Bandit Top SKA Boat in Marco Island Kingfish Tournament!

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.”

Geraghty went on to inform me, “We caught her around one o’clock. Ted Elliott joined us this weekend and did the honors. We were fishing in 100 feet of water and caught her on the surface.”

“She stayed just out of gaff range for what seemed to be the longest time; I thought Ron was going to burst a blood vessel,” he added. “No one is more passionate about his fishing than Ron. He knew this was a money fish and just wanted her in the boat. As Elliott finally got her up, Ron stuck her and flipped her into the boat and then into the bag.” Will still insists Ron has mellowed out quite a bit.

Suzuki certainly has to be happy with the team’s success.

They held onto the lead for about 45 minutes before Dan Greenling, fishing Roll On, slid up to the dock and pulled a 46.95 out of his bag. They were non-members, but still bumped the Bandit down to second who still remained the top SKA team.

The biggest king scaled last year in this event was a 40.58 caught on the Top Down out of Sarasota. This year both the Roll On and Bandit beat that fish, however most teams recorded unusually cold water south of Naples. You couldn’t have asked for a better weather however, with winds SW at five to ten and temperatures in the 80s.

Next in the standings came P.J. Myers and his Triple J Team. P.J., his son Jake, and Keith Mangus, ran 75 miles to the southwest. “It was about noon when a blue runner got hit off the downrigger,” explained P.J. “We gave the rod to my eight-year-old son, Jake, and he got her to the boat.”

When asked if he was excited P.J. said, “A little. He kept asking why we couldn’t stop for a while and bottom fish. It was tough getting him to understand this was tournament fishing.”

Jake is just eight years old and this was his first event. Not only did he catch the fish but picked up $500 from Cedar Bay Yacht Club for being the top junior and also picked up the Mercury Scholarship award worth $500. I’d say that will be very memorable.

The boat, a Mercury powered Yellowfin, earned third place money for their 34.76.

Equally pleased with their performance were Jim Ingalls and Cory Burlew. Their 34.21, the first king of the afternoon that came to scale, won the tournament's Class of 23 Division.

“We ran south 60 miles where we ran into about 20 boats fishing an area,” said Ingalls. “I was going further south but thought we’d join the pack and see if they knew something we didn’t know.” At eleven o’clock their 34 hit a goggle eye 60 feet down that they had caught off Boca Raton the day before.

Jim’s boat, a 23’ Sea Craft powered by Evinrude, is sponsored by Mountain Living from Elk, North Carolina, and is named Inspiration.

“All’s I’m trying to do is get Cory and I qualified, said Jim. “If we make a little money that’s great, but I want to get to the Nationals!”

Penny Wise was next, but with Jeff Silverthorne at the helm. Mike Penny was co-captain and, between the two, had their hands full.

“We were into the fish all day long,” said Silverthorne. “Caught 15 but our biggest, a 34.57 in 65 feet of water, came at 12:30 with Rick Henley on the rod. She ate a blue runner.”

Jeff’s daughter Chelsey caught the team’s second biggest fish and went on to take second place in the SKA junior category.

The Penny Wise is a Yamaha powered Contender and perennial winner in Division 6 & 11 on Florida’s West Coast.

Seconds 2 Spare was next on the leaderboard, resting comfortably in fifth with a 34.50. “We were just 20 miles from here,” Captain Scott Rush confessed. “Water temperature was not good to the south and, analyzing some sea temp charts, we found a warm water eddy that wrapped from the west of the Tortugas out and circling back in offshore of here. We found 72 degree water.”

The team of Rush, Gifford Kline, and Mike Gavala had a 32 in the boat before ten o’clock but obviously kept fishing.

“She ate a runner off the long line in 80 feet of water,” Rush added. “Gifford was the man bringing the money fish successfully to gaff.

This is the same area they fished the Naples event last year and bagged the winning 65-pound king. Seconds 2 Spare’s Rick Dean was the top senior angler.

Old Blue rounded out the money places in the Marco Island event. Jim Vaughan led a trio of college girls, Stephanie Matlock, Alicia Mohler, and Kristina Corcoran, to some nice fish. “We caught five all the same size as our 33.36,” explained Vaughan. “We were flying the kite 50 miles south of Marco. Stephanie hooked up after one o’clock and, shortly after, brought her to gaff.

Thinking that the three college girl recipients of the Lady Angler award was a neat thing I asked Stephanie if this was her biggest fish she’d ever caught. No she said, I’ve brought a 65 pounder to the boat before.

I think Jim has unleashed a young lady and her friends that can do some serious damage at any tournament.

I want to thank Scott Hopkins, GM of the Cedar Bay Yacht Club, for all his help. He did a masterful job on the microphone when I was on the docks. His help also ensured the success of the fifth annual event.

In two weeks, just up the road, the Naples event will be held. April 10th and 11th will be the final event of Division 11 in Fort Myers. Only eleven class boats turned out for Marco Island so, like last year, many have not seized the opportunity to qualify for the Nationals before the rest of the country wets a line. It’s a no-brainer especially when you know that within the next two weeks the fish should be right out front. It’s weigh a fish, go to the Nationals in this Division for the Class boats.

Thanks to all who came out and made this event a rousing success!

Marco Island King Mackerel Tournament Final Standings

Open Class 46.951. Roll On 43.962. BANDIT Contender / Suzuki Will Geraghty Ron Mitchell 34.763. TRIPLE J Yellowfin / Mercury P.J. Myers Keith Mangus Jake Myers Jeff Smith Stevie Cooper 34.574. PENNY WISE Contender / Yamaha Jeff Silverthorne Mike Penny Chelsey Silverthorne 34.505. SECONDS 2 SPARE Contender / Yamaha Scott Rush Gifford Kline Mike Gavala 33.366. OLD BLUE Yellowfin / Yamaha Jim Vaughan 32.037. SPARKY'S MACHINE Donzi / Mercury Will Lamneck Mike Abbott Rhonda Morris 29.318. LAGERHEAD Contender / Yamaha Steve Papen Doug Speeler, Jr. Brandon Fraley Brian Simmons 29.079. G-FORCE Contender / Yamaha Jason Gell Scott Lavieri Debra Gell Glenn Carr 28.9010. KING'S WILD Sailfish / Yamaha Paul Langel David Faircloth Rick Baruta

Class of 23 34.211. INSPIRATION Sea Craft / Evinrude James Ingalls Cory Burlew 29.702. STILL KICKIN Yellowfin / Mercury Chad Lammert III Chase Lammert IV June Gutknecht 29.303. GET SNOOKERED Contender / Yamaha Chris Workman Michelle Jackson Jim Kurth Kevin Weber Top Lady Angler 33.36Stephanie Matlock, Alicia Mohl OLD BLUE Top Senior Angler 34.50Rick Dean SECONDS TO SPARE Top Junior Angler 34.76Jake Myers TRIPLE J SKA Top Junior Anglers sponsored by N.B.O.A. Marine Insurance  1. Jake Myers TRIPLE J  2. Chelsey Silverthorne PENNYWISE  3. Janathan & Michael Guitard MIDNIGHT MADNESS