(* Denotes a Class of 23 Team)

"Top Gun's 39.84 Tops Leaderboard at the 13th Loadmaster Trailers Classic"
TREASURE ISLAND, FL
NOVEMBER 7-9, 2003
By: Andrew Winburn

The last tournament of Division Six was a weekend of firsts for the 35 Donzi Top Gun team captained by David Heavenridge. David, Warren Williams, Joe Verilla and David Connolly claimed the first SKA victory for the Top Gun team- It was also Connolly's first tournament and first king! "We really didn't have high expectations for the weekend," explained Heavenridge. "We were sitting at the 7-11 bottom with no action when Team Mayhem called for us to move in towards them." David Connolly was reeling in the last line sitting in the water when the 39.84 pound winning fish fell victim to the shad. "It was a complete surprise fish. We were giving up on that spot and going to try our luck elsewhere," said Heavenridge. The Top Gun team figured the fish to be small when it first hit, but then it made a couple of decent runs just before it was in gaffing range. They saw that it was a long fish and knew it was going to go near the 40 pound mark. These guys are true sportsmen and very deserving of such a great weekend.

Second place went to non SKA members on the Lady Marmolaid with a 37.84. Et Tu Brute is a very good fishing team and proved once again that they can always make a run for the money. John Smith, John L. Smith and Todd Ferguson fished an area about 10 miles from the scales. Their big fish, a 37.28, came on the first day. But they made the final minutes of the second day truly exciting. As Et Tu Brute pulled up to the dock they said they had another good fish in the bag. They set the bag on the dock and then pulled out four smokers from the fish box for their picture. The crowd gasped and the Top Gun team crowded around thinking that their first place fish was in jeopardy. The fish in the bag didn't quite top Et Tu Brute's first day fish- but what a way to end the weigh-in. The 37.28 was caught with a bluerunner at 11am the first day.

Dave Mistretta's Jaws Too took fourth place overall and third place in the SKA. "We sure are excited about finishing fourth but this is such a special weekend because of our connection with David Heavenridge and the Top Gun team," said Dave speaking of his former fishing partner. Dave, Lisa Mistretta, Andrew Myers, Bobby Somerson, Travis Young and Dave Bayes fished an area right off of the beach in a school of Spanish Mackeral. "We lost fish on each of the first three lines in the water. The fourth fish hit at 7:30. It was the 36.32," Dave said. That fish ate a big Shad on the surface. Jaws Too had to weave through all of the crab traps in the area in order to bring any of their 10 decent sized kings to the boat that morning.

The SKA's fourth place honors went to the Howes family on the Yamaha powered Pro Kat No Bannana's. Michael, Leeanne, Landon and Mikey fished 14 miles to the West of Gator's where most of their action was with their surfaced baits. "Most of the kings we saw were near the surface, but our 32.28 hit a bluerunner on the downrigger," explained Junior Angler Mikey Howes. "I knew it was a good fish by the way that it was pulling. It made one long run and came straight to the boat." Landon and Mikey were the top Junior Anglers. The Howes family represents the sport of kingfishing very well. They always come to the dock wearing team clothing and hang around in support of all anglers weighing fish. Contagious took fifth place in the SKA and eighth in the tournament. Brian Whitaker, Mike Irwin, Benjamin Irwin and Mike Murphy had a 32.16 to earn this position. Erik Gyurkovic on the Outer Limits had the top Class of 23 boat with a 32.08.

 

"Et Tu Brute Dominates the T.A. Mahoney Suncoast Kingfish Classic."
INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, FL
OCTOBER 31 - NOVEMBER 1, 2003
By: Andrew Winburn

"We had good bait. Plus the Fall of the year is our time for BIG KINGS," said John Smith, the captain of Et Tu Brute. The wind was blowing so most every boat fished the beach- it was anyone's tournament. But John, fishing with John L. Smith and Todd Ferguson knew that this was their week to make a statement. They settled into a spot about 30 feet deep and began releasing several decent kings. John explained the situation, "We saw numerous kings. At 2pm we changed a few of the baits and that's when the rocket came. We got on her as fast as we could." Todd took control of the 42.16 that ate a big green back on the long line and had her to the boat in no time. After that 2pm bite John, John L. and Todd knew they had accomplished what they set out to do- WIN!

Second place went to Steve Hays and Rob York on the Surreel. "Our weekend started out rather slow. We could not find bait until very late on Friday, actually it was our sixth and final stop," explained Steve. After talking to Randy Keys on Friday night the Surreel team took their bait well full of Blue Runners to the ship channel on Saturday. The bait in the prop wash went off at 1:30 as the guys were sitting in 45 feet of water. "In 25 minutes Rob had her in the bag and we were on our way to the scale with a 40.40 pound King!" proclaimed Steve. Special thanks go to Dave Bays of Dogfish Tackle in Redington Beach and also Apex Lending.

The weather played a large factor in the decision that Mutual Fun made. "We didn't want to get beat up in the 4 to 6 footers so we decided to fish the beach,' said Phil Voelkel. Mutual Fun had a slow morning releasing a few small kings. At 2pm the decision to fish the beach proved to be a great choice. Phil said, "We were in 14 feet of water when that 36.88 hit a Blue Runner." Mutual Fun was only 10 miles from the scale when the third place fish was caught.

Dead Serious sat in the middle of all of the other boats fishing along the beach. "We just couldn't make it happen there although there was plenty of action," explained Captain Fred Reyes. Fred, with Vince Holloway and Bob Kraft decided to bite the bullet and head offshore. Dead Serious was in 70 feet of water when their fourth place 35.52 hit a Blue Runner on the long flat line. Vince angled the fish to the boat and the guys took a slow 26 mile ride to the scale.

Lady Green Eyes followed the game plan that most of the fleet followed. They knew the weather was nasty offshore so Ed Walker and Ralph Warner camped out on the beach. Lady Green Eyes got in on the bite that started around 2pm after catching numerous small kings in the morning. "There were several other boats hooked up around us during that span of time. We got lucky and pulled out a 34 pound fifth place fish," said Ed.

The Class of 23 boats did not have much of a location choice during the T.A Mahoney tournament as explained by Jerry Gibson of Reef Raft, "It was a day on the beach for us small boats. All you had to do was get lucky once the bite turned on." And that is exactly what his boat did. Jerry along with Terry Williams were trolling in 25 feet of water when the 31.04 hit a big Cigar Minnow on the surface. They headed straight for the scale to claim the top spot for the Class of 23.

Randy and Jim Sanderbeck took second place honors for the Class of 23 with a 29.92 on Julie Marie. Julie Marie had an early fish- 7:30am. Randy and Jim fished until 3:30pm but were unable to land a bigger fish.

Sara Stevenson on Digestable was the Top Junior Angler followed by Ben Hockett on Danny's Dream. Debra White from Lunch Money was the top Lady Angler.

 

"Team K.O.'s 35.4 Tops Large Field at Treasure Island!"
TREASURE ISLAND, FL
MAY 9-11, 2003
By: John Zalud

Treasure Island, Florida-Mike Burnett caught a 35.44 to earn top honors in the Miller Lite Suncoast Kingfish Classic and was also the Class of 23 winner. "This was just our second year fishing Division Six so this was a very big win for us," said Burnett after accepting the $5,000 cash prize and the 2003 Mercury Opti-Max Outboard on stage at Gator's on the Pass. "We had no problems filling the well full of hard tails. We then ran fifteen miles west of John's Pass to an area we pre fished." Jason Ford caught the king that ate a runner trolled in the prop wash at 1 PM. "We went back Sunday but couldn't better our first days catch." That catch moved the K.O. into the top ten in Class of 23 with just one fish. If the fall is good to this team they've got a trip to the Nationals.

Erich Lichtenberger's Top Dog, a 31' Yamaha powered Contender, nailed a 32.16 to earn the events third spot. Fishing with Bob Baver, Pat Hession who caught the king, Richard Weatherby, and P.K. Lichtenberger, Erich said, "We've fished the middle grounds the last two events with no luck but had a good feeling that this was the trip to make." The seas were only one to three both days so it was an easy 90-mile run. "We caught some small fish in the morning but the money fish ate a runner thirty feet down," Erich added. The team is now on the bubble to qualify for the big show.

Digestible, another Yamaha powered Contender, with Jerry Stephenson at the helm, moved into second place in the Division with a two fish aggregate of 55.80 points. "We had a good feel about fishing to the south so we made a ninety mile run and found our 30-pounder," said the Captain who usually fishes with David VanLent. "Mark Wicker caught the king Saturday on a long trolled blue runner at one o'clock. As soon as it hit the bag we were on our way back," Jerry's daughter Sarah won top SKA Junior honors.

Dan Hockett's Danny's Dream also used a large blue runner to entice their seventh place king to bite. "We fished all over the place starting at the New Pass hard bottom," said the proud Captain after informing us that his son Ben caught the fish. "We were at our last spot five and a half miles off John's pass when it hit the bait trolled twenty feet below the surface at 3:45. It was then a race to the scale." It weighed 28.32 and moved this team into tenth in Divisional standings. Fishing with Hockett was John Strome and Curt Eck.

Horizen Haze bagged eight place in the Miller Lite tournament with a 27.52 and moved to sixth in the Division standings. All the front runners in the Division have just two fish and the split between Horizen Haze and the first place team is just 10 points this will be very interesting come this fall with two tournaments left. Fishing on the team is Charlton Weldon, Christopher Weldon, and Jason Weldon.

Tenth place fell to the Division leader, Josh Denton's Reel Easy.com. They weighed a 26.08.

Top lady in the tournament was Debra White who fished aboard the Lunch Money and caught a 22.96.

Tommy Pease's Challenger moved into the Class of 23 lead with 54.14 points about a half a pound ahead of Dave Travis's Bay Pines Marine.

Fishing off the Tampa Bay area this spring has been tough. It was learned that a big loop current exists off the coast which explains why a lot of big kings are already in the upper Gulf off Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana already. There's always a reason when fishing gets tough. Add this to the large abundance of red tide south of Tampa, very warm weather, and you can see why the fish moved north so quickly this season. But this sets up a very competitive fall fishing season. Should go down to the wire before we crown a Divisional champion.

Our hats off to Treasure Island Charities and Jon Willis for another good event!

Final Standings

1. TEAM K.O. 35.44 Hydra Sports ... Johnson Mike Burnett 2. Aquamatic 35.20 3. TOP DOG 32.16 Contender ... Yamaha Erich Lichtenberger Bob Baver Pat Hession Richard Weatherby PK Lichtenberger 4. DIGESTIBLE 30.64 Contender ... Yamaha Jerry Stephenson Mark wicker Sarah Stephenson 5. Junior 30.64	6. Hoo Hoo 28.68 7. DANNY'S DREAM 28.32 Sea Vee .... Yamaha Dan Hockett John Strome Curt Eck Ben Hockett 8. HORIZEN HAZE 27.52 RroLine ... Mercury Charlton P. Weldon Christopher Weldon Jason Weldon 9. Grouper Time 26.32 10. REEL EASY.COM 26.08 Dakota ... Mercury Josh Denton Mike Bracikowski
CLASS OF 23: TEAM K.O.

 

 

"MASTRY WINS! BAY PINES MARINA 2ND, TOP SKA BOAT IN BOATER'S WORLD TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS"
CLEARWATER, FL
APRIL 25-27, 2003
By: Jack Holmes

The SKA pulled out all the stops to make the inaugural Boater's World Tournament of Champions in Clearwater, Florida a huge success. The tournament went great but thanks to mother nature, a storm front moved through central and northern Florida Friday with high winds, tornados, lightning, hail, and where we were, three to five inches of rain. The expected large turnout shrunk to just over 200 boats, but that didn't deter the competitors who checked out Saturday morning with black clouds still overhead and lightning crackling all around. They just wanted the opportunity to win the 21' Yamaha powered Contender boat striding a custom aluminum Loadmaster Trailer.

All through the day Saturday, the ominous clouds subsided and ole sol nudged his sunbeams earthbound. We were greeted with two boats already back at the dock when we arrived to set up the weigh-in site at Frank Chivas's Island Way Grill, Dirty Laundry and Team World Cat. Sam White, fishing with Captain Rusty Fox aboard the Dirty Laundry pulled the fish bag from the Contender's fish box and hoisted it over the gunwale. Bob Flocken, the SKA's official weigh master, slid the tail rope over the king and hoisted it on the electronic scale. 33.15 was his call. The World Cat team thought they could beat it as the two teams bantered back and forth. They did by just one one-hundredth of a pound. It was close. The two teams would end up sixth and seventh place respectively. Fishing the World Cat was Rod Westenbroek, Roy Cotner, Gary Osborne, and Kirk Annis.

As the first two teams to weigh in were leaving the restaurant dock, the first of many Class of 23 boats came around the corner and pointed the bow towards the dock. Dave Travis's Bay Pines Marina, a Mercury powered Mako, pulled a king from their fish bag, one look told everyone that a new tournament leader was about to emerge. It tipped the scales at 37.62. The angler, Bob Campbell told us that they were fishing the Skyway Bridge area when the smoker hit a lady fish on the surface around 9 o'clock. They caught and released another four fish. ÒBait was tough to get with the storm," said Travis. ÒWe started the day with just two blue runners. They held the tournament lead until the Jaybird slid up to the dock. Veteran king mackerel fisherman and local legend, Jay Mastry, pulled a slab from his boat and with all the team members on his boat walked the short distance to the scale where Flocken officially counted the fish at 37.73, just .11 pounds better than Travis's fish.

While the rest of the competitors tried to unseat the Bird, it wouldn't happen this weekend. Mastry would lay claim to the Contender and add another $10,000 in cash to his prize total. Mastry told Angler magazine that they were fishing inside the Skyway and, like Travis, caught their king on a lady fish. Debra Gell, fishing the Jaybird would win Top Lady honors. Both third and fourth place in the Boater's World tournament would also be caught on the first day, and the worst of the weather days for the two day event.

Greg Campbell leads a team aboard his Minus One. The Class of 23 team of Henry Colsten, Tim Colvard, and Rick Baruta, has certainly caught the attention of the SKA for their consistency. In Clearwater they nailed third in the tournament with a 36.18. The team decided to fight the elements and run 45 miles northwest and settled in 45 feet of water. The angler, Tim Colvard, explained that their king exploded on a blue runner trolled on the surface. They have had similar success in this spot in tournaments past. Campbell's Minus One, a Mercury powered Cape Horn, has already secured a berth in the Nationals finishing third in the already completed Division 11.

Fourth place fell to another Class of 23 boat, Tommy Pease's Challenger, with a 35.66. Pease, along with Tommy Pease Jr., Wyatt Sealy, and Chad Pease, caught the king at 9:30 fishing 18 miles west in 60 feet of water. ÒWe had a good fish on but lost it in the prop," said the excited Captain. ÒTen minutes ater the big fish hit a lady fish." They caught four other fish also.

Dave Mistretta is another angler with deep roots in Florida's west coast fishing fraternity. Mistretta was one of several anglers who fished the Clearwater hard bottom, and had the best success finishing fifth with a 34.15. ÒWe had a really good day," said the popular Captain. ÒWe caught a lot of fish using shad. I really thought this king would have been bigger, he measured 55 inches." A lot of others, when they saw the length of the fish thought the same, but length doesn't always equate to weight.

Richard Derek William's Just Rosey, from Tampa, Florida, earned eighth place with a 32.66. It was another of those Class of 23 that scored big. Chris Weiser, Wendy Scott, and Roy Schleman fish the 21' Wellcraft with Williams.

Team Reel Easy.Com, a 36' Dakota captained by Josh Denton, bagged a 32.40 to earn the event's ninth place while Jack Penny's Pennywise, a 27 foot Contender, earned tenth. Mike Penny was the tournament's op Junior Angler.

Because many Class of 23 foot boats did well in the tournament, they earned more money in the higher standings, leaving the Class of 23 money for others.

Winner of the Class was Chris Workman aboard his 21 foot Contender, Get Snookered, with a nice 32.39. With Elizabeth Otero on board the team. This was their second SKA event and first win. ÒWe went southwest 12 miles to find bait and ended up catching a small king," said Workman. ÒAt 10 we left to run north but we couldn't buy a fish. I ran back to the bait spot at 3 and at 3:30 the big fish hit a blue runner. Elizabeth fought the fish for a half hour, then we were scale bound." I'm sure Chris is an accomplished fisherman but somehow that last name, where have we heard that before?

There were tons of door prizes from Boater's World tournament sponsors given out at the Captain's party held at the Harborview Center in downtown Clearwater. Our special thanks go out to the Parks and Recreation Department for their help in promoting this event. Clearwater is a great tournament site and despite bad weather, anglers not only had a great time but caught good kings.

 

"Contagious Wins 9th Annual Mercury Suncoast Kingfish Classic"
TREASURE ISLAND, FL
APRIL 11-12, 2003
By: Andrew Winburn

The week before the 9th Annual Mercury Suncoast Kingfish Classic was filled with bad weather. Bait was hard to find during the tournament and the water was dirty. It is tough to bring a king over the gunwale in conditions like these. Only 16 of the 175 boats were able to do this.

Captain Brian Whitaker took home a 225 h.p. Mercury outboard and a nice check for his 34.00 winning king. Brian knew that the bait was going to be hard to find and getting a decent king to take one of the baits was going to be even harder. "We had to run 20 miles off of John's Pass to catch bait," said Brian. Contagious ran another 15 miles and saw bait. They put their lines out and before 1pm the winning fish took a big blue runner on the downrigger. As soon as William Irwin brought the fish to the boat the guys were on their way to the scale with the winning fish. A nice way to start Division 6.

Second place fell to a non-SKA member. Third place went to Jack Cook and crew on We're Cookin. They had a 29.12. Fourth place also fell to a non SKA member. Quint-O-Sential took fifth place overall. Frank Quinto heard of a few decent spots holding kings prior to the tournament but said, "Fishing was very hard and the bait was poor." Frank finally found some clean water about 50 feet deep and tossed a mullet in the prop wash. Their only fish was a 24.56 taken at about 1pm.

The Native finished sixth. Rebecca Roach, top Lady Angler, caught the 23.52 at 11am. The Native fished near the Skyway Bridge the week before the tournament and had a feeling that this spot was holding kings. They went back to that spot in 45 feet of water. The fish ate a blue runner 30 feet down on the downrigger.

Fair Warning took seventh overall in the one-day tournament. "It took us over three hours to get a dozen bait," said D.J. Ward. Fair Warning found an area of clean water a little after 1pm and put out lines. Before 2pm a 23.28 king ate a blue runner and D.J. started his fight. "We knew that this was a good fish for the weather conditions," said D.J. "This was the worst day for bait fishing that I have ever experienced," said Todd Ferguson. Et Tu Brute left the dock in the morning and only managed to find 2 blue runners. Todd knew that he had to find an area of clean water. He managed to find the perfect spot and put one of those blue runners on the surface and started to fight a 17.84 at 2pm. They put the fish in the bag and headed to the weigh in. Et Tu Brute took the eighth spot.

Final Standings

1. CONTAGIOUS 34.00 Crusader ... Cummings Brian K. Whitaker 2. Jay Bird 30.16 3. WE'RE COOKIN 29.12 4. Calcutta 27.52 5. QUINT-O-SENTIAL 24.56 Hydra-Sport ... Johnson Frank Quinto 6. THE NATIVE 23.52 Rabco .... Mercury Robert Snibbe Evan Kirstien Rebecca Roach	7. FAIR WARNING 23.28 Hydra-Sport .... Johnson Ron Heideman D.J.Ward 8. ET TU BRUTE 17.84 Jefferson ... Yamaha John Smith John L. Smith Todd Ferguson 9. Cast-A-Nette 17.12 10. ECONOMY TACKLE 16.80 Contender .... Yamaha Mark Goodwin Dave Monda
CLASS OF 23: 1. QUINT-O-SENTIAL 24.56 2. FAIR WARNING 23.28  TOP LADY: Rebecca Roach TOP JUNIOR ANGLER: Ben Hockett