US Open KMT
The “Reel Blessed” crew and the tournament record 53.25 lb. king mackerel that earned them the event’s guaranteed $25,000 first place prize. Kevin and Jordan Norris and Curtis Trexel landed the monster mackerel after it fell for a live menhaden in 30′ of water off Topsail Island.
Scaling a tournament record 53.25 lb. king mackerel earned Kevin Norris and the “Reel Blessed” crew the top spot on a highly competitive leaderboard in the 2014 U.S. Open King Mackerel Tournament, held October 2-4 out of Southport Marina.
Norrid, fishing with his son Jordan and Jordan’s cousin Curtis Trexel aboard a 27’ Onslow Bay center console, didn’t originally plan on fishing the event, but the younger members of the crew talked him into it.
“I told them if y’all drive to Southport and sign us up, we’ll do it,” Norris explained.
The pair made good on their end of the deal, and on Friday, the event’s first fishing day, the crew checked out of Wrightsville Beach and headed north to Topsail, where despite no pre-fishing, they thought they stood a chance at a decent fish.
After fishing several spots off New Topsail Inlet with nothing scale-worthy to show for it, the anglers located an area in 30’ of water off Topsail that looked to hold some promise.
“We saw some spanish jumping and two or three schools of greenies or sardines right there,” Norris continued, “and three or four kings skied right there.”
After deploying their spread, the trio got a spectacular bite around 11:30 that morning, but the fish failed to find the hooks and the crew reeled in a neatly halved menhaden.
“That fish skied our propwash bait and ran off a few seconds,” Norris reported, “but it came off. The boys re-baited and pitched it right back out, and he skied it again. It looked like he’d have cleared the T-top.”
Trexel grabbed the rod as the fish ran offshore, and the anglers hurried to clear the rest of the spread and give chase.
“We’d only been on one motor when we were fishing,” Norris said, “but that was only getting us 6-7 knots and he was still spooling us.”
Firing up their second outboard, the anglers began a hot pursuit of the king and finally began to put some line back on the reel.
“After we got up on him, the fish circled once and came up,” Norris explained.
Jordan Norris was ready with the gaff when the crew’s big fish came into range, and he planted the steel in the big king’s flanks.
With his father assisting, the pair dragged the smoker king over the gunnel and put it on deck.
“We didn’t actually think it was as big as it was,” Norris said. “I try not to get too excited about them because I’ve heard so many people say they had a 50 on the radio and come in and weigh a 42.”
At the scales, however, the “Reel Blessed” fish proved to be more than a 50-pounder and a fish that the crew’s competition couldn’t approach.
Kevin Norris wished to thank the team’s sole sponsor, Gary’s Auto Sales, for their long-term support and role in the crew’s success.
Another huge king weighing 47.60 lbs. earned Jerry Presley and the “Metal Man” team second place in the event. D. Logan and “Logan’s Run” rounded out the top three with a 42.55 lb. fish.
More information on the event and a full leaderboard can be found at www.usopenkmt.com.
