Dilsaver Easy Choice for SKA Hall of Fame

Craig Holt

August 08, 2007 at 8:38 am  | Mobile Reader | Print 

Photo by Sam White

Capt. Jerry Dilsaver (center), along with Richard Denning of Willow Springs (left) and Bob Black of Oak Island, display the 40.22-pounds king mackerel that helped win the 2001 23-under SKA national championship.

Special-events coordinator for North and South Carolina Sportsman magazines, saltwater columnist and feature writer for NCS, Dilsaver added to his long list of fishing honors with the selection by fellow SKA members and competitors.

He was an overwhelming favorite from a field of candidates that included some of the legends of king mackerel fishing, including four other Tar Heels.

“It wasn’t even close,” an SKA official noted at the fishing organization’s Web site. “Noted journalist and fisherman. Jerry was the 2001 Class of 23 National Champion. However, while we believe he has great fishing prowess, it’s Jerry’s other attributes that got him into the Hall of Fame.

“He has promoted the sport of king fishing throughout the country. He was also instrumental in writing the original set of angling rules we still use today in the SKA.”

Dilsaver began his outdoor-writing career with “Carolina Adventure” magazine in 1986, then moved to N.C. Sportsman in April 2002.

He first became a sponsored competitor in 1987 and has qualified for the national championship every year he has fished competitively in the SKA since its inception in 1991.

In 1998 he earned Angler of the Year honors with the U.S. Anglers Association and won its overall title with his crew. During 2006 Dilsaver was chosen to lead the Seaswirl team in the Wal-Mart Kingfish Tour and Series.

Dilsaver’s king-mackerel tournament record includes six victories, 10 second-place finishes, seven third places, three fourth places and three fifth places, plus one senior angler title for his late friend M.B. Pleasant of Angier, two lady angler titles for his wife donna Mooneyham and numerous other top-twenty finishes.

Besides writing feature stories, columns and news stories for N.C. Sportsman Magazine, contributing to FLW Outdoors Magazine and being saltwater columnist for the Carteret County News-Times, he is a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and Southeastern Outdoor Press Association.

Dilsaver and Mooneyham reside at Oak Island.