(* Denotes a Class of 23 Team)
CANAVERAL
KINGFISH CLASSIC
PORT
CANAVERAL,
FL
JULY 12-14, 2002
By:
SKA
Final
Standings
DAYTONA
KINGFISH BRAWL
DAYTONA,
FL
MAY 17-18, 2002
By:
SKA
Jim
Scharfchwerdt, owner of Saint Augustine based All
About Boats, knew when he asked for an SKA sanction
for a tournament in Daytona Beach, Florida, he'd have
his work cut out for him. Daytona anglers have never
been king mackerel fishermen. Don't know why but that's
just fact. Jim's making up ground however almost reaching
the 100 boat mark this year. It's just time before
he has them hooked. You have to admit that with the
Division 10 participants coming to town the locals
may be more than intimidated. As Marty Bistrong put
it, "This is one great tournament," and
I can't think of a better person to critique an event.
David
Ward brought his Pro Line to town, the First Shot
, bagged a 40 pounder and left with the tournaments
top prize. "We tried to find bait with no luck
on Friday so we went north to St. Augustine where
we knew there was bait," said Ward. "We
then decided to fish Matansas Pass." Their first
good strike turned out to be a large shark. "It's
very disappointing when you spend time fighting a
good fish only to find out it's not the right specie,"said
teammate Charlie Rudeen. They deployed another spread
of baits and went back to work. After a few minutes
and no action Ward decided to put a ribbon fish on
the down rigger. "It never reached the 10 foot
mark before the big king was on. "We fought it
for 45 minutes, brought it over the gunwale, and headed
for the scales. We knew she was a good fish, maybe
even the winner," Ward added. He was right.
John
Hester, Rob Yancy, and Joe Casson are fishing their
first year in the SKA and already have struck gold
in Hester's Contender, Outlaw. "Chris Blackwell
gave us some numbers so that's where we went,"
said the second place finisher, Hester. "We had
five fish in 45 minutes then the big one hit a blue
runner on the surface."Their king tipped the
scale at 35.15. "We really want to thank Chris
for all his help," added Hester.
The
2001 SKA National Champions, Tom Kenney, Tim Kellager,
and Tom Oien fishing their Angler, Offshore Warrior.
Kenny explained that their game plan was to run to
Pelican Flats. "On our way we saw birds working
so we had to check it out," said Kenney. "As
soon as we arrived we saw a 40 sky on some bait fish.
We went to work and caught several kings in the mud
twenties. It was much later in the day however before
our big king hit." The 30.74 pounder ate a runner
on the surface, 30 yards back in 55 feet of water.
The
Blue Runner found a 29.84 to earn fourth. Chris Blackwell
put the Outlaw on a good fish but couldn't find one
bigger to earn first. How many times have we heard
this story? It's still a real credit to Blackwell's
team to help the new comers. How else do they learn?
Matt
Pitman's name usually can be found on the leaderboard
if he's fishing the event and this trip was no different.
Fishing with Steve Aprile, Danny Casino, and Jeff
Brychta, he found a 28.12 and earned fifth.Sixth thru
tenth place was all won by SKA boats beginning with
David Williams King's Ransom who scaled a 27.29. Steve
and Scott Senecal pushed their Wellcraft, Knot Home
into seventh on the strength of a 26.12.
The Penn Boat / Team Freedom fount the eighth spot
with a 25.79 and remain in the Division 10 lead. John
Molfettoa's Legend was ninth with a 25 pounder also
while Rob Ward's Hook-N-Up rounded out the top ten
with a 24.5. The Daytona tournament is as good as
it gets. Well run, fun to fish, and a good prize structure.
This tournament will continue to grow and be one everyone
will look forward to fishing each spring. Congratulations
Jim!
Final
Standings
1.
FIRST SHOT 40.12
Pro Line .... Yamaha
David Ward
Charlie Rudeen
Amy Ward
2.
OUTLAW 35.15
Contender ... Yamaha
John Hester
Rob Yancy
Joe Casson
3.
OFFSHORE WARRIOR 30.74
Angler .... Yamaha
Tom Kenney
Tim Kellagher
Tom Oien
4.
BLUE RUNNER 29.84
Contender ..... Yamaha
Chris Blackwell
Mark Blackwell
Becky Blackwell
Brandon Langel
Fred Davis
5.
BLUE THUNDER 28.12
Fountain .... Mercury
Matt Pittman
Steve Aprile
Danny Casino
Jeff Brychta
6.
KING'S RANSOM 27.29
Donzi ... Mercury
David Williams
Daren Waldeck
Todd Crawford
7.
KNOT HOME 26.12
Wellcraft .... Mercury
Steve Senecal
Scott Senacal
Ricky Iwanicki
Bill Senecal |
8.
PENN BOAT / TEAM FREEDOM 25.79
Donzi .... Mercury
Ken Thompson
Vinny Holmes
Dick Dickenson
Butch Constable
9.
LEGEND 25.31
Hydra Sports .... Johnson
John Molfetto
Frank Breedlove
10.
HOOK-N-UP 24.5
Pursuit .... Yamaha
Rob Ward
Hoss Perry
Billy Borland
Brady Borland
Gary Rein
11.
Reel Easy II 24.33
12.
BOUNTY HUNTER 24.10
Regulator ..... Evinrude
Mike Carter
Chris Carter
Charles Avery
13.
SWIVEL LIPS 22.55
Contender .... Yamaha
Joe Witte
Bryan Bistrong
Scott Harris
14.
No Name 22.48
15.
WHOPPER STOPPER 22.39
Wellcraft .... Evinrude
Conrad Lau
Chelsea Lau
Nelson Railey
Lynn Hatfield
Rod Hatfield
|
FT.
PIERCE KINGFISH OPEN
FT
PIERCE , FL
APRIL 11-13, 2002
By:
ED Killer
FORT
PIERCE
- Clayton Kirby, Rick Stoker, and Dennis Sergent wasted
little time christening the new 34-foot Fountain Vengeance.
Fishing a new hull (No. 6, according to Kirby), the
trio needed exactly one tournament to place the boat
in the winner's circle.I guess that means they'll
keep it.
Fishing
an area nearly 50 miles north of Fort Pierce on the
tournament's second day, Kirby and crew won the fifth
annual Fort Pierce Kingfish Open and its top payout
of $12,000 cash with the largest tournament kingfish
Kirby has ever gaffed in Atlantic waters. Fountain
Vengeance made a statement by showing the crowd of
2,000-plus exactly what a 51.42-pound smoker king
mackerel looks like up close and in 3-D.
The
big king bested a fleet of 137 boats that were besieged
by rough waters on the tournament's opening day, as
well as the days leading into the event, which wreaked
havoc on the bait-catching plans of many an out-of-town
angler. The marine weather forecast of 4 to 6 foot
seas was way off the mark according to teams that
braved the big waves.The way the check out began -
with an all out downpour from a pod of rainfall that
blew in off the ocean - it was amazing anyone went
fishing at all. One unknown angler's comment heard
over the VHF summed up the feeling: "Does this
rain squall have an eye in it?"
But
for many of those that donned their rain gear before
first light, the rewards would be good. In fact, six
of the tournament's top 10 placing kings were caught
on day one, as were the majority of the points fish
for Division 10 competitors. Although Day Two's 3-5
foot seas were more fishable, the bite of big ones
wasn't as prevalent, but a few were caught. Like Kirby's.
"We
found a good bite about 30 miles up the beach,"
explained Kirby, "we even had three fish on at
a time at one point, but none of them were real big."
"But there was another spot about 19 miles away
I had wanted to try. At about 11:30 the bite turned
off where we were, so we moved. We caught a couple
of fish right away, but then at about 12:45 we had
a hit and fought him for about 45 minutes."
"That
was the second largest king I've ever caught in the
Atlantic and the largest I've ever caught in a tournament,"
said Kirby whose Angler of the Year titles came in
1991 and 1997. "As for having a zero on the first
day, we basically have one drop fish out of the way."
The
Penn Boat weighed a 43.91-pound fish Friday for a
$3,000 payday while Inside Chance's 43.14 and Carolina
Contender's 43.14 earned them $2,000 and $1,5000 respectively.
Vamoose rounded out the top five with a 41.78 and
$1,000.
Interestingly
enough, all five of these boats either are not competing
in Mercury Tournament Trail's Division 10 which began
the last weekend in January in Key West with the Hog's
Breath Saloon Tournament, did not weigh a fish in
that event, or just plain did not fish in that event.
However, T & B out of Key West, Ambitious out
of Fort Pierce, and Blue Runner out of Fort Pierce,
are all aggressively in the hunt for the spot occupied
by Casey Hunt and his crew of Australian Gold.
Hunt
and crew out of Fort Lauderdale entered the Fort Pierce
Kingfish Open with its lead courtesy of a 51.60-pound
hoss caught in Key West. They left with a slim lead
in the division thanks to a 27.41 king caught on Day
Two in Fort Pierce. Hunt has the 36 Dakota standing
with 79.01 pounds with two tournaments to go in the
division.
"I
think it'll take 90 pounds to qualify for Nationals
and 100 to win this division," said an optimistic
Hunt who now must tune up for the Daytona Kingfish
Brawl May 18 and the Port Canaveral Kingfish Classic
in late July. Right on his heels is T & B led
by Bill Oliver with 76.83 pounds coming from a 41.35
on Day Two of Fort Pierce and a 35.48 from Key West.
Oliver is attempting to best last year's Division
10 finish where they put up 110 pounds and still finished
fifth during that league's unbelievable 2001 run where
seven boats topped 100 pounds.
Fish
Fever's Ed Mecchella, a former winner of the Fort
Pierce Kingfish Open and Division 10, boated a 30.84-pound
king for Team Wellcraft which were proudly displaying
their new Wal-Mart colors. After finding a 45.28 in
Key West, Fish Fever's Fort Pierce king placed them
in third in the division with 76.12 pounds overall.
A
37.68 for Ambitious kept Mark Malizia on track earning
ninth place money in the Fort Pierce King Open but
keeping his team sixth in D-10. Blue Runner's 36.91
was 10th, and has them fourth in D-10 with 75.11.
SKA Lady Angler of the Year (Atlantic divisions) Becky
Blackwell is happy about that. A 32.32 in Fort Pierce
keeps The Reel Won in the running in D-10 after coming
off their first-ever divisional championship from
2001's Division 11. Lost Boys are hanging in there
with 69.04 pounds; first-year team Hook-N-Up benefited
from a 29.86 to stay in the picture. Sure Thing could
only manage a 17-pound fish in the home waters of
Fort Pierce, but with their Key West 51.11 on their
side, the 17 may end up being a drop fish.
Teams
that may be in the bottom half of the top 15 of the
divisional standings but should be watched are: Pilgrim
(65.88), coming off a win in Fort Myers, these guys
ran third in D-10 a year ago keeping the heat on Gatorbait's
record sprint. The division's final two events will
essentially be on Pilgrim's home court - Melbourne.
Irresistible (65.04), Swivel Lips (64.61), and Justin
Time (64.26) all have over 40 Key West fish to their
credit meaning another one vaults them to the top.
Team Freespool (63.44) and Sake (62.85) are two more
boats that will be fishing home or close enough to
home waters to have a good chance at securing a bid
to Nationals and possible the division title in the
process.
The
sea conditions made life difficult on a number of
SKA teams, especially in the Class of 23 and teams
with junior anglers, senior anglers, and lady anglers.
Steve Senecal, Scott Senecal, and Rich Iwanicki aboard
Knot Home, a 23 foot Wellcraft, boated a a fish each
day of Fort Pierce with their 27.96 being the biggest.
With 61.23 pounds, the St. Augustine entry is bucking
for a divisional title.
"We
lost a real good fish Friday," Steve said. "We
fought it for 20 or 30 minutes before pulling the
hooks on it. Friday the bite non-stop for us although
none too big. (Saturday) we had one knockdown, one
fish."Mike Carter's Bounty Hunter, a 23 Regulator,
found a 24.55-pound fish during the weekend for 49.67
pounds total.
Blue
Runner's Blackwell has not relinquished her hold on
the division's top spot for ladies yet leading The
Reel Won's Susan Woithe 75.11 to 71.21 pounds. Whopper
Stopper's Chelsea Lau weighed a 13.63-pounder to win
the tournament's junior angler award, a gift certificate
to West Marine for $125.
"It
was miserable the first day, rainy and freaky rough,"
said Lau, 11, of Neptune Beach, Fla. "I'm just
glad we were in a Wellcraft with direct injected Evinrudes.
I also want to thank Wal-Mart and Loadmaster Trailers."The
Daytona Kingfish Brawl May 18 will be the next event
on the D-10 schedule. The Port Canaveral Kingfish
Classic will be July 26-28.
Final
Standings
1.
51.42 pounds, Fountain Vengeance, Clayton Kirby,
FL $12,000
2.
43.91, The Penn Boat, Ken Thompson, Eatonton,
GA, $3,000
3.
43.14, Inside Chance, Paul Dozier, St. Augustine,
$2,000
4.
43.14, Carolina Contender, Brant McMullan, ,
NC, $1,500
5.
41.78, Vamoose, Randy Crabtree, Jacksonville,
$1,000 |
6.
41.35, T & B, Bill Oliver, Key West, $1,000
7.
39.96, Rat Pak, Darren Ratley, Myrtle Beach,
SC, $750
8.
39.62, Snap Bean, Mike Causley, Homestead, $750
9.
37.53, Ambitious, Mark Malizia, Fort Pierce,
$500
10.
36.91, Blue Runner, Chris Blackwell, Fort Pierce,
$500 |
HOG'S
BREATH/MURRAY MARINE KMT DAY ONE
KEY
WEST, FL
JANUARY 25-27, 2002
By:
Sam White
KEY WEST,
FL--Under perfectly blue skies, light winds and eighty
degree temperatures, the 6th Annual Evinrude/Murray
Marine Hog's Breath weigh in began today at 3PM.
One hundred
twenty-five boats had checked out earlier this morning
in flat calm sea conditions in search of that tournament
winner that would net the lucky captain the event's
top prize of over $10,000 in cash. A number of boats
were awaiting the scales to open today with great
fish aboard. In line to weigh was local Key West guide
Tony Murphy, who took the Day One lead aboard the
Key Limey with a 55.85 pound kingfish.
Casey Hunt
would captain the Australian Gold team to second place
with the tournament's other fifty plus pound king
at 51.60 pounds. Both were caught on hardtails at
undisclosed locations. Dick and Chrissy Russell nailed
down third place on board The Brute with a 46.54 pounder.
They also topped the Class of 23 standings for the
event, since they boated their fish in their Mercury-powered
SeaCraft 23. Russell was slow trolling large split-tailed
mullet when the big king came calling on the starboard
flatline.
Since the
tournament had additional boats over the expected
100, they will pay out two additional places. Currently,
a 38.80 pound fish is holding down twelfth place,
but all that will change tomorrow. The dockside speculation
is that it could easily take a 45 pound or better
kingfish to earn a paycheck.
Murphy's 55.85 is also not a sure thing for the win--we
could easily see a high fifties or even sixty pound
fish tomorrow. The forecast remains the same, calling
for one-to-three foot seas, light winds and plenty
of sunshine.It's anyone's tournament to win at this
point, so stay tuned.
Final
Standings
1.
Key Limey Tony Murphy Key West, FL 55.85
2.
Australian Gold Casey Hunt Pompano Beach, FL
51.60
3.
The Brute Dick Russell Dania, FL 46.54
4.
Justin Time Manny Galvao Seminole, FL 44.90
5.
Smackdown Christian Springsteen Ft. Pierce,
FL 43.82
6.
Rabbit's Foot Luis Urbay Miami, FL 42.85 |
7.
Zero Down Rob Hammer Miami, FL 42.74
8.
Diamond Cutter Robert Anderson, GA 41.98
9.
Phoenix RJ Hamilton Ft. Pierce, FL 40.40
10.
Sake Neil Nix Okeechobee, FL 39.23
11.
The Reel Won Bob Woithe Palm Island, FL 38.89
12.
Ali-Cat Jose Alvarez Miami, FL 38.80 |
HOG'S
BREATH/MURRAY MARINE KMT DAY TWO
KEY
WEST, FL
JANUARY 25-27, 2002
By:
Sam White
KEY
WEST, FL--Casey Hunt had dropped out of SKA competition
several years ago, choosing instead to focus the energy
of his Australian Gold team on the south Florida sailfish
circuit. However, he vowed earlier this season that
he would be back on the kingfish side in 2002 with
a vengeance. Vengeance indeed.Hunt’s Australian
Gold team fell just short of the winning mark, set
by non-SKA members aboard the Key Limey at 55.85 pounds,
but they would still leave the southernmost point
in the United States with an early lead in D10.
The
Pompano Beach, Florida-based team boated a 51.60 pound
kingfish yesterday to hold onto second place. “We
already had a 45 in the box,” Hunt recalled,
“so we were just working our way back along the
reef. I’m not even sure what it’s called,
but there’s an area about 25 miles from here
where it goes from 120 feet to 70, and that’s
were we caught our bigger king.” The team, fishing
from a Mercury-powered Dakota, quickly ran down the
streaking fish to box the king after only five minutes
on the rod. “We do the same thing at home with
sailfish, to get a quick release,” Hunt said.
“Our team has the experience and the know how
to do well, so we’re looking forward to a great
season in the SKA this year. Mercury is a big reason
we’re back fishing the trail this year, so thank
you Mercury!”
Jim
Walukiewicz, his son Jimmy, and the Sure Thing team
have been around the block a few times with the SKA,
fishing in several National Championships. They also
had a good season opener at this year’s Evinrude/Murray
Marine Hog’s Breath tournament. A 51.11 pounder,
caught today, would land them in third place in the
tournament and second in the divisional points race.
Fishing a Yamaha-powered Paramount, the Sure Thing
had the fish cornered on Day One some eight miles
east of the Tail End buoy, but thought they’d
lost their shot. Several other boats were also there,
catching good fish. Jim and the team returned to the
hotspot today and were quickly rewarded. “We
didn’t even get a full spread out when this one
nailed a blue runner on top,” he said. “Within
ten minutes we had him in the boat.
In
fact, we knew he was a good one when we had to bend
him to get him to fit in the fishbag. It was good
to catch a good fish after being kinda disappointed
yesterday.” Ted Berkstresser, Bear Croft and
Jimmy Knapp also nailed a good fish in the tournament’s
second day, proving that you can never give up in
tournament competition. After checking out leading
the fleet of 125 boats, the Can’t Wait team spun
a hub just short of their destination at the Tail
End.
Knowing
the bite would be early, they elected to toss the
hook and deploy the kite while making repairs. “We
saw some fish and there were some other boats hooked
up, so we decided to stay there.” At 9:30AM,
amid a school of chummed-up yellowtail snapper, their
49.06 pounder crashed the kite bait. “It took
us a while to get that fish in,” Berkstresser
said, “because Jimmy and Bear kept saying it
was a small king! Jimmy fought him from a dead boat,
with all the lines still out, until it rolled up beside
us. I said, ‘Man, that’s a big king,’
and gaffed it in the tail. Bear got a head shot, and
both of us pulled it in the boat. “ Bruce Rutledge
finished up in fifth place aboard the Irresistible,
this time without good luck charm and better half
Cindy, who stayed ashore today. They, too, reported
an early bite as they waited dockside at Murray Marine
for the scales to open.
Their fish, a fat 47.61 pounder, would also be a good
jump start in the division standings. The Irresistible
was the top finishing boat from the Fountain/Mercury
team as well. Dick Russell’s Brute team wound
up in sixth place, as well as taking the Top Class
of 23, Single Engine Boat and Top Lady Angler honors
for Chrissie Russell. The Brute, a Mercury-powered
SeaCraft, was awaiting the scales to open yesterday
with a 46.54 pounder aboard. Many spectators remarked
that the Class
of 23 really pays big dividends when you can put a
big fish up on the leaderboard. Robert Anderson’s
Diamond Cutter, all the way from Richmond Hill, Georgia,
found second place in the Class of 23 with a 41.98
pound kingfish. Anderson remarked that it was great
to get away for the weekend and fish in some great
weather. Mark Whitmire and the Grinder team ended
up third in the Class with a 39.88, just missing that
forty pound mark.
Once again, Key West lived up to its’ reputation
as a world class fishing destination. There were three
kingfish over fifty pounds weighed in during the two
day tournament, as well as numerous fish over the
forty pound mark.
In
fact, when it takes a 42.85 to earn a check in twelfth
place, that’s a great tournament. Even Mother
Nature cooperated this year for a change. The northward
migration of king mackerel has begun, as the big fish
wintering off Cozumel make their way around both coasts
of Florida. Some stocks will remain in the eastern
waters while others literally turn left and head over
into the Gulf of Mexico, so it’s shaping up to
be a good year of fishing. If you’ve never had
a chance to fish in the lower Keys, make plans now
to attend next year’s event.
Final
Standings
1.
Key Limey Tony Murray 55.85
2.
Australian Gold Casey Hunt 51.60
3.
Sure Thing Jim Walukiewicz 51.11
4.
Cant’ Wait Ted Berkstresser 49.06
5.
Irresistible Bruce Rutledge 47.61
6.
The Brute Dick Russell 46.54
|
7.
Fish Fever Ed Mecchella 45.28
8.
Justin Time Manny Galvao 44.90
9.
Crankenstein Buzz Owens 44.43
10.
Overproof Joe White 43.98
11.
Smackdown Christian Springsteen 43.82
12.
Rabbit’s Foot Luis Urbay 42.85 |
CLASS
OF 23
1.
The Brute Dick Russell 46.54
|
2.
Diamond Cutter Robert Anderson 41.98 |
3.
Grinder Mark Whitmire 39.88 |
|
TOP
SKA LADY ANGLER: Chrissy Russell, The
Brute
|
TOP
SKA JUNIOR ANGLER: Chelsea Lau, Whopper
Stopper |
