St. Simons Island, Georgia—Two weeks prior to the Golden Isles
Kingfish Classic, Alden Thornton won the Sapelo Tournament with a great
50.99 king mackerel. It was a no check-out tournament, so Thornton
trailered his boat to Daytona where he launched at the prescribed time.
Their big king was in the boat by 10:30 and he ran the new 38’ Mercury
powered Fountain back to Sapelo in some pretty heavy seas.
“Pete Harper caught a good fish at Sapelo but I figured everyone knew
where the fish was caught so everyone and their brother would be in the
area so we checked out at the pier and pointed the nose of our Fountain
south,” said a happy Thornton. “We ran back to Daytona where we knew we
might have another shot at a big fish. We were wrong and made our way
back to Jacksonville and sent for the trailer.”
Port Canaveral, Florida – This year’s unusually cold winter that quickly changed to an extremely hot summer has really affected the kingfish’s normal northerly migration patterns. So far in 2010 there have been some great fish caught between Vero Beach and Canaveral but catches north of this area have been way down from previous years. Because of that, many tournament fishermen have made long runs to target the fish off of Canaveral. With hopes of catching a good fish to qualify for a spot at this year’s National Championship, many SKA teams from both coasts of Florida and as far north as North Carolina made the trip to take part in this year’s edition of the Salty Marine Canaveral Mac Attack held at the Fish Lips Restaurant in Port Canaveral.
St. Simons Island, Georgia—Steve Glanz and his south Florida team of Jamie and Travis Ralph, Ryan Carr, and Kevin Ebersold, came to St. Simons Island, Georgia for the second Fixed Event of the Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour. It was their first time fishing off the Georgia coast so they came early to pre-fish. “We started working the area east of Gray’s Reef because we heard there were fish there,” explained Glanz, who finds his team now firmly in second place in the Pro standings. “Both of our fish, the 41.45 caught on Friday and the 33.56 on Saturday, were caught basically in the same area between seventy to eighty feet of water.”
Sneads Ferry, North Carolina – 188 good fishing teams entered
the 19th Annual Sneads Ferry Rotary Club KMT held at Dale Powell’s New
River Marina, but a full moon and a stiff easterly breeze made for a
tough day on the water. On a fishing day like we had this year you
either have to be really good or really lucky. Take your pick.
Calabash, North Carolina fishermen James “Todd” Dawkins and Welsh Carson
fishing on their Yamaha powered Contender, The 2 Dogs, had fished an
area in eighty feet of water north of the Cape Fear Shoals with no luck
at the previous week’s Onslow Bay tournament and didn’t find a fish.
Todd told me, “I had a gut feeling all week long that we needed to go
back to the same spot.”
Charleston, South Carolina— Bert Harvey and the crew of the
Juggernaut could only find a small kingfish on Friday, the first day of
fishing at the 17th Annual Key West Boats, Fishing for Miracles
tournament, but come Saturday they would scale a 34.10 pounder and end
up on top of the tournament’s leaderboard.
Fishing with Bert on his big Yamaha powered Contender were teammates
A.C. Harvey and Jim Roberts. They started the day fishing in shallow
water close to Edisto where they had caught their 15.10 on the first day
of the tournament. After a short while and no action, they moved
offshore and stopped over a large patch of live bottom about twenty-five
miles east of Charleston in seventy-five feet of water. Fishing was
slow there too, but about 1:30 they caught a small kingfish and right
after they released it their big king ate
Freeport, Texas— The Johnny B/Team Millennium Marine skippered by
John Benkenstein along with teammate Nick Garthwaite and his son John
Benkenstein, Jr. on board, landed a 43.00 pound kingfish on day one to
take home all the cash and the first place trophy at this year’s Texas
Sportfishing Yacht Sales/Surfside Marina King Mackerel Tournament, the
final event in the 2010 SKA Division 12 race.
On Friday, Benkenstein ran his Yamaha powered Contender boat 130 miles
due east of Freeport to the #8 oil rig and started fishing. There they
were able to catch several small kingfish early in the day but couldn’t
find the “Biiiig One” that they thought they needed to put them in the
tournament’s winner’s circle and help the team win some…
Swansboro, North Carolina – Before they left Ocean Isles, Barrett and Rube McMullan had made the decision to take it easy and have a good time fishing together at this year’s Onslow Bay Open. All the pressure was on brother Brant who was in Saint Simons fishing with his lovely wife Amy and daughter Caroline in the Pro event. If they were lucky enough to catch a good fish, then that would just be the icing on their time spent together. Barrett told me that their game plan was to “Get up late, take it easy, catch a good king and be back at the scales by lunch.”
Shellman Bluff, Georgia—With a no check-out format, Alden Thornton rolled the dice and won. To start his weekend Alden and his wife Allison came up from Jacksonville to register for the event and attend the Captain’s Meeting of the Sapelo Open King Mackerel Tournament. He returned home to get his new 38’ Fountain with Mercury Outboards ready to fish. At one o’clock he met Lee from Lee’s Live Baits on the highway to get his goggle-eyes. A quick trip back home to get three hours sleep, then had plans to meet the team, Conrad Lau, David Butler, and Carl Carder, at 4am to head for Canaveral to leave the beach at 6am. Their destination was the Rock where good fish had been caught during the Greater Jacksonville Tournament. “When we checked the water temperature on the beach it had fallen to 71 degrees and we really started second guessing our decision,” said Alden. “At 10:30 David pulled our big king alongside the boat but it didn’t look that big in the water. When she rolled on her side that’s when we knew she had to come in the boat. As quickly as we could get her in the boat and in the bag, we secured our rods and kicked the big block Mercurys into forward, set the coordinates to the tournament site in the Garmin and settled back for the long run.”
Morehead City, NC—Skip and Sandy Conklin’s big Kingfish just
missed winning the 26th edition of the Raleigh Saltwater Sportfishing
Club's KMT by less than five hundredths of a pound. Skip’s Mercury
powered Privateer, the Ocean Athlete, would weigh a 51.26 pound king in
the Division 1 opener and finish second to a non-member team who weighed
a 51.30. It’s tough to lose any event when you weigh a fifty plus king,
but when .05 means an extra $10,000 it really must hurt.
The Conklins fished an area around the Atlas Tanker, thirty-two miles
east of the tournament scales. At 8:40 their big king ate a pogy fished
on a short line in sixty feet of water. Sandy had the fish to the boat
in twenty minutes where Skip gaffed it. As soon as the big girl was in
the fish bag, the excited couple headed back to the Jaycee Park scales.
Sandy would also take home the tournament’s Top Lady Angler prize for
their great fish.
Jacksonville, Florida—Since 2001, SKA members have won all of the
Big Fish honors in the Greater Jacksonville Tournament except ’05 in
which Bill Rew won and then became a member right after. He's still
competing today. This year Seafood Kitchen, a past member, won it with a
45.75.
So, we must recognize The Flying Button / Team Pro Star, a Mercury
powered Donzi, as the top SKA team in the event. Manny Bethencourt, Andy
Cannady, Jimmy Hubbs, Jimmy Garza, and junior angler Jordan Gear,
weighed a 41.40 on day one of the event.
Little River, S.C.—Todd Dawkins’ Yamaha powered Contender boat
called the 2 Dogs captured the second place prize and was the top SKA
team at this year’s Blue Water Promotions Myrtle Beach Saltwater Classic
held at the Harbourgate Resort and Marina.
Fishing with Todd were teammates Welsh Carson, James Hall and Jerry Tumbleston.
The 2 Dogs made the sixty mile run to the 30/30 hole to an area that
they had pre-fished earlier in the week and found a few good fish. Even
though the fishing on Saturday was slow, they had made up their minds
that they would stick it out and stayed in the area. Obviously it was
the right decision because at 1:45 their 27.78 pound kingfish ate a
double pogy rig fished way back behind the Contender. Jerry picked up
the rod and after a twenty minute fight they were headed to the scales
with their fish in the bag.
Darien Georgia – The Caribbean Breeze Sun Care Products sponsored
Sea Dub team put a 36.89 pound smoker king on the Captain Hap’s Bash on
the Bluff scales to win the top prize in this years event. Fishing on
the Mercury powered Onslow Bay boat were skipper Chris Wiles along with
teammates Jerome Drawdy, Quinn Gurnsey and Luther Thomas.
Jerome caught their winning fish after a short fight around 10:30. Their
winning fish ate a big threadfin herring fished in the boat’s propwash
in ninety feet of water due east of Saint Simons Island. “We had a
terrible time catching bait and only had a few in our live well when we
started fishing. The day started out bad but sure ended up great!” said
the excited captain.
Carolina Beach, North Carolina—The biggest king we’ve seen in
years in North Carolina waters was caught by Richard Gilligan, part of
the Blew By U! team. Corey Durako, the team leader, joined Barry
Bierstead and Joel Brown in assisting Richard’s quest to get the
tournament record 56.60 to the boat, then into the fish bag.
“There were a hundred boats working the Shark Hole on Sunday,” explained
Corey. “I guess we were the lucky ones who got the big one.”
The Shark Hole is a popular area for fishermen eighteen miles from the
inlet. Its bottom contours from sixty to sixty-eight feet of water,
which is what the Blew By U! fished.
Brunswick, Georgia— A Salt Weapon was the top SKA boat at
this year’s Two Way Sportfishing Club’s 21st Annual King Mackerel
Tournament, finishing second by a half of a pound to the Team Tree Dawg,
a non-member team.
David Futch, fishing with Michael Godbee and Barney and Brandon Oliver
on their 23T Yamaha powered Contender, caught a 32.90 pound kingfish
fishing in ninety feet of water east of Gray's Reef. They had started
the day closer in but couldn’t find a fish so they decided to move
further offshore around 1pm to see if they could change their luck.
Around 3pm they were ready to call it a day when the big king ate a
runner 150 yards behind their transom. David jumped on the rod and
quickly had the fish to the boat where Barney gaffed the king and lifted
her into the boat. “When the fish ate, we cut all the other lines and
ran the fish down,” said the excited skipper. “As soon as the fish was
on ice we were on plane headed back to the scales.” They passed the
check-in boat with just ten minutes to spare. David would like to thank
McCullough & Swindell Law Firm, Oliver Landscape Management and
Riverside Construction Company for all their help and support as well as
both Contender and Yamaha for providing them with such reliable
equipment.
St. Augustine, Florida—Tony and Greg Altieri have made their
presence felt for a long time on the northeast Florida coast and they
did it again this weekend in St. Augustine. They scaled a 38.76 on the
second day of the two-day Ancient City Gamefish Association’s Kingfish
Challenge and won the event's $15,000 guaranteed first place prize.
The Yamaha powered Mako team named Nut Deep was driven offshore on
Friday by the Altieri’s but they couldn’t buy a fish. “We went back into
the beach to an area known as the Red Top and found a couple of
twenties,” explained Tony while waiting for the awards ceremony Sunday
night.
Sullivan's Island, South Carolina—Terry Adkins’s Saltwater
Shootout was scheduled as a one-day tournament, but when NOAA posted
small craft warnings for Saturday on Friday morning it was decision
time. Terry had no choice but to make the event an either/or event,
meaning you could choose which day you preferred to fish. Now entrants
had the choice of fishing on Saturday or Sunday. NOAA couldn’t have been
more wrong, however the format was set.
“It was the right choice but Saturday morning was just fine, maybe two
to four foot seas,” said Monty Bates Sr., captain of the Yamaha powered
Contender, Hammer Time. “So we chose Saturday to fish.”
It was the right choice for this team. “We fished the jetties till nine
o’clock,” said Bates referring to teammates...
Jacksonville, Florida—With cash prizes in sixteen different species and
two jackpots, more than four hundred weekend anglers showed up to claim
their share of the booty.
Also at stake was a 21’ Yamaha powered Contender boat with a Loadmaster
Trailer. Every entrant who weighed a legal fish had a portion of their
rodeo ticket torn off at the time they weighed their catch and placed in
a drum.
Jerre Brumbelow could not make the awards because he was a part of a
Fourth of July block party for his neighborhood. His ticket was the one
that was drawn out of the drum by Gene Fox who helps produce the Alabama
Deep Sea Rodeo and was in town to help us out.
Madagorda, Texas—John Benkenstein and his Johnny B team certainly
have to rank in the top ten of saltwater fishermen in the Gulf of
Mexico. They still can catch good fish on the east coast also putting
them in a very elite class.
This week he and his team of Nick Garthwaite, John Jr., Guy Anderson,
and Gary Hiles, worked an area in one hundred thirty feet of water a
hundred miles east of Matagorda.
“She ate a blue runner off a short line about eleven o’clock,” said
Benkenstein. “Johnny Jr. did a great job of getting her to the boat.”
At the scale the fish went 48.10 pounds, the biggest king of the event.
St. Marys, Georgia—Fishing was tough for the eighty-eight teams who showed up for the
Division 4 season opener in St. Marys, Georgia, but The Reel Office and
King Seeker teams still made the fishing portion of the tournament
extremely exciting.
Thank you Jeff Keeton and Cal Lang for super performances. I couldn’t
have asked for a better script.
We’ll start with Keeton who was the first team of the afternoon who came
to the scale. “We caught her in Nassau Sound in fifty-two feet of
water,” said Keeton who was extremely proud of his wife Vicki who fought
the fish to gaff. “We caught her at 7:20 in the morning off a real big
Goggle Eye provided by Lee’s baits.” That was the earliest fish caught
in the tournament.
Freeport, Texas—Turner Loose caught the best two-fish aggregate,
which totaled 89.24 pounds to win the Texas Kingfish Shootout produced
by Bill Platt. They had two fish which totaled 89.24 pounds, but it was
Chris Machacek’s 48.14 that was just three one-hundredths of a pound
better than the Turner Loose kingfish. His was the biggest king of the
event.
Jill Turner caught their biggest king on the Turner Loose at 12:30 in
155 feet of water 130 miles east of Freeport. “We pre-fished the area so
we didn’t have to do a lot of running,” said Jill. “Seas were two to
four feet but it was still a comfortable trip. We caught four fish
altogether.”
Turner Loose has been a regular on the SKA trail and has qualified every
year for the big show at...
Ocean Isle Beach, NC—Jeff and Rickey Beck, fishing the Do Work,
slid up to the weigh-in dock in their Yamaha powered Sea Hunt ahead of
the second day field and pulled a 33.65 out of their fish bag. After a
couple of pictures, they made their way up the dock to Rube McMullan’s
scale. A couple of seconds passed before the scale flashed 33.65. They
had just bumped Ken Strickland’s first day biggest king, a 31.60.
The Jolly Mon is an either/or event. It’s a two-day event, but you can
only choose one of the two days to fish. Of the 306 teams who entered
the event, the majority picked day one while 99 teams opted for day two
which proved to be the better fishing day in terms of size of fish
caught...
Fernandina Beach, Florida‚ - Ninety-six teams headed offshore to fish the 28th Annual NSFA Tournament
of Champions and after everything was said and done, The Turn 3,
Geoffrey Stam’s little Yamaha powered Contender, would carry a 43.26
pound king to the Fernandina Marina scales and take home the first place
overall, the Class of 23’ title, and the Top Lady cash and trophies.
On Friday, Geoffrey fishing along with his lovely wife, Monica, traveled
fifteen miles offshore but could only find a couple small fish. The
larger of the two made a meal for the big hammerhead that followed it to
the boat. They also decided to head offshore early Saturday, but stilll...
POMPANO BEACH, FL – 132 boats participated in the 2010 Mercury / SeaVee Pompano Beach Saltwater Slam held on June 12 at the Hillsboro Inlet Park. Like the earlier Saltwater Shootout, teams may weigh up to ten fish for points towards the overall tournament win. You can weigh up to four of each species - Kingfish, Dolphin, Blackfin Tuna, Cobia or Wahoo. There are dozens of ways to cash a check in this event. Check out the payouts below.
Georgetown, South Carolina—David Hartness, Travis Cone, and Brent
Ballard laid a big goose egg on the first day of the Tailwalker
Marine’s Offshore Challenge. It didn’t seem to distract their
confidence level. Using some numbers Brent had they moved to a live
bottom area in sixty feet of water. About 1:30 the long-lined pogy, off
the T-top, went off.
Travis got the rod out of the holder and went to work. “I just finessed
him in,” said Travis, thinking this was the fish the Pole Dancer team
needed. “We only had one bite all day Friday, and this was only our
second bite on Saturday.”
Jacksonville, Florida—David Butler brought his team of Mark
Gerrald, Derek Meadows, and Ricky DeLoach down from Richmond Hills,
Georgia to win the Jacksonville Saltwater Classic. “We actually went a
little farther south, to St. Augustine, got baits from Lee’s Baits, and
then went fishing,” said Butler
It wasn’t until three o’clock that they hooked up with the winning fish,
a 39.69.
“We had caught fish in the upper twenties and even a thirty but we knew
that it was not enough,” explained Butler, before he left the weigh-in
dock. “She hit a blue runner right in the prop wash, Mark grabbed the
rod and made short work of the fight.”
David fishes a Yamaha powered Contender and qualified and fished the
2009 National Championship from Division 8.
Daytona Beach, Florida— Due to reports of lots of big kingfish
being caught near Fort Pierce, many of the participants in this year’s
Bluewater Promotions Daytona Saltwater Classic chose to leave from
inlets a hundred or so miles south of Daytona and fish their way north.
If they caught a good fish, they would make the run to the Halifax
Harbor Marina scales.
Okeechobee fishermen, Neil Nix, Danny Marsocci, and John Crane, fishing
on the Whiplash, Nix’s big Yamaha powered Wellcraft, left from Fort
Pierce and headed north to the Vero Cove where they had caught some good
fish earlier in the week. “There was bait everywhere and large schools
of big cobia, Spanish mackerel and bluefish tearing them up,” said
Marsocci. Armed with a well full of bait and a couple bluefish they
caught on their arrival, Neil and his experienced crew went to work.
They put out several baits in twenty feet of water and shortly after,
around 7:30, a big king ate a bluefish in their prop wash four or five
feet behind the boat. John picked up the rod and waited...
Madeira Beach, Florida – Jim Naset, fishing on his
PromarineUSA.com team’s flagship Yellowfin, the PROMARINE, powered by
his company’s trademark assortment of Suzuki, Mercury and Yamaha
outboards, caught a 47.67 pound kingfish to take home the top prize at
the 1st Annual Johns Pass Kingfish Classic held at Hubbard’s Marina on
the north side of Johns Pass.
They caught their winning fish about fifty-five miles south of Johns
Pass in 100 feet of water. Fishing with Mr. Naset were Kyle Weaver,
Kenny Larrison and Eric Merchadante. Naset told me that they went to a
spot were his PromarineUSA.com teammate, Kevin Hannon, had caught a
fifty plus king pre-fishing the day before the event. They had just put
out their first set of baits when one of the blue runners that they
were using was eaten by a good fish that after a short fight turned out
to be a big amberjack that something cut in half as it came close to the
boat. While Eric was reeling it in, another bait, fished in the middle
of their spread, got...
Palm Beach, Florida - In last years Palm Beach 440, Gatorfan came
to the weigh-in dock and unloaded a super 55.70. Now you’d think this
was going to get the job done but Yippi-Ki-Ay came in next with a 57.64.
To add insult to injury, later came George Mitchell to show off his
sons, Eddie Mitchell, 62.82.
There is poetic justice in this world. Move forward one year.
A non-member unloaded a 49.06 to lead the Palm Beach 440 after one day
of the two-day event. They were the big dogs but deep down inside I knew
it was not over yet. I was right!
Pompano Beach, Florida – SKA members again proved that they know how to catch big kingfish. At this year’s Mercury / SeaVee Pompano Beach Saltwater Shootout, the two top kings carried to the scales were caught by SKA teams. Mark Lamb’s Hard Way put a 56.34 pound king on the dock and had the largest king on the board for a total of two or three minutes until the next boat, the Skin Deep skippered by Steve Glanz who won the Key West Division 10 opener in January, squeaked into the lead by just over three tenths of a pound with a 56.65 pound smoker which would be the largest fish of any species weighed during this year's Bluewater Movements Shootout...
Treasure Island, Florida—After thirteen years of fishing
tournaments on Florida’s west coast, Robert McRanie finally can add a
first place trophy to his collection. “We’ve done well in events but
this one is very special,” said McRanie, who runs a Yamaha powered
HydraSports named C.R.A.P. Happens.
With Cody McRanie, James Claudoin, and Tommy Ziesman, they moved
fifty-one miles west of John's Pass after check out and set up in 155
feet of water. The fishermen who stayed around John’s Pass did not fair
well this weekend.
“The AJ’s were thick so we went through about thirty...
Jensen Beach, Florida—Dieter Cardwell, Kevin Alley, and Mike
Lundy scaled a 57.10-pound king mackerel on the second and final day of
the Frances Langford Memorial Tournament and won the event.
Fishing a Yamaha powered Wellcraft named Tide Line, the team exited the
Jensen Beach inlet and proceeded directly to the Lake Worth Inlet. “We
were fishing this event along with the first fixed event of the Yamaha
Professional Kingfish Tour,” explained Cardwell. “We had fished this
area on day one and had a forty on the scale. Now we had a forty-four
pound king in the bag from earlier in the day, however we were waiting
to find out what Papotanic had on board. They were the ones we figured
we had to beat, so...
Fort Pierce, Florida - “Way to go Leon,” I hollered after the last fish was weighed in the Saltwater Classic in Fort Pierce, Florida. Leon came back with, “I finally won one.” I was amazed that in my memory bank I did not know Leon Wilcox (Native Premonitions) had not won an event. I can even remember the first event he had entered and talking to him in front of the SKA trailer, but I was sure he was a previous tournament winner. Many top tens but no wins. I was wrong!
I can’t tell you how proud I was of him as he accepted his award from Terry Adkins. Leon is a Native American and is proud of his heritage. He represents the Seminole Tribe of Florida with pride and respect. Call him a good will ambassador if you will. He’s first class in my book!
Cape Coral, Florida - After finishing second in the Marco event and taking home the top prize in the Fort Myers Shootout, Scott Rush along with crewmates Gifford Kline, Mike Gavala and the event's Top Senior Angler, Rick Dean, fishing on their Yamaha powered 31’ Contender, the Seconds 2 Spare, carried a big kingfish to the scales that weighed in at 48.52 pounds and go to the top of the Bluewater Promotions Fort Myers Saltwater Classic’s leaderboard and make it two in a row for the team from Estero.
Scott told me that they had decided to run south about seventy miles and start the day fishing around the T-Tower, but before they could get going they discovered that they had a bad bait well pump and spent some time swapping it out. After fixing that problem, they were able to make the run...
Sarasota, Florida—Mike Abbott gave the Sarasota Sertoma King
Mackerel Tournament crowd gathered at Marina Jacks something to shout
about. The Sparky’s Machine team watched as their king tipped the scale
at 38.90 and throughout the remainder of the two-hour weigh in, no one
challenged them.
The winners told me that their claim to fame this weekend started and
ended at the T-Tower. “Yeah, we made the long run but it paid off,” said
Mike. “When we arrived we needed bait so we started working on it.
After a couple of baits were in...
Fort Myers, Florida--Because of the lack of fish in the area due
to all the cold water, tournament director Alberto Abad had done away
with the southern boundary restriction that had limited the number of
fish caught in the earlier Division 11 events. Because of this several
of the teams made the decision to make the long run south to the waters
around the Tortugas.
Last year’s Shootout champion and second place finisher in this year’s
Marco event, Scott Rush and his Seconds 2 Spare teammates Gifford Kline,
Mike Gavala and Rick Dean were one of the teams that decided to make
the long run south. After they checked out at 7:00am, Scott turned to
the south and put the hammer down on his 31’ Yamaha powered Contender.
Seas were rougher than expected and after a four hour, 120 mile run,
they stopped over some hard bottom southwest of Fort Jefferson. As they
were letting their first bait out something big ate it and took off.
“We thought that we had the tournament winner on” said Scott, “but when
the fish made a run past the boat we could see that it was a big
wahoo.” Things were quiet for a while so Rush moved to an area near the
Rock Pile in 115 feet of water where they found some 72 degree water.
Soon after their move they caught a 20+ pound king and while they were
putting it in the Contender’s fish box another reel went off. “The fish
ate a big runner way back in...
Naples, Florida—I have always enjoyed the Marco Island, Cedar Bay
Marina Tournament and the Fishing in Paradise event in Naples, Florida.
Big fish is the reason. Gets everyone excited when they read the
stories in Angler or on the web. Southwest Florida is a great place to
visit and the fishing at this time of year is great. But not this year.
First, the Marco Island tournament got cancelled twice due to weather.
Then the Naples event was cancelled. Yes, it’s been a horrible winter
and it still tries to hold its grip on us. The cold snaps have kept the
warm water way south and subsequently the kings and other pelagic’s have
not started moving north yet. It better get moving quick or it will
affect all of the Florida west coast events.
Jim Scharfschwerdt, the event’s promoter, came up with the idea of doing
two events on the same...
Naples, Florida—I have always enjoyed the Marco Island, Cedar Bay
Marina Tournament and the Fishing in Paradise event in Naples, Florida.
Big fish is the reason. Gets everyone excited when they read the
stories in Angler or on the web. Southwest Florida is a great place to
visit and the fishing at this time of year is great. But not this year.
First, the Marco Island tournament got cancelled twice due to weather.
Then the Naples event was cancelled. Yes, it’s been a horrible winter
and it still tries to hold its grip on us. The cold snaps have kept the
warm water way south and subsequently the kings and other pelagic’s have
not started moving north yet. It better get moving quick or it will
affect all of the Florida west coast events.
Jim Scharfschwerdt, the event’s promoter, came up with the idea of doing
two events on the same weekend...
Key West, Florida—As competitors moved from Key West Harbour
Marina into the Atlantic, they were amazed to find flat, calm seas.
Could this really be Key West in January? It was, but as teams soon
found out calm seas did not equate to finding big fish. As one old
Conch told me, "The water was so clear you could see fifty,
sixty feet down and there was no current." Certainly not the
best, but for Steve Glanz on the Skin Deep and Travis Maxwell on
Constant Chaos, it didn't make a difference. They each came to the
scales with fifties.
Glanz, Michael and Matt Shramko, Ryan Carr, and James Ralph slid the
Mercury powered Invincible up to the weigh-in dock, and held up their
king for my camera. We knew when Bobby Flocken strained to hoist her
onto the scale she was going to be a real good...
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