Team Instigator would like to congratulate all the teams that did well in Biloxi, MS this year. It was great seeing old friends and making new friends on the docks. We love the atmosphere of SKA tournament king fishing, the awesome boats, different venues, and most of all, the people. It’s the people that keep us coming back again and again.
We finished 14th out 109 boats in the open class. The open class is made up of boat 24 feet to 39 feet. We were one of 10 boats under 29 feet fishing the open class; and, the only boat under 29 feet finished in the top 30.
We prefished and caught bait on the Thursday before the SKA National. We started out at some oil rigs about 50 miles offshore in 120 feet of water to jig up big Blue Runners for bait. We loaded the livewell with about fifty 2 to 3 pound Blue Runners caught on Barefoot Fishing Sabiki rigs. Next, we ran offshore a few more miles and found a large school of 30 to 40 pound Kings. We caught those fish like we catch 12 to 15 pound Kings here in the Carolinas.
On Friday, the first day of Nationals, we were able to run with most of the pack of boats 72 miles to the Salt Dome area, located in 223 feet of water. We pulled up about 9:10am, and start putting lines out. As Kelly was letting out the second line, a King hit it and smoked line off the reel. We turned the boat and started chasing her down. When we got over her, she had gone deep. Kelly pumped her up to the surface and she shot out of the water like a missile. Keith had the gaff and made a perfect gaff shot just behind the head in the meat. Keith brought her on the boat and said, Boys we are in the running shes 52 pounds, bag her! We put lines back out and caught and released 30 to upper 40 pounds Kings the rest of the day. We saw a lot of nice fish get caught, too. We even saw a 58 pound King caught by Randall Edens, of East Coast Sports. About 2:00pm, we headed to catch bait for Saturday, and weigh in before the rest of the fleet arrived. When we weighed our King, she weighed 53.71 pounds; no