The kingfish “season” runs from roughly June through August along the Atlantic seaboard. Although no regulated season exists, this is the time that the big kings migrate north and spawn off Atlantic coast beaches.
Virtually every weekend during this time already has a Southern Kingfish Association (SKA) kingfish tournament scheduled, so it remains to be seen which weekends and which cities the FLW five week trail will schedule.
Unlike the SKA tournaments, which are open to almost anyone with the money for an entry fee, this series will be aimed at the professional kingfish anglers. It will likely take anglers away from a competing SKA tournament that may be scheduled on the same weekend.
The success of FLW Outdoors in the bass world is also being taken to the redfish-angling crowd. The FLW Redfish Series will also kickoff in 2005, with eight tournaments scheduled, each drawing from 100 to 150 boats.
I almost gave up freshwater bass fishing a number of years ago. Even though I was a tournament angler at one point, it became so very frustrating to reach a boat ramp, eager to fish, only to find a big local tournament launching ahead of me. I have found the same thing over the past several years with redfish and kingfish tournaments and dolphin rodeos. I find that when a tournament is going on, the anglers in it act like it’s their boat ramp and their water, and anyone else that gets in their way is considered rude!
At some point, someone has to say that enough is enough! Every kingfish and dolphin tournament is a kill tournament. Although advertised as catch and release, the redfish tournaments are very close to a kill tournament with very low fish survival rates. Redfish tournaments held in the Florida Keys are, according to some fisheries biologists, dramatically disrupting the redfish population there.
Don’t get me wrong, folks. I love to fish, and I keep fish to eat. I also catch and release a whole lot of redfish. But I have not seen many live wells capable of keeping a 27-inch redfish alive and healthy all day, something that would help insure a healthier successful release rate.
Time will tell, but I predict that those corporations whose business plans are designed to take advantage of a limited natural resource will be put to the test by the vast majority of anglers who fish for pleasure and food. Which side of this fence do you live on?
