The GPS Store Fishing Team

The team consists of two owners/captains. Phillip Hooks and Scott Heffernan. These two have been competing against each other for nearly 6 years in the Southern Kingfish Association and will be working together this year. Between the two of them they have compiled over 20 leader board appearances and 7 trips to the national championships.

The boat is a 29' SeaVee center console powered by twin Mercury 225hp OptiMax motors. It was outfitted with new 2005 motors and all new electronics. The electronics include a Garmin 3006C Color Chartplotter with XM weather, Furuno 582L fishfinder, Furuno 7in Navnet with GPS and Radar, Icom 402 and 502 and a Poly Planar Stereo.

The GPS Store Fishing Team is based out of Ocean Isle Beach NC and fish mostly in the Cape Fear region. The tournament trail will however have them fishing as far south as Charleston SC and as far north as Cape Hatteras NC. They will be fishing in division 9 and 12 in the SKA and also some other local tournaments. That will have them fishing about 10-12 tournaments this year with a goal to go to the national championship.

2005 Fishing Season for The GPS Store Fishing Team

The Year did not start as we had expected with only a 14.6 lb Mackerel to show after fishing the Jolly Mon and the Greater Wilmington tournaments. Finally number three was our lucky number. We fished a local area about 22 miles outside of our home inlet only after we ran nearly 40 miles to find live bait. The 20.55lb King hit a naked pogy on the flat line as a bad looking storm was approaching. We had just enough time to gaff the fish before the lightning storm hit. The fish was big enough for 20th place and our first leader board appearance of the year. Fishing on The GPS Store Fishing Team Sea Vee was Kathy Heffernan, Scott Heffernan, Kristen Hooks and Phillip Hooks. This was the first tournament in Division 12 which gives Kristen and Kathy great start for Lady Angler.

The Kings of the Cape tournament was another disappointment with us missing the leader board by just 1 pound.

The South Brunswick Island King Classic went off without a hitch or a good Mackerel for The GPS Store Fishing Team. We weighed a 16.59lb Mack to keep the girls in the Hunt for Lady Angler. In order to get the skunk off of the boat we decided to take out our friend Drew Reger in the Fall Brawl King Classic. He proved to be the luck we needed as we landed three fish over 25 lbs and a 12th place leader board finish. We followed up with a 30 pounder in the Rumble in the Jungle and our best finish of the year, 2nd Place. Kristen fished but Kathy could not due to family obligations. This cemented Kristen as the Division 12 Lady Angler winner and a trip to the 2005 Nationals.

The 2005 Nationals were to be held in Biloxi Mississippi but due to Hurricane Katrina were moved to Ft. Pierce, Florida. We decided to take the entire week and pre-fish and locate bait. We arrived in Florida to 20-30mph winds and 6'-10' seas every day we were there. The tournament was rescheduled for April.

Finally April had arrived and we were on our way back to Ft Pierce. It is a great place with a hometown feel. Kathy and Scott had a secret weapon to bring with them this time. They brought their 7 week-old son Aidan. He couldn?t fish but he was sure to bring good luck. This tournament is an aggregate tournament so you will need to make sure you have bait both days and a fish to weigh both days. Phillip and Scott set out on Thursday to find bait for Friday and Saturday and were treated to a few healthy Blue runners. Now all we needed was a large Mackerel. Friday was beautiful with 1-2 foot seas and variable winds. We decided to run north to a spot called the pines. It is about 30 miles north of Ft. Pierce Inlet and had been rumered to be holding fish. At about 10am we had only a few small fish to show and decided to go to the beach in search of larger prey. No luck for the monster but we did weigh a 16lb King. It would prove to be the difference on day two. Saturday was not as nice with a stiff 15-20mph wind. We opted to start to the south at the Loran Towers to see if we find something better than Friday. We fished until about 11am when we decided to move back towards Ft. Pierce inlet. After arriving at a new location and putting out the first spread of baits our downrigger rod exploded with a hard running king. 15 minutes later we were greated with a 34lb king. We were able to finish 31st out of 300 of the best teams in the business. We may have had a hard start to the 2005 season but ended strong and hope to carry this into 2006. We are planning on again fishing divisions 9 and 12 in the Southern Kingfish Circuit.

On May 28, 2006 The GPS Store Fishing Team made their Inaugural fishing trip for the 2006 season. Philip Hooks, Jamie Reme, John Hanusak and I (Scott Heffernan) loaded up the 29' SeaVee in search of Dolphin, Tuna and Wahoo. We knew that the gulf stream had been producing lots of Dolphin so we decided to search for Yellowfin Tuna and Wahoo. We were not fortunate enough to land either of them but we did get to see plenty of acrobatic Dolphin and one beautiful 19lb Grouper. The King Mackerel tournaments start up pretty soon so we will have more updates in the near future.

We would like to give special thanks to our sponsors.

Without their help we would not be able to compete at this level.