Southern Kingfish Association

Biloxi, Mississippi - Rick Croson Jr., Jodie Gay, and Russell Weaver, all from North Carolina, ate up this year’s Class of 23 competition and won the title of National Champions. Fishing an Evinrude powered Onslow Bay, the Team Blue Water Candy scaled a 46.75 and a 44.54 on day one. A remarkable pair of kings that beat last year’s aggregate by almost a pound. It was the second year in a row that a team from North Carolina won the title!

The Blue Water candy team utilized the days leading up to the event to pen up a good assortment of Blue Runners and Bluefish to use with ribbonfish brought from home. “We used 2.5 oz. Lil’ Man Roscoe and the new Sparkle Jig Rigs made by Blue Water Candy to secure these baits”, said Jodie Gay...

* BIGGEST KING MACKEREL WEIGHED IN SKA COMPETITION.
* BIGGEST TWO FISH AGGREGATE EVER WEIGHED IN SKA EVENTS … INCLUDING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!
* NEW MISSISSIPPI STATE KINGFISH RECORD!

Biloxi, Mississippi - Brant, Barrett, and Rube McMullan came to Biloxi, Mississippi to fish the 2009 Mercury Tournament Trail’s National Championship after qualifying through the Pro ranks. It was a long drive for them from Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina but well worth the trip

Little did they know that they were about to make history in a very profound way.

Ocean Isle, North Carolina - Billy and Mark Emmart, SKA members since its inception, added another notch to their king fishing credits winning the popular Fall Brawl Kingfish Classic. It didn’t hurt either that they picked up nearly twenty thousand dollars to stoke their coffers.

The Moon Doggie team, fishing a Yamaha powered Contender and sponsored by them and their local dealer, Power Marine Outfitters, scaled a super forty-one pound king. “We fished an area we knew and had seen others catch good fish earlier in the week there,” explained Billy. “It’s a good area to fish at this...

Treasure Island, Florida -  It was the battle of the forty pound kings and what a battle it was.  Shortly after the scales opened at four o’clock Ken Dellane, Chris Terry, Chris Geschke, and Jimmy Cope, came up to the Gator’s dock. I could see from where the scale was positioned that their fish would bounce the scale up-up-up.

The Kingpin team, fishing an Evinrude powered Jupiter, held their breath while the scale settled. 41.75 came the cry of the weigh master. A really nice king for this time of year and number one on the big board.

As others came to the scale...

North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina—James Roberts and Jeff Lee teamed on the 23-foot Mercury powered Contender named King Hunter / Team Bell & Bell to win the Rumble in the Jungle tournament with a 35.60. The irony of this is that they had the biggest fish on Saturday, bigger than all the Pros who were fishing their final event of the season. In fact, the Pros only showed up in seven of the fifteen money slots on the leaderboard.

Board members of the Little River Fishing Club, the promoters of the event, had many comments from club members about having to compete against the Pros. As usual...

Swansboro, North Carolina - The Fin-Nagle team of Raymond Pugh, Jim Mulford, and Brian Bracey, fought rain and wind in the 20- to 25-mile-per-hour range, plus a large hungry shark, to win the ninth annual Onslow Bay  King Mackerel Tournament. They did it in a 23 foot Yamaha powered Sea King.

"We went to the East Rock area thanks to some information we received from Dave Pennington and Tony Ross," Pugh told us. "We were fishing in 50 feet of water and had caught Albcore and Sharks when our 29.76 hit a Bunker at 2:30. I grabbed the rod and the fight was on."

Atlantic Beach, North Carolina - There were thirty-one teams going into the Atlantic Beach King Mackerel Tournament with just one fish on their side of the ledger. Now we have a race that will be decided at the Onslow Bay tournament. It’s anyone’s race, however, Team Zebra / Oh Yeah, captained by David Tedder is certainly feeling better and he has a bunch of Benjamin’s in his pocket to boot.

Tedder, Brian Shore, David Godbold, and Jeff Smith,  fishing their first year as SKA members, ran their 36’ Yamaha powered Contender south to a spot just north of Topsail. “We had a spread of pogies...

Cape Canaveral, Florida - After being rescheduled from late August to Labor Day weekend because of the forecasted high winds and rough seas created by Hurricane Bill as it rumbled its way northward along the east coast, fishermen from all over Florida and as far away as Georgia assembled at the Fish Lips Restaurant in Port Canaveral for the 6th Annual, Salty Marine, Canaveral Mac Attack for the final 2009 event in SKA Division 8.

After winning the 2001 National Championship held in Fort Pierce his rookie SKA year, the 2003 Division 10 championship...

Oak Island, North Carolina - With a named storm passing well offshore the day before the start of the Brunswick Islands Saltwater Classic, tournament promoter Terry Adkins made the call to postpone the event one day. It was the right call however the storm really shut the fish down.
 
That didn’t stop Brant and Barrett McMullan, Brian and Austin Aycock, from completing the task at hand, winning the event. They won it fishing their Ocean Isle Fishing Center’s Yellowfin, with a 29.11 and pocketed over fourteen thousand dollars.
 
The McMullan’s are already qualified to fish...

Snead’s Ferry, North Carolina - Jeff and Vicki Keeton and son Colin Williams, tried their hardest to qualify for the ’09 National Championship in the toughest division in the country, Division Five. They didn’t make it, but it’s not discouraging them a bit, they just moved north to try another division. After all, making the Nationals in your rookie season is a major accomplishment.

Armed with ProFinder charts and chips the Yulee, Florida family entered the Snead’s Ferry event in Division One and walked away with the number one spot, thanks to a beautiful 41.74 caught by Vicki and Colin...

Georgetown, South Carolina - South Carolina’s James Stewart had a good reason to make the early run back to Charleston’s Ripley Light Yacht Club on Friday, the first day of the 16th Annual Key West Boats, Fishing for Miracles Tournament.  His lovely wife Carlette had just brought a big kingfish to the boat where it was quickly hauled over the gunnel, packed in ice in their fish bag and tucked safely away in Black Cat’s fish box.  Fishing with the Stewarts on the big Mercury powered Triton was their junior angler Kateland Todd. 

The Black Cat’s game plan had been to stop over some hard bottom in thirty-five...

Beaufort, South Carolina - Shane Hicks had a great weekend counting his blessings and money. He fished his Mercury powered Donzi into the winner’s circle of the AMI Kings For Kids with a great 46.10.

“I fished between fifteen and twenty miles offshore,” explained Hicks. “Found a lot of action on the surface so we stopped to see what was going on. I’ve fished this area before but never caught anything big.”

At seven-fifteen the 46 pound king ate a small menhaden on the surface in forty feet of water. “I grabbed the rod but it only took us fifteen minutes to have her to the side...

St. Mary’s, Georgia - Usually the final event of the season in most division’s drop off considerably. Terry Adkins knew this could be a problem and he was concerned about keeping the purse up so he contacted me about the possibly of merging his Division Five and four together with the fisher-people earning points in their respected division. It worked. One hundred and forty teams showed up at Captain’s Meetings at Dave Workman’s Strike Zone  in Jacksonville on Thursday night for Division 5, and Friday night in St. Mary’s for Division 4. Two divisions, one event.

Yeah Right fished their first...

St. Simons Island, Georgia - The Cat Daddy team scaled a 53.50 on day two of the Golden Isles Kingfish Classic and set a new SKA Georgia state record. Danny Mathis, Bobby Schoenfeld, and Harry Thomas were cruising thirty miles south of the checkout on their way to a destination some 175 miles away. Then one of the lower units let go and their plans for a big fish from Florida waters went down the drain.

The team quickly checked their charts and limped to a spot very close to where they broke down. It was here the 53-pound king was looking for a meal. “I’d rather be lucky than good...

Atlantic Beach, North Carolina - Division One is heating up especially now with “D” Logan and David Logan’s 52.92.

These big bruisers have been moving north and now it’s North Carolina’s turn to scale some of these spectacular kings.

The Logan’s dominated the leader board despite the weather forecast, which never turned out as predicted.

The team fished twenty-five to thirty miles from Atlantic Beach. The duo started at Hatteras but soon discovered there were no fish so moved back to the east side...

Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina - Clinton Chamness fished his Mercury powered Fountain, Mad Banana, into first place with a 31.56.

“That’s not a very big king,” someone in the spectator crowd said before the awards ceremony began. True, but on this particular weekend with winds 15 to 20 knots out of the northeast producing four to six foot seas, it was a great fish. Now add to the fact Clinton was fishing with three junior anglers, and you’ve got one serious win.

Clinton fished with Miles Stalvey and Stephen Wray, plus juniors Anna...

Jacksonville, Florida -  Despite the lagging economy and a handful of disgruntled wannabe’s that flooded chat rooms with nonsense, the 29th Annual AT&T Greater Jacksonville King Mackerel Tournament came off without a hitch.  Kudos to both the Executive Director, Bob Gibson, and Tournament Director Inez Higginbotham and the hoard of volunteers who made it a great success.

Badsport, a 23’ Mercury powered Contender, led the charge for largest kingfish of the event, a 42.85 caught on the first day of the two day event.

Carolina Beach, North Carolina - A beautiful 44.45 king mackerel caught by Richard Boles and Doug Robson on the Toes Up was the only king in the forties, giving them a big win at the East Coast Got-Em-On.

“We were fishing with our children, Richard J. Boles and Jordan Robson, 60 miles south at the Myrtle Beach Rock,” said Boles.  “It was an early bite, 8:50 to be exact. We were fishing in 57 feet of water when she ate a live pogy on the surface. It was certainly the biggest king we’ve ever scaled.”

The team put the fish in the boat at 9:55 then had to wait till 2:30...

Dauphin Island, Alabama - The opening day of the 77th Annual Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo was pure textbook for the Reelentless team, Bennie Goldman Senior and Junior, Jeremy Goldman, and Joey Lapeyrouse.  First, they were on the water and to the spot they were going to fish by lines in time, five am. An early morning storm forced the team to move but that proved to be a blessing. They set up and fished structure fifty-five miles due south of Dauphin Island in about 260 feet of water.

Using hard tails that were caught the day and night before, the team hooked up to a fifty-pound king mid morning. Another important factor...

Fourchon, Louisiana -  Michael Butler scaled a 58.62 on Friday, the second day of the 62nd Annual Golden Meadow Tarpon Rodeo and first day of the SKA Kingfish event. He and his brother Bill fishing the Yamaha powered Invincible, Crawgator, won the $5,000 in the SKA kingfish division and captured a rodeo record held by Harry  Smith back in 1970.

“We were fishing one hundred miles south west of Fourchon,” said Bill Butler. “She hit a hard tail on the surface in 145 feet of water at noon. Mike grabbed the rod but had his hands full, she was burning out line.”

The team chased the big king but it wasn’t...

Fort Pierce, Florida - The Offshore Warrior, a  Yamaha powered 31’ Contender skippered by Tom Kenney with Wayne Baumker and Tim Kellagher on board was fishing the South Beach area, just south of the Fort Pierce Inlet where they caught their 43.90 pound king mackerel within five miles of the inlet, to take home the top prize at this years Bluewater Promotion’s Fort Pierce Saltwater Classic held at the Fort Pierce City Marina.  “I spent several days looking for good fish prior to the tournament but could only find small fish were ever we went” said Kenney.  “We decided to stay close to home and fish the along beach in hopes of finding a good fish.”  They caught several small...

Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina - An SKA team did not win this year’s Ocean Isle Fishing Center. Com / Yellowfin Jolly Mon King Classic. It happens but not that often. A boat called Reel Time with a 38.15 won it.

Our winner was Travis Ketchie, Bobby Ketchie, and Matt Miller fishing a Mercury powered Fountain named Ketch This with a 37.10. The captain hails from Gold Hill, North Carolina and he earned second. This is the team’s first year as SKA members and what a statement they made. With 305 boats in the event they certainly did their homework.

With a baitwell full of pogy’s, the team fished...

Fernandina Beach, Florida -  The Nassau Sport Fishing Association’s 27th Annual Tournament of Champions saw a leader board loaded with SKA finalists and the fish finally showed up!

At the top of the big board was Bob Johnson and Keith Lane. Bob has been a member of the SKA since ’93 and comes down from the mountains of North Carolina each year to fish Division Five. He fishes a 17-foot Boston Whaler, Montauk model, with a 90 horsepower Mercury, and told me, “I love my boat. I can’t do what others do running all over the ocean.  I know my limitations.”

Pompano Beach, Florida - The Pompano Beach Saltwater Slam was the second tournament sanctioned by the SKA and produced by Jamie Bunn’s Bluewater Movements this year.  This tournament was originally scheduled as the second event in Division 8 in this year’s Mercury Tournament Trail, but because the Miami Kingfish Masters was cancelled, the Saltwater Slam was added as the last event in Division 10. 

In addition, because of the tournament format that allowed anglers to weigh four kingfish, SKA participants were allowed to weigh a fish in both Division 8 and 10.  Several boats elected...

Georgetown, South Carolina -   Some may think Joe Wells was just trying to save fuel, others may think he was just lucky. Bottom line, Joe knew exactly what he was doing in winning the Tailwalker Marine Tournament, one of the premiere events on the eastern seaboard.

The sixteen-year SKA veteran ran 15 miles south and fished the beach. “It was a post full moon and we’ve caught fish there before under the same circumstances,” Joe told us. “It was especially nice because my daughter Amelia Wirth caught the 40 pound king.”

We were fishing in 35 feet of water, caught her on a bluefish...

St. Augustine, Florida -  At twelve fifteen on the first day of the two- day Kingbuster Tournament, Kenny Crawford and his AT&T Real Yellow Pages team slid a 47.15 over the gunwale. For everyone else they were now fishing for second place.

All that was left for Kenny, Cindy, and Robbie Farlow, plus Al Morris was the wait to collect their prize, a 31-foot Fountain with twin Mercury outboards and a Loadmaster triple axel, custom aluminum trailer.

The team fished the Elton Bottom, “About 110 feet,” Kenny recalled. “We were fighting a barracuda so I went to clip the line with a Blue Runner back on...

Brunswick, Georgia -  Randy Howell knew his fish was a good one when it slid off the gaff into the fish bag. It was only nine thirty-five and Randy and Nelson Pittman were congratulating Dustin Howell for bringing the 39 pounder to Nelson’s waiting gaff.  “We were south of the Elton Bottom area fishing in a hundred feet of water,” explained Randy from Waycross, Georgia. “We were eighty-five miles from the scale. We knew that we could get back at a reasonable time so we kept fishing and came in at three forty-five. We caught her on a bought blue runner on the surface.”

Randy will cherish this win as much as his win...

Shellman Bluff, Georgia -  The scales had opened at three o'clock but it was nearly four and only one boat was on the horizon coming to the scale. Last year there were five boats waiting for the scales to open at three. I was worried. I had talked to several guys at registration and they were all complaining about no bait and no fish from pre-fishing.

The weather leading up to this event had been horrible—ten days of rain plus horrible winds. The Sapelo Open usually is held on Memorial Day weekend, but because of the weather it was postponed until the following weekend. It was the right decision!

After seeing a couple of dinks...

Swansboro, North Carolina -  Burt and Margaret Ferebee are definitely one of the best husband and wife teams fishing today! Their big win at the 29th Annual Swansboro Rotary King Mackerel Bluewater Tournament was no fluke. They did their homework, looking for warm water, plus let Roffers Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service help in defining the right area to drop a hook.

“We set up in 120 feet of water fifty five miles from Swansboro,” explained Margaret. “It was nine fifteen when she ate a menhaden twenty-five feet below the surface. She made a couple of long runs then came to the boat.”

Pensacola Beach, Florida – Despite the approach of the huge Nor’Easter that had dropped several inches of rain and blew down trees as it crossed over northern Florida, the weather reports for Sunday actually looked pretty good.  Because of that the 2nd Annual Miller Lite Mack Attack to benefit the Pace Center for Girls tournament committee decided to let the participants sign out to fish at the captain’s meeting Friday night and changed the weigh in from Saturday until Sunday afternoon.  This proved to be the right decision as Sunday’s weather was perfect.  Fishermen found 5 to 10 knot southerly winds and 2 to 3 foot seas when they headed offshore Sunday morning.

Eleven Year Old, Eddie Mitchell, strikes and brings 62 pound king to gaff. Record for SKA junior angler king!

Lake Park, Florida - After getting pictures taken at the dock, George Mitchell’s Snake Dancer team moved quickly to the stage at the Lake Park City Marina, site of the second annual Palm Beach Offshore 440 Tournament. While team members Ralph and Kyle Smith, and Danny Carroll, were excited and anxious to see their king on the scale, it was George Mitchell, the proud father of Eddie Mitchell, who was most excited. If he told me once, he told me and...

Pompano Beach, Florida — SKA teams did very well at Jamie Bunn’s Saltwater Shootout. The event was new to the SKA, its Mercury Tournament Trail, and Division 10, but Bunn’s event has been produced for the past 14 years, and very successfully I might add. He’s the man in South Florida tournament circles.

However, before we get into the results portion of the coverage, you must understand the makeup of his events. They are the traditional meat fishing tournaments, wherefore king mackerel, tuna, dolphin, wahoo, and cobia are weighable species...

Treasure Island, Florida – A full moon, calm seas and extremely warm weather made fishing tough for the 83 teams participating in the 18th Annual Suncoast Classic KMT held at the world famous Gators Café and Saloon hosted by the King Gator himself, Sid Rice.

 Chris Workmen, fishing with teammates Michelle Jackson, Kevin Weber and Jim Kurth, on Workman’s Yamaha powered Contender the Get Snookerd has done extremely well this year fishing close to their Naples, Florida home.  After claiming the Division 11 Class of 23 title with a 3rd place finish in , 8th place overall in Naples and a 31.57 pound...

Jensen Beach, Florida - Kelley Clements, Tracy Shaw, Michael Mosley, Ellis Phillips, and Rusty Rogers came to Jensen Beach with the best intentions. “We came to fish the Pro’s but decided to fish the Langford tournament as well,” said Clements who was fishing his new 38 foot, triple Verado powered, Fountain. “I told my crew that we were going to catch a 50 today,” and his message came to fruition on the second day of the Pro event and the one day Francis Langford tournament.  

“We were fishing at the Zoo, (an area south of Jensen Beach and where most of the fish were caught), said Clements.

Treasure Island, Florida -  Dante Fabbro, Kyle Martin, and Mike Tomaino fished the Due West, a Yamaha powered Cape Horn, in 155 feet of water north west of Johns Pass.

“It was rough but we knew this was the place to go,” said team captain Dante Fabbro.  “We had fished this area last week and found fish.’ Fabbro went on to explain, “ She hit at nine o’clock enticed by a big blue runner on the surface.”

Mike Tomaino was the guy who made the team hero’s this weekend easing the 41.53 to the waiting gaff, not to mention putting...

Ft. Myers, Florida—Just in time for the 2nd Annual Ft. Myers Beach Kingfish Shootout the southwest Florida wind machine finally turned off! Victory At Sea conditions, which have plagued the region throughout the last several weeks, were abruptly replaced overnight with great kingfish weather as light southeast winds and smooth seas reigned supreme.

A fleet of 38 boats would depart both Matanzas Pass and the event’s Gordon Pass southerly checkout in search of catching success. With large schools of migrating king mackerel scattered...

Sarasota, Florida—Jim Breazeale, Kevin Grissinger, and Morgan Domingue had a great day on the water winning the 15th Annual Sarasota Sertoma Kingfish Tournament, the opening event of Division Six on Florida’s west coast.

“There was still a ground swell when we checked out,” said Breazeale who fishes the Delosa’s / Marshall Law. “But by mid-day it was great; seas two feet or less.” The team has a special spot they’ve been fishing and it’s paying off. This is not unusual, many teams have use this method on Florida’s west coast in the spring. In fact...

Naples, Florida—The 1st Annual Fishin’ In Paradise Saltwater Classic, the second event of the 2009 Mercury Tournament Trail Division 11 trilogy featured several wholesale changes as east coast promoter Jim Scharfschwerdt took over the reins of an event rich in traditional elements of fun, camaraderie, fierce competition and big kingfish. 

Choosing a new venue in the Naples Bay Resort and implementing a multi-species format to “mix things up” and “boost” local boat participation proved to stoke competing anglers from as far away as...

Marco Island, Florida—Will Geraghty and Ron Mitchell have been fishing the Bandit, a Suzuki powered Contender, for a long, long time, even sharing the ’06 Angler of the Year title. This weekend they shared the excitement of scaling the second biggest king of the Marco Island KMT, a 43.96. They presented the king to Bob Flocken, the SKA’s official weighmaster just after the scales opened.

“We were hoping she would hold up,” said Mitchell. “We also knew that there was a lot of talent in Marco this weekend.”

Key West, FL— The Key West Harbour Tournament, formerly the Hog’s Breath Tournament, drew 129 teams this year and many were not disappointed. A cold front which ended Thursday and calmed the seas thus enabling one out of every five teams to scale five kings in the 50s and 23 more in the 40s.

The biggest of the weekend, a 55.35 caught on day two of the event, belonged to Crikey.

Andre and Kim Bain Moore, Greg Watts, and Glyn Austin, fishing an Evinrude powered Invincible...