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Fort Pierce, Florida- Georgia's Rick Smith and his Wild Turkey team of Tim Ellis, Carl Alexander and Jimmy Mancil arrived at the SKA's floating dock at the tournament site along with Donna's Worry, Kill N Me and the R-Rated. He was one of four impressive teams scaling fish on the first day of the '05 National Championship. Ernie Diloreti's Donna's Worry scaled first and set the standard, an impressive 59.20. Rembrant Gray's R-Rated hoisted a 50.18 on the digital scale next followed by Howard Poe's Kill-N-Me with a 47.98. Then the Turkey boat made its presence felt with a 53.59. While there were many more kings in the 40's weighed on day one everyone assumed a Champion for the Open Class would come from this group.
Horrendous weather cancelled the '05 National Championship in November and forced SKA management to hold the event in mid-April when the king mackerel made its pilgrimage past the Florida resort town. With an hour left to weigh on day two you'd have thought the November weather had returned. A typical Florida squall built inland and intensified as it moved eastward. Many saw a funnel cloud trying to form over the site and later the weather service confirmed it. But the show went on, even when computers crashed due to a dousing of liquid sunshine.
Before the storm hit the Wild Turkey made it to the dock and impressed the very large spectator crowd with a 55.66. Two kings you'd expect to see at the docks in Biloxi, but Fort Pierce? “We were right there with all the other boats off Jupiter but couldn't get a strike,” said a relatively calm Smith considering he was about to win a second National title to go along with his ‘96 Angler of the Year honor. “We knew we had to make a move and it paid off.” At one time it was reported that there were 150 boats dragging baits in this area.
“The Loran Tower off Jupiter has proven to be very good to us in the past so that's where we went,” said Smith who fishes a sponsored Evinrude powered Wellcraft boat. “Our fish hit a long-lined blue runner at 8:30 on day one. On day two we went right back to the same spot but I guess the wind and weeds were too much so we moved to the beach to fish the bait pods.” In 20 feet of water at one o'clock the team had a double hook up. “The first king skied on a dead Spanish mackerel and we estimated her to be about 50 pounds,” Smith explained. “At the same time another king smacked a live blue runner. The king who skied on our bait got tangled with two other lines so we decided to cut it off and go after the other king we thought was a big one also.” They did the right thing and the combined weight of 109.25 would be very tough to overcome. “We knew that a 25-pounder would give us a shot on day two and a 35 would probably give us a real good shot of winning it,” added Smith. “We never imagined another 50-pounder.”
Smith credits his Georgia teammates to his success in fishing and winning titles. They won a twin Mercury powered 23' Fountain boat with a Loadmaster trailer.
As the afternoon progressed Poe's Kill-N-Me brought a 47.30 to the scale in the rain. Unfortunately R-Rated could only scale a 16.73 and the worse happened to Diloreti's Donna's Worry, they couldn't buy a fish.
As fast as the rain stopped so did the teams coming to weigh. With a 14-pound lead over Poe's Kill-N-Me, Smith and his team were declared the winners of the '05 Championship in the Open Class.
“Chris Cathy caught the first day's 48-pounder,” said Poe who won the title back in '96. “We knew we needed a good fish on day two but as we day went on we had just some dinks to show for our efforts. With little time left we moved to the St. Lucie Inlet and fished close to the bottom in 30 feet of water. The 47-pounder hit a freshly caught blue runner with just minutes left before we were scale-bound. Josh did a great job on the rod and it sealed second place for us.” The team won a 16' Donzi “Sweet 16” performance boat and Donna Gowen Poe proclaimed on stage that this was her boat. They had 95.28 points and fish a Mercury powered Donzi.
This made it a one-two win for Georgia teams!
South Carolina's David Ballard had a 43.22 on day one, worked hard on day two and scaled a 32.41 to earn third with 75.63 points. “We never expected this,” said Ballard, who won a 17' Mercury powered Sea Pro boat for his finish. Ballard, Michael Todd and Dowell Coker, who fished the Yamaha powered Contender, Iron Man, struggled to find bait and had to buy bait first day. “We were down south on day one with the rest of the teams but didn't do well,” said Ballard. “We moved north, first to the inlet, then off the power plant, and finally at the sea buoy three miles out the inlet.” It was here the team caught their 43.22. On day two the team “hung back” and let the rest of the boats make the run south. “We went back to the can but only found a 20-pounder,” Ballard added. They started working the area but ended up off the beach at the power plant in 20 feet of water. “It was a silver eel that got us our 32.41. Coming in the inlet we heard on the radio that Rick had just weighed a 55 and we knew we didn't have a shot but were really surprised to earn third.”
Riviera Beach, Florida's William Wummer, Bobby Wummer, Howard Tuman, Kevin Umphrey and Freddie Joseph teamed on the Spiced Rum II to capture fourth with a 73.80 aggregate. “We fished the same spot both days off Jupiter, about 100 feet of water,” said William after accepting his accolades on stage Sunday morning. “This is our first Nationals and look how we did.” The team caught a 43.15 on day one using a ribbonfish trolled 40 feet below the surface. On day two the team scaled a 30.65 caught using a goggle eye trolled off a long line. “We had some good local knowledge of this area which I think really helped,” added Wummer. This team fishes a Yamaha powered Contender. They won $3,000 cash and a Mercury Outboard.
Don Workman and Mike Collins teamed on the Team Loadmaster Donzi and won fifth with a two-fish aggregate of 72.12. “We were trolling blue runners we caught Wednesday,” said Workman. “We were there at the Loran Tower with everyone else. The first day’s 45-pounder ate one on top and day two's 26.96 ate a goggle eye. It's tough fishing with so much bait in the water but you need to be patient. It does come!” The team won $2,500 and a Mercury Outboard.
Chris Jonsson's Side Job from Jacksonville, Florida picked up sixth with a 71.10 aggregate. “It's a shock,” said Jonsson. “We were one of the first boats to the Loran Tower area on day one and scaled that 32 pounder. We thought that that was crucial. On day two we put the first bait out in the same area and the 39-pounder hit.” Otis Humphrey caught the first day's fish while Chris' son Zach caught their biggest fish. Also on the team were Mark Humphrey and Bryce Jonsson. “We're encouraged now, coming back to this area next week for the Pros,” Chris added.
Rembrant and Cathy Gray, Autum Damon and Jim Jacunski wowed the crowd on day one with their 50.18 caught by Autum, but could only find a 16.73 on day two to end up seventh. The R-Rated team ran 55 miles to the south where they found the biggest fish ever caught on their Century boat. “We just couldn't get the job done on day two but it wasn't for lack of trying,” explained the popular Florida captain. “We're real happy though, we got our first 50-pounder and still ended up in the top ten. We'll be back next year.”
George Roberts' Smooth Ride team scaled a 30.33 and a 36.25 to pick up eighth, the highest placing Fountain team in the Championship. This is definitely a team with a big future.
Manny Bethencourt's Flying Button team scaled a 41.61 on day one and backed it up with a 23.66 on day two to earn the Jacksonville, Florida team ninth. He qualified from the Pro ranks in '05 and scored a big win in the final Pro Tour event last year. The team is working very well together.
Rounding out the top ten is Scott Powers Wet-N-Sassy from Supply, North Carolina. His team had a 36.55 and a 27.84 for 64.39 points.
So what happened to Diloreti? Not a thing, he just couldn't get one in the boat on day two. Not the first time this has happened in a Championship. But Diloreti has a 59.20 caught in the Atlantic to his credit. He still got 15th place and memories that will last a lifetime, especially every time he sees that bruiser he's having mounted on the wall. He was one of a few people who went north out of the inlet.
Winning the Championship is important to most competitors. It should be, the honor, the very exclusive title, and the memories that everyone gains ranks up pretty high too. After all, how many Championships, and that means any kind, have you ever participated in? Everyone who fished the event was a Champion and a tip of the SKA hat to all of them. To those who stayed home remember you can't win if you don't play.

Ft. Pierce, Florida--“Well, the story really starts two weeks ago,” began Captain Stan Jarusinski as he stood smiling aboard his brand new 23’ twin Mercury powered Palmetto. “I got a call from a friend fishing the area and he said, ‘order some bait, because there’s none available’ and that was a big, big key for us. It really helped us out,” reported Stan. Pre-fishing aboard the 23’ Yamaha powered Regulator Mister Stanman the team had a great day of it on Wednesday, catching 12 kings, including a 50-pounder, and a sailfish. While jigging up bait that day a charter Captain confirmed a location that a previous source had already brought their attention to, so the team decided that would be their spot. “We caught one fish that first day, and when that fish hit he almost spooled me. I turned around and said ‘let’s get after him,’ and I had that much line left,” he reported, encircling a quarter-sized hole with his thumb and forefinger. “He must have taken 350 to 400 yards off. Then he came back! I’ve never had a fish come back that hard from such a long distance. He came right straight back just as hard as he could.” Kevin Hill and Greg Ogle worked on clearing the lines as Charles McClure stood by with the gaff. It was a quick 15-minute fight as the king passed by the boat on the surface and Charles put the gaff to the big mackerel. “He gaffed him right near the tail, no blood, no nothing,” smiled Stan. At the scale Mister Stanman’s king would weigh 42.47 pounds, placing the team in great position less than six pounds behind Wave Buster’s leading 48.21.

“Day two started out … not too good for us. I pulled up the bait pen and our hardtails from a day before weren’t looking good, their eyes were all cloudy,” reported Stan. Buying a dozen bait to augment their tired hardtails the team was soon off and hooked up with a 10-pound points-fish right off the bat. With only one other bite in that area the team decided to make a move to another spot on the beach that they had pre-fished. On the way the team passed two boats hooked up by themselves, and Stan decided to try his luck there. Almost immediately a hardtail on the downrigger set at 34 feet was taken…or was it? “The fish hit and it just went ‘zzz…’,” reported Stan. “It just chewed on the bait, it didn’t go anywhere, didn’t run. It never even popped the clip,” said Ogle. Stan picked up the rod to examine the fish, and when Charles started up the engines the old girl came to life. A quick 150-yard run was all the king could manage, and in less than ten minutes Charles gaffed what the team would discover was a boat-winning fish.

“Both fish that we got were caught on what I call a ‘stiff rig,’ and it’s tied so that even if the treble hook comes out of the bait, it still lies straight near the fish so that you still have a good chance of hooking up,” reported Stan. “And both fish had all three hooks in them,” smiled Ogle. Captain Stan has, and has had, this rigging technique on his website, captainstanman.us for some time now, so if you’ve been having trouble losing hook-ups maybe it’s time to check out this National Champion’s site.

Mister Stanman’s 42.47 and 39.91 added up to a 82.38-pound aggregate, earning Captain Stan and his crew the beautiful 23’ twin Mercury powered Palmetto complete with Loadmaster trailer, and even more importantly, 2005 Class of 23’ National Champion honors and all the bragging rights that that entails. Congratulations, Stanman. Watch out for this Stella, North Carolina team at the Division 1 opener in Swansboro.

While Captain Richard Geiger and David King were fishing the smallest boat at the 2005 National Championship, a 19’ Mercury powered Pro-Line, they landed the largest king among the Class boats. The Wave Buster’s 48.21 was caught at the popular Loran Tower trolling in 40 feet of water. “We were on the south side of the pack, and had just dropped lines and had a hit on the downrigger [at 35 feet]. It just bit the eel in half, so I dropped the other eel on the downrigger right there to the same depth and the big one hit,” recalled Geiger. “We had only been there about five minutes, Dave Workman was right beside us when we got her.” Geiger angled the big king to the boat and switched off with King to make the quick gaff shot, and the team had their fish in the box by 11:00. “We trolled around for another couple of hours but couldn’t get another bite,” reported King. With nearly a six-pound lead going into Saturday’s fishing the pressure was on for Wave Buster to pull another big king out of the Ft. Pierce waters but it was not to be. A 10:00 bite yielded a 16.54-pound king on the downrigger at the same spot for the team, one of only two bites of the day. Wave Buster’s 64.75-pound aggregate was good to hold onto second place, narrowly edging out Jaw Breaker by a half-pound. Watch out for this Jacksonville, Florida team as they take on St. Augustine kings at the Kingbuster 400 next. A perennial favorite in the area, this team won the Class of 23’ title at last year’s Jacksonville Boater’s World event, so you know they’ll be coming strong.

Only his second year at the big show, Captain Joe Noda and the Jaw Breaker crew posted a 64.22 two-fish aggregate to take third place honors in the Class. Captain Noda and his crew of Jim Adelsperger, Carl Pecora and Kevin O’Meara all hail from St. Augustine, Florida, and fished a 23’ Yamaha powered Sailfish to the victory. Their first and biggest fish came on Friday fishing in the parking lot at the Loran Tower. “We tried to stay on the outside of everyone, but it wasn’t easy,” reported Noda. “We had an 18-pounder and it was 2:45 with the seas going two- to four-foot, we knew we had to leave to make it back up the ditch.” Clearing the lines and getting ready to make the run the lonely shotgun line started singing as a blue runner was taken, and Carl stepped up to the rod. A quick fifteen minutes later Jim had gaffed the fish and the Jaw Breaker was on its way to the scales. “We knew we were really pushing it,” remembered Noda. But the team made it with a few moments to spare and their 34.53-pounder gave them a very respectable start to the tournament. The team’s performance at the Tower on Saturday was almost identical, again a runner in the prop wash was taken and Carl angled in a 29.69 for Jim’s gaff. The team had a little more time to make it back to the scales, which was good because the skies were about to open up. The worst of the storm hit the scales between four and five, and the Jaw Breaker was right in the middle of it. “It was raining so hard we couldn’t see the dock from the check-in,” stated Noda. “The boat was half filled with water when we weighed that fish.” But you know they’re glad they did, their 29-pounder would add up a 64.22 total for third place Class of 23’ honors. Division 5 anglers should definitely keep their eyes on this team, they were hungry last year and it seems that their appetite has only served to sharpen their considerable skills.

Captain Geoffrey Stam and Lon Bryan on the Turn 3 posted a 58.26-pound aggregate to take fourth place honors among Class boats. “We started out at the power plant and worked the beach but couldn’t get a bite,” reported Stam. Making a move with the 23’ Yamaha powered Contender to the Loran Tower, the team was trolling in 65 feet of water when a ribbonfish ten feet off the bottom was taken at 11:15. Captain Stam took up the rod and made quick work of the king, and the team had a good 20-pounder in the boat. While the team hooked up and released eight other small fish, they could not better that 20-pounder, and set out Sunday knowing they had some serious ground to make up. Heading back to the same spot at the Loran Tower the team was again trolling in 65 feet of water when their 38.10-pound mack came calling, nailing a medium line at 9:00. Stam took up angling duties again and the Turn 3 soon had their money-fish in the box. Their 58.26-pound total was good to earn the team fourth place honors in the Class to take home to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Tide In Knots / Get Wet rounds out the top five among the Class boats, posting a 57.85-pound aggregate. Pre-fishing two days with the My Dingy team, Captain Brad Sauers, Ryan Cowan and Captain Sonny and Stephen Elliott had done their homework and were ready to find some big kings. Heading the 23’ Evinrude powered Hydra-Sports boat south five miles the team was working off the beach in 50 feet of water on Friday when their 23-pounder hit a ribbon fish with a pink C & H skirt. Steven Elliot grabbed the rod and quickly brought the king within gaffing range. The team experienced a great bite on Friday, landing 12 fish, but couldn’t top that 23-pounder. Fishing the same area on day two the team was one of only three boats in the area, and at 2:10 their money-fish nailed a blue runner on top. Elliott again took up the rod, and The Tide In Knots / Get Wet team was soon looking at a beautiful 34.66-pounder flopping on the deck. “We marked a point on our first day of fishing that was really productive. All of our fish were caught within a one-mile radius of that point,” reported Sauers. The team’s 57-pound fifth place aggregate earned them a check for $2,500, all of which is to be contributed to the Tara Blackwell Medical Fund. Tara is Sauers’ cousin and a Troy University second base softball star. After suffering a spinal cord injury last April, Tara has been paralyzed from the chest down. Since then the Tide In Knots team has been contributing their winnings from the 2005 season to aid in her rehabilitation, and Captain Elliot and the Get Wet team decided that they had to keep with tradition. “They are just top-notch guys,” smiled Sauers. “I’d personally like to challenge any other fisherman to step up and help out someone who’s had it all and lost so much,” said Captain Sonny Elliott. To contribute to the fund, checks may be mailed to: The Tara Blackwell Medical Fund, Bank of Pensacola, 125 W. Romana St., Pensacola, FL 32502.

Captain Chris Workman and Reggie Kreilich on the Get Snookerd out of Naples, Florida took sixth place honors with a 56.39-pound aggregate. Fishing a 23’ Yamaha powered Contender Workman got a 21.65 on Friday and backed it up with a 34.74 on Saturday for the position. One Flipper is up next, taking seventh with a 54.28 aggregate. Captain Ed Langel and Chris Lick of Ft. Pierce landed a 25.03 then a 29.25 on their 23’ Yamaha powered Wellcraft.

Tallahassee’s Wet Dream 2 took eighth place honors for Captain B. Colt Lewis with a 52.61 total. Captain Lewis, Brandon Lewis, Sean Henner, Mike Hutto and Toney Altieri fish a 23’ Yamaha powered Bluewater and landed a big 36.83 on day one and managed a 15.78 on day two for the 52.61 aggregate. Miller Time, a 23’ Yamaha powered Contender, fills the ninth position. Captain Steve Miller out of Midway, Georgia, along with Gary Tabb, Jeff Morris and Rodney Rogers pulled in a 31.49 then a 20.71 to post a 52.20 two-fish aggregate. Rounding out the top ten is Captain Tim Roush’s Kora, a 23’ Mercury powered Ken Craft out of Jacksonville, Florida. Captain Roush, Tyler Wilson and David and Jim Ingalls only found an 11.61-pound points-fish on Friday, but came back strong in spite of the horrific late conditions on Saturday to post a 39.50-pound smoker. Their 51.11 sealed them in the history books as Top Ten in the Class of 23’ at the 2005 National Championships.

With a new Class of 23’ National Champion crowned and many Divisions just starting and waiting to start, you know these Class boats are just itching to get at it again on the race for the title. While a Class of 23’ team couldn’t post the highest aggregate two years in a row, there was no doubt on the water that these Class teams are a force to be reckoned with. Watching Class boats hooking up left and right out at Loran Tower a anonymous Captain summed it up over the radio succinctly: “He’s on the bow too! These Class boats are killing us!” You’ve got to love watching them sweat. Congratulations to all the Class of 23’ participants, keep up the good work.