Southern Kingfish Association

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...

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...