Captain Paul Dozier and crew on the Inside Chance brought a 46.2-pound fish to the scales Friday afternoon to take first place in the big fish category. In a first for this tournament, he also had the highest two-day aggregate at over 87 pounds. Tournament rules say only one prize per boat, so the Largest Aggregate total prize went to Trip Fletcher on the No Limit with a two fish total of 75.9 pounds.
In another first for the tournament that bills itself as the largest in the world, a new category for boats under 23 feet in length was established. Mac Cleghorn won that category with a 34.5 pound fish. The payout is not as much for the smaller boat category, but it tends to even out the odds of winning at least something for the small boater.
As in most of the 54 kingfish tournaments sanctioned by the Southern Kingfish Association (SKA), winning places were dominated by the big, multi-engine boats run by professional kingfish anglers. These boats always have an advantage because of the distance they can run at high speeds that enable them to fish as far as 150 miles from the weigh-in site. The pros know where the fish are and run to them.
Sponsored and well equipped, the pros know what they are doing. The winning boat lost one of its three outboard engines on Thursday. A Yamaha factory team replaced the powerhead for them overnight, something that would take my boat out of commission for a couple of weeks!
My friend Jason Marsh who caught a 33.65 pound fish Thursday ended up in third place in the boats under 23 feet category. Not bad for only his third year entering. The prize pays his expenses with enough left over to have a nice dinner with his three-member crew.
My prediction that the winning fish would come from 100 miles to the south did not materialize and most of the big fish came from waters north of Jacksonville. My son took a shot at looking for warmer water by fishing south. He missed the first day weigh-in cutoff time by about two minutes and only caught two or three snakes Friday.
Next year’s planning begins right after the awards ceremony not only for tournament officials, but for anglers as well. I heard a number of anglers say over and over, “we need a bigger boat” as the week progressed. They may well find a deal from some of the discouraged and disgruntled fishermen who didn’t place in the money this year!
