By: Bob Flocken
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...
By: Bob Flocken
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...
By: Don Ewing
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...
By: Jack Holmes
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...
By: Don Ewing
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...
By: Jack Holmes
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...
By: Don Ewing
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.”
By: Bob Flocken
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.
By: Jack Holmes
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...
By: Jack Holmes
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...
By: Bob Flocken
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...
By: Jack Holmes
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.
By: Jack Holmes
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...
By: Captain Will Geraghty
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...
By: Jack Holmes
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...
By: Captain Will Geraghty
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...
By: Jack Holmes
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.”
By: Jack Holmes
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...









