With a front rolling through on the weekend of the Rumble in the Jungle King Mackerel Tournament, Brent Gainey and crew aboard Miller Time had a choice — fish a stiff south-southwest wind on Saturday or a stiff north-northwest wind on Sunday.
Gainey and a three-man crew including his dad, Randy, chose Sunday, and the results show it was a good call.
The Miller Time team kept it close to the beach, with the mainland knocking down the wind, and landed a 43.8-pound king to win the tournament, one of four events in the Kingfish Cup.
A total of 157 boats fished the Rumble, held out of Captain Archies in North Myrtle Beach, with Doug Colacicco of Cicco I taking the early lead among the 89 boats that fished Saturday.
When the dust settled Sunday afternoon, Colacicco had finished second in his 21-foot boat with a 40.2-pound king followed by Robby Remson aboard Long Run in third with a 36-pounder.
Shane Moore aboard Clear Cut was fourth with a 34.8-pounder and James Hammonds aboard Big Chief won the Single-Engine Class with a 25.6-pounder.
“We usually have better luck on a north-northwest wind than south-southwest, and we figured it would be a little calmer tight on the beach where we wanted to fish,” said Gainey. “We were fishing on an east-facing beach, so we had a little cover from the northwest wind. There was a lot of wind chop but it wasn’t rough.”
That east-facing beach was off Horry County, more specifically just offshore of the Apache Pier.
The king mackerel bite has been even better than normal this fall off the beaches of Horry and Georgetown counties as the Cape Fear area has been inundated with floodwater from the Cape Fear River thanks to Hurricane Florence. The Apache Pier vicinity has been a hot spot.
The remaining 68 boats in the field fished on Sunday, including Miller Time, which is based out of Carolina Beach, N.C.
Leaving from Little River, Gainey and crew ran south all the way to Murrells Inlet looking for bait, specifically menhaden, or pogeys, but had trouble finding anything but threadfin herring, known as greenies.
They moved back to the area off Apache Pier, found menhaden and finally began fishing around 9 a.m.
“We were within a mile-and-a-half of the pier, we were just fishing on bait in about 30 feet of water,” said Gainey. “We had been fishing about 45 minutes when we got the bite.”
Jason McDowell, of Southport, N.C., was the angler on the fish.
“We fought it for a few minutes then it started making some crazy movements and ran straight for Wahooligans (a nearby boat),” recalled Gainey. “They’re awesome guys, and they got out of the way. It was a pretty short fight after that.”
With water clarity still poor, thanks to Florence’s flooding and the windy conditions, they couldn’t get a good look at the fish.
“We didn’t know it was a good fish until we got it close to the boat,” said Gainey. “It was a nice surprise for sure.”
With his dad running the boat and Ryan Wiggins handling the other lines, Gainey applied the gaff and, boom, the winning fish was lifted over the gunwale.
Later in the afternoon it was Miller time for the Miller Time crew, a name the senior Gainey has had for the family’s boats for over 40 years.
The Miller Time team is a mainstay in tournaments in southeast North Carolina and South Carolina, and has had plenty of success. The team has previously won the East Coast Got Em On King Mackerel Classic, Capt. Brant’s Fall Brawl King Mackerel Tournament, the South Brunswick Islands King Classic, and now the Rumble in the Jungle.
“We’ve been pretty fortunate,” said Gainey.
SALTT Opener
Last Saturday marked the season-opener for the Student Angler Tournament Trail out of the Carroll Campbell Marine Complex in Georgetown.
SALTT features divisions for red drum and largemouth bass, with middle and high school anglers competing against each other.
Despite windy weather, the competitors brought quality fish and limits to the weigh-in at the complex located on the Sampit River.
Dylan Skipper and Walker McKenzie of Andrews won the High School Redfish Division with two fish weighing 5.80 pounds, including the lunker of the division, a 3.96-pounder.
Devan Harrelson and Carson Watford of Georgetown Middle School won the Middle School Redfish Division with two fish weighing 5.93 pounds, including the lunker of the division, a 3.35-pounder.
Avery Williams of St. James singlehandedly won the High School Bass Division with a five-fish aggregate of 9.73 pounds. Georgetown’s Connor Strickland landed the lunker of the division, a 4.65-pounder.
Gavin Porter of Loris Middle School singlehandedly won the Middle School Bass Division with a five-fish aggregate of 8.80 pounds, including the lunker of the division, a 3.02 pounds.
SALTT events are all-release tournaments.
For more information visit www.SALTTFishing.com or call 843-902-4274.
Source: https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/sports/outdoors/article220681070.html
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