21st Annual Gators Suncoast Kingfish Classic Tournament Results

Walleye II Sets Division 6 Record with a 58.04 at Gator’s!

Official post found HERE

Treasure Island, Florida—You have to understand the history of Gator’s and the 21-year history we’ve had working with Sid Rice and his staff at the popular waterfront restaurant and bar on Johns Pass. It’s been great! It was the first place we held a National Championship, once more in St. Petersburg, then a Pro Championship at Gator’s also. It was the focal point of tournament competition for the west coast of Florida.

Sid and the Rice family have sold Gator’s so an era may be coming to an end. We just don’t know all the ramifications yet, but in the tradition of the SKA, we can say if things change we certainly went out with a bang!

Johnny Z and myself got to Gator’s around 2:00 Saturday afternoon and began our usual tournament tasks: Get the trailer open and help get ready for the afternoon one-day tournament weigh-in. The winds were diminishing after giving the competitors a pretty hefty ride offshore. At least they didn’t get beat up all day. Scales were set to open at four, but by a little after three we had boats starting to fill the face dock.

Mighty Casey was first to the dock. It’s a small boat and they had what they thought was a mid-20. Then Matt Tarrance, Jerry Solovskoy, Edward Gunn, Rick Hipes, and Doug Henriott, brought the Mercury powered Nor-Tech named Idle Time to the dock next as Gator’s dock attendants scrambled to accommodate early arrivals. I was especially looking for this team knowing that if they had a king over 28 pounds they would set the 21-year record for the largest three fish aggregate. “We got her,” said Matt. “She’ll go 40.”

Matt went on to tell me, “We went 80 miles, taking water over the bow and only could run about 35mph. It was sporty. This is basically the same area we’ve been fishing this season.”

At ten o’clock a runner enticed their king to strike and after an initial reel burning run Jerry led the fish to Ed’s waiting gaff.

Then Brian Hasson and Jay Taylor brought their Yamaha powered Contender to the dock. “We got her,” said Hasson. “How big is Rush’s king?” I told him I hadn’t seen the fish but they said it was in the 40s. The banter started between the two teams as to who had the bigger fish.

This is always good for our sport but as these two were continuing to egg each other on the Walleye II slid up to another dock. Instead of going over to them I got my notes for this story and got ready to take pictures.

The scales opened promptly at four and Mighty Casey came up first followed by Idle Time. As they passed, Hasson and Taylor pulled their fish from the bag for the camera. I knew then that  they had the bigger fish and maybe the biggest king we’ve ever seen in this event or maybe in the entire history of Division 6.

Idle Time’s fish went 43.14 giving them the all time biggest three-fish aggregate in Division 6 history—133.71 pounds and we still have two events left. (The previous record was held by Arik Bergerman’s team in 2010 of 119.54 pounds.)

I was more interested in getting the weight for Seconds 2 Spare as I thought that fish might eclipse the 49-pound record caught by Debbie Crisp a few years ago. Sid shouted out 51.01. Another new record. This was the best!

I immediately went to the other dock as John Thomas Jr., Steve McCracken, Brian Calzon, Anthony Thomas, and the ’95 National Champion Randy Keys waited on the Walleye II for me. I think they were kind of perturbed by the attention I was paying to the other two teams, but as I approached their boat and told them to hold up their fish, I’m sure you could see the excitement swell when they pulled their catch from the bag. I knew then that the big fish record we just broke was in serious peril. On the scale she went 58.04 shattering the record and sending the large spectator crowd into hooting and hollering. There were a lot of kudos being thrown at the team, rightfully deserved!

 

Later John told me they were 80 miles northwest of the inlet fishing in 126 feet of water. “It was nine o’clock when she hit a blue runner,” he started. “Fifty-five minutes later she finally came close enough for two gaffs to go into her and come over the gunwale. Brian did a super job in those rough seas to keep control of the fish but that’s the longest fight we’ve ever had on this boat. We had fished this area earlier in the season and just knew we had to go back.”

Their biggest king prior to this one was a 48 pounds.

For the Yamaha powered Contender team, congratulations! For Thomas, I gave him a big hug and shared his and the team’s excitement that is until the next team slid up to the dock!

Steve Papen and his Lagerhead team would end up fourth with a 38.81.

Fishing with Steve were Corey Alley, Doug Speeler, Brandon Fraley, Dave Bayes, and Brian Simmons. They fish a Yamaha powered Contender and won this Division last year.

In the Small Boat Class it was Harry Thomas’ Yellowbird who scaled a 30.36. With Harry were Keith Thomas, Michael Friesenhahn, and the Bonnells–Jeremy, Vernon, and Matt who were our ’06 Class of 23 National Champions. When you consider just how rough it was, especially in the morning hours, this was an exceptionally good fish.

The Fords, John, Justin, and Jason, plus Mike and Brian Burnett, earned second place with a 22.86. They fish Team K.O.

 

 

 

 

**NEW** Captain’s Meeting Friday, May 11th 2012 

Registration opens at 5:00pm

Gators Cafe & Saloon

Raffle• Food• Drinks

Mandatory Captains

meeting for all boats

 

Check out May 12th 2012 : 6:45am – 7:15am

 

Johns Pass / Clearwater Pass /Pass-A-Grille / Sarasota

 

All Day Check out at Johns Pass

 

Weigh In

 

4:00pm – 5:00pm

 

Awards Ceremony immediately following weigh in

 

CAll 727-367-2942 for info