Terry Lacoss
Both Competitive and recreational fishermen are having fun competing for a multitude of prizes and with equal odds.
Would you believe a .64 lb. menhaden would win $1,250.00 cold cash? Team Crawfish weighed in two menhaden that eventually won $1,750.00 during the recently held Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo! Better yet, Jerre Brumbelow competed against several of the pro teams and won a 21-foot Contender fishing boat, Yamaha outboard and Loadmaster boat trailer valued at $45,000.00 for his less than one pound whiting. Instead of fishing from a $200,000.00 kingfish boat, Brumbelow fished from his family fishing boat with long time fishing buddy, Fred Britt.
Yulee, Florida’s Kenny Crawford had a blast competing in the Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo with team members Cindy Crawford, Robby Farlow, Mathew Farlow, Al Morris, and Donald Burch.
“It was the most fun we have ever had competing in a fishing tournament,” Kenny Crawford said. “We looked at the weather forecast and knew our chances of catching a big king would be limited to the first day of the tournament. Saturday’s weather forecast was calling for high winds and a good chance of thunderstorms.”
“Early that morning we landed a 30-pound kingfish. A much smaller kingfish was hooked and as it tired at boat-side a huge cuda began eating our king all the way up to the gills. We teased the cuda with our hooked kingfish, but failed to catch the barracuda. That cuda would have easily won first place [in its category]. This was the first SKA kingfish tournament that we hoped a big cuda would show up and eat our king mackerel!”
Later that day, Team Crawfish’s steering went out, causing them to limp back to shore and the nearest boat ramp. Flexible tournament rules allowed the successful kingfish team to trailer their kingfish boat to the Mathew’s Bridge boat ramp where they were able to navigate to the weigh-in dock. After weighing their kingfish, they received drawing tickets, one per angler, that could possibly win a $45,000.00 boat/motor/trailer package. On Saturday, team Crawfish decided to fish in the rivers and cast netted jumbo “river pogies”.
Believe it or not, Kenny Crawford’s first place, .64 lb. pogy and wife Cindy’s second place, .53 lb. pogy won $1,750.00 cold cash!
“It was the most fun that we have ever had competing in a fishing tournament,” Kenny Crawford later said. “There were just so many ways to win and the versatile tournament rules made it possible for fishermen from shore or from a large boat to win.”
Legendary bass pro Preston Clark also competed in the family orientated tournament.
“On Friday I flipped a giant of a largemouth bass from a heavy stand of floating vegetation in Rodman Reservoir,” Clark said. “Realizing it would be tough to catch a larger bass than my 9.85 pounder that I weighed on the first day of the event, I decided to fish the St. John’s River on Saturday hoping to catch a big bream. I ended up with only a handful of small bream, but landed my first place catfish while fishing with liver on the bottom!”
“I really enjoyed fishing in the Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo. It was a pleasant change from competitive bass fishing. I had fun without all the pressures of paying high entry fees and rigid tournament competition.”
However, the most fun enjoyed by competitors of the Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo was the anticipation of winning the top prize, a brand new 21-foot Contender fishing boat, powered by Yamaha and loaded on a Loadmaster boat trailer.
“My fishing partner Fred Britt and me launched my boat from the St. Marys Waterfront Park boat ramp with plans of fishing at the tip of the St. Marys jetty rocks for big fish,” Jerre Brumbelow said. “The weather was forecasted high winds beginning at 1:00 PM, so we hoped to catch our big fish early before bad weather arrived.”
Bad luck soon played a role ultimately in their fishing success, as the boat’s steering failed and they had to use Fred Britt’s saltwater fishing boat.
“Everything that could go wrong, went wrong that morning,” Jerre Brumbelow said. “By the time we launched Fred’s boat, it was already lunchtime and the winds and rain had arrived. Realizing we could not fish at the jetty rocks, we anchored up at the southern tip of Cumberland Island. Fishing was slow as well while I boated a .98 lb. whiting and Fred landed a 1.5 lb. sea trout.”
Brumbelow and Britt were also competing in the recently held 1st Annual Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo where sixteen species of both fresh and saltwater fish could be weighed in to win big prizes and cash. But more importantly, weighed in species produced a drawing ticket for the angler and a chance to win the Contender, Yamaha, and Loadmaster boating package.
“We decided not to fish on Saturday because of the weather and drove to Jacksonville’s Metropolitan Park to weigh in our whiting and sea trout,” Jerre Brumbelow said. “We wanted our chance at winning the boat package. We actually stayed around for several hours after securing our drawing tickets before driving back to St. Marys.”
“After the awards ceremony, we drew Jerre Brumbelow’s ticket, but he wasn’t present,” tournament Director Jack Holmes said.
“Later that night after dinner, I listened to a phone message left by Jack Holmes who confirmed that my ticket was drawn and I had won the Contender, Yamaha, Loadmaster boating package worth some $45,000.00,” Jerre Brumbelow said. “I can’t tell you how excited both Fred Britt and me were after finding that we had actually won the drawing! Our tournament began with nothing but bad luck, while we ultimately won the big prize!”
“We really enjoyed fishing in the tournament which attracted a diverse field of fishermen. Competitors could win the top prize fishing while from a large sport fishing boat, from a medium size boat like ours, or while beach fishing on foot.”
I personally would have loved to compete in the local Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo, but being the owner of a beach store on July 4th weekend, it simply would not work. I did sneak away and visit the tournament site at Jacksonville’s Metropolitan Park during the last day of the event. It was really unique watching Jack Holmes weigh in barracuda, bream, and many other species of fish besides kingfish!
While talking to a very diverse field of fishermen that competed in the tournament, I soon realized that the Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo was designed for every style of fisherman—freshwater and saltwater. More importantly, you could catch a first place fish while catching your live bait in the morning, or while reeling in a hooked fish and experiencing a dreaded barracuda attack. And for the first time in many kingfish seasons, barracuda attacks are now welcome by fishermen.
The popular event also attracted a diverse field of sponsors as well. For example, Gate petroleum was extremely happy to sponsor the family orientated event, taking into consideration that every Friday and Saturday their stores are visited by fishermen purchasing supplies and fuel. Fishermen also smoke lots of cigars, particularly after landing a bragging size fish, which gave reason for Swisher International, Inc. to join the long list of tournament sponsors.
Plans are already being made for next year’s event which will definitely grow in popularity with its unique family and competitive format.
Angler magazine, August 2010
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