(* Denotes a Class of 23 Team)

SARASOTA SERTOMA SUNCOAST KINGFISH TOURNAMENT
SARASOTA, FL
MARCH 29-31, 2002
By: SKA

Greg Samuels knew he had a good fish, he just didn't know after day one of the Sertoma Suncoast Kingfish Tournament, whether it would hold or not. "I'm not fishing tomorrow, it's Easter Sunday," said Samuel after signing his weigh slip. "I just hope we're still on top after tomorrow.

Samuel, fishing with Carl Carder and Billy Chilson aboard his Contender, King Pin, ran 65 to 70 miles to the north and fished in 80 feet of water. "It's a spot we've found fish before and we just took a chance, he explained. "We caught her at 11 O'clock on a blue runner". They were back at the dock when scales opened at 3 P.M.. Tipping the scales at just over 40 pounds the trio had to just wait out another day of fishing, then collect a cool ten grand. Victory was theirs.

The 40 pound fish also gave King Pin an invite to the Nationals in November. They finished with a three fish agg of 91.3, eighth place overall. Richard Darlington and Lynn Cline fished Division 11's Class of 23 even though they live in Georgia. "We just got the fever, hunting season was over, so we came down, then left the boat here for the next event," said the
captain of the 23' Contender, Propwash. "I had no idea we'd win this thing. They did after scaling a 39.9 pounder and finishing second in the tournament. "We made a big run, 245 miles round trip," explained Darlington. "I had good information and knew if we made the run it would hopefully pay off. We watched a big king sky on one of Joel Zalud baits who was fishing by us, then our reel went off and when she came up by the boat, Lynn stuck her but couldn't get her over the gunwale. It took the two of us to get her in. Then at 11:30 am we headed north to the scales. They won Class of 23 both for the tournament and the overall division. Lynn also won Top Lady honors in the tournament. They too took Easter Sunday off, electing to attend sunrise church services on the beach.

Justin Time's Manny Galvao and Kris Sahr needed day two to catch their third place fish but oh what a fish, 36.3 pounds. It solidified their first place finish in the Division. "We went to Boca Grande yesterday and didn't see a fish," said Sahr. "So we went right back there on Sunday. Many just knew that there had to be a fish there. The conditions were right." They caught five smaller fish before the big one hit at 8 am., nabbing her in 30 feet of water using a live hard tail.

Robert Wiseman runs a Prowler catamaran with Honda power. Can't even hear the thing as it slides up to the dock. Named Backlash, the team nailed a 35.7 fishing 24 miles from the scale in 29 feet of water. They were just 3 miles off the beach flying a kite. "We had a bigger fish on and to the boat before a big barracuda cut her in half, but we're happy to finish fourth,"said Wiseman. That fish gave them a 79.8 three fish agg and a trip to Biloxi, finishing 15th. They also won Junior Angler honors for Brady Herndon in the tournament.

Bob Woithe and his family, The Reel Won, rounded out the top five with a 34.5 pounder. "We were 140 miles to the south today," said Bruce Woithe as the weigh master read the scale and announced it's weight, 32 pounds. "Our fish was bigger yesterday and we stayed right here, at home to fish." Sometimes you just can't figure it out!

The Zalud boys earned sixth aboard their Yamaha powered Contender, .08 Seconds, with a 30.6 just beating out Kevin Aley's Maniac Man who caught a 30.5 and finished seventh.

Eric Smith found his Comfortably Numb 2, a Mercury powered Pro Line, in second place, Class of 23, for the tournament with a 26.9 pounder and Mike Wallace, who had to borrow a boat to finish up the Division and then had to fish by himself, came to the dock on day two with a 23 pounder to finish third. He fishes the Phoenix Fishing Team.

This is the first time the Sertoma Club hosted the event by themselves and they did a great job. Sandy Blowers, tournament chairman, indicated that the Easter weekend dates probably hurt the tournament but addressed the scheduling with SKA for better dates for next year. With the great effort put forth, they really can write their own ticket.

Final Standings

1. KING PIN 40.2 Contender .... Yamaha Greg Samuel Carl Carder Billy Chilson 2. PROPWASH 39.9 Contender ..... Yamaha Richard Darlington Lynn Cline 3. JUSTIN TIME 36.3 Intrepid ..... Mercury Manny Galvao Kris Sahr 4. BACKLASH 35.7 Prowler .... Honda Robert Wiseman Brady Herndon 5. THE REEL WON 34.5 Contender .... Yamaha Bob Woithe Sue Woithe Bruce Woithe Bob Woithe Jr. Craig Martin	6. .08 SECONDS 30.6 Contender .... Yamaha Joel Zalud John Zalud Jr. Christina Huston Jonathan Zalud 7. MANIAC MAC 30.5 Fountain .... Mercury Kevin Aley Theresa Aley Kevin Aley Jr. 8. Reel Dream 30.4 9. War Bird 29.1 10. IN THE ROUGH 27.4 Contender .... Yamaha David Van Lent Rose Van Lent Doug Johnston Jerry Stephenson Robby Pencal
CLASS OF 23 1. PROPWASH 39.9 2. COMFORTABLY NUMB II 26.9 3. PHOENIX FISHING TEAM 23.1
Top Lady Angler: Lynn Cline	Top Junior Angler: Brady Herndon

 

FT. MYERS KING MACKEREL SHOOTOUT
FT MYERS , FL
MARCH 22-24, 2002
By: SKA

Keith McCullar is one of those guys that takes his fishing very seriously. His dedication to strive for excellence certainly paid off in the Fort Myers Beach King Mackerel Tournament as he and his teammates,Ray Jordan and Butch McCoy, put a 43.6 on the scale to top the field. "It wasn"t pretty out there," he stated. "With the north wind seas were running 6 to 8 foot. We ran about 50 miles to the southwest and fished a hard bottom area.

"They caught their fish using a blue runner trolled 45 feet below the surface. "We want to thank Jerry Stephenson and Mark Combs who fish with David Van Lent on the In The Rough for giving us some good information," the captain was quoted as saying as he accepted the first place check. That fish coupled with a 35.1 and a 30.9 gives the Pilgrim an invite to the Nationals. They now sit third with one tournament to go.

Manny Galvao earned second place in the tournament with a 41.8. What a season Manny and his partner Chris Sahr have had. A 34.2, 42.4, and now the 41. They lead the division with over 118 points. "We couldn't buy a fish on the first day," said Galvao. "We knew we had to run south to find the fish.

The further south we got , the bigger the seas. We fished blue runners and our king hit 75 yards back. As soon as she was in the boat we were on our way back. "Sometimes your game plan just works. With just one event left, they have a 4 point lead over second place, Tripp Fletcher on the No Limit.Charles Taylor's Fishin Finatic earned third place honors with a fish they caught in the slop on day one. "It hit a blue runner in the prop wash," said Taylor. They ran 35 miles to the southwest and fished in 65 feet of water. Taylor fishes his Contender with Trey and Cristy McGinnis, Connie Taylor, and John Wood.

They also won Top Lady honors.Neil Nix's Sake finished fourth with a nice 36.9. Watch this team as they go into the final event. They now have a two fish agg of 69.3 pounds. With any luck they'll be packing their bags for the big show.Rounding out the top five was Mark Goodwin's Economy Tackle with a 36.6. This is another spoiler. With a two fish agg of 65.4 they should be in the hunt after the last event.

Tripp Fletcher put his son Hunter into the top junior slot with their 35.5, however his 27.4 pounder caught in Naples dropped him from the top slot in the Division standings. The No Limit finds itself four points out of first but might be able to regain the lead with the 27 as a drop fish. We'll see. Remember that this is the first time Tripp has fished this far south on Florida's west coast and has to kind of feel his way. Just wait till he learns the waters.

This was the final event of the year produced by SMI ( Sports Masters International.) What a great job they did and they're just getting started. We understand that they have some great new ideas for 2003. The seasons not anywhere even close to being over and already we're excited.

Final Standings

1. PILGRIM 43.6 Contender .... Yamaha Keith McCullar Ray Jordan Butch McCoy 2. JUSTIN TIME 41.8 Intrepid ..... Mercury Manny Galvao Chris Sahr 3. FISHIN FINATIC 40.1 Contender ..... Yamaha Charles Taylor Trey McGinnis Connie Taylor John Wood Cristy McGinnis 4. SAKE 36.9 Sea Craft ..... Mercury Neil Nix Danny Marsocci John Crane 5. Economy Tackle 36.6 Contender .... Yamaha Mark Goodwin Dave Monda	6. NO LIMIT 35.5 Contender ..... Yamaha Van Fletcher Kim Mankins Doreen Lands Casey Lands Hunter Fletcher Jason Hodge 7. GO FAST FISHING 34.2 Donzi .... Mercury Sam Maisano Paul Cornell Joe Maisano 8. MOMBO 34.2 Grady White .... Yamaha Bob Beasley Bob Lea John Lallo 9. HARD TALE 32.8 Contender .... Yamaha Joe Shuttlesworth Jr. Joe Shuttlesworth Sr. Jason Roth 10. DREAM MAKER 30.1 Pro Sports .... Yamaha Jeff Braated Mike Howes Larry Viergiver Mikey Howes Jr.
CLASS OF 23 1. ALLOCATED TIME 28.2 World Cat ... Mercury Rod Westenbroek Roy Cotner Gary Osborn 2. SEA SNAKE 23.5 Pro Line .... Mercury Steve Thompson George Bowsil 3. KORA 22.0 Sunbird .... Johnson Tim Roush Ron Gunter Mike Smith
Top Lady Angler: Connie Taylor, Cristy McGinnis	Top Junior Angler: Hunter Fletcher

 

NAPLES CONTENDER KINGFISH CLASSIC
JUSTIN TIME'S LONG RUN PAYS OFF IN NAPLES!
NAPLES, FL
MARCH 8-10, 2002
By: SKA

Manny Galvao and Kris Sahr piloted their Mercury powered Intrepid, the Justin Time, south toward the Tortougas believing that was where they'd strike gold. It was an easy run considering that seas were only in the two to three foot range. After 127 miles Manny pulled back on the throttles and Kris flipped over the first bait, a healthy blue runner. "It was about 10 "clock, we had a short line out just past the prop wash," said Manny after tying up to the dock as the scales opened on Saturday. "We saw her hit. Chris picked up the rod and a few minutes later we knew we had a real good fish."The king tipped the scales at 42.4 pounds. "We had some real good numbers down there. There were no reports of good fish being caught off Naples like two weeks before so we knew we had to make the long run," Chris added.

The only problem the duo had over the weekend was figuring out how to get the 21' Yamaha powered Contender after Johan Kriek, John Zalud, and Contender's Vice President Marty Bistrong presented them the boats keys for their victory. Towing the prize home on the Loadmaster Trailer would present no problem however.

Fishing was not the best even though the weather was near perfect for March. "This is a great place to fish," said former Top Angler of the Year, David Van Lent. "More people need to learn just how great the southwest coast of Florida is this time of year and best of all you can qualify early."Mark and Rhonda Wicker fish a 27' Yamaha powered Contender named Digestible. "We didn't run far," said Mark as he and his wife prepared to hold up their fish for the camera. The second place fish, a 38.9 pounder, hit a live blue runner just after 8 o'clock. "It was the first fish of the morning," Mark added. "We found this area when we were bait fishing and saw some big fish there. We gave it a shot and it worked. "They went back on Sunday and nailed a 37 pounder. That's a great two days on the water. Rhonda earned Top Lady honors. The 38 coupled to a 29 gave them fourth place in the overall Division standings behind In The Rough, Justin Time, and Tripp Fletcher's No Limit.

David Van Lent weighed a 37.9 on day two to move into third place for the tournament after weighing a 29.8 on the first day. "We made the long run on day one but decided to cut that in half on day two," said David. "We ran 59 miles, set up and fished thru a few small fish. Then came the bite we needed. She hit a blue runner trolled 20 feet below the surface. "Dave fishes with his wife Rose, Jerry Stephenson, and Mark Combs aboard his 31 foot Contender, In The Rough.

Neil Nix, Danny Marsocci, and John Crane fishing Nix's 32' SeaCraft, Sake, needed the second day to climb onto the leader board in the fourth slot. They bagged a 32.4 pounder. Rounding out the top five was the 31 foot Contender, Zing Pow, captained by Matt Meister. Together with Robert Matarazzo and Brian Alstrom they too needed the second day to locate their fish.

Tim Roush, Ron Gunter, and Mike Smith, fishing the Kora, a 23' Sunbird got a double paycheck this weekend. They won sixth place in the tournament and first place in the Class of 23. "We caught our king early in the morning," explained Tim. "We ran about 35 miles, right back to the same spot we were at during the Marco Island tournament. It certainly worked out ok as they scaled a 31.2 pounder.One other Class of 23 boat finished in the overall top ten,Eric Clayton's Time Out, a 22' Grady White. they also earned second place in the Class of 23.Keith McCullar's Pilgrim finished seventh with a30.9 and now finds his team in fifth place in Divisional standings with just two events to go.

The Woithe family finished in the money, now two for two. They earned eighth and are in striking distance to win the Division. Jeff Hunter's Fish Tale went ninth this trip with a 30.4. Considering fishing was not great, it still took a 30 pounder to make it into the top ten. Again Johan put on a great event.

The weigh in was staged at Naples finest shopping and dining destination, Bayfront. In conjunction with the tournament on Saturday, the Tail Fins Classic and Exotic car Show was held. Over 100 proud car owners lined up around Bayfront square for spectators to ah and oh over their vintage automobiles. It was spectacular. The captains meeting was held at the Naples Boat Club, a spectacular marine complex right down town Naples.

Make sure to put this event on your list next year and by all means bring your wife. She'll love the shopping if she decides not to fish!

Final Standings

1. JUSTIN TIME 42.4 Intrepid ...... Mercury Manny Galvao Kris Sahr 2. DIGESTIBLE 38.9 Contender ..... Yamaha Mark Wicker Rhonda Wicker 3. IN THE ROUGH 37.9 Contender .... Yamaha David Van Lent Rose Van Lent Jerry Stephenson Mark Combs 4. SAKE 32.4 SeaCraft ... Mercury Meil Nix Danny Marsocci John Crane 5. ZING POW 32.2 Contender ... Yamaha Matt Meister Robert Matarazzo Brian Alstrom	6. KORA 31.2 Sunbird ....... Johnson Tim Roush Ron Gunter Mike Smith 7. PILGRIM 30.9 Contender ..... Yamaha Keith McCullar Ray Jordan 8. THE REEL WON 30.8 Contender .... Yamaha Robert Woithe Sr. Robert Woithe Bruce Woithe Sue Woithe Craig Martin 9. FISH TALE 30.4 Grady White ..... Yamaha Jeff Hunter Mike Wodd 10. TIME OUT 30.3 Grady White .... Yamaha Eric Clayton Charles Hasiak Darren Blum
CLASS OF 23 1. KORA 31.2 2. TIME OUT 30.3 3. COMFORTABLY NUMB 2 29.5
Top Lady Angler: Rhonda Wicker	Top Junior Angler: the Smith's, Justin, Joshua, Jake

 

MARCO ISLAND KING MACKEREL SHOOTOUT
MARCO ISLAND, FL
FEBRUARY 22-24, 2002
By: SKA

Tripp Fletcher emerged from the check out line and pointed the bow of his Yamaha powered Contender, the No Limit, south toward the Tortugas. "That's where you'll find the big fish," he explained after scaling a 51.5 pounder caught by his fiancee Kim Mankins. Only he never made it that far south. "The weather was kicking up and the reports were for it to deteriorate as the day went on," he added. "I found some nice water holding bait about 30 miles out and decided to give it a try." It obviously was the right decision. "We caught her about 10:30 dragging a ballyhoo on the surface. We lost another good one on a runner."

For their good fortune, Tripp put another notch in the win column, something he and his family were very use to doing back in the late nineties."I started my own trucking company and had to curtail our fishing a lot," Tripp remarked. "I've got good key people in my organization so I can fish a little more now. "He won $10,000 for the events top prize, $5,000 for catching the first 50 pounder, Top lady honors for Mankins, and top junior honors for his son Hunter.

The weather did deteriorate during the afternoon and by weigh in time seas were bouncing between seven to ten feet. Those who made the long run to the Florida Keys were forced into safe harbor to wait for the seas to subside. Bud Randall and The Natural team from Florida's east coast made an 8 hour runback taking those nasty 10 footers on the nose as did the Economy Tackle team. It wasn't pretty.

Yohan Kreik and his staff were sighed relief as they counted the boats as they lined up for Saturdays weigh in, 41 to be exact. Very respectable. Rick Mendoza found the second place fish also before noon, a 42 pounder, aboard Mark and Bob Markisen's Century, Reel Frustration. "We were about 40 miles out, in 75 to 80 feet of water, fishing a hard bottom area we've caught fish at before, "said Mendoza. "She ate a large spanish sardine on the surface. "They were elated with their fish but equally as excited to be back in safe, ready for a hot, hot shower. Charles Taylor and his Contender, the Fishin Finatic, worked the T-Tower area. "We finally called it quits around 2 o'clock, "he recalled."

Bouffard was cranking the last bait in the water. About ten feet off the transom this king exploded out of the water skiing on the bait. I screamed to Kirk to drop back, drop back. He did and luckily our king came back and smacked the blue runner. "The king tipped the scales at 38.6, good for a third place payday. Keith McCullar and his Pilgrim team caught their fish on Day one also.

TheYamaha powered Contender team nailed a 35.1 pounder. Justin Time rounded out the top five with a 34.2. All the fish from the top five were caught on day one. Weather conditions on day two did not improve much and only about half the 72 boat field actually checked out . Only the bottom positions, ninth and tenth place changed. Dream Maker moved into ninth place with a nice 31.2 pounder moving Hannon's Cannon from Saturdays ninth place to tenth. Gotta Weighs 29.9
pounder moved to eleventh place just out of the money.

With all things considered, needing a 30 plus pound fish to make the leader board made the fishing very respectable.
In the Class of 23, Richard Darlington's Propwash earned the leader boards top slot with a nice 29.5 pounder. "Joel Zalud took us to his spot and we found our fish at 11:30 using a blue runner," said a weary Darlington. It was a real tough day, especially in our little boat."

Kora and Allocated Time rounded out the next two Class of 23 slots that received a check for their efforts. This Divisional competition is going to be real tight this season.Yohan and his staff did an excellent job of giving the anglers a first class event. He is truly one of the top promoters on the SKA trail.

Final Standings

1. NO LIMIT 51.5 Contender .... Yamaha Van Fletcher Kim Mankins Hunter Fletcher Casey Lands Doreen Lands Jason Hodge 2. REEL FRUSTRATION 42.0 Century .... Yamaha Mark Markisen Bob Markinsen Rick Mendoza 3. FISHIN FINATIC 38.6 Contender .... Yamaha Charles Taylor Troy McGinnis Jr. John Wood Kirk Bouffard Connie Taylor 4. PILGRIM 35.1 Contender .... Yamaha Keith McCullar Butch McCoy Ray Jordan 5. JUSTIN TIME 34.2 Intrepid .... Mercury Manny Galvao Kris Sahr	6. THE REEL WON 32.6 Contender .... Yamaha Robert Woithe Sr. Sue Woithe Bruce Woithe Robert Woithe Craig Martin 7. .08 SEC 32.3 Contender .... Yamaha Joel Zalud Jonathan Zalud John Zalud Jr. 8. IN THE ROUGH 31.2 Contender .... Yamaha David VanLent Doug Johnston Jerry Stephenson Mark Combs Rosemary VanLent 9. DREAM MAKER 31.2 pro Sports .... Yamaha Jeff Braaten Larry Viergevar Mike Howes 10. HANNON'S CANNON 30.9 Intrepid ..... Yamaha Kevin Hannon Steve Rowley
CLASS OF 23 1. PROPWASH 29.5 Contender .... Yamaha Richard Darlington lynn Cline Dan Nolan 2. KORA 24.2 Sunbird .... Johnson Tim Rough Mike Smith Ron Gunter 3. ALLOCATED TIME 21.9 World cat .... Mercury Rod Westenbroek Roy Cotner Gary Osborn
Top Lady Angler: Kim Mankins	Top Junior Angler: Hunter Fletcher