‘It’s fun fishing’: Aynor crew enjoying good start in wahoo event after landing a mammoth

After missing a good wahoo early in the day, the three-man crew of Reel Happy didn’t get discouraged on Wednesday while fishing in the 10th annual S.C. Wahoo Series.

Mark Huggins of Aynor was high-speed trolling in the vicinity of the Winyah Scarp aboard his Mako 234 with his son Hunter Huggins and Hunter’s friend Kole Kaiser, and the trio started the day by landing a wahoo in the 45-pound range around 9 a.m.

About an hour later, they had another good hookup and worked a bigger wahoo, in the 60-pound class, to the boat. Even though Mark Huggins got one gaff in the fish, the wahoo escaped.

“We got him by the boat, but he came off,” said Mark Huggins, a native and resident of the Aynor area. “It was a good fish, I felt real bad.”

Lesson learned, Huggins said.

“Those two (fish) got the rust off,” said Huggins. “We knew we needed to put two gaffs in the fish. We put the lines back out and went back to work, and then we got blessed with the giant.”

They continued high-speed trolling and soon got the bite from the one wahoo they were hoping for. Fifteen-year-old Hunter Huggins, who attends Conway High School with Kaiser, is the team’s designated angler and manned the rod on what was clearly a monster wahoo.

“At 11 am, when he bit, he had three strong pulls and ripped about 500 yards (of line) off,” said Mark Huggins. “Three big runs straight out the back. We knew this fish was 70-80 (pounds) on up.”

Approximately 45 minutes later, Hunter Huggins had worked the fish to the boat.

“When he got close to the boat, Kole yelled ‘He’s got a belly like a whale,’ “ said Mark Huggins. “We were ready, we stuck two gaffs in him after we lost the other one.”

Once they dragged the wahoo over the gunwale onto the deck, Mark Huggins knew the fish was in the 100-pound range.

They stopped fishing for the day and made the run to Georgetown Landing Marina, where marina manager Ed Keelin confirmed the wahoo weighed 98.3 pounds. The fish gives Reel Happy the largest wahoo weighed into the S.C. Wahoo Series thus far.

There is plenty of competition, with 180 boats entered in the statewide event. Boats from three states – South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia – are competing, and Horry County is well-represented at the top of the standings.

Boats are able to fish three days during the tournament, which opened Feb. 19 and runs through April 24, and can weigh one wahoo per fishing day. The winner will be determined by a two-fish aggregate of the two largest fish for each boat.

On Thursday, Jerry Fehlig’s Game Hawg crew of Conway caught a 75.3-pound wahoo to go with a 69-pounder on March 9 for a 144.3-pound aggregate, the top two-fish weight in the series thus far.

Jeff Martini’s Dirty Martini crew of North Myrtle Beach landed a 57.9-pounder Thursday to go with a 66.6-pounder also caught on March 9 for a 124.5-pound aggregate, currently good for second-place behind Game Hawg.

Game Hawg and Dirty Martini both have one more day to fish in the series to try to improve their aggregate while the Reel Happy crew has two more shots to add another smoker wahoo to go with their 98-pounder.

“We’re definitely sitting where we need to be,” said Mark Huggins. “We’re good wahoo fishermen, we’ll catch another good fish. We’re just looking for good weather days. It’s a fun tournament to fish, you get to pick your day and it’s fun fishing.

“It’s an amazing time of year to get out there and enjoy the Atlantic Ocean. There are a lot of blessings out there. There’s a lot of good quality 40-60 pound fish out there right now.”

And much bigger, as the Reel Happy crew proved.

There are four weeks of fishing left in the series, and nearly all 180 boats have one or two fishing days left at their disposal.

“I’m excited man, it’s turning into a heckuva battle and there’s a lot of fishing left,” said series director Marc Pincus. “It’s going to be a great battle down to the wire. It’s a marathon not a sprint. You can get lucky and get that 80 pounder but you got to be consistent and get another good fish to win it.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 4:06 PM.