Early catch earns Sarasota-based fishing team over $50,000 in local kingfish tournament
At last weekend’s 30th annual Old Salt Fall King of the Beach Kingfish Tournament, 415 teams ventured out in search of the biggest kingfish and bragging rights as the title of King.
“These are the most competitive tournaments and they make it that way,” explained captain Jason Boyll, who runs his charter fishing business Dreams Reelized out of New Pass Grill and Bait Shop. “You can have a big quad-engine boat but a winning fish could be caught in 20 feet of water off the beach, and that’s what makes it competitive.”
With its limited distance of around 30 miles from the shoreline with northern and southern boundaries, $100,000 winning fish have been caught from right on the boundary line 30 miles offshore, while others have been caught within casting distance of the Sunshine Skyway or Egmont Key.
Boyll had previous experience fishing the Southern Kingfish Association while Team Alpha Law captain Alex Kompothecras had fished with previous tournament-winning teams as well.
“This was our third time fishing this one. We’re all based out of Sarasota and we knew there would be a lot of pressure on fish up north. So when we headed out in the morning we went left, figuring if there were fish around and we were alone we had a better shot of catching one, versus being in a pack of forty boats and hoping they ate our bait,” explained Boyll.
“We started way down south toward Boca Grande and got a 27- and 30-pounder in the bag but kept working north trying to find the man. We knew the major was at 11:50 a.m. and tide change was at 12:20 p.m. so figured that would be when the bite kicked off. We had two more spots to fish and said let’s go hit those.”
On a hard bottom area in 90 feet of water, the first blue runner resulted in a bite. The fish slowly came toward the boat without making a run, making the team think it wasn’t what they were after.
“Trevor (Cowieson) was on the rod and I was on the helm. Alex was on the gaff. It made kind of a lazy run and I told Trevor he might have the big cobia he wanted. When it came up to the surface we saw a kingfish but didn’t get a great look at it so didn’t realize how big it was. Then it made a big run with its afterburners and we realized we had to get our game faces on.”
The speedy kingfish took all the line they got back and then some. As Cowieson worked it to the boat, Kompothecras stayed ready with the gaff. Boyll said sharks have been an issue, so he didn’t want to waste any time staying on top of the fish. When it came in range, Kompothecras stuck it.
“It did a dance on the gaff and was still green. There was water flying everywhere. Somehow it stayed on and we pulled it over. When we first saw it we thought it was 38, maybe 40 pounds, but not a tournament winner. It was a nice fish, but (we) knew there was a good chance someone would get a bigger one,” said the excited Boyll.
Bringing their fish to the scale, Team Alpha Law weighed in early. The kingfish would weigh in at 40.35 pounds. After nearly seven hours from the time they weighed it in, Alpha Law was crowned champion.
“I thought we’d be bumped out. It took way too long. Eventually, our teammate John Skelly said there weren’t any other big fish coming to the scale and that’s when it kind of set in. We started getting the crew together and celebrating. Of all the tournaments I’ve won, that one surprised me the most!”
For their win, Team Alpha Law consisting of Kompothecras, Boyll, Cowieson, Skelly, Matt Scanlon and Dalton Culleny would bring home $51,400.
In second place was Team Blackfin Fuels, LLC and captain Mike Wright with a 38.65-pound kingfish. Entering the Smoke & High Roller TWT (Tournament within a Tournament), which Alpha Law did not, as well as the Traveling Angler division paid off for the second-place team, which ended up winning $58,644.
Third place at 37.12 pounds would go to Rigged Right for $7,500.
Fourth-place Team Reel Tight (36.73 pounds, $21,584), fifth-place Salt Rock Grill (36.66 pounds, $29,678) and sixth-place Lady Godiva 2 (35.70 pounds, $15,442) would also bring home big checks with their entries into other TWTs.
Winning the single-engine division was Team Native Fishing. They took home an engine package valued at $19,829 to go with $6,840 for their TWTs.
The largest Spanish mackerel, 5.40 pounds, won $5,000 for Team Top Down.
