Hooligan crew comes dangerously close to yet another tourney win

One week after winning the first tournament of the season in the Southern Kingfish Association’s Division 9, Team Hooligan returned to the Wilmington, N.C., area trying to make it two in a row in last weekend’s S.H.A.R.E. King Mackerel Tournament out of Dockside Marina.

Hooligan is a 34-foot Yellowfin owned by Coastal Carolina University Professor Joe Winslow, who is joined by current and former members of CCU’s Saltwater Angler Club for his crew in SKA events.

Winslow and crew won the East Coast Got Em On event on July 10 in Carolina Beach, N.C., with a 44.07-pound king mackerel.

The format in the S.H.A.R.E. tournament was different, with boats weighing in their two biggest kings for a two-fish aggregate over two days of fishing – last Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, the Hooligan crew caught a pair of sizable kings, fish weighing 30.96 and 27.68 pounds. With the lead in hand with a 58.64-pound aggregate, the crew decided to stand pat with the two fish on the board and forgo fishing on Sunday.

While Hooligan was going for its second straight win in Division 9, Team Intracoastal Angler was shooting for its second win in three years in the S.H.A.R.E. tournament, having won it in 2014.

Led by Jackson David and representing Intracoastal Angler Saltwater Outfitters in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., the two-man crew aboard a 35-foot Contender had weighed in a 27.32-pound king on Saturday and came to the scales with another nice fish on Sunday.

David and his fishing partner, Jordan Vass, weighed in 31.42-pounder to barely top Hooligan’s aggregate and take over the lead.

When the dust settled, Hooligan had missed winning back-to-back tournaments by a narrow one-tenth of a pound. Team Intracoastal Angler earned its second victory in three years with a 58.74-pound aggregate to Hooligan’s 58.64.

“We got (to the weigh-in) just after the Intracoastal Angler team weighed their fish, and were understandably disappointed to learn that they edged us out by only a tenth of a pound, which is an extremely thin margin in this sport,” Winslow said.

“But our chagrin was short-lived, really, because those are great guys on that boat, the kind of people you like to see win, and to be honest, we were just happy to be up near the top again, proud of our consistency, which can be very difficult to do in this humbling sport.”

Likewise, David was thrilled to finish ahead of Winslow and his Hooligan crew.

“Joe is a great fisherman,” David said. “ He’s always been one of the best fishermen on the circuit and to beat him is a great honor. For him to get first and second in two tournaments, that’s killer.”

David and Vass worked the same vicinity both fishing days – an area off Shallotte, N.C., in 65-70 feet of water.

“We were not really marking much bait but we were marking enough to hold the fish that needed to be there,” David said.

They caught only one fish – the 27.32-pounder – on Saturday and then caught 11 fish on Sunday including the 31.42-pounder that put them over the top.

“One of them happened to be a good one,” David said. “We feel very fortunate. I’ve got a good guy fishing with me. We go out there and give it our best every time.”

On Saturday, Winslow knew windy and choppy conditions would mean crowded spots near shore.

“We knew the popular spots closer to shore would be covered up with tournament boats,” said Winslow, who was fishing with Josh Gray, Drew Gantt and Matt Eisenberger this tournament. “Those odds did not sound very favorable, so we made a tentative plan to start in 70 feet and work our way offshore.”

On the fifth spot they fished, conditions began to come together with prettier water and a variety of sea life showing up including bottlenose dolphin, sea turtles and flying fish.

“We found a spot holding fish, and the bite was on,” Winslow said. “Every pogy (menhaden) that went into the water got smashed within seconds, but the problem was that (the kings) were only about six pounds.”

After numerous bites from snakes (small kings), they finally found what they were after.

To end the day, the Hooligan crew landed the two kings, a 30.96-pounder and a 27.68-pounder, that eventually gave them the lead after the first day. Then it was decision time.

“The rules allowed weighing only two fish, caught either Saturday or Sunday or one each day,” Winslow said. “So if we weighed both of these Saturday, we would not be eligible to fish Sunday. And if we weighed only the bigger one, we would be gambling that we could catch another on Sunday.

“I’ve always been a bird-in-the-hand kind of decision maker, so we ran to the scales at Wrightsville Beach and weighed both fish in front of a great crowd.”

But on Sunday, David and Vass of Team Intracoastal Angler stole their thunder, just barely.

Hooligan leads SKA Division 9 with three more tournaments left on the schedule, starting with the Yellowfin/Yamaha Jolly Mon King Classic out of Ocean Isle Fishing Center August 26-28.

CCA Oyster Reefs

Coastal Conservation Association South Carolina is continuing to create needed oyster reef habitat in estuaries along the Palmetto State coast, with two projects upcoming in Georgetown County.

The new reefs are composed of primarily recycled South Carolina oyster shell, which is provided by restaurants and private citizens, mainly at shell drop-off sites located along the coast and inland as well.

The shell is natural material for spat, or oyster larvae, to attach to, thus creating new oysters. The reefs are created at strategic locations where new oyster beds are needed along the shoreline.

The reef builds are a cooperative effort between CCA SC’s Topwater Action Campaign and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’ SCORE (South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement) program.

Volunteers are needed for both upcoming projects.

The first reef project will take place Friday (July 29) in Winyah Bay, with Belle Isle Marina serving as the departure site. The project is expected to take about three hours, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call (803) 865-4164.

The second reef project will take place Aug. 1 in Murrells Inlet, with the Murrells Inlet Public Boat Landing serving as the departure site. For more information, call Andy Ricks at (843) 250-0841.

For more information on both reef projects, email to hsmith@ccasouthcarolina.com.

This story was originally published July 22, 2016 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Hooligan crew comes dangerously close to yet another tourney win."