There is little doubt about whether king-size mackerel are swimming offshore from Morehead City, N.C., where the final events of the 2005 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour will be held next week. But a question remains: Will the weather give competitors the royal treatment or keep them away from the quality kings?
Wind factor
The final event of the Kingfish Tour’s regular season had been scheduled to take place in mid-September at Southport, N.C., while the championship was originally scheduled to take place in D’Iberville, Miss. Due to Hurricane Ophelia, which threatened the East Coast last month, and the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast region, both events were rescheduled and will take place next week in Morehead City.
Though no hurricanes are in the forecast for either the Oct. 10-11 qualifier or the Oct. 13-15 championship, Team Tideline Capt. Dieter Cardwell of Winston-Salem, N.C., said the wind will be a huge factor in both events.
“The big fish are on the other side of the shoals that are blocking the wind,” he said. “Right now it looks like they are where you can’t get at them in that type of wind. It’s going to be tough.”
A series of shoals buffer the shoreline of the Morehead City area from northeast winds, and current forecasts indicate that gusts could churn up the waters outside of that protected area, especially for the first event. Cardwell said the hogs aren’t terribly far away from the launch site, at least relative to a typical run for a kingfish tournament, but getting to them could still prove difficult even for the more intrepid anglers.
“Everybody would like to fish on the east side of the shoals,” Cardwell said, because that’s where the big ones usually swim. “Nobody knows where the fish are though … because it’s been too rough [to get out there] ever since the hurricane.”
However, Cardwell said three areas within running distance from Morehead City typically produce large kingfish: up the coast near Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras, and down the coast near the shoals at Southport. He said Team Tideline had planned to head south, “because we know there are fish at Southport,” but the wind could keep them in “slick water” closer to Morehead City, within the protection of the shoals.
Since Tideline is currently 40th in the Kingfish Tour points standings, so Cardwell said they may opt to play it safe and fish the 20-mile stretch of protected water down the coast from the takeoff site to ensure that they earn points and a berth into the championship, which is a no-entry-fee event open to the top 50 teams of the season. There are definitely kings to be caught in that area, he said, but they are smaller.
Team Slip N Slide Capt. Tom Aberle of Wilmington, N.C., said he believes weights will be down for the first event because of the weather. He predicts a 35- up to 40-pound king will take the first place prize of up to $100,000.
“It think it’s going to be too rough to cross the shoals and fish on the east side, where most people would like to go,” said Aberle, who collected a $100,000 payday with Slip N Slide for a win earlier this season at Venice, La.
FLW Kingfish Tour Tournament Director Dan Grimes said the back-to-back events will commence as planned despite the possibility of less-than-ideal conditions over the course of the first tournament.
“It’s going to be fine up there by Monday,” Grimes said. “You can always count on some heavy seas up there in the fall, but it’s definitely going to be fishable.”
Making the grade
Aberle and Cardwell agreed that some teams may be more apt to take their chances with rough seas during the first event, depending on their team standings, because it will mark the last chance to qualify for the championship, which offers up to $150,000 for first place. Unlike Cardwell’s Tideline crew that can likely rely on smaller nearshore fish for entry into the championship, many teams lower in the standings will have to consider taking their chances with big waves to make a big play for the season finale.
“Weather is going to be a huge factor,” Aberle said. “That area is a little tricky, crossing the shoals to go north. But it’s a great area to fish – one of my favorites.”
Aberle, who has fished many kingfish tournaments in the Morehead City area, said the 40-plus-pounders are within a few miles outside the shoals, but those may seem like country miles early in the week. Despite a tour win this season, Aberle’s Slip N Slide will enter the qualifying event 74th in the standings with considerable ground to make up for a championship berth.
Another significant factor in the competition, according to both North Carolina kingfishermen, will be baitfish. Menhaden schools are plentiful in the area and relatively easy to net, but teams with little local knowledge may opt to buy baitfish from on-the-water vendors. Cardwell said blue fish and mullet, considered better bait by some, is another possibility, though they are harder to catch.
Aberle added, “The main thing is, (visiting teams) are going to work real hard to catch their own baitfish so they have the freshest bait for the tournaments.”
Teams may weigh one king mackerel per day over the two-day qualifying event, with the heaviest single fish earning the win.
Smooth sailing for championship
For the 50 teams that qualify for the FLW Kingfish Tour Championship, Aberle said their options will be far greater, and the winning weight will likely reflect the improved fishing conditions. He estimates it will take a king weighing in the lower- to mid-40s to make the cut, with a similar fish required to take the crown.
If the forecast holds for next week, Aberle said the championship could seem, and fish, like an entirely different tournament.
All 50 qualifying teams will fish Thursday and Friday in the championship, again being able to weigh one fish per day, with the top 10 teams being determined by the heaviest single fish weighed by a team over the two-day opening round. The 10 best teams will fish a final day Saturday, and the winner will be determined by the best cumulative weight over the opening and final rounds, or the heaviest kingfish from the opening two days plus the heaviest kingfish from the final day.