US Open KMT 2007
The U.S. Open King Mackerel Tournament is scheduled around the beginning of October each year for a reason-the king mackerel bite in the Cape Fear River Channel and along the nearby beaches is usually phenomenal this time of year.
The pattern was once again true for the 2007 event, held October 4-6, as the top three kings, including the 41.35 lb. winning fish weighed in by the “Teezer” crew, bit just minutes from the scales at Southport Marina.
The Eden, NC-based winning crew, comprised of Charles Fisher, his sons Chris and Fred Fisher, and Jim Wade, fished the tournament aboard the “Teezer,” a 21′ Triumph. After losing a huge king on Friday, the anglers returned to the same area Saturday in the hopes of finding another.
“We named that spot Julie’s Rock, and I’ve been pre-fishing it for a week,” Charles Fisher explained. “Julie’s Rock” lies about three miles off the beach of Oak Island in 35′ of water.
After a slow morning of trolling the rock, the crew got a good strike just after noon on a naked pogy trolled on top. “The fish bit at 12:10,” said Fisher, “right after it stopped raining. We were bailing water out of the boat when the reel went off.”
Fred Fisher took the rod out of its holder as the big fish ran, and he settled in for what would turn out to be a lengthy fight with a light, live bait drag setting. “We were out there by ourselves,” Charles Fisher said, “and we weren’t going to pull the hooks on it.”
The fish began by making two long runs, then settled down and began fighting it out in the depths. With Wade at the Triumph’s helm, the anglers patiently followed their fish.
It remained deep in the water column for most of the fight, and the team still wasn’t sure whether they had a king until it surfaced around 45 minutes into the battle. Soon after they confirmed they’d hooked a king, Charles Fisher was able to plant a gaff in the fish and bring it aboard the boat.
With the big fish on deck, the jubilant anglers decided to head for the scales. “There wasn’t any point in staying out there,” Chris Fisher explained. “It’s not like we were going to get a better one.”
At the weigh-in, the king bested Friday’s leading fish of 40.0 lbs., sealing the “Teezer” victory and earning them over $41,000.
Wade and the Fishers caught pogies in the days before the event and kept them penned up, saving themselves the time and uncertainty of trying to find bait along with hundreds of other boats on tournament morning.
The U.S. Open was the first tournament the Fishers have fished as a family. At the awards ceremony, Charles Fisher explained what brought them to the event, “I fished the SKA and FLW circuits for years, and we just wanted to fish a fun tournament. I brought the kids down here to fish it, and all the money goes to the Chamber of Commerce, so that’s what it’s all about.”
Second place in the Open went to Marshall Frank, of Southport, aboard the “Catch-n-Up” for the aforementioned 40.0 lb. king. Frank fished with his son, also named Marshall, and Justin Weaver aboard his 34′ Yellowfin.
The “Catch-n-Up” king bit a pogy beneath a blue/white skirt just after 11:00 Friday morning. The anglers were trolling in 30′ of water just off of Holden Beach when the fish struck and Frank picked up the rod.
“We didn’t even have to chase that fish,” Frank said. He worked the king close to the boat in around 15 minutes. Weaver was ready and waiting with the gaff when the fish came into range, and he sank the steel and pulled the 40 lb. king over the boat’s gunnels.
Holding the lead going into day two, the “Catch-n-Up” crew headed back to the Holden Beach area on Saturday. Unfortunately for the crew, Saturday’s fishing produced only teenager sized kings, and the “Teezer” fish edged them out of first place.
Bait presented little problem for the “Catch-n-Up” anglers, and they loaded their livewells with pogies near where they fished off Holden Beach on both mornings.
The “Mad Mouse” crew, from Harrisburg, took third place in the tournament, weighing a 38.85 lb. king. Russ Ferris, Robert Ferris, Sam Locklear, and Steve Davidson make up the team, and they fish aboard a 32′ SeaCraft.
The third place king fell for a naked pogy as the “Mad Mouse” anglers worked an area along the Oak Island beachfront in 30′ of water. The fish struck at 10:30 Saturday morning. Davidson was first to reach the rod after the king bit, and held on as the fish ran and his teammates prepared to give chase.
“We cleared the lines and got on top of him real quick,” explained Locklear, who was at the helm. When the king came up next to the boat, Robert Ferris planted a gaff in it and dragged it aboard. From bite to boat, the fight lasted less than five minutes.
Along with the 38 lb. king, the crew landed several others, including one at 27 lbs. Friday’s fishing yielded six kings for the “Mad Mouse” anglers, but none broke the 20 lb. mark. They found bait somewhat difficult to come by, and ended up running nearly to Myrtle Beach before netting their pogies each day.
Shawn Anderson Wilcox and the “Capt. Cook” crew, of Oak Island, took the 38.65 lb. fourth place king. Fifth place went to Catawba’s Barry Sigmon, aboard “Team Top Line,” for a 38.35 lb. fish.
In addition to the red-hot nearshore king mackerel bite, U.S. Open anglers have come to expect something else from early October-windy forecasts. This year didn’t disappoint, with NE winds topping 15 knots both days. Fortunately, the beaches south of Cape Fear face south, creating shelter from northerly winds close to shore.
The winds didn’t prove problematic for the 397 boats that signed up for this year’s Open, as they were able to produce a dozen kings topping the 30 lb. mark and over 50 larger than 20 lbs., with the vast majority coming from the sheltered waters three miles or less off the beaches.
