Wide Open Tech Spanish Mackerel Open
Sarah and Scott Hunt, of the “Double Shot” fishing team, with a quartet of spanish mackerel including the trio that earned the crew first place in the Wide Open Tech Spanish Mackerel Open. The spaniards bit trolled Clarkspoons near the Liberty Ship.
Despite fishing a substitute boat and the inability to follow their original gameplan due to the weather, Scott Hunt and the “Double Shot” crew surpassed their competition in the 2014 Wide Open Tech Spanish Mackerel Open, scaling a trio of spanish mackerel weighing 5.99 lbs. to secure the win.
Like the majority of the boats fishing the captain’s choice, fish Saturday or Sunday, event, the “Double Shot” anglers chose Sunday, and broke Masonboro Inlet just as the fishing hours began at 7:00 that morning, finding a choppy ocean after several days of northeast winds.
Though they wanted to target larger fish with live baits, the anglers found that would be a difficult proposition in the rough seas. They deployed a spread of planers and Clarkspoons instead and began trolling around AR-372 (The Liberty Ship).
The anglers began to pick away at the spanish soon after they began trolling, and hooked their largest fish, just under 3 lbs., around 7:30.
As the last fish were weighed and the results tallied, it turned out no one was able to top the “Double Shot” crew’s three-fish aggregate and the anglers were declared the winners. Their 2.96 lb. big fish also earned Top Lady Anglers for Sarah Hunt and Top Senior Angler for Scott.
Close on the victor’s heels were the “Wide Open Tech” crew, who fished off Southport and put together a solid 5.24 lb. three-fish weight. Manfred Daughtry and the “Daughtry Fishing Team” rounded out the top three with a trio of mackerel weighing 3.37 lbs.
The event features several different divisions for youth anglers and Brenden and Chandler Daughtry brought home the top prizes in the Pre-Teen and Teen angler categories respectively. James Hurley with the “Holy Mackerel” crew secured Top Junior Angler with a 1.17 lb. spaniard.
More information about the event and a full leaderboard can be found under the “Tournaments” tab at www.fishermanspost.com.
