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THE MAKINGS OF CHAMPIONSHIP KINGFISH TEAMS
The 98 SKA tournament trail winners are benefiting from the ever increasing exposure of the Southern Kingfish Association tournament trail. Past winners will benefit too!
by Terry Lacoss

Having missed the last two open division qualifying events, I joined the many spectators who waited patiently for the 1998 Southern Kingfish Association's first day weigh in to begin. With my camera strapped around my neck, I hoped to take some valuable photos of SKA teams and their winning kingfish.

Actually I had been delayed slightly and missed seeing the "Loose Lucy" weigh in the largest kingfish of the day, a real heavyweight at forty eight pounds!

So during the final day of the weigh in, I made sure that I arrived early, only to find That's My Dog" and the "Streaker" tied up to the weigh in dock with potential winning king mackerel. Roger Walker, captain of the "Streaker," weighed in a 40.9 lb. kingfish to grab 4th place honors. Captain Forrest Taylor weighed in a 40.2 lb. kingfish to secure 1st place honors and the National Kingfish Championship title for the North Carolina based fishing team, "That's My Dog". The tournament boat, "Loose Lucy", did not weigh in a kingfish on the final day of the event. More than likely the "Loose Lucy" was seared away from the tournament scales by "That's My Dog's," loud barking! I know team member, Don Ewing, had to have a sore throat from all of that woofing!

Certainly Southern Kingfish Association teams that qualified for the 1998 National Championship were both excited about winning this grand prize and also extremely excited about the new "Pro" division. Tournament talk filled the air during the entire championship.

Needless to say, teams that compete for the 1999 "Angler of the Year' title will have both more time to prepare for each tournament and also be more competitive as well.

"We had no idea that we would end up winning the 'Angler of the Year' title," said captain Steve Shook. 'We got off to an extremely slow start by catching a twenty three pound kingfish in the Key West, "Hog's Breath" kingfish tournament and a thirteen pound kingfish in the 'John's Pass Spring Kingfish Classic.' Needless to say, we had hoped to catch forty pound plus kingfish at both of these events."

Shook fishes with his wife, Ginger, son, Chad and long time fishing friend, Aaron Pierce. Ginger Shook is also a three time winner of the "Lady Angler Of the Year!" All are from Golden Meadow, Louisiana. Fishing from their thirty foot Donzi team boat, the "Wave Runner," the Shook fishing team made one heck of a comeback in capturing the "Angler of the Year" award.

'We arrived at each "Open Division" tournament sight at least one week before the tournament began," said Steve. 'We pre-fished extremely hard in order to make sure that we found a big school of winning kings before the first day of the event."

"Not only did we give our best shot at finding a potential winning fish, but we also made sure that we found enough live bait to fill our bait wells before the first day of the tournament."  Steve also went to school before becoming a competitor on the SKA tournament trail.

"I knew if I was going to have any chance at becoming a competitive tournament fisherman, that I would need to learn the secrets of how to catch winning kingfish, Shook explained. "I soon became close friends with Clayton Kirby and Clifton Moss. I regard both of these king mackerel fishermen as some of the best in the country. We soon became close friends and we spent several days on the water chasing giant kingfish, while I went to school on the tactics."

Apparently Steve Shook was an excellent student and fisherman as well. After the let down at the Hogs Breath and the Spring Kingfish Classic, the "Wave Runner" fishing team soon became red hot and began to catch winning fish!

"We received a big boost by winning the St. Augustine "King Buster King Mackerel Tournament," explained Steve. "I normally have on hand, some twenty-four rods on our tournament boat. All of these rods are pre-rigged with various types of terminal tackle and line sizes. When we need to go heavier with our fishing tackle, our tackle is right there and rigged when we need it."

"In the case of the "King Buster' tournament, we found that the water conditions were extremely clear, so we dropped down to ten pound terminal fishing line and very short wire leaders. The ocean was also very calm, under calm seas I prefer to lighten up my terminal tackle as well. During the "King Buster" event, we dropped down the size of our terminal hooks. Most fishermen still don't believe me, but we used hooks the size of a small bream hook to entice the tournament's winning fish to strike!"

The results were a first place finish in the St Augustine "King Buster King Mackerel Tournament" and what most tournament fishermen would consider, as one of the most spectacular comebacks in the history of the Southern Kingfish Association tournament trail, to win the "Angler of the Year" award.

"We had a minor let down by only catching a thirty nine and a forty pound king mackerel in the two gulf events," said Steve. "We are used to catching fifty pound plus kingfish from our home waters, but it just didn't happen."

"During the "Ocean Isles Beach" king mackerel tournament, we hooked into a huge kingfish, one that we thought would win our team the "Angler of the Year" title. As Aaron played the fish right up close to our team Donzi boat, a huge four hundred pound hammerhead shark moved in for a kill Instantly, Aaron put the Quantum reel into free spool and began to let the tired king fish swim away! After several minutes, Aaron once again engaged the reel and we began to run the tired fish down again. To our horror, the big hammerhead was still tailing him! At the sight of the shark, the big fish took off on another run and the big shark charged after him. Seconds later the four hundred pound shark lunged, resulting in a parted line. At this point we all thought that our world as we knew it, had come to a end!'

We did manage to regroup and catch a 33 lb. king before the end of the tournament."

The 'Wave Runner" fishing team went on to capture the 1998 "Angler of the Year" title by weighing in a thirty pound plus kingfish during the remaining events. And by doing so, staged one of the best come backs in the history of sports fishing!

'We really could not have done it without the help of our fellow, "Donzi" team members, explained Shook. "When it appeared that we might have an excellent shot at winning the title, all of the "Donzi" team members did all that they could do to help us. Particularly when we fished in St. Augustine and the Carolinas. We had very little fishing experience in both of these waters."

The "Wave Runner" fishing team will be a hard team to beat during the up coming SKA, "Pro Division". They will be running two, thirty five foot Donzi team boats during the 1999 season. Aaron Pierce will be running the second Donzi, who actually was a charter skipper for Steve Shook in Golden Meadow, La.

Obviously, the competition has stepped up a notch during the 1998 SKA season and it looks to be even more competitive during the 1999 SKA season. Any team that wins the 1999 "Angler of the Year" award, can lay claim to being the best kingfish team in the country. The 'Wave Runner" team proved to be the best team during 1998 season. I think they will have an excellent chance at claiming this coveted title once again.

However there are several past winners that will be competing once again for this grand angler's award. Both Clayton Kirby and Dave Workman have won the "Angler of the Year Award" twice. Certainly they have excellent team members on their fishing boats and have all the fishing skills to capture this award. Joe Bruce, Rick Smith and Wyndal Vereen also have excellent fishing teams and are past winners of the "Angler of-the Year." I would not be surprised to see one of these skilled teams grab the "Angler of the Year" award for a second time.

Keeping in mind that there are also several other teams out there that have consistently finished in the top ten in the "Angler of the Year Award" that may slip in there and grab the title.

And with the 1999 Angler of the Year format, which includes five events that are spread out through out the year, you will more than likely see some new faces and team boats at the first Pro Division tournament of the year. This five tournament format is sponsor friendly and more than likely a cast net full of new sponsors will also be climbing on board as well.

Simply said, the 1999 Southern Kingfish Association Pro Division tournament trail is set to make king mackerel teams, "Kingfish Champions!"

For many years now, the Bass Masters tournament trail has made many a skilled bass fishermen, a real champion. The SKA, five tournament pro series will have the same effect, it will make winning teams into "Kingfish Champions!"

Several fishing season ago, I also fished the Bass Master trail and had the opportunity to fish with Roland Martin, Rick Clunn, George Cochrane and many more BASS winners. I soon noticed that all of these bass pros were able to switch fishing tactics with changing conditions, as well as fish with small baits and light lines.

Needless to say, it takes a really skilled angler to fish with light fishing tackle and small lures to entice big fish to strike. And once that winning fish has taken your lure, it will also take plenty of fishing skills to put that winning kingfish into the boat.

To become the 1999 "Angler of the Year", this team will need to both fish with light tackle, possess plenty of fishing knowledge and be on the water fishing several days before the tournament begins.

The 'Wave Runner" fishing team showed these fishing skills during the 1998 SKA season and won!