Fast-paced Friday: 2022 Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament shifts to one fishing day

For this year's captains, the First Coast kingfish quest comes down to three words.

Friday or bust.

With a new schedule, the Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament enters its 42nd edition on Friday at Jim King Park and Boat Ramp at Sisters Creek. Registration remains open through 6 p.m. Thursday.

The big difference for 2022: a single-day schedule for the general tournament. In 2022, that means Friday — more precisely, an 11-hour sliver of Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. — is the only time for anglers to land a fish in the main competition.

Tournament chairman Mel Hammock said rising fuel expenses, amid a global surge in oil and gasoline prices, prompted organizers to change course early in the year.

"People said, 'You know what gas prices are going to be come July?'" he said. "We made this decision a while back, and we said, 'No, we don't [know], but I'm guessing the same as everybody else.'"

Gas prices have indeed climbed, despite a recent diminishing trend in recent weeks. As of Friday, AAA calculated Florida's average gasoline cost at $4.31 per gallon, after peaking at $4.89 on June 13. By comparison, in 2021, AAA had listed average Florida gasoline prices of $2.99 per gallon during the tournament week.

A new financial landscape, and now a new schedule.

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Tight schedule

The single-day schedule replaces the traditional two-day format employed in past years, in which anglers prepared to hit the water at the start of Thursday, possibly weighed in a fish on the opening day, and then got another chance to weigh in once more on Friday.

The time crunch of a one-day general tournament, Hammock said, drastically alters the strategy for captains.

"They would [previously] use that first day as kind of a survey day, a recon day, where they might go out and hit several places and kind of know where to come back to [for day two], where they saw the bite or they saw the fish," he said. "With one day, they've got to know where they are, so they're counting on their buddies telling them where it is, and the ones who are really good at watching thermoclines, the weather, that type of thing."

For the most part, he said captains are taking the change in stride.

It's not the first time the tournament has changed its format. In 2013, for example, organizers switched up from the two-day format to a single day of general fishing on Friday, followed by a shootout round Saturday for the top 10 boats only.

The shortening of the general tournament doesn't alter the plans for most of the other kingfish-week events, although several are shuffling around to different portions of a week traditionally kicked off by the July 16 redfish tournament.

The Junior Angler Dock Tournament takes place Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. and the Junior Angler Offshore Tournament follows on Saturday, July 23. In 2021, the Junior Angler Offshore Tournament was held on a Tuesday, two days before the main event.

Award ceremonies remain scheduled for Saturday, following the Junior Angler competition, with multiple vendors and festivities ranging from cornhole to fireworks.

Kingfish of the road

Could a fish out of water win this year's kingfish crown?

Meet the "drive-in fish."

This year, Hammock said, the tournament will permit anglers to transport their catch to Jim King Park by road, rather than loading them directly from the dock. Highway transportation by way of standard passenger vehicles generally incurs reduced fuel costs compared to transportation over the water.

"If they're in Ponce Inlet [near Daytona Beach] way down there, it can cost them a lot of money to run that boat all the way up here, drop a fish, and then go all the way back," he said. "So they can actually put it in their vehicle and bring it to us and we'll check them in."

Fish transported in this manner will be checked in at a tent at the front of the park, and must still undergo inspection from a Jacksonville University marine biologist to certify the validity and location of the catch as a fraud prevention measure.

Then, from there, the fish will travel to the normal weigh-in tent along the water.

It's not clear how many anglers will opt for transportation by road, and Hammock said the drive-in approach may take some adjustment.

"We don't know what the reaction is going to be to that. It's new and we've never done it," he said. "We're trying to keep everybody in the game and help them with cost, so we're hoping that might be attractive to a few people that are maybe further away."

Some things stay the same

Though the fishing hours are diminished, Friday's main prize packages remain similar to 2021.

The captain landing the biggest fish receives a 25-T Contender with Twin 150 Yamaha motors, part of a prize package estimated at $160,000. The two-fish aggregate prize is $12,000 in cash. Both categories award prizes down to the top 20 places.

Last year, Spencer Ross and his Yulee-based crew aboard Flossy snagged the week's prize fish, a 42.04-pounder landed shortly before noon on the second day of fishing.

The traditional Lady Angler competition continues as before, and Hammock also said the tournament is bringing back its award for the biggest cobia landed on Friday. The cobia prize returns for the first time since 2018.

As of about a week from the start of the general tournament, Hammock said entry numbers were nearly on par with the traditional average.

As before, proceeds from the tournament continue to support charities across the First Coast. And no matter the number of days, Hammock said, the tournament promises a weekend of excitement on the water.

"We really wanted to feel festive for people, too, and give them something to come out and see and show off our city a little bit," he said.

Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: 2022 Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament shifts to single-day competition