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Team Ingman Marine Battles the Elements to Win Suncoast’s 11th Annual Kingfish Tournament by Ian Warner Click the Fish to Order Photos of this event

The Suncoast’s 11th Annual Sarasota Sertoma Kingfish Tournament opened with its Captain’s meeting Friday, April 1st, and Mother Nature decided to celebrate April Fools Day by hiding all the kingfish. The leaderboard was completely empty after the first day’s fishing, and of the 87-boat playing field, only six teams managed to track down and land a king during Sunday’s fishing. Few boats checked out on Saturday, opting to wait out the eight- to ten-foot chop and rainy, cold conditions. While Sunday’s weather was fairer, sunny and cool, the chop was still a rough six- to eight-feet high as anglers scrambled out for a day’s fishing. The same weekend last year, the Boater’s World Tournament was held in Clearwater with the same weather conditions less the rain. The 170-boat field was regulated to fish Tampa Bay, but unlike this past weekend, there were fish around.

Team Ingman Marine decided to leave the 31’ Contender on the trailer on Saturday, and they weren’t the only ones, as only 30 boats checked out that day. Setting out early Sunday, Captain Jerry Cleffi and his team found that Mother Nature had decided to hide all the baitfish as well. “We couldn’t find bait anywhere,” he lamented, “so we didn’t waste too much time looking for it.” Fortunately, Jerry, Jason Reynoso, Jason McCard, and Bob Jones had some dead bait and decided that would have to fit the bill. Avoiding as much of the heavy chop as they could, the team took the intra-coastal waterway from Venice to Boca Grande, then ran out 12-miles through the “solid eight-foot seas.”

“We finally got to a hard bottom spot that I’ve pre-fished before,” stated Cleffi. About 11 am after much jostling and jarring trolling in about 60-feet of water the flat line with a Magnum stretch lure went off. “With conditions as bad as they were we just gaffed the fish and headed straight back,” continued Cleffi. It was a good decision, as their 23.36-pounder would hold on the leaderboard for the rest of the tournament to earn them the Wellcraft boat/Mercury motor/Loadmaster trailer Grand Prize package. “We fished Marco and Naples and had a tough going, so we’re really pleased,” said Cleffi.

Second place in the tournament went to Captain Mark Wicker and the Digestible. He and the crew of Jerry Stephenson, Rhonda Wicker, and Sarah Stephenson decided to make the long, 130-mile run to Naples. “The water was not as bad to the south as it was north,” cited Wicker. They were trolling half-dead blue runners submerged 30-feet on their downriggers in about 80-feet of water when their line finally went off at noon, and Jerry quickly maneuvered the fish on board. “We had the fish in the bag in about ten minutes and took the long ride back,” said Wicker. This 23.25-pound king was the only fish they managed to land all day, but a sweet one, earning Sarah Stephenson top Junior Angler and Rhonda Wicker top Lady Angler for the tournament in addition to their overall finish.

Team K.O. also had a doubly sweet victory, taking third in the open class but also leading the class of 23’ with their 20.23-pound mossback. “We took our best shot and went to the skyway bridge,” reported Captain John Ford. There and in the bay he and angler Mike Burnett and Justin Ford were still fighting three- to five-foot seas all morning and afternoon in their 23’ Contender, not landing a fish until 3:15. In approximately 30-feet of water trolling blue runners their 20.23-pounder hit, and after a short 15-minute fight they had the girl in the bag and the bow pointed for the scales. This was their first fish caught in Division 11 but enough to get them a ride to the Nationals.

Fourth place was awarded to Captain Tom Teffenhart of the Bad Habit. “We had a spot off Sarasota called the M-10, a local spot about 11-miles out,” reported Teffenhart. Trolling their only blue runner on a long flat line in 72-feet of water their winning king finally hit. “It was a small fish but we had a good feeling we would be in the top five,” smiled Tom. A good hunch, as this 15.36-pound mackerel held on for fourth for the tournament.

Rounding out the top five is the consistent Boston Whaler Fishing Team, with Captain Brett Clarke, Aaron Salvant, and Steve Salvant, one of only two teams that managed to land a fish in all three of Division 11’s events. “We had very little bait and went to a spot that I had pre-fished before,” said Clark. Approximately 22-miles southwest of New Pass in 65-feet of water their fifth place king decided to hit a blue runner dancing in the prop wash. At 12:45 they had a 15.19-pound fish in the bag, and like everyone else made the easy decision to head straight back to the scales.

The sixth and final place was awarded to Knot Right with a 14.70-pound king mackerel.

While Mother Nature wasn’t cooperating, the tournament itself was well run with a boat show and seafood festival to keep all the land locked anglers entertained. In addition, all proceeds from this tournament were donated to benefit the Greater Sarasota Sertoma Club. While winning the Grand Prize was no walk in the park for Team Ingman Marine, the Got Salt? Team won a door prize package consisting of a Hydra-Sports boat/Mercury motor/Loadmaster trailer at Friday’s Captain’s meeting. “Despite the weather conditions we really enjoyed the tournament,” smiled Jamie Mixon. This was Jamie, Andrew, and Micha Mixon and Drew Stroud’s first SKA tournament as a family and they won a great consolation prize for not landing a fish. Better luck at your next tournament, guys, and a hearty congratulations to all of Division 11’s competitors. We look forward to seeing the top 35 boats this November in Biloxi!