![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/10-4-14d-005.jpg\" "\\"10-4-14d")
<\/a>Well, it was a good decision to stop here and get a slip in the marina as it seems that this place is clearly “where it’s at” with a big time fishing tournament going on with literally hundreds of boats competing to see who could catch the biggest king mackerel. \u00a0 \u00a0With so many participants on the prowl, someone actually caught one that bested the record books for North Carolina, at least, at more than 50lbs.<\/span><\/p>\nThe tournament is a big deal and I guess that there are thousands in prize money, perhaps many thousands, so the event attracted folks from far and wide.<\/p>\n
This photo is of one of the “little guys” that was perhaps half the size of the winning fish. \u00a0These are pretty big fish. Not like the little mackerels that I caught when I was a kid. \u00a0And, the boats that go out to catch them are plenty powerful with some in the 30+ foot range with 900hp to push them along at staggering speeds. \u00a0As this shot shows, there were lots folks that showed up to see what Who caught what. \u00a0Some of the boats had all sorts of sponsor signs on them. \u00a0I guess that fishing is a big deal here. Anyway, the tournament was great fun to experience.<\/p>\n We ended up putting Pandora on the end of a dock with plenty of other boats and as it was the weekend we found ourselves this evening in the midst of a communal dock cookout. \u00a0We contributed some sausage and to that was added chicken, pork, cobia (whatever that is) as well as tuna and some corn on the cob. \u00a0All that and pasta salad and all matter of food choices. \u00a0Someone had even brought pineapple infused rum. Yumm…<\/p>\n To top it all off, there was even a key lime pie in celebration of a “birthday girl”. \u00a0And no, I didn’t ask how old she was. So, hopefully, we will head out of the Cape Fear River early Sunday to begin our 300nm run to St Mary’s. \u00a0That should put us there by Tuesday in preparation for our flights home from Jacksonville on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/a>This is a shot of the winning fish that were displayed in a case lined with crushed ice. \u00a0To give this some scale, the winning fish was something like 6′ long. \u00a0That clearly qualifies as a “king” mackerel.\u00a0<\/a>I was told that each fish is weighed and then cut open to be sure that the “catcher” hasn’t stuffed the fish with lead shot or something else that will make the fish heavier. \u00a0I guess when there’s competition and big money to be had, there’s folks that will cheat. \u00a0“honest, I have no idea how that ten pound lead chunk got into the fish’s stomach”.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>One of the boats on the dock is also headed to the FL Keys this winter so perhaps we’ll see them there. \u00a0In case you missed it, Brenda and I are headed there ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n