(* Denotes a Class of 23 Team)
"Et
Tu Brute" Does it again
November 11, 2001
By: David Brown
Call
the cliché police, but this one works for the
“Et Tu Bruté” team: When you’re
hot, you’re hot. How hot? Two weekends, two tournaments
victories, two prize boats. Doesn’t take a calculator
to see that adds up to a mighty fine swelter.Coming
off a win at Treasure Island one week earlier, Capt.
John Smith, his son, John II and Todd Ferguson, bagged
a 39.88 -pound smoker to win the Suncoast Kingfish
Classic, November 11 at Hamlin’s Landing on Indian
Rocks Beach.
Having claimed eleventh place with a 28.68 on Day
1, the winners returned to their honey hole approximately
30 miles northwest of Clearwater and connected with
Big Mo around noon p.m. on Day 2. As Smith and crew
approached the dock, smiles, nods and raised thumbs
forespoke the imminent accomplishment.
At the scale, an anxious crowd pressed closer to see
if the recent winners would bump Ed Walker’s
Day 1 leading 35.86-pounder from its top spot. Shouts
of guesstimation rolled like crashing waves and then
gave way to rousing applause as the scale confirmed
its new leaders.
After an early bite produced a few kings in the 20’s,
the action slowed and Capt. John was threatening to
break out his grouper gear and bottom fish for dinner.
But with the taste of victory lingering, the Et Tu
Bruté anglers decided to turn up the heat and
make something happen. “We threw everything we
had in the water around noon” the younger Smith
said. “If it wasn’t alive and swimming in
the well, it was thrown in the water.”
The big fish smacked a flat-lined blue runner set
about 200 yards behind the boat, just as Smith was
making a turn. Naturally, the king run right under
the boat, but 35 minutes later, a clean gaff shot
secured the victory.Immediately following the official
announcement, Capt. John said “I’m really
pumped. You know, somehow, we really had the feeling
we could do it again.”
Interesting
facts:
•
The difference in Et Tu Brute’s winning fish
at Indian Rocks and their
Treasure Island winner (39.44) was just .44 pound.
•
After Day 1 at Indian Rocks Beach, Et Tu Brute, sat
one spot above the
“Elvis” team, which finished second at Treasure
Island.
•
Et Tu Bruté is the first team to win back-to-back
tournaments in SKA’s
Division 6.
Settling for second, Walker led angler Jason Capra
to their big fish around noon on Day 1. Running to
a spot in just 14 feet of water off Hudson, the anglers
drew three strikes and boated the No. 2 fish, along
with another in the high 20’s. Day 2 produced
a 31-pounder in the same area. Capra said their location
was prime kingfish habitat — rocky bottom with
tall structure, lots of bait and no company. The big
gal, he said, pulled a classic kingfish maneuver.“The
fish hit the bait, nipped the tail, and then made
a U-turn and came right back a got it,” Capra
said. “One pass missed, second pass got it.”
With his usual tournament boat in the shop, Walker
fished from his inshore guiding vessel — a 23-foot
Dorado towerboat. His elevated perch, he said, facilitates
spotting bait schools. However, a little craftiness,
helped him avoid being spotted. “I ran the Intracoastal
all the way to Anclote (the river north of Clearwater)
before I popped outside,” Walker said. “You
catch a big fish on a slow day and people start to
ask ‘So, where were you fishing?’ ”
Mike Collins of “Team Duprez” set the mark
at 35.70 about 40 minutes before Walker arrived and
ended up with the third-place spot. Collins —
President of Donzi Boats — said his team capitalized
on the sparse action they saw.“We put out a long
bait and got a hit and lost him, and then [the 35.70]
hit,” he recalled. “It’s a good thing
we got him, because we didn’t get another strike
all day.”
Finishing fourth, the “Fish Boy” team fished
live shad over the Clearwater hard bottom and caught
a 33.92 around 2 p.m. on Day 2. Focusing on quality
baits and heavy chumming, the Fish Boy crew caught
four fish in the mid-20’s on Day 1.
In
the Ladies Division, Katie Carr took the top spot
with a 33.88-pound king.
Fishing
about Capt. Jay Mastry’s “Jaybird,”
Carr also secured fifth place overall. Winning the
Junior Division, Justin Smith fished aboard the “Comfortably
Numb” and caught a 25.58-pounder on a live blue
runner.
Justin’s father and team captain, Eric Smith
said lively baits are the only things his team puts
in the water. “We used to chum, but that brought
in barracudas and sharks so we quit chumming. Now
we just use everyone else’s chum slick.”With
169 registered boats, the tournament saw relatively
slow action, as weigh-ins wrapped up both days by
the 5 p.m. check-in deadline. Regardless of how they
fared, few teams complained about the warm, sunny
days with 2-foot seas. A big change from the previous
weekend’s event, where the Gulf offered no less
than 6-footers.
Final
Standings
1.
ET TU BRUTE...........39.88
Jefferson 31/Mercury
John Smith
John Smith II
Todd Ferguson
2.
LADY GREEN EYES.........35.86
Dorado 23/Mercury
Ed Walker
Jason Capra
Brian Fischer
Wayne Whittle
3.
TEAM DUPREZ............35.70
Donzi 32/Mercury
Mike Collins
David Heavenridge
Cameron Bragg
4.
FISH BOY..................33.92
SeaVee 23/Mercury
Geoffrey Everhart
Brian Everhart
Paul McDuffee |
5.
Jaybird....................33.88
6.
Dag Bros. Fishing.......33.68
7.
HIGH INTENSITY...........32.60
Jupiter 31/Yamaha
Mark Surrette
Marisa Hofacker
Doug Casey
Steve Hare
8.
TEAM DREAM MAKER............31.54
Pro Sports 28/Yamaha
Jeff Braaten
Joe Super
Larry Viergiver
Mike Howes
9.
JAWS TOO CRUSADER.......31.52
Crusader 34/Crusader
Tom Markham
10.
Wallaby Darned....................29.72 |
Top
Junior Angler
Joe
Maisano/John's Pass Marina |
"ET
TU BRUTE'" Tops at Treasure Island
November 5, 2001
TREASURE
ISLAND, FL--Now there’s waiting, and then there’s
waiting. No one understands better than the crew of
the Et Tu Bruté, winners of the Suncoast Kingfish
Classic, Nov. 4 at Treasure Island. The first to weigh
on Day 1, Capt. John Smith, his son John Smith II
and Todd Ferguson spent the rest of the afternoon
and all of Day 2 watching competitors attempt to knock
their 39.44-pound king out of the top slot. Never
happened.The winners elected to sit out Day 2, not
for any great arrogance, but rather from aching backs
and a beat up boat.“The weather was so bad, we
didn’t want to chance it again,” said the
younger Smith.
Day 2 was the meanest, but seas were so rough the
first day, Smith’s
windshield cracked when a monster wave crashed over
the bow. Fortunately, they have a new windshield —
it’s attached to the 30-foot Donzi they won.
Valued at $100,000, the rig included twin 225 Mercury
outboards and a Loadmaster trailer.The winning fish
ate a small blue runner fished over “cheese bottom”
in 80 feet of water about 25 miles northwest of Clearwater.
The action started early and the captain actually
got a chance to leave the helm and wind in a smoker.
Smith, Sr. recalled: “These two guys had already
caught fish. I was
driving the boat when the reel went off and they let
me catch the big one.”
And according to his son, “We had a 35 in the
box to back that one up.
Plus we probably lost a bigger one that bit through
a steel leader.”
Even though they enjoyed the action, this team knew
when to say “when.”
“We just threw that fish in the bag and said
the smart thing to do —
considering the weather — was to get in as quickly
as possible in case we break something or have a lower
unit go down.”Smith attributed his team’s
success to diligent prefishing and the process of
elimination.
“We fished Thursday and Friday and we knew where
the fish weren’t,” he
said. “We covered a lot of area and knew where
we didn’t want to fish. That narrowed it down
to a few choices.”By the way, the team boat’s
name is Latin for “And you, Brutus?” Taken
from Julius Ceasar, the famous line was the emperor’s
last words to his friend Brutus (Bruté) when
scheming politicians attacked him with knives. But
don’t think this team’s sinister.They simply
chose the name when they replaced their original boat,
Brutus, with their current vessel. It just sounded
cooler than Brutus II.
Arriving early on Day 2, Capt. Sam Bucklew and his
“Elvis” teammates,
Fernando Bueno and Bob Glazier slung a 36.40-pounder
on the scale and bumped Paul Lokey’s War Party
out of the second-place spot they earned on Day 1
with a 35.72. Fishing in 17 feet of water, two miles
off the coast north of Clearwater, Bucklew and company
tempted their big fish with a plump shad (“pogy”
to our Carolina friends).Anchoring and heavy chumming
proved to be the hot ticket. That’s no surprise
to the Elvis anglers, they do it consistently. Learned
from the best, said Glazier.
“We learned by watching other people who are
successful,” he said. “We look at Dave Mistretta
[Jaws Too], K.O. Kid [Kenny Ortner] and other local
guys and pay attention to what they’re doing.“If
you show them a lot of respect, stay away from them
and watch from a distance, you’ll learn everything
you need to know.”Of the anchor routine, Bucklew
added: “It doesn’t work every tournament,
but if you’re patient enough, it will work eventually.”
Fate
nearly robbed the Elvis crew of the big opportunity,
as their throttle cable broke at 2:30 a.m., on Day
2. Resourcefulness blossomed, though, and the determined
anglers rigged a rope to the outboard and operated
witha primitive throttle control all day. Said Glazier:
“That goes to show you never quit!”Lokey
and crew found the No. 3 fish on the Rube Allyn reef,
about 12 miles off Clearwater. The action, he said,
was non-stop.
“We caught fish all day,” Lokey recalled.
“They were mostly schoolies,
then ‘Bam!’ The real deal. The one we were
waiting for hit at 1:30.”Intrinsic to his team’s
success, Lokey said, was fresh bait.
The big king ate a tiny blue runner, but the bait
had just come off the gold hook.“We were jigging
up baits right on the spot we were fishing,”
he said.
“We were taking them right off the Sabiki and
putting them out. There’s
nothing fresher than a bait right out of the ocean.”Returning
to the same spot on Day 2, Lokey and crew found a
lone schoolie, but held enough ground for a payday.
Brian Alstrom’s Hammer Em found a 35.66 pounder,
good for fourth
place in the tournament. Alstrom and his team have
had a good season so far in D6, winning one of the
earlier spring tournaments there in his Yamaha-powered
Contender. The Bad Habbit, captained by Tom Teffenhat,
bagged a 35.58 to round out the top five in the Suncoast
Classic.
Topping the ladies division (and earning tenth place
overall) was Dayna
Hall — a familiar face in west coast winners
circles. Fishing with her
husband Keith on Rambunctious, Dana brought in a 30.30-pounder
on Day 2 that edged out Warbird’s Debora Blomster,
who had taken over the top Ladies spot an hour earlier
with a 30.06. Looks like Dana gave hers time to eat
one more sardine.
Another
familiar face — Cody Chivas — topped the
Youth Division with a
23.46 Day 1 king. Fishing aboard Island Way, Cody
caught his fish around 8 a.m. on a white bait slow-trolled
in about 30 feet of water off Indian Rocks.
Despite
the demanding weather conditions faced by the fleet
over the weekend, tournament director Jon Willis and
Treasure Island Charities president Terry Farner ran
a great tournament. All TI Charities events raise
funds for local charities in the area, and it’s
an organization the SKA is proud to support in every
way possible.
Final
Standings
1.
ET TU BRUTE’...........39.44
Jeffson 31/Mercury
John Smith
John Smith II
Todd Ferguson
2.
ELVIS....................36.40
Calcutta 26/Mercury
Sam Bucklew
Bob Glazier
Fernando Bueno
3.
WAR PARTY.............35.72
Venture 34/Yamaha
Paul Lokey
Patrick O’Connell
Larry Spencer
Chris Gregory
4.
HAMMER ‘EM........... 35.66
Contender 31/Yamaha
Brian Alstrom
Ron Berdell
Darin Wingett
5.
BAD HABIT...............5.58
Contender 25/Yamaha
Tom Teffenhat
Mike Solomousky
Joe Keller |
6.
FLAT LINER..............34.34
World Cat 26/Yamaha
David Johnson
Alex Petoski
7.
Reid and Reel............34.18
8.
DANNY’S DREAM............33.50
SeaVee 25/Yamaha
Dan Hockett
John Strome
Curt Eck
Tony Pemble
Ben Hockett
9.
ECONOMY TACKLE...........31.70
Contender 31/Yamaha
Mark Goodwin
Dave Monda
10.
RAMBUNCTIOUS..........30.30
SeaVee 29/Mercury
Keith Hall
Jeff Hall
Dayna Hall
Valerie Booth |
Top
Junior Angler
Cody
Chivas-Island Way - 23.46 |
LADIES
DIVISION
Dayna Hall/Rambunctious - 30.30 |
HAMMER
EM NAILS DOWN WIN FOR 10TH ANNUAL
MILLER LITE SUNCOAST KINGFISH CLASSIC
Treasure Island, FL
by
Sam White
May 6, 2001
Brian
Alstrom isn't one to let the cat out of the bag prematurely.
Even after his Hammer Em team won the 10th Annual
Miller Lite Suncoast Kingfish Classic, Almstrom was
still tight lipped on where he boated the winner.
"Is this going in the magazine?" he asked. "In that
case, he was on a #4 green drone spoon right on the
beach!"
Then
he opened up a bit and said the team had elected to
fish well off Tarpon Springs in 75 feet of water.
"It was kinda bumpy getting out there, and we fished
hard all day long. Finally, at about 20 minutes to
one, the reel started screaming and we knew we had
the man hooked up." Sweating the time cutoff for the
event, the team quickly followed the fish as it ran
on the surface. At five minutes after one o'clock,
Ron Berdell made a wild gaff shot that caught the
fish perfectly. With their prize secured, Almstrom
had the Yamaha-powered Contender up on plane in no
time as the team secured rods, gaffs and coolers for
the long run to the weigh in dock in John's Pass.
"We were afraid to slow down," Alstrom reported. "The
door to the electronics box popped off its' hinges,
so we ripped it loose, threw it overboard and kept
on haulin'." At the scales, the big smoker weighed
in at 46.02 pounds, putting the team comfortably in
the lead for the tournament after the first day of
fishing. Day Two found the team sweating it out at
the weigh in site at Gator's On The Pass, hoping no
other fish larger than theirs would come in. None
ever appeared, despite the VHF chatter of a fifty
pounder. The team won a new Sea Pro 170, powered by
a 90 hp. Mercury Fourstroke outboard and atop a Loadmaster
aluminum trailer.
Alstrom
also pocketed some extra cash from the SKA's CEO Sid
Steverson. He offered $200 if the winning team were
all SKA competition members and had an SKA decal on
the boat, and another $300 if they had a decal on
their tow vehicle. Alstrom had both, and pocketed
an extra $500. This was just a bonus he offered for
the John's Pass event, but look for it again at selected
events down the road on the Mercury Tournament Trail.
As always, the stipulation is that everyone on the
boat is signed up a current SKA competition member.
Second
place in the event fell to Steve Kane's Hurra-Kane
team. They also fished an undisclosed spot on Day
One, boating their 34.52 pounder during the course
of the afternoon. They fish a Mercury-powered Kenyon
catamaran, and are one of the most consistent teams
fishing on the Division Six trail. The Legend placed
third with a 33.98 pound kingfish. They were the first
boat in to the scales on Day One. Matt Meister's Zing
Pow team also made the big board in fourth place with
a 31.92, followed by the Twenty-Four Seven in fifth
with a 30.44.
The
next event on the Mercury Tournament Trail in Division
Six will be the 3rd Annual Citgo Suncoast Kingfish
Classic, to be held Nov. 2-4 at Hamlin's Landing.
For more information, check out the SKA's website
at www.fishska.com or call 912-466-9434.
Final
Standings
1.
HAMMER EM...........................46.02 Contender/Yamaha
Brian Alstrom
Ron Berdell
2.
HURRA KANE............................34.52
World Cat/Mercury
Steve Humphries
Steve Kane
Jim Barber
3.
Legend......................33.98
4.
ZING POW....................31.92 Contender/Yamaha
Matt Meister
Bob Matarazzo
Pete Moroz
Wayne
Ohara
Sam Sharpe
5.
TWENTY FOUR SEVEN..........................30.44
Rambo/Evinrude
Lee Longworth
Tony Longworth |
6.
* RADIO FISH.......................................30.34
Mako/Yamaha
Dave Farnsworth
7.
SPARKY'S MACHINE............................30.32
Fountain/Mercury
Will Lamneck
Rhonda Morris
8.
TEAM YELLOWFIN..................................29.98
Yellowfin/Mercury
Mark Lieberman
Ray Jordan
David Van Lent
9.
* YELLOWBIRD......................................29.96
SeaCraft/Mercury
Vernon Bonnell
Harry Thomas
Sandy Bonnell
Keith Thomas
Chris Bonnell
10.
Beachcomber II..................................29.86
|
Top
Junior Angler
Joe
Maisano/John's Pass Marina |
KWAZAR
TAKES CENTER STAGE AT GRAND OLE OPRY
Edward
Killer
April
26, 2001
CLEARWATER,
FLA. - During the days leading up to the inaugural
Grand Ole Opry Sportfishing Tournament held April
19-21 in Clearwater, Fla., Mercury Tournament Trail
and Yamaha Pro Tour veterans and fishing teammates
Steve Shook and Max Williams each stooped to pick
up pennies lying on the ground face up, as if that
little bit of good fortune could ever amount to anything....Silly
them.
By Saturday's tournament finale, Shook, Williams and
Kwazar team captain Marcus Kennedy were able to convert
those findings into a $100,000 check from the Grand
Ole Opry for landing the event's largest kingfish
at 46.78 pounds.Kwazar bested 432 other entries in
the first year event to take home the guaranteed award
among other assorted earnings.
For
Kennedy, Shook, and Williams, a series of fortunate
events led up to the most fortunate event of all.
"On our way down to Clearwater, we were driving along
on the highway, and rounded a blind curve to find
all traffic at a dead stop," said Shook, of Louisiana,
who is fishing his first year aboard Kennedy's Kwazar.
"It was amazing we didn't end up rear-ending someone."
They
elected not to pre-fish, deciding that the sight of
a 40-pounder on the line the day before the tournament
would be too bittersweet to bear with $100,000 up
for grabs. But while catching bait, Williams had a
surge of a strike on a quill rig.
"Max
hooked and caught a 35-pound cobia on a Sabiki rig
while we were bait fishing," Kennedy explained. "At
that point, I figured we had used up all our good
luck for the weekend."
"Then on the first day of the tournament, Steve gets
me out of bed two hours early to make sure we were
the first ones in line at check-out," he added. "David
Van Lent was second in line behind us followed by
a large charter boat." "When they start checking boats
out, our two boats go by and then the big boat runs
aground and holds the check-out up for something like
15 minutes. By then, we were well on our way."
Kennedy, on his 36 Contender/Yamaha rig, and Team
Yellowfin were among a small group of boats that made
the 90-mile trek to the Middle Grounds, due west of
Clearwater Beach. According to Kennedy, who fishes
the northern Gulf of Mexico near his hometown of Mobile,
Alabama, the Middle Grounds offers conditions similar
to where the big ones are found up his way.
"I've always wanted to fish the Middle Grounds but
never have, so we decided that this would be the perfect
time to go for it," he said, pointing out that he
has developed a knowledge of the area since first
fishing those waters as part of the 1991 SKA National
Championship fleet.
"It's natural bottom like back home, the same ledge,
the same depth--130 feet--it looks real similar to
what I'm used to." "Here, everyone says its a beach
fishery, but the last time we fished here we caught
an 11-pounder. I figured if I was ever going to fish
the Middle Grounds, this would be the time to do it."
The
Grand Ole Opry event was the second event on the Mercury
Tournament Trail's Division 6 calendar for 2001 with
the 10th annual Miller Lite Suncoast Kingfish Classic
May 4-6 next on its agenda.
In addition to the largest guaranteed cash award given
to the winner of a kingfish tournament, the Grand
Ole Opry paid out to 50 places in the standings and
gave a bonus worth about $800 to the boat that finished
100th overall.
Runner-up
prize money was collected by No Guarantees, a local
entry who collected better than $16,000 for a 41.36-pound
fish caught near Egmont Key.
Change
Order's Division 6 competitors Brian and Bill Hasson
of Tampa - nephew and brother of La Perla's Jimmy
Hasson - scored a 39.12-pound smoker for third place
at better than $8,000. Their fish came on a little
known rock pile 18 miles southwest of Tampa Bay.
Mike
Wansley of Job Site II had fourth at 38.44 pounds,
while Team Duprez's Donald Workman and Mike Collins
boated a 35.76-pound king from the Middle Grounds
in their Mercury-powered Donzi 32 for fifth.
A
mid-week weather system with northwesterly winds scattered
what had been an above average king bite a week prior
to the tournament. As a result, slow fishing was the
story, as just 104 boats made it to the weigh-station
with fish. Southeasterly winds hopped up sporty sea
conditions on the usually tranquil Gulf, making for
a bumpy offshore ride to and from the Middle Grounds,
as well as for all other offshore destinations.
At
the awards gala, Dream Maker's Joseph Super, Jr.,
8, was recognized as the Wellcraft Junior Angler of
the event for being a part of his team's 34.2-pound,
7th place king.
The
entire group was then treated to a free concert by
recording artists Exile presented by the Grand Ole
Opry.
Final
Standings
1.
46.78 pounds, Kwazar, Marcus Kennedy, Mobile,
Ala.
2. 41.36, No Guarantees
3.
39.12, Change Order, Brian Hasson, Tampa
4.
38.44, Job Site II, Mike Wansley
5.
35.76, Team Duprez, Donald Workman, Jacksonville,
Fla. |
6.
34.26, Powerfade
7.
34.2, Dream Maker, Jeff Braaten, Tampa
8.
33.46, Caribbean, Jeff French
9. 32.08, Mauler, Scott Stottlemyer
10. 32.04, Team Yellowfin, David Van Lent, Belleair
Beach |
Top
Junior Angler
Joseph Super, Jr., Dream Maker,
34.2 pounds |
7th
Annual Mercury Motors/Loadmaster Trailers Suncoast
Kingfish Classic
Sarasota,
FL
April
02, 2001
Randy
Keys may know better than anyone that the journey
to an SKA National Championship is fought one fish
at a time.
On the opening day of action in the 7th Annual Mercury
Motors/Loadmaster Trailers Suncoast Kingfish Classic,
Keys and La Perla II teammates Jimmy Hasson and Jeff
Susky found the spot they hoped would hold fish and
promptly hooked up with a 25-pound king. Not long
afterwards, another of the same size was brought under
control. The next fish, however, would be the one
worth keeping.
"We were fishing in about 50 feet of water and the
king took a threadfin on the flat line," said Keys,
the Southern Kingfish Association's 1995 National
Champion, who hails from of Madeira Beach, Fla. "We
had two more fish, including one in the mid-30's there
by early afternoon."
When the meaty slab registered 44.60 on the scales
at the tournament headquarters of the Sarasota Quay,
the La Perla bunch was pleasantly surprised.
"We knew he was a nice fish, and Jimmy guessed he
was over 30," Keys said. "We're very happy."
Fortunately
for Keys, the big one showed up early enough in the
day Saturday for Keys and Co. to make it to his step-daughter's
wedding by 6 p.m. After fishing a bit Sunday, and
after no one was able to best La Perla's mark, the
crew received the keys to a 19-foot Proline with Mercury
outboard and Loadmaster trailer valued at $25,000.
The
big king gives La Perla II a jump start in Division
6, the team's home division. Last weekend in Naples,
Fla., La Perla II secured a bid to the 2001 National
Championships with a 35.0-pound fish. La Perla also
is fishing the Yamaha Pro Kingfish Tour as well.
Although
Keys had said there were plenty of boats fishing the
same area he was Saturday, word got out overnight
where the run of larger kings was - inside the mouth
of Tampa Bay, particularly on the edges of the shipping
channel near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Saturday's
shallow leader board was bolstered with a stronger
Sunday showing by the fleet of 127 competing craft.
With the exception of La Perla, only two fish on the
board Saturday remained in the top 12 by tourney's
end.
The
crew on Time Out, a 23-foot Grady White carrying new
SKA-members Eric Clayton and Darren Blum of Sarasota
and Vic Hall of Riverview fished around Egmont Key
before working their way along the channel where they
tripped over a 35.52-pound smoker good for second
place money ($4,000) and top spot in the 23 and Under
division ($1,000).
"We
had cigar minnows on double-hook rig and were working
our way through some schoolies when the big one hit,"
Blum said.
"We've
fished these tournaments around here the past couple
of years and have never done very well the days of
the tournaments," Clayton explained. "We've always
caught big fish while pre-fishing the weekend before,
so since we didn't catch anything pre-fishing this
week, I took that as a blessing in disguise."
Annamaria
Island's Use of Proceeds came up big in its first
year on the Mercury Tournament Trail with a 34.64-pounder
caught in the shadow of the Skyway. John Peralman
said he, Carl Pearlman and Capt. Scott Elliot ran
their 31 Contender 90 miles southwest on Saturday
in error, learning instead they needed to be just
a little out in front of their own backyards. Sunday
they did just that, landing the third place fish in
27 feet of water. Adversity and engine problems caused
them to just miss qualifying for The Nationals in
the recently-completed Division 11, so they hope to
reverse that in Division 6.
Warbird's
Debora Blomster collected the event's Top Lady Angler
award with 31.84 pounds. Sean Hehenberger with a 28.32
on the Teaser took Top Junior Angler awards.
The
next event on the Division 6 schedule will be the
much anticipated Grand Ole Opry King Mackerel Sportfishing
Tournament in Clearwater, Fla. April 19-21.
A
grand prize of $100,000 has been guaranteed for the
biggest fish.
For
more info check www.opryfishing.com
Final
Standings
1.
44.60 pounds, La Perla II, Randy Keys
2. 35.52, Time Out, Eric Clayton
3. 34.64, Use of Proceeds, Scott Elliott
4.
34.44, Bluewater Boiler, Gary Gilalano
5.
32.10, Miss Treated, Larry Galan |
6.
31.84, Warbird, George Roberts
7. 28.86, Workman's Comp, Paul Swetland
8.
28.82, Economy Tackle, Mark Goodwin
9. 28.32, Teaser, Jack Hehenberger
10.
27.96, Danny's Dream, Dan Hockett |
| 23'
and Under
35.52, Time Out, Eric Clayton |
Top
Lady Angler
31.84, Warbird, Debora Blomster |
Top
Junior Angler
28.32, Teaser, Sean Hehenberger |
