the boats props. After a few tense moments, boatside, the anglers worked the fish to the surface, planted a gaff in its head, and dragged it aboard.
“We’d landed a 69 lb. wahoo on that boat in March,” Franck said. “So we had a basis for comparison. This one wasn’t as big, but close.”
After landing three more wahoo over the course of the day, the anglers headed for the inlet a bit early and made their way to the scales at Motts Channel Seafood.
“We were stoked to see 61.9 on the screen,” Franck added.
Just behind the winners were Jon Pollock and the “Reel Tight” crew with a 59.00 lb. wahoo, and Jeff Martini on “Dirty Martini” was squeezed into third with a 58.96 lb. ‘hoo.
A full leaderboard and more information on the Hook-A-Hoo Rodeo and their beneficiary, the Shriner’s Childrens Hospitals, can be found at www.hookahoo.com.
