Yellowfin/Yamaha Fall Brawl King Classic
Capt. Keith Logan and Scott Smith, of the "Instigator" fishing team, with the 35.4 lb. king mackerel that took first place in the Fall Brawl. The winning king bit a cigar minnow under a pink Pirate Plug in 102' of water off Little River.
Battling big seas on the second day of the event, the “Instigator” fishing team was rewarded with a 35.50 lb. king mackerel that earned the victory and over $14,500 in the 2011 Yellowfin/Yamaha Fall Brawl King Classic, held Oct. 21-23 out of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center.
Scott Smith, Ryan Bright, and Capt. Keith Logan teamed up aboard a 26’ Regulator center console and elected to fish with the minority of the boats on Sunday, the final day in the event’s captains choice format.
“The game plan Sunday was to look for live bait for half an hour,” ,” Logan explained, “And fish the Myrtle Beach Rocks if we found it, or run offshore if we didn’t.”
The crew didn’t find live baits early, so off they went to a spot Logan had confidence in, a rocky live bottom in 102’ of water 47 miles off Little River Inlet.
“I’ve been catching king mackerel on charters out there all year,” Logan said.
After the long run, the anglers arrived at their spot and began trolling dead cigar minnows and ballyhoo on South Chatham Tackle Pirate Plugs and Barefoot Fishing Chin Weight rigs. The spot again failed to disappoint, producing some teenager kings and false albacore soon after they began trolling.
About 45 minutes in, something grabbed a cigar minnow under a pink Pirate Plug that the anglers were trolling on the surface.
“We knew it was a better fish,” Logan reported. “It dumped some line immediately, then came back at the boat and headed offshore.”
With Bright on the rod, the anglers began following the fish after clearing their other lines.
“We’d get about 20’ from him and he’d take off,”Logancontinued, “over and over again.”
Finally, the anglers got a little closer to the fish and got a look at their adversary.
“It was 6-8’ out there,” saidLogan. “When we were down in a trough I saw a big green shadow over our heads in one of the waves, and I said we had to get a gaff in this fish the next time we got him close.”
The plan worked, andLoganwas able to plant the big hook in the king’s back a moment later.
“I got him right in the meat of the back,”Loganexplained. “That fish didn’t bleed a drop.”
Laying the king mackerel in the fish box, the anglers knew they had something special.
“I looked at that fish,” saidLogan, “and figured he was 35 or 36 pounds. I said, ‘Boys we need to pick up our mess and get back to the hill. If somebody catches a bigger one today, we’ll shake their hand’.”
Also fishing on the second day, local angler Brian Aycock and the “Hail Yeah” fishing team scaled a 30.90 lb. fish to earn second place in the tournament.
Winston-Salem, NC’s Zach Faulkner and the “Get Floor’d” crew earned third in the tournament with a 30.20 lb. king.
More information and a full Fall Brawl leader board are available at www.oifc.com.
