How this veteran father-son fishing duo hooked a big one to win in familiar N.C. waters

Brett Barnes and son Alan Barnes have a 21-year history fishing in competitive king mackerel tournaments, predominantly in events from Morehead City, N.C. to Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.

That considerable experience paid off last weekend when practically unprecedented October-like weather conditions arrived in June for the two days of fishing in the Jolly Mon King Classic out of Ocean Isle Fishing Center.

The duo, of Wilmington, N.C., selected Saturday as their fishing day aboard Hot Rod, their 33-foot Onslow Bay powered by three Yamaha 300s, and headed out of Carolina Beach.

The day, cloudy, misty with a stiff northeast breeze and a high temperature of 69 degrees, started with the Barnes searching for bait, and they netted menhaden around daybreak.

“We got bait really early, right at daylight,” said Brett Barnes.

From there the Barnes went to an undisclosed location – a hard-bottom area – offshore of Southport, N.C., and began slow-trolling the menhaden. They didn’t have to wait long for a high-quality bite.

“We got the hit a little after 8 a.m. – it hit the short bait,” said Brett Barnes.

The king quickly created some havoc.

“The fish made a little run and cut back and went toward the boat, crossed under the boat,” said Brett Barnes. “We had to raise the motors to work the line around the motors. The fish ran off 300 yards (of line) the first run. We sensed it was going to be a good-sized fish the way it ran the first time.”

Alan Barnes was the angler while his dad handled the boat and was ready to man the gaff.

“We’ve always done that for years,” said Brett Barnes.

Soon, Alan Barnes worked the fish near the boat.

“We saw it and knew it was a good-size fish,” said Brett Barnes. “The fish circled several times, Alan was able to get it near the surface, and I gaffed it.”

After the run to Ocean Isle Fishing Center for the weigh-in, the fish put the Barnes duo squarely in the lead with a 44.20-pounder.

After the weigh-in ended on Sunday, Hot Rod remained atop the leaderboard and won the tournament over a field of 234 other boats.

Hot Hooks finished second, nearly nine pounds off the pace with a 35.90-pound king followed by All Knotted Up in third with a 35.60-pounder.

Hail Yeah/OIFC was fourth with a 35.3-pounder and Wendy Gale rounded out the top five with a 31.70-pound king.

The Barnes, who have won 11 Southern Kingfish Association-sanctioned tournaments over the years, took home $41,000 for the win.

The tournament was also the first event in the Kingfish Cup series and the first event in Division 2-Carolina Border of the Southern Kingfish Association (SKA).

In addition, the Jolly Mon served as the first round in the South Division (North Carolina) of the new Kingfish Elimination Series.

Visit www.oifc.com, www.fishska.com, www.kingfishcup.com and www.kingmackerelseries.com for more details.

S.C. Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series

The 2020 series kicked off Thursday with the opening day of the Carolina Billfish Classic out of the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina in Mt. Pleasant.

Five sailfish were released on Thursday as 22 of the 47 boats in the field fished, then the action picked up significantly on Friday.

As of 3 p.m. Friday with fishing ongoing by 26 boats, seven sailfish and three blue marlin had been released.

At that point, Man Cave was in the lead with 800 points including 600 for a blue marlin release and 200 for a sailfish release.

Boats are able to fish two of three days, and 46 of the 47 competing boats are eligible to fish on Saturday, the final day of the tournament.

Look for more details in next week’s column.

There are two more tournaments left in the series, the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament July 29-Aug. 1 and the Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament, set for Aug. 12-15 out of Georgetown Landing Marina.