62.91
Takes Home a Pair of Mercury Outboards at Hog’s
Breath.
Four 50 Pound Kings Follow that Fish!
January
23-25, 2004
By Andrew Winburn
What
better place to be in January than Key West, Florida!
While ice and freezing rain blanketed the Carolina’s
and cold weather was at its peak across the country,
151 fishing teams found a little paradise in the
80 degree January sunshine of the southern most
point in the United States. By midweek the SKA had
taken over Key West. The ocean may have kicked up
ever so slightly during the two fishing days, but
Duval Street was at its finest after the sun disappeared
to the West each day. Most teams were able to find
a fish, but if that wasn’t the case they were
able to find all sorts of fun once their boat was
in the slip at Murray Marine. From Hog’s Breath
Saloon to the Radisson poolside, not one minute
was wasted during the kick-off tournament for the
2004 SKA season, The Hog’s Breath King Mackerel
Tournament sponsored by Mercury Outboards, the largest
fishing contest in the Florida Keys. Warm weather,
bait was plentiful, spirits were high and reports
of large schools of kings as close as 12 miles from
the checkout- you can’t beat it!
Darren
Blum from Sarasota, Florida and the XFT fishing
team of John and Dan Peshkin and Rob Delph passed
the check-out boat on the first day of fishing and
made their way to the Tortugas. The Yamaha powered
Contender boated a respectable 43 pound king early
in the morning and kept their fingers crossed for
the big girl. “We put out a spread of massive
sized blue runners. When that one on the surface
was taken around noon we knew it had to be a monster
king,” said Darren. It made one long run as
XFT chased the fish down with Rob Delph controlling
the reel. Darren explained, “Once Rob had
her to the boat it took two of us to pull her over
the side. We unzipped the fish bag and put the 43
pounder on the deck and compared the two. That’s
when we figured we had just won a pair of Mercury
Outboards.” XFT’s 62.91 took over the
leader board’s first spot and held on as no
team could match it on the second day. They took
home a pair of 200hp Mercury Outboards for their
weekend of fishing.
For
the second year in a row Duane Zamonis and the Outta
Line team came to Key West and claimed victory for
the Class of 23. Duane, Andy Zamonis and Scott Lunden
fished for bait Friday night. After their live well
was full they were ready for check-out. “We
went right back to the same spot as last year. We
felt good about it, but who would have guessed it
would have produced a winner for the same boat two
years in a row,” said Duane. Being a Class
of 23 boat it took the Outta Line extra time to
make it to the Tail End Buoy- almost two hours.
Duane explained the situation, “We had been
fishing for just over an hour when Andy decided
to change the bait in the prop wash. As he was feeding
the line out the 44.75 surprised us all.”
Two good runs and a couple passes by the boat and
the fish was in range for the guys to gaff. “It
is kind of funny. We used to have a 12 foot gaff
but quickly found out that it was too big for our
boat. We switched to a six footer. It keeps us on
our toes but worked out well for us this weekend.”
Outta Line has a goal set to make it to Biloxi and
they seem to be well on their way.
Rush Maltz, Jeff Rella and Ty Werner on the Odyssea
took second place for the open division with a 56.78.
“Our team found a spot where no other tournament
boats were,” said Rush. At 10:30 the 56 pound
fish fell victim to a surfaced blue runner. Odyssea
gave special thanks to the guys at Murray Marine.
The
Naples, Florida based Salt Shaker team found their
big fish on the second day. “Our tournament
was basically over,” said Henley Shotwell.
“We were sitting just east of the Tail End
Buoy with two baits and five minutes of fishing
time left.” Henley, Steve Sprigg and Curtis
Donovan put those two blue runners in the water
and just before 2pm their 55.40 struck. That fish
was good enough for third place. “Steve did
a great job of getting that fish to the boat in
a timely manner. We ran her down and got the gaff
to her in no time,” explained Henley. The
guys used a second gaff to make sure they got the
third place fish in the boat. Once that fish hit
the deck the Salt Shaker team raced back to the
scale and made it in time to weigh.
Mark
Goodwin used this years Hog’s Breath tournament
to bring in the Economy Tackle’s largest king
ever, a 54.76 and the team’s best finish in
this tournament, fourth. Mark, Brenden Curcio and
Dave Monda fished an area just west of the Tail
End Buoy. Their smoker king hit 35 feet down at
11:30am. “That fish hung at the bottom and
didn’t fight as hard as some 25 pounders we
have caught. We obviously didn’t think it
was a 50 pound class fish,” the captain of
the Yamaha powered Contender said after the awards.
“We had that fish in rather early and called
a few guys in over the radio. We were the only boat
there and by the time we left it was a parking lot.”
Mike
and Susan Kaminsky came down from South Carolina
and fished their Fountain/Mercury Loose Lucy into
the fifth spot. Fishing with the Kaminsky’s
was Chris and Jan Chase, Gary Stecki and Phil Ugel.
Loose Lucy also fished an area to the West of the
Tail End Buoy. Mike stated that Susan’s 51.92
king ate a Cero Mackerel on the surface at noon.
The team battled through a number of 35 and 40 pound
kings looking for that big fish. Susan captured
the events Top Lady Honors.
Second
place for the Class of 23 went to John Kiki Thomas,
Steve McMracken and Mike Miusits on the Junior with
a 38.32. Junior caught and weighed cookie cutter
fish both days.
Kent
Fey and Mike Renfro caught a 44.18 on the High Tailin’
that gave them the award for largest king caught
on a single engine boat. They ran their single engine
boat 45 miles out and caught their fish at 9:40
using a blue runner.
Bryce
Jonsson on the Side Job had a 48.16 that gave him
the SKA top junior award. Sarah Stephenson was second
with a 38.96 on Digestible followed by Kevin Steele
on the Mack Daddy with a 36.53. Steele, the top
junior angler from the East Coast last year, won
the top junior award for the tournament being the
only junior to catch his fish.
This
year’s Hog’s Breath tournament in Key
West was absolutely great. There were five fish
in the 50 pound range and the 63 pounder. You had
to have a 45 pound king to make the top 15. If you
missed it this year make plans to join the other
151 boats next year. You won’t regret it!
GETCHA
SOME'S LONG RUN MAKES THE DIFFERENCE ...
WINS WEST MARINE'S FORT LAUDERDALE
TOURNAMENT!
April
16-18, 2004
By Jack Holmes
FORT
LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA-A huge dome of high pressure
hung over North Florida and brought winds to South
Florida that had palm trees doubled over. "It
was absolutely horrible," said Robbie Yancy,
team Captain of the Getcha Some. "Especially
since we knew that the fish were north of Palm Beach."
Running in four to seven foot seas, the team of
Yancy, Joey Casson, Jim Casson, and Missy Blandford
checked out of Port Everglades at 7AM on day one
and pointed the bow of the Mercury powered Contender
north. They weren't alone. Most of the fleet were
right with them. "That was the roughest day
I've ever had on the water," said Blandford.
After a day's fishing they only had a teenager to
post on the board but it was good for ninth place.
Mike
Kaminsky headed north also. "It wasn't too
bad until you reached Palm Beach," Kaminsky
told us. "You could run 35 mph in the troughs,
but it was a little wet." They were the second
boat to return from the north and scaled a 38.29,
good for the first day's lead. "It was an early
fish," said Jan Chase, who with her husband
Chris won the Angler of the Year honors in 2001.
She joined Kaminsky's team in Key West when his
wife Susan had pressing issues with her business
and couldn't make the trip. Now Jan has a chance
to win Top Lady Angler honors for the year.
Dan
Hess was actually the first to weigh on day one
and scaled a 32.05.
"We
were one of those that made the run to the north,"
said the Captain of the Team Chaos boat, a Mercury
powered Yellowfin. Hess had already earned a third
place finish just a couple of weeks earlier in Sarasota.
He fishes with Ryan Lee, Dave Passaro, and Joe Sistarelli
and earned a berth to the Nationals by finishing
third in Division 11 with 109 points.
Day
two, Missy Blandford bails from the team, but Yancy
knows that one more good fish will give his Getcha
Some crew a real shot at winning Division Ten. "We
had a 45 in Key West and really wanted to add a
good fish to our points," he said. So while
most of the boats decided to stay closer to Lauderdale,
he ran 65 miles to the north and found a 44.89,
good for the win and the $10,000 cash and 200hp
Mercury EFI outboard. "We caught the king at
10:30 in 72 feet of water with a blue runner on
the surface," he added.
The Loose Lucy dropped to second place and Team
Chaos would accept another third place finish. Now
Loose Lucy and Getcha Some are literally locked
in a dead heat for the Division lead with Getcha
Some leading 90.33 to 90.21.
The
Lost Boys team of Fred Schmid, Justin Burgreen,
Ryan Schmid, and Brandon Lauritano, had maybe the
best day on the water of the entire fleet of participants.
On day two, fishing 50 miles to the north the team
caught a bunch of Dolphin, Cobia, and a 29.34 pound
king. Good fish but didn't replace the 29.69 that
they caught the day before. "We ran 50 miles
north to find the fish," said Schmid. They
caught the fourth place king just after noon eating
a live bait on a kite rig.
Lance
Irvine, Harrison Smith, Houston Smith, and Carolyn
Smith, Team Young Guns had a good weekend despite
getting beat up, finishing fifth with a nice 26.94.
Three
of the top five boats came from outside the area.
The winner from Fort Pierce, second place from South
Carolina, third from Sebastian, and fourth and fifth
from the Lauderdale area.
William
and Bobby Wummer never thought a 12 pounder would
earn them a Class win but this weekend it did. The
Spiced Rum team caught a 12.80 on the first day,
the only Class of 23 team to weigh a fish and stayed
that way through the competition. No others weighed.
They called on the VHF radio just before the scales
closed to see who else weighed a king and were pleasantly
surprised. It really was tough on the Class boats
this weekend and regardless of the size of the fish,
they earned the weekend.
West
Marine and Mercury Outboards were the title sponsors
along with Sundance Marine, American Offshore Marina,
and Boat Center, all top notch local dealers. Kitty
McGowen and her staff made our job at the event
much easier.
| 1. GETCHA SOME.............. 44.89
Contender ...
Mercury
Robbie Yancy
Joey Casson
Jim Casson
Missy Blandford
2. LOOSE LUCY................ 38.29
Fountain ... Mercury
Mike Kaminsky
Susan Kaminsky
Jan Chase
Gary Stecki
3. TEAM CHAOS................ 32.05
Yellowfin ...
Mercury
Dan Hess
Ryan Lee
Dave Passaro
Joe Sistarelli
4. LOST BOYS................ 29.69
Contender ...
Ymaha
Fred Schmid
Justin Burgreen
Ryan Schmid
Brandon Lauritano |
5. YOUNG GUNS............... 26.94
Fountain ... Mercury
Lance Irvine
Harrison Smith
Houston Smith
Carolyn Smith
6. THE NATURAL.............. 22.97
Yellowfin ...
Mercury
Jon Gundlack
Bud Randall
Dave Stilman
7. KAT’S RIVAL.............. 19.70
World Cat ...
Yamaha
Frank Langdon
8. NATIVE PREMONITIONS...... 19.29
Regulator ...
Yamaha
Leon Wilcox
Denny Torrmie
Chris Summerfield
Charlie Satters
9. DIRECT STRIKE............ 18.91
Renaissance ...
Suzuki
Frank Dlouhy
Jeff Mosch
Jason Myers
10. BLACK PEARL............... 17.89
|
|
CLASS
OF 23
1.
SPICED RUM
12.80
Hydra Sports ... Yamaha
William Wummer
Bobby Wummer |
TOP
JUNIOR ANGLER:
Huston Smith ..... YOUNG GUNS .... 26.94
TOP
LADY ANGLER:
1.
Jan Chase & Susan Kaminsky
..... LOOSE LUCY .... 38.29 |
EARLY
RISER HAULS BOAT WITH 52.98 KING
April
22-24, 2004
By Ed Killer
FORT
PIERCE, FLORIDA-John Parks and John Williams have
two valuable pieces of advice for any would-be
kingfish tournament winner: sharpen all hook points
on all rigs and above all, fish the lightest drag
possible.
That combination of attention to detail and refined
angling technique earned the Jacksonville, NC
pair a 52.98-pound kingfish and top honors at
the 2004 Yellowfin Kingfish Classic in Fort Pierce.
And with top honors came the tournament's 23-foot
Yellowfin boat, Mercury outboard, and Loadmaster
trailer package. A just reward for besting a fleet
of 194 boats competing in an area that has become
a big fish hunting grounds over the past few years.
On the morning of the event's second day, Parks
and Williams hooked into what they hoped was a
smoker kingfish while fishing in 15 feet of water
a mile north of the Fort Pierce inlet. They had
a big bite on a 2-pound blue runner in the prop
wash and immediately lost 200 yards of 20-pound
test line off the conventional reel.
Parks grabbed the rod, and patiently began a battle
that would stretch over the next 45 minutes -
taking care not to horse the fish. Williams followed
the fish with the 30-foot Wellcraft enabling Parks
to maintain a workable amount of line on the reel
and keep close to a would-be tournament winner.
"I'm glad we did, because when we saw how
the fish was hooked, we knew how lucky we had
been," Parks said. "All it had was one
little No. 4 treble hook hooked into the end of
the king's nose."
Parks had joked with Williams saying that he thought
the fish was smart and had tried to throw the
hook several times. Little did he know that the
fish was barely hooked at all.
"We had to use two gaffs to boat the fish,"
Parks said. "As soon as it hit the floor,
the hook fell out on its own."
The 52.98 - Parks' third smoker over 50 pounds
on that boat - edged out day one leader Team Young
Guns of Bunnell, Fla. Lee Way and company's 51.06
- the team's largest king ever - held on for second
in the overall length class and a good payday
of its own.
"That was the biggest fish we ever caught,"
said Way. "Oh, well, what can you do? That's
fishing."
Way, Harvey Way, Trey Johnson, and Tyler Johnson
landed the fish about ten miles north of the Fort
Pierce inlet in 12 feet of water. Judging from
the direction of the first day's Bimini start,
only about 30 boats ventured north while the bulk
worked an area between Hobe Sound and Jupiter
some 20-30 miles south where a number of big kings
had been holding for a few weeks.
"I like fishing in the breakers," Way
said. "We had a bite on a ribbonfish as we
trolled out of the break. We ended up cutting
our day short due to engine problems."
Despite the disappointment of having his career
fish get beat, Way was optimistic about his team's
chances for the Mercury Tournament Trail's Division
10 title. With 88.82 pounds for two fish and two
tournaments left to go, Team Young Guns could
sit atop the Division by the time the Canaveral
Mack Attack fishes May 21-23.
"We came into this event with 37.76 pounds
from Key West," he said. "We didn't
fish Fort Lauderdale, but we're signed up for
Stuart and now we know where we're going to fish."
The first day leader in the tournament's Class
of 23 - a division for boats under 23 feet in
overall length - also was nudged from the top
spot on the leaderboard. Miss Behavin's Danny
Duncan, Bill McNeely, and Bruce Schmitt lifted
a 52.68-pound king onto the scales and landed
a 17-foot Yellowfin flats boat with Mercury outboard
and Loadmaster trailer worth about $30,000. Another
half pound and they could have won the overall
prize.
"We're glad to have this fish because we
lost two nice ones on Friday," said McNeely.
"We got tail-whipped on the fluorocarbon
on one fish and then had another bite through
the wire. All you can do is cry about it, and
keep fishing."
Miss Behavin fished an area off Sebastian known
as The Pines and used a bluefish for bait. According
to Schmitt, the bluefish bite there was so thick,
they caught them on the ribbonfish they were using
as bait.
Division leader Getcha Some, a Mercury-powered
Contender from Fort Pierce led by Rob Yancy, was
hoping to score the boat, but settled for a points
fish. Yancy and crew added a fish in the mid-20's
to their 90.33 coming in, but hope to drop that
fish and win the division with strong showings
in Stuart and Canaveral.
Loose Lucy's 90.21 will have to hold since they
were unable to score a fish in Fort Pierce. Bandit,
led by Port St. Lucie's Ron Mitchell added a 30-plus
pounder to his 63.32 and closes in on the division
lead.
"It's starting to get real serious - down
to the wire," Mitchell said. "The drop
fish is going to be a huge factor for this division
and ours is about 17 pounds."
Other Division 10 teams that greatly increased
their standing were Lost Boys, Team Reel Easy.com,
and 401K. The Penn Boat, Mack Daddy, Blue Runner,
Ambitious, and Bounty Hunter are hoping to cash
in on two more tournaments in home waters to improve
their standing as well. 401K's 44.77, Bounty Hunter's
40.89, and Mack Daddy's 39.96 will go a long way
to helping in the D-10 standings.
Scott Beattie's Preferred Marine team put a junior
angler caught 39.93 on the board despite a fight
from the anchor. Kody Beattie, 10, went toe-to-toe
with the hoss for 40 minutes before winning the
battle and helping his score in the junior angler
race. Mack Daddy's Kevin Steele also significantly
helped himself with a 39.96, but it was Tyler
Johnson of Team Young Guns that took home the
junior angler hardware for this event.
Tournament competitors were impressed with ten
fish weighing in excess of 40 pounds including
three over 50 pounds. While many boats reported
fishing the area off Jupiter on Friday, it sounded
like there were more boats north of the Fort Pierce
inlet Saturday. According to anglers, there were
more bites Saturday and some better fish.
Calm seas, perfect weather and strong crowds turned
out for the anglers in Fort Pierce. Oh, and by
the way, Fort Pierce Mayor Bob Benton fishes this
event every year aboard BG Nole in the Class of
23. He is working very hard to make sure that
SKA anglers and their families will always be
welcomed in the Sunrise City. Perhaps a future
National Championship will once again be fished
in the crown jewel of Florida's Treasure Coast?
HARD
ROCK’S 48 POUNDER TOPS FIELD IN CANAVERAL!
May
21-23, 2004
By John Zalud
PORT
CANAVERAL, FLORIDA—It was a great weekend
for the Hard Rock Casino team, scaling a 48.41
on the first day of the Canaveral Mac Attack,
and winning a 21’ Yamaha powered Contender
boat complete with a Loadmaster Trailer. Chris
Osceola, Pat Wilson, Ernest Tiger, Todd Nickel,
and Dan Reese make up the South Florida SeeVee
team.
“We
were fishing one mile north of Sebastian Inlet,
“ explained Osceola. “We had a kite
out but lost it. As we were retrieving it she
hit our goggle eye. This was early, 9am. Then
our bait well pump’s sea cock fitting fell
off and we had to deal with taking on water. We
didn’t even get to fish on Sunday.”
That winning fish propelled the team from 20th
place to 10th in Division Ten with just one event
to go. With qualifying 20 places in the open class
this season and pulling out all the pro teams,
they can get ready to make plans for Biloxi in
November.
Mark
Wicker, Jerry and Sarah Stephenson, came from
the west coast of Florida to support the tournament
and went home with second place honors. Sarah
caught a 44.12 to put the team in their position
and also won a motor cycle for herself scoring
the most points for a junior angler.
“We
just had to run back south 70 miles to Fort Pierce,”
explained Wicker who is already qualified for
the Nationals from Division 11 where they captured
second place. “She ate a blue runner on
the surface around one o’clock. Sarah had
her in the boat in just ten minutes. It was the
first fish we’ve weighed in three years
fishing the east coast.”
Fred
Schmid and Justin Burgreen’s Lost Boys team
just keeps getting better and better. This weekend
they earned third place honors with a 41.89 caught
on Sunday. Schmid explained that they had a broken
oil pump on Saturday but Donnie from Stuart Marine
got them up and running and back in the hunt.
“We
were 25 miles south fishing the Pines area when
at 1:30 she ate a big blue runner on the downrigger,”
said Schmid who is now in 8th place in the Division
and assured a berth in the Nationals. “It
took us 20 minutes to get her to the boat but
we knew we had a money fish.”
Joel
Mc Kenny's Easy Drinkin captured fifth place honors
with a 38.15. That fish was the team’s second
for the season and moved the team into a qualifying
position. With one event left they've got a real
shot.
Steve
and Bill Senecal and Larry Vogt electrified the
Sunday spectator crowd when they presented the
weigh master with a 40 pounder. “Didn’t
see a fish on Saturday,” said Steve Senecal,
Captain of the team. “On day two we went
to the Pines. Fishing was slow early on but picked
up a 21 pounder at noon. We were fishing in 47
feet of water with our ribbonfish off the downrigger
set at 15 feet when the big girl hit. It took
Larry 25 minutes to get her to the boat.”
They picked up first in Class of 23 and moved
to third in the Class only two tenths of a pound
out of second and a 21-pound drop fish.
Frank
Abbate’s Reel Runner is in second place
in the standings after finishing second in the
Class of 23. On day one the team of Anthony Zargaf,
Geno Butto Jr., Kyle Lunden, and Anthony Abbate
ran the Yamaha powered Sailfish 30 miles south
of the Port and set up in 50 feet of water. “We
had released a few small kings but at two o’clock
she hit a tinker mackerel trolled on the shotgun
line,” said the excited Captain. “Vinny
Holmes had pre-fished the area and gave us the
info.” Back at the dock the king registered
36.15 on the electronic scale. On day two they
were fishing next to the Knot Home and watched
them pull the 40 pounder over the gunwale. Now
they find themselves just eight points behind
Duane Zamonis’ Outaline in the Division
Ten points race with a 24.76 drop fish and just
the Stuart tournament left.
Robbie
Yancy’s Getcha Some’s team remained
the Division 10 leaders with over 120 points.
His tournament did not help improve his numbers.
Kevin Steele from the Mack Daddy team is the current
Top Junior Angler with just two fish. Kody Beattie
was second also with just two fish. Susan Kaminsky
leads the ladies division by 12 points. She fishes
with her husband Mike aboard the Loose Lucy. Harvey
Way leads the seniors.
For
three years this event in Port Canaveral was held
out of Rusty’s Seafood Restaurant and it
was good. But the location left a lot to be desired
and the sponsors and SKA management wanted to
see if they could do better. Entering the picture
was Keith McCullar who wanted a shot at the event.
He and his team found Scorpions Marina to be ideal
and with the floating docks from SKA put together
a much more user friendly environment. It made
everyone very happy, no hitches or glitches, just
a great event. Our hat’s off to Keith who
took something that was OK and made it ten times
better. We look forward to going back next year.
Final
Standing
| 1.
HARD ROCK........... 48.41
SeeVee ... Mercury
Chris Osceola
Pat Wilson
Ernest Tiger
Todd Nickel
Dan Reese
2.
DIGESTIBLE......... 44.12
Contender ... Yamaha
Mark Wicker
Jerry Stephenson
Sarah Stephenson
3.
LOST BOYS.......... 41.89
Contender ... Yamaha
Fred Schmid
Justin Burgreen
4.
Reality Bites...... 38.93
5.
EASY DRINKIN....... 38.15
Palmetto ... Yamaha
Joel McKenney
Brett Taylor
Chrissy Taylor
Michael Vernon |
6.
KINGPIN............ 35.82
Contender ... Yamaha
Greg Samuel
Billy Chilson
Carl Carder
Dalton Samuel
7.
BIG MACK........... 34.88
Angler ... Yamaha
Brian McLanahan
Dean Davidson
8.
Size Matters....... 32.98
9.
EXTERMINADER....... 32.35
Contender ... Yamaha
Randy Nader
Lloyd Cooke
Ray Nader
Lance Cote
Samantha Nader
10.
BOTTOMS UP.......... 32.25
Yellowfin ... Mercury
Ryan Sisserson |
CLASS
OF 23 |
1.
KNOT HOME.......... 40.30
Wellcraft ... Mercury
Steve Senecal
Bill Senecal
Larry Vogt |
2.
REEL RUNNER........ 36.15
Sailfish ... Yamaha
Frank Abbate
Anthony Abbate
Gino Butto Jr.
Anthony Vargas
Kyle Lunden
3.
Work Skipper....... 28.66
|
| TOP
LADY ANGLER: Chrissy
Taylor |
TOP
JUNIOR ANGLER: Sarah Stephenson
.... Digestible |
MULLIGAN'S
40 POUNDER IS BEST IN STUART!
August
27-29, 2004
By Jack Holmes
STUART,
FLORIDA-After two tries, tournament promoter Jim
Scharfschwerdt heaved a sigh of relief, finally
good weather and his Stuart King Mackerel Tournament
was going to take place. Jim bit the bullet and
postponed his event twice, much to the disappointment
of the anglers, but he did the right thing. Then
we heard grumbling that if the tournament was held
in late August there would be no fish. Again Jim
was right, fishing was just fine.
Tom
Mulligan, Kristen Mulligan, and Katherine Scharfschwerdt
put the Mercury powered Donzi, Wound Tight, into
the winner's circle when they scaled a 40.61. "They
called me that they were coming in with a good fish,"
said tournament director Jim Scharfschwerdt. "I
love fishing with my daughters, but when I'm doing
other things I appreciate Thomas taking Katherine
along. I also realized that some fishermen might
be upset with the director's daughter on board so
to keep everything kosher, I called John Zalud over
to check the fish and read the scale. Everything
was fine."
The
team won a 20' Shearwater, Mercury powered with
a Loadmaster Trailer.
Rocky
Tolfa picked up second place honors fishing his
Bluewater, Halfway Gone. It was a giant fish for
the team, Denielle Landers and Jay Krieger. It moved
them from the lower half of the standings to a sixth
place finish. Second place money wasn't bad either
and it should do a lot to boost the confidence level
of this team for the Nationals.
Our
Open Division winner, Robbie Yancy, took his Getcha
Some team into fourth. He and Joey Casson, Melissa
Blandford, and Matthew Jackson scaled a 36.44 which
ensured their overall Division Ten victory. The
Mercury powered Contender team has had a great year,
especially when you look at the competition who
fished this Division.
Chris
and Mark Blackwell earned fifth place on the strength
of a 36 pounder. They earned eighth overall this
season in the Division and are considered one of
the best teams fishing the east coast of Florida.
They fish a Yamaha powered Contender with Freddie
Davis, Brandon Langel, and Jim Midelis making up
the team.
Team
Young Guns got another check, this time sixth. The
Hydra Sports team captured a 36.68. Lee Way, Sebastian
Butarelli, and Harvey Way, certainly have gotten
a lot of checks this year. They earned first in
Division 4 and second in Division 10.
Pilgrim
captured the leaderboard's seventh place with a
34.45 score. The team didn't need the points to
qualify however because the qualified early in the
year in Division 11. Keith McCullar is the Captain
of the Yamaha powered Contender team. They were
14th in Division 10. A very good season.
Eighth
place fell to the Digestable who scaled a 33.74.
Mark Wicker finished fourth in the Division but
also finished higher up in Division 11.
Ninth
place went to the Sweet Caroline with a 33.37 while
Leon Wilcox's Native Premonitions rounded out the
top ten with a 32.41. He's going to the big show
in Biloxi.
Again,
the postponements of this event actually proved
that the resource off Stuart still held good fish.
Jim lost a lot of sleep and probably aged a couple
of years but everything worked out for the better.
He put on a real good show.
| 1.
WOUND TIGHT 40.61
Donzi ... Mercury
Thomas Mulligan
Kristen Mulligan
Katherine Scharfschwerdt
2.
HALFWAY GONE 40.46
Bluewater ... Yamaha
Rocky Tolfa
Denielle Landers
Jay Krieger
3.
Outlaw 36.90
4.
GETCHA SOME 36.44
Contender ... Mercury
Robbie Yancy
Joey Casson
Melissa Blandford
Mathew Jackson
5.
BLUE RUNNER 36.00
Contender ... Yamaha
Chris Blackwell
Mark Blackwell
Freddie Davis
Brandon Langel
Jim Midelis
|
6.
TEAM YOUNG GUNS 35.68
Hydra Sports ... Yamaha
Lee Way
Sebastian Butarelli
Harvey Way
7.
PILGRIM 34.45
Contender ... Yamaha
Keith McCullar
Butch McCoy
Paul Johnson
8.
DIGESTIBLE 33.74
Contender ... Yamaha
Mark Wicker
Jerry Stephenson
Sarah Stephenson
Joe Townsend
9.
SWEET CAROLINA 33.37
Donzi ... Mercury
Ronald Hildum
Ronnie Hildum
Randy Brown
Alan Kumm
10.
NATIVE PREMONITIONS 32.41
Regulator ... Yamaha
Leon Wilcox
Chris Sommerfield
Danny Tommie
Charlie Salter
|
