Terry Lacoss

Tournament organizations are restructuring their tournaments to “Rodeo” style events where multiple salt and freshwater species may be targeted. Competing on a wide variety of fishing waters requires the “Perfect Boat.”

Don Gasgarth eased our 240 LTS Triton bay boat onto the shallow sandbar where a nervous school of mullet scampered along the shallow edges. I readied my eight-foot cast net at the bow, as Don powered off the 300-hp Mercury Verado outboard. Our boat’s eight-foot Power-Pole was soon engaged into the hard sand bottom trapping the schooling mullet between fishermen and wild island beaches.

In the nearby deep channel, Southern Kingfish Association tournament boats sped by, heading for the St. Mary’s checkout boat, brilliant rays from the rising sun were signaling a new day of tournament king fishing.

After a pair of accurate and not so accurate casts from my monofilament cast net, we had captured enough live mullet for a full day of competitive king fishing. Certainly the low light conditions were a huge asset while cast netting skittish mullet in shallow water. It was a fishing spot I frequently visited time and time again while backwater fishing for skinny water redfish. Seemingly the mullet never left the shallow water bar, even during a low tide. It was their safety zone and our guarantee that we would have live bait on board long before our tournament competition.

Seasoned SKA kingfish teams will agree that cast netting menhaden in the open waters of the ocean is not always guaranteed.

After checking out with the official tournament check-out boat, a calm ocean greeted us at the mouth of the St. Mary’s Inlet—almost perfect conditions for small boat king fishing.

Adjusting both trim tabs slightly until the bow ran steady, while trimming the big Mercury outboard to a more positive and speedy nature, our Mercury powered Triton soon was soon speeding to far offshore saltwater fishing grounds.

All the hard work done in equipment rigging and testing of propellers had finally come together for our bay boat. For me, this is almost as much fun and gratification as teasing a big money fish to a bait or lure. Almost, that is!

My interests in saltwater fishing boats began some thirty-five fishing seasons ago and, since that time, I have rigged some fifty salt and freshwater fishing boats for both tournament fishing and charters. High priorities included live wells and pumps, T-tops, leaning posts, rod holders, outriggers, electronic boxes, electronics, and outboard rigging. In many situations, my son Terry David and I would do most of the rigging.

At the end of the two-day 2011 Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament, Don Gasgarth and I had king fished as far as twenty-five miles offshore and had also netted menhaden from the shallow surf. The broad shouldered 300hp Mercury Verado had burned only seventy-two gallons of fuel compared to huge fuel consumptions created by much larger tournament boats.

Economic times and the increasing need for boats that can simply do it all has generated more sales where fishermen can justify purchasing a boat that can take them saltwater fishing and freshwater fishing as well. Certainly the increase in fishermen signing up for the 2011 2nd Annual Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo is a good indicator that multiple purpose fishing boats are in demand. There was an increase of 200 rodeo fishermen this year!

My question is, if you were going to target every one of the species up for big cash prizes in the event, what style of fishing boat would you choose?

Freshwater bass boats are okay for inlet and beach fishing when the seas are dead calm, while a center console fishing boat draws too much water when targeting shallow water redfish and freshwater lakes.

As John Hartrich, President of the Nassau Sport Fishing Association, and I checked out tournament boats recently from the Fernandina Harbor outside Breakwater, we did notice a huge change in the type of fishing boats that had entered the multiple specie fishing rodeo.

During the first signs of daylight Ryan Conner’s voice came from just below the very end of the pier. “Hey Terry and John, once you check me out, I will paddle back under Brett’s Restaurant pier and begin fishing at the “Port.”

Ryan Conner is an accomplished backwater fisherman and 2010 winner of the Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Tournament. The event typically draws some five-hundred kayak fishermen.

Next to check out were “Bear” Croft and his Bear Caught kingfish team. I just knew that Bear was going to race his Mercury powered 33-foot Yellowfin tournament boat to far offshore kingfish waters. Finally, there was a mix of flats boats, center console fishing boats, bay boats, and even diesel powered sport fishing boats.

In past tournaments, the fast swimming king mackerel was the main targeted species and still is today. The only other species of game fish up for a cash pay day was cobia.

However, it was evident this morning during the check-out that a variety of saltwater game fish would be targeted by a big variety of fishing boats, both large and small.

And without a doubt many of the tournament fishing teams had far back in their mind that it would certainly give them more credit and a larger pay day if they could not only weigh in the largest king mackerel, but also several other species of game fish that were up for cash prizes.

I don’t believe that I am out of place by saying in future rodeo style fishing tournaments, competitive fishing teams will be fishing from boats that are better adapted for catching multiple species of game fish.

Remember, first there was the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo that signed up more fishermen than any other fishing tournament. In fact, they set the official record earlier this year.

The first rodeo in 1929 was such a success that an association had to be formed to perpetuate the contest on an annual basis. The first competitive fishing event in America to be dubbed a rodeo had hosted (at the time) a staggering 260 widely enthusiastic sports fishermen.

The Rodeo now attracts over 75,000 spectators per year to its current Dauphin Island site. It also attracts over 3,200 fishermen each year and involves civic minded Jaycees and many volunteers who work tirelessly to advance the art and spirit of sport fishing in Alabama. The popular deep sea fishing rodeo is also a Division 7 Southern Kingfish Association sanctioned event.

During the 2011 2nd Annual Gate Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo close to five hundred both fresh and saltwater fishermen signed up for the rodeo portion of the event. Jack Holmes and the Southern Kingfish Association fashioned the tournament after the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo while making changes to their format to attract wide and diversified Jacksonville fishermen.

Staging the event from Jacksonville’s Metropolitan Park allowed fishermen to run south on the St. Johns River where a variety of freshwater species could be targeted. Tournament competitors could also fish north from the tournament site for a huge variety of both deep sea and shallow water saltwater species. Keep in mind that Metropolitan Park is located in the heart of Jacksonville where big crowds gather to witness the weigh in and enjoy the many on site vendors and food bars.

With the lagging economy and lack of tournament kingfish boats competing in local events, as new director of the Fernandina Beach Kingfish Tournament, my first suggestion was to follow the success of the Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo and make our tournament a “Fishing Rodeo” as well.

With all of the hard work done by our tournament committee including Joe Wise, Captain Scott Stewart, John Hartrich, and Mike Griffin, we molded a new format that included ten species of “Rodeo” game fish. While most kingfish events were attracting only kingfish boats, our event had eighty-two boats entered into the event. We all believe if we had kept the event exclusively for king mackerel, we would have had just fifty kingfish teams signed up.

Instead, just like at the Gate Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo, spectators were able to see a wide variety of saltwater species weighed in at the Fernandina Harbor tournament site. More importantly, we also attracted a wide variety of tournament fishermen from kayakers to large deep sea going vessels.

Fishing rodeos are certainly going to be around for a long, long time which will be good for both our competitive fishing teams and the economy as well. Boat manufacturers are right on line with their newly designed bay boats as well that certainly are the best all around fishing boats for rodeo style fishing.

September, 2011