By four o'clock on the first Thursday in October, Fish Factory Road stops working like a road. It becomes a staging lane. Trucks with empty trailers idle bumper to bumper past Dutchman Creek Park, waiting for a turn at a boat ramp built for eighty trailers at a time. Food trucks set up by late afternoon. Inside the park at 7 p.m., a room full of captains will sit through the rules briefing before Friday's 7 a.m. start.
This is the U.S. Open King Mackerel Tournament, and 2026 marks its 48th year, running October 1 through 3 out of Dutchman Creek Park at 4750 Fish Factory Road SE. Most people who live near that stretch of road have driven past the crowded ramp during tournament week without knowing what the three days actually add up to. The tournament is Southport's biggest fishing weekend, but that's not what makes it worth understanding. It's the largest annual fundraiser the Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce runs all year, and the proceeds fund a short, specific list of local institutions many residents already use without connecting them to a fishing tournament: Brunswick Community College, the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport, Brunswick County Parks & Recreation, Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter, and the Dosher Memorial Hospital Foundation.
Forty-Eight Years Because Somebody Signed a Note
The tournament didn't start as a Chamber fundraiser. Roughly 47 years ago, a small group of community leaders wanted an event that would show off the fall fishing around Southport and Oak Island, and they personally guaranteed the prize money by signing a promissory note at a local bank. That scrappy start grew into one of the largest king mackerel tournaments on the East Coast, part of the Southern Kingfish Association's tournament trail, which runs competitive king mackerel events across the southeastern United States and the Gulf.
The field size swings with the weather more than with interest. In 2024, 565 boats fished the tournament and took home more than $425,000 in cash prizes. In 2025, a weather delay pushed the event to late October and the field dropped to 225 boats. As of late September this year, 58 teams had registered on the tournament's site, with the rest typically signing up in person through Thursday's cutoff at Dutchman Creek Park.
The Prize Doesn't Shrink When the Boats Do
What doesn't move with turnout is the payout. The tournament guarantees $25,000 for the largest king mackerel regardless of how many boats show up, with 55 places paid out in the primary category and more than 40 sponsors layering on additional prize money. A field of 225 boats pays the same top prize as a field of 565. That's a different structure than a pool-based tournament where the purse rises and falls with entries, and it's part of why the event has kept drawing captains back across nearly five decades of unpredictable October weather.
Where the Money Actually Lands
The tournament's excess proceeds don't stay with the Chamber. They get distributed to organizations that most Southport residents interact with in ways that have nothing to do with fishing:
- Brunswick Community College
- The North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport
- Brunswick County Parks & Recreation
- Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter
- The Dosher Memorial Hospital Foundation
A resident who's never registered a boat in their life has still likely walked through a park, visited the museum, or benefited from a program that traces part of its funding back to three days at Dutchman Creek Park.
What Three Days on the Water Look Like
| Day | Key Times | What's Happening |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Oct. 1 | 10 a.m.–9 p.m. | Registration and packet pickup at Dutchman Creek Park |
| Thursday, Oct. 1 | 4–7 p.m. | Live music and food trucks at the park |
| Thursday, Oct. 1 | 7 p.m. | Captains' meeting |
| Friday, Oct. 2 | 7 a.m. | Fishing begins |
| Friday, Oct. 2 | 11 a.m.–5 p.m. | Scales open, food available, competition ends at 5 p.m. |
| Saturday, Oct. 3 | 7 a.m. | Fishing resumes |
| Saturday, Oct. 3 | 11 a.m.–4 p.m. | Scales open for weigh-in, competition ends at 4 p.m. |
| Saturday, Oct. 3 | 11 a.m.–4 p.m. / 12–5 p.m. | Wallace Food Truck and Catering, then Clem's Seafood |
| Saturday, Oct. 3 | 5–8 p.m. | Live music from Hoods Creek at Rusty Hooks Dockside Grill |
| Saturday, Oct. 3 | 8 p.m. | Awards ceremony at Rusty Hooks Dockside Grill |
The window that draws the biggest crowd both fishing days is 2 to 4 p.m., when PointClickFish.com livestreams the scale and the leaderboard can flip with a single fish coming off a boat. Anyone who's watched a few years of weigh-ins will tell you the dock gets as tense as the fishing itself, because nobody standing there knows if the next king off the next boat is the one that wins it.
What It Means If You Live Near the Ramp
Dutchman Creek Park normally handles its boat traffic fine. The ramp has three launching lanes, 80 paved trailer parking spaces, and roughly another 100 spots along the roadside and grass for overflow. That's plenty on a regular Tuesday evening for someone launching a kayak or running out for a quick fish. It is not plenty for a tournament field that's averaged over 400 boats a year across 48 years. Residents who use the ramp for ordinary weeknight fishing or paddling should expect the lot and the roadside on Fish Factory Road to run tight from Thursday's registration through Saturday's final weigh-in, and should plan around it rather than around it.
Last Year's Winning Boat Was Local
The 2025 tournament, run late after the weather reschedule, ended with a hometown result. Captain Kenneth Howard II, fishing with crew Brian Rowley and Cameron Howard aboard Fishing Condition, brought in a 45.40-pound king mackerel and walked away with more than $46,000 in total winnings. All three are Southport locals, which means the boat that took the biggest check off the Dutchman Creek Park scale last year belonged to someone who was probably back at the ramp within the week, launching for an ordinary Tuesday.
If you're driving down Fish Factory Road on Friday afternoon between two and five, you're not stuck behind a traffic backup. You're watching the county parks budget, the hospital foundation's next grant cycle, and the wildlife shelter's rescue fund get decided one fish at a time.
Vic's Picks pays attention to these local rhythms because knowing when Fish Factory Road turns into a staging lane is part of actually knowing Southport. If you want a local's read on the town's calendar before you plan a weekend around it, reach out to Vic's Picks.
