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FISH FEVER EARNS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN OPEN CLASS!

by David Rainer and Jack Holmes
 
Salt-encrusted masks of frozen torture melted into wind-burned smiles and shouts of elation, especially for the crews of Fish Fever and East Coast Sports.

Those aforementioned boats were crowned champions at the Southern Kingfish Association National Championship at Biloxi in a tournament where the rules changed when a hard cold front raced past the Gulf Coast prior to the tournament’s start.

SKA Director Jack Holmes gave the captains a choice during the final pre-tournament meeting with several options. Because of small craft advisories, boats had the choice to weigh in one fish per day – the traditional method – or they could weigh in two fish on either day of the competition. However, a fish on the board could not be bumped in favor of a heavier fish on the second day.

Fish Fever, which earned the title of repeat champion by virtue of its National Champion (as well as Angler of the Year) title in Biloxi in 2002, opted to weigh in two fish on the final day, although there was really no decision involved.

A brutal north wind and rough seas prohibited Fish Fever from reaching its preferred spot on opening day and they ended with only a couple of small fish in the boat.

“We fished, but we got beat up and didn’t do any good,” said Shawn Mecchella, co-captain of Fish Fever. “We didn’t weigh in because we didn’t have anything to weigh in.”

By Saturday morning, the wind had abated a bit, albeit still pretty cold. The morning started with 8-foot seas, but those quickly subsided into manageable 4-footers.

That allowed the Fish Fever team, Ed Mecchella, Shawn Mecchella, and Jim Conway, to head to its desired destination – a rock pile in about 220 feet of water.

“We knew the fish were there,” Mecchella said. “We had found them last week. It was a rock pile, but the water was also warmer there. Bait was the main problem. We stopped at Main Pass Rig140 and caught bait, blue runners and bluefish on jigs and sabiki rigs. We knew the fishing would be good if we could get to the rock pile, but bait was the key.”

With a livewell full of bait, Fish Fever, a Yamaha powered Yellowfin, quickly fulfilled Mecchella’s prediction.

“We caught fish all day,” he said. “We never could get more than two lines in the water.”

The Fish Fever team culled through 40 fish to put a 38.52-pounder in the boat, and then came the big bite. Shawn hooked up with a big fish, but he wasn’t sure if it would make the difference.

“It was a pretty uneventful fight,” Mechella said. “We had the drags pretty tight to cull through the fish. We had him in the boat in five minutes. I thought it would be in the 50s, but I didn’t know if it would be big enough. In 2002 we had a 63-pounder.”

To Mecchella’s surprise, the 57.63-pounder was considerably more than enough to claim the championship with a 96.15 total, easily outweighing runner-up ProMarineUSA.com/Hannon’s Cannon.

It was also the biggest king scaled this weekend and won the team a Mercury powered 31’ Fountain boat complete with a Loadmaster Trailer.

“I knew we would be in the top five,” Mecchella said. “But I didn’t think we’d win it. It’s a welcome surprise.”

In the Class of 23 category, Randall Eden’s East Coast Sports weighed in the old-fashioned way – one fish a day and easily captured the small-boat championship.

Edens, George Edens, and Chris Gaddy, weighed in a 43.62 Friday, followed by a 46.85 Saturday for a 90.47 total, almost 15 pounds ahead of runner-up Mister Stanman.

During the opening day of competition, Edens was just happy to weigh a decent fish after venturing about 65 miles out into the rough Gulf.

“It was tough that first day – wind, salt spray, the whole nine yards,” he said. “We got one king bite on a bluefish on top and put him in the boat. We hooked another fish and thought we had the tournament in the bag. We thought we had the man until we got the 70-pound Wahoo to the side of the boat.”

Although East Coast Sports, a 23-foot Onslow Bay, only had one king bite in the rough seas, Edens headed straight back to the same spot for the final day.
“We went back to the same rig, and conditions were slick compared to the day before,” Edens said. “I couldn’t believe it, but we were the first boat there. I thought the big boats would beat us there, but we had it all to ourselves for a while.

“We caught another big Wahoo, about a 50-pounder. When we got the baits back out, the big king hit a ribbonfish. The fishing was so much better that second day, but we quit fishing after we got that good king to give us plenty of time to get to the scales.”

The East Coast Sports team joins a very elite group of fishermen earning the title of being National Champions, a title that signifies you have reached the pinnacle of success in our sport.

They won a Mercury powered Contender center console boat sitting on a custom aluminum Loadmaster trailer.

Following the Fish Fever team to the awards stage on Sunday morning was Kevin Hannon and his ProMarineUSA.com / Hannon’s Cannon team of Shannon Armstrong, Chris Blackwell, and Rick Cook. The second place team, like East Coast Sports, weighed one fish on Friday. “After running in the slop all day Friday, I gambled,” said Hannon. “She went 38.55 which I thought would be a good fish this weekend.” He was practically right; it matched Fish Fevers first fish but couldn’t match their second fish. Their 49.98 however was the second biggest fish of the event which gave them an 88.53 aggregate.

Hannon fishes an Invincible boat with triple outboards, one Evinrude, one Mercury, and one Yamaha. The team won a MercCruiser powered Donzi “Sweet 16.”

The 2005 National Champion, Stan Jarusinski and his Mister Stanman team, Dave Newsom, Don Poling, and Josh Davis, earned second place in the Class of 23 with a two fish aggregate of 75.68. “It was too rough on day one, so we sat on the hill,” said Stan. “But seas were coming down on the second day so even though all our bait had died, we were determined to make a good showing for ourselves. I had already told my team I was ready to go home but they insisted we stay. I’m glad I listened.”

Their two fish, a 33.47 and a nice 42.21 were caught on ribbonfish. They too fish a Yamaha powered Onslow Bay.

They won $4,000 in cash and a Mercury 225 Optimax outboard.

Both of the top two Class of 23 teams hail from North Carolina.

Third place in the Open Class went to the Nut Deep team out of Jacksonville, Florida.

Jon Cheney, owner of Riverbend Marine in St. Augustine, Florida, really wanted to fish the Nationals. He fulfilled his obligation to fish the Championship however he didn’t qualify a team. He called the office and got hooked up with Toney and Greg Altieri, and Brandon Lewis, the Nut Deep team who did qualify in Division 5 but weren’t planning on coming.

Jon called Jack in the SKA office to inquire about this team. He really wanted to go and was told that the Nut Deep team were good enough to win the title.

They obviously were as they picked up the Open Class third place scaling a 39.84 and a 48.55 for 88.39 points, just .15 pounds out of second place. Everyone came out ahead on this adventure.

They won a 225XL Mercury Outboard, and $10,000 from Invincible Boats, a $23,300 value.

Third place in the Class went to another ProMarine sponsored team, Gatorfan. David Albritton, James Addison, and Anthony Oakes fishing a Yamaha powered Contender. The Fort Pierce, Florida area team caught a 38.69 and a 32.08, both on Saturday for a 70.77 aggregate.

They won $3,000 cash and a Mercury 225XL Optimax Outboard and other prizes.

It’s ironic that David finished in third place in both Division 10 and 11 to qualify. Most would be really happy with that performance but I suspect David was not. His team could be the best fishing in the Class so first is definitely their goal. They will achieve it!

Fourth place went to Dan Upton’s Team Donzi with a two fish aggregate of 81.65. Ken and Dan Upton, and Jack Wood qualified out of the Pro ranks and won the final event in Little River. That enthusiasm carried over into the Nationals.

Like most of the others, they weighed two fish on Saturday, a 35.76 and a super 45.89.

The Mercury powered Donzi team won a Mercury 225XL outboard and $5,000 from ProMarineUSA.com.

Peter and Robert Weisberg, plus Eric Neidorf plied their techniques on Saturday also and scaled two nice mid-thirties for a 70.62 aggregate.

The South Florida Class team, fishing a Yamaha powered Contender, won Division 10’s Class of 23 and went on to earn fourth in the Nationals.

Remember this name, Strictly Fishing; you’re going to hear a lot from this team.

They won $3,000 plus a Sign Zoo boat wrap worth $5,000 and a whole host of prizes.

Fifth place in the Class of 23 went to the highest finishing team that fishes the upper Gulf year round, David Rogers, Jr., J.J. Gilmore, Jason Andrews, and Gary Smith, on Quietus.

The Mercury powered Yellowfin team scaled a 29.61 and a 34.43 for 64.04 points.

The Team Sebago/Loose Lucy team of Mike and Susan Kaminsky, and Gary and Jimmy Stecki, earned fifth in the Open Class with a two fish aggregate of 80.35. They weighed a 41.19 and a 39.16.

The Loose Lucy team won the FLW Championship the week before in Biloxi. All in all they have to be real pleased with their two weeks in the home of Championship fishing.

How good was the fishing during the final round? Ask Barrett McMullan of the Ocean Isle Fishing Center boat.

“Fishing was so good that we got tired of catching them,” McMullan said. “When we realized we weren’t going to catch any big fish, I decided to find our how good they were really biting. I took a pickle off my sandwich and put it on a hook. We watched a 25-pounder sky on that pickle and we put him in the boat.

“It was the best day kingfishing I’ve ever had.” The team earned sixth in the Open Class.

Jack Penny’s Penny Wise team continued their great season with a seventh place 78.08 aggregate.

Jim Naset who fished on his own in Divisional competition for the first time earned eighth with a 76.58 aggregate. Jim is “the man” at ProMarineUSA.com. He also fishes with Kevin Hannon in the Pros.

The rumor floating around the tournament site that a boat had capsized with injuries was totally unfounded. A Louisiana team ran hard aground at the Chandeliers and had to be rescued. No injuries just bruised pride. They worked at getting the boat to shore on Sunday.

Congratulations to all who fished!

Editors Note:  In February’s issue of Angler magazine we cover all the sights of the Nationals, special events and awards. Lots of pictures!