>>read
more Mercury Trail stories<<
GATORFAN MAKES IT TWO IN A ROW!
Wins Canaveral Mac-Attack with a 41.88!
By Jack Holmes
Port Canaveral, Florida - David Albritton, James Addison, and Ian MacPherson, Team Gatorfan, won the final Division Ten event and won a 23’ Yamaha powered Contender with a Magic Tilt trailer valued at over $70,000. A couple of weeks prior they won the New Smyrna tournament in Division Five and won a new GMC Truck. Interesting enough, they did it in a 23 foot Contender. They also finished second in Division 11 Class of 23, and now won Division 10 Class of 23 with a 117.86 three fish aggregate, the highest three fish aggregate of any other team in any Class in the Division. That’s a great season!
“We fished just north of Fort Pierce,” said a very confident Albritton. “We caught her on a surface trolled blue runner around 12:30.” Addison did a great job on bringing the fish to the boat. They were the leader going into the second day of the event, but got a big scare when a non-member team, The Reel Deal, scaled a 41.71. Had the team handled their king with a little more care and it could have been even closer, maybe even second place. You’ve got to take great care of your fish, plug the gaff hole, and use an insulated fish bag, which Gatorfan did!
Albritton ended our conversation just before the awards were about to be given out with this thought, “We fully intend to fish Divisions 11, 10, 5, and probably 4 next season. This is a very strong, confident, and talented team.
Bill and Bobby Wummer, Kevin Umphrey, Howard Tuman, Freddie Joseph, and Joel McKenney teamed on the Spiced Rum II, an Evinrude powered Contender, caught a 37.01 on day one, and picked up $3,000 cash and $3,500 in prizes for third place.
It was a real early bite for us,” said Bill Wummer. “About 8 o’clock. We were fishing off Sebastian, in 45 feet of water. She ate a ribbonfish off the downrigger and Bobby had her to the boat in ten minutes. Freddie picked up the Top Junior Angler honors for the tournament and SKA juniors. The 37 pound king sealed a trip to the Nationals in November.
Fourth place fell to the Getcha Some with a nice 35.81. “It was what we were looking for to get us to Biloxi and we did it,” said Captain Robbie Yancy who fishes with an all girl team, Missy Blandford, Christy Dobrea, Dina Hicks, and Joy Yancy.
The team fished Wabasso Rock in sixty feet of water after sitting on the beach the first day. “She ate a ribbonfish fifty feet below the surface about 12:30,” said Yancy. “It took Christy forty five minutes to get her to the boat.” This is a very talented team who never give up!
Luis Urbay, Nolbert Rodriquez, Randy Keys, Santiago Gonzalez, and Dominic Molfetas, fished the Rabbit’s Foot to a fifth place finish and got Dominic a second place finish in the Juniors category.
They fished the north side of the Cape on the beach, 35 feet of water. “Our 34.82 hit a ribbonfish down 25 feet,” said Urbay. “It was 11 o’clock when the reel started to sing.” Six year old Dominic fought the fish to the gaff probably with some help from Randy Keys, past National Champion, but Dominic is a very determined Junior Angler.
The Rabbit’s Foot fishes the Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour.
Seventh place went to the Stream Hunter. Captain Chris Lee, Rob Derfuss, Steve Clark, Matt Myers, and John Werling, with a 34.38, five hundredths of a pound below Rabbit’s Foot’s fish. “We needed this fish for the Nationals, said Lee. “And we got her. Sure feels good!” The Stream Hunter team caught their bigger king on day two after scaling a 32 pounder on the first day. “We ran south forty miles south of Canaveral and fished in 55 feet of water,” Lee added. “She ate a blue runner on the surface, Rob got the job of bringing her to the boat and after eight runs and forty-five minutes off the Timex, she finally came to gaff.”
Eighth place went to Frank Dlouhy, Mike Altman, Phil Williams, and Junior Angler Zach Burns Dlouhy, fishing the Evinrude powered Prowler. The 34.36 was also good enough to earn the Direct Strike team fourth place in the Division, Class of 23. “ I went out and caught ribbonfish just outside the Port,” said Dlouhy. “ I thought with all these fresh ribbons here there should be a king lurking around. It was an early bite, about 8 o’clock. We all contributed in getting her to the gaff.”
Charles Chandler did not win the Division, instead settling for second. “We knew exactly what we needed to beat Team Psycho,” said Chandler. The team caught a 33.30 on day one and came back on day two with a 31 but they fell 2.26 pounds short of overcoming Gill Strelec’s Psycho.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. The team of Chandler, Kadri Benton, Damon Wilson, and Chris Van Deventer, fishing the Suzuki powered Twin Vee, never gave up, pushed up to the last minute and finished ninth in the tournament. This is the mark of Champions!
They fished the Wabasso Rock area both days. “We caught the 33 pound king on day one at eleven thirty using a ribbonfish 25 feet down.” The team also had the second place Cobia in the tournament.
A big thank you goes out to Donnie Testa and his team at Salty Marine, the local Yamaha / Contender dealer and to FishLips, the Port waterfront restaurant where the event was held. Jim Scharfschwerdt produced the event for Testa and like the Jensen Beach event, it was first class or at least that was the general consensus. The SKA was pleased and announced that the event would be part of the 2008 Division 10 schedule!
FINAL STANDINGS:
SALTY MARINE CANAVERAL MACK ATTACK
PORT CANAVERAL, FLORIDA
DIVISION 10
|
| 1. |
GATORFAN •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
41.88 |
| Contender/Yamaha
David Albritton
James Addison
Ian MacPherson
|
| 2. |
Reel Deel•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 41.71 |
| 3. |
SPICED RUM III ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
37.01 |
| Contender/Evinrude
Bill Wummer
Bobby Wummer
Kevin Umphrey
Howard Tuman
Freddie Joseph
Joel McKenney
|
| 4. |
GETCHA SOME•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
35.81 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Robbie Yancy
Missy Blandford
Christy Dobrea
Dina Hicks
Joy Yancy
|
| 5. |
RABBIT’S FOOT••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
34.82 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Luis Urbay
Nolbert Rodriquez
Randy Keys
Santiago Gonzalez
Dominic Molfetas
|
| 6. |
Team Blackhawk•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 34.42 |
| 7. |
STREAMHUNTER •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
34.38 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Chris Lee
Rob Derfuss
Steve Clark
Matt Myers
John Werling
|
| 8. |
DIRECT STRIKE•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
34.36 |
| Prowler/Evinrude
Frank Dlouhy
Mike Altman
Phil Williams
Zach Burns / Dlouhy
|
| 9. |
TWIN VEE •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
33.30 |
| Twin Vee/Suzuki
Charles Chandler
Kadri Benton
Damon Wilson
Chris Van Deventer
|
| 10. |
Triple Tail••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 32.90 |
| 11. |
Team Pursuit ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 32.50 |
| 12. |
LUNASEA ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
32.29 |
| Contender/Yamaha
Rich Sujat
Lorenzo Guariniello
Mike Hudik
Mike Theis
|
| 13. |
Oddsmaker••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 32.19 |
| 14. |
Two Fish ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | 31.67 |
| 15. |
TEAM Y.O.C.A.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
31.33 |
| Contender/Yamaha
John Hannah
Jeff Richardson
Matt Ray
|
TOP JUNIOR ANGLER |
|
Dominic Molfetas ••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
RABBIT’S FOOT |
SKA BETHEL MARINE JUNIOR ANGLERS: |
| 1. |
Freddie Joseph•••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | SPICED RUM II |
| 2. |
Dominic Molfetas ••••••••••••••••••••••••• | RABBIT’S FOOT |
| 3. |
Zack Burns / Dlouhy••••••••••••••••••••• | DIRECT STRIKE |
WEATHER: |
| Winds light and variable, very hot. |
|
