Crikey’s 55.35 Is Big Fish of the Key West Harbour Tournament!

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, scaled a 36.68 on day one of the event but knew that wasn’t going to even make the top 15 payoff spots.

The Moores didn’t even know they were going to fish SKA this year because of their hectic schedule on the bass tour plus a week before Key West Andre still didn’t have a team put together. Andre is a successful professional bass fisherman fishing the BASS & FLW Tours while his Australian born wife Kim fishes the ladies Bassmaster Tour. She won the top title this year and earned a berth in the all male dominated Bassmaster Classic in February. She is the first woman to ever accomplish this feat. Greg Watts is a star on the Redfish Circuit.

At the end of day one, the Twin Vee team had a 54.02 on the scale and the lead in the tournament. “It’s tough to lose the event on day two,” said Captain Charles Chandler. “But a 54 to start the season still works just fine.”

Charles went on to explain, “We were on our way to the Critter when our steering messed up so we stopped at the Banana Bar, about 35 miles from Key West.”

The water looked good to the team, Paul Langel, David Faircloth, and Rick Baruta. The water temp gauge read 70.8 to 71.2 degrees, perfect for king mackerel.

“Our first bait in the water, a long lined blue runner, got hit,” Chandler added. “Dave picked up the rod and by 8:30 we had her within range of Paul’s gaff. She had made two long runs then circled under the boat.”
The team had a Contender next to them so they eased the smoker over the gunwale and did away with the usual high fives and shouts of elation. “We didn’t want anyone to know where she came from,” Chandler added. “We did tell Ron Mitchell who went there on Sunday.”

Chandler did think it was ironic that on Sunday morning they needed a downrigger ball and asked Andre (Crikey) if he had a spare, which he graciously gave to them.

This was not the first time the Twin Vee team has caught a 50 in Key West. Chandler fishes a Suzuki powered Twin Vee.

It was wonderful to see Team Salt Rock earn third place with a great 53.12. We have watched Frank Chivas’ sons, Cody and Kyle, grow up in our sport. Now they’re finding leaderboards all over the southeast and garnering lots of press in their wake. They fish the Redfish Tour and the Tarpon Tour. “We wanted to fish the SKA Pro Tour but the schedule didn’t work,” said Cody. Both are in college and according to dad, getting excellent grades. Had they entered the Pros, they would have finished second with an aggregate score of 85.89.

Along with Rob Campbell, they caught their fish on day two after weighing a 32.77 on day one. Their home waters are off Florida’s west coast and fish a Suzuki powered Yellowfin.

Bar Fly, a Yamaha powered Contender, was fourth with a 51.91 also caught on Sunday. Billy Green, Ken Harris, Andy Glynn, CJ McLaughlin, and John Danduono, worked the Tail End Buoy area both days. “This is an area we’re familiar with and it has been good to us,” explained Green. They had only a 22-pound king to show for their efforts on day one but had all the confidence in the area so went back there on day two.
“We were fishing in 75 feet of water,” said Green. “She hit a long lined  blue runner at 9:15. C.J. worked the fish and as she came in the boat we thought she would go 50.”

Ken Harris, a very well respected guide in the Florida Keys has seen bigger kings but after fishing this event from its inception 13 years ago he knew it was a payday fish.

Neil Nix, Eric Kindell, and John Crane, earned fifth in the event and caught the fifth and final king mackerel in the 50-pound range.

“The Tail End Buoy has always been good to us,” said Nix. “On day one we had only caught one small king before noon but as the tide changed the bite turned on. Eric was ready when our 50.19 ate a blue runner on the surface. We knew she was a good fish and took no chances. We were elated when she came in the boat knowing we had a great season opening king.”

The team fishes a Yamaha powered Wellcraft.

The 13th annual event was moved from Murray Marine to the new Key West Harbour Marina. Of all the marinas we’ve been in over the past years, this is by far the best. In fact it’s big enough to house the Nationals, everyone at one marina. However, there are just no fish in Key West at that time of year.

The staff at the marina went out of their way to help the fishermen and us. They also have a clubhouse, which has a superb restaurant. It certainly made for a very successful event!

In sixth place was the Keri-N-On / Koolau team with a 49.85 caught on day two. Gill Strelec, Jr., Jason Naumann, Conrad Lau, Dell Williamson, Rocky Cusack, and Rad Lau make up the team. Conrad was the event's Top Senior Angler.

The Weathers, Jeff and Greg, picked up seventh place thanks to a nice 46.93. They fish the Triple Gobble, a Yamaha powered Contender.

Chalk up eighth to Ron Mitchell’s Bandit team. Ron combined the talents of former Pro participants to make an incredible team including Will Geraghty, Carl Carder, and David and Brad Butler. The Suzuki powered Contender team weighed a 46.84 caught by Brad on day two, improving on a 34.42 caught on day one.

Ken and Dan Upton, Jack Wood, David Heavenridge, and Matt Davis got the season off with a bang with a nice 46.73 fishing Team Donzi. This impressive trio of Wood and Uptons has been winning for years, even capturing the National Championship in 2000. Wood won the title also in ’93. Their ninth place finish gives them a lot of confidence going into ’09.

Now look at the scores between seventh and tenth place. Less than one and a quarter pound separate the places. That’s very interesting, a 46.93, 46.84, 46.73,  and a 46.71. You think it’s not important to handle your fish carefully?

The final weight, the 46.71 came from Mike McDuffie’s Black Gold. Mike, Don Williamson, Jordan Williamson, Lawrence Bullard, and Karl Mrozek fished a Yamaha powered Hydra Sports.

The Knot Me team, Brian and Bill Hasson, Randy Keys, and Luis Urbay, may be the best Class boat fishing today in Florida. Once again they won another event, this time Key West Harbour’s Class of 23 with a 46.90. That’s a $3,000 king mackerel! The Class of 23 was sponsored by ProMarineUSA.com who is also a Corporate Partner of the SKA.

Chase Haskin who fished the Conched Out was the event's Top Junior Angler after scaling a 41.81 plus he also won the Mercury Scholarship $500 award.

Ryan Johnson from the All In was second and Devon Ellis from Easy Drinkin was third in the Junior Category. FishBoatLoans.com along with Piratecom and Bethel Marine Electronics sponsored the Juniors.

Once again the season opener did not disappoint. Fishing in the Florida Keys in January is as good as it gets. The figures don’t lie! If you have the desire to catch big, big kings, mark this on your schedule for next year.

Key West Harbor Final Standings

Open Class 55.351. CRIKEY Invincible / Evinrude Andre Moore Kim Bain Moore Greg Watts Glyn Austin 54.022. TWIN VEE Twin Vee / Suzuki Charles Chandler Paul Langel David Faircloth Rick Baruta 53.123. TEAM SALT ROCK Contender / Yamaha Cody Chivas Kyle Chivas Rob Cambell 51.914. BAR FLY Contender / Yamaha Billy Green Ken Harris Andy Glynn Cy McLaughlin John Danduno 50.195. SAKE Wellcraft / Yamaha Neil Nix Eric Kendall John Crane 49.856. KERI-N-ON Contender / Yamaha Jason Naumann Conrad Lau Gill Strelec Jr. Dell Williamson Rocky Cusack Rad Lau 46.937. TRIPLE GOBBLE Contender / Yamaha Jeff Weathers Greg Weathers 46.848. BANDIT Contender / Suzuki Ron Mitchell Will Geraghty Carl Carder David Butler Brad Butler 46.739. TEAM DONZI Donzi / Mercury Ken Upton Dan Upton Jack Wood David Heavenridge Matt Davis 46.7110. BLACK GOLD Hydra Sports / Yamaha Mike McDuffie Don Williamson Jordan Williamson Lawrence Bullard Karl Mrozek 45.6811. BOTTOM LINE Contender / Yamaha Reid Macy Scott Bell 44.6012. WOUND TIGHT Donzi / Yamaha Tommy Mulligan Jim Scharfschwerdt Louis Cici Michael Crabtree Jr. 44.1013. King Bird 43.5414. QUADRA PELAGIC / CHAMPIONANGLER.COM Midnight Express / Mercury Jack Vasilaros 43.4315. FOUR SUNS II Yellowfin / Yamaha William Gressette Doug Gressette Bole Voisinet

Class of 23 46.901. KNOT ME Contender / Yamaha Brian Hasson Randy Keys Luis Urbay Bill Hasson 40.952. Trailer Trash 40.683. Bandida Gary Bowman Pat Unferth John Schneller Top Lady Angler 55.35Kim Bain Moore CRIKEY Top Senior Angler 49.85Conrad Lau KOOLAU Top Junior Angler 41.81Chase Haskin CONCHED OUT SKA Top Junior Anglers sponsored by Preferred Marine 41.811. Chase Haskin CONCHED OUT 41.712. Ryan Johnson ALL IN 40.933. Devon Ellis EASY DRINKIN Mercury Marine Junior Angler Scholarship Winner Chase Haskin CONCHED OUT