Sixth annual Marlin Quay King Mackerel Shootout is on, but won’t be as festive as usual

The sixth annual Marlin Quay King Mackerel Shootout is on this weekend out of Marlin Quay Marina in Garden City Beach, but the event won’t be quite as festive as past years.

Fishing for the tournament, which is the third and final event in the Southern Kingfish Association’s Division 3 - South Carolina, is set for Friday through Sunday, with boats able to fish one of the three days.

The largest king mackerel weighed in wins the tournament.

King mackerel tournaments typically feature a captains meeting the evening before the first day of fishing and an awards ceremony/dinner immediately following the final day’s weigh-in.

Those gatherings offer competing fishermen the chance to talk trends and strategy heading into the tournament and then discuss what transpired on the water when it’s over.

Thanks to COVID 19, the face-to-face camaraderie between the fishermen is missing at the event, as is the new norm in 2020.

“We’re excited like we always are, but it definitely puts a damper on the entire mood,” said Katy Newman of Marlin Quay Marina. “(The captains meeting) is my favorite day of the year, it’s almost like Christmas for the fishing world. We’ve got a close-knit group of guys and girls that fish this tournament and it’s kind of a bummer we’re not able to see everybody and hang out.”

The captains meeting was held live on Facebook Thursday evening and the awards ceremony can also be seen on the Marlin Quay King Mackerel Shootout Facebook page Sunday at about 7 p.m. at https://www.facebook.com/mqmshootout.

The weigh-ins will also be limited, with only one member of the crew from each boat able to bring the fish up to the scales.

Spectators are welcome each day to the weigh-ins at the marina, located at 1508 S. Waccamaw Drive, Murrells Inlet, but are encouraged to practice social distancing, Newman said.

Newman said 30 boats had entered the tournament as of midday Thursday.

“We’re hopeful to have at least 50 boats,” said Newman. “We’ve had really good interest even with everything going on. I think people are really chomping at the bit to get out there and go fish.”

▪ Kingfish Elimination Series: This is the inaugural season of the bracket-style, single-elimination series, and the Carolina Division (South Carolina) has come down to the Final Four.

The remaining four boats have won head-to-head matches in the first three rounds against other boats this summer, dwindling the bracket from 32 boats.

The two semifinal matchups are:

Cool Cat, owned by Chris Pence of Hilton Head, vs. My Boat, owned by Derrick Blanton of Murrells Inlet.

Reelist, owned by Trae Everett of Hilton Head, vs. Xtratuf, owned by Bryan Baxter of Charleston.

The boats can fish one day from Wednesday through Sunday and weigh in one king mackerel. The two winners will square off on the one fishing day of their choosing in the South Carolina Fall Classic from Sept. 21-Nov. 7.

Reelist declared Wednesday for its fishing day but did not catch a king mackerel. The other three boats had not declared their fishing day by early Thursday afternoon.

Reelist had entered the final four as essentially the No. 1 seed, with the largest three-fish aggregate in the first three rounds at 95.8 pounds including the largest single fish, a 39.6-pounder. Cool Cat had the second best aggregate at 93.1 pounds followed by My Boat (87.1 pounds) and XTRATUF (80.81 pounds).

Series founder Trask Cunningham is happy with how the event has transpired in its first season.

“The series has gone very good for the first year,” said Cunningham. “All in all, there has been a lot of encouraging feedback, and all of the competitors have enjoyed this new dynamic to the king mackerel tournament scene.

“My primary focus for this series is to keep it unique. I’d rather not follow in line, and have a tournament or series like everyone else. I want to keep the sport of king mackerel fishing thriving for the future.”

This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 3:15 PM.