Skin Deep’s 54.78 Wins Season Opener in Key West!

Key West, Florida—As competitors moved from Key West Harbour Marina into the Atlantic, they were amazed to find flat, calm seas. Could this really be Key West in January? It was, but as teams soon found out calm seas did not equate to finding big fish. As one old Conch told me, "The water was so clear you could see fifty, sixty feet down and there was no current." Certainly not the best, but for Steve Glanz on the Skin Deep and Travis Maxwell on Constant Chaos, it didn't make a difference. They each came to the scales with fifties.

Glanz, Michael and Matt Shramko, Ryan Carr, and Jamie Ralph slid the Mercury powered Invincible up to the weigh-in dock, and held up their king for my camera. We knew when Bobby Flocken strained to hoist her onto the scale she was going to be a real good fish. "54.78," he hollered to Loreen Berlin, SKA's membership director who was doing the scoring.

"Ryan Carr caught her about ten o'clock," said one of the South Florida team members. "We were in the Tortugas with the rest of the competitors fishing in eighty-five feet of water. She ate a tinker mackerel off the kite and Ryan had her to the boat in about seven minutes."

The team is fishing the newly formatted Pro Tour and got their thousand points for the big fish on day one. Day two however saw them bring a fifteen-pound king to the scale, which didn't help them any.

The Constant Chaos team came to the dock about forty-five minutes after Skin Deep. Travis and Greg Maxwell, Danny Clark, Casey Bryde, and Matt Bonnell, all from the west coast of Florida, had one that looked very similar to Skin Deep's.

When the scale settled at 54.64 the team really didn't know whether they should celebrate or cry. While they had second place there were still a lot of teams from the seventy-three-boat field to weigh and there was still another day to fish.

But when it was all over on Sunday afternoon, the top seven teams from day one plus the top two slots in Class of 23 did not change from day one. For as calm as it was on Saturday, Sunday was just the opposite.

"We are happy with that king," said Travis. "It's the biggest we've ever caught by ten pounds.

Travis went on to tell me that they were fishing the Tail End Buoy in 120 feet of water. Casey hooked the fish around eleven when she ate a runner on the surface. "We saw her hit the runner, making a big swirl and splash. We knew she was going to be a good fish." Travis added. "She took about thirty minutes to get her in the boat."

The Skin Deep and Constant Chaos teams will be the first members into the 2010 Fifty-Pound Club.

Rob Gothier Jr's Bar South team of Bill Dhillon, Jim Laverick, and Max Cardinas earned third place with a nice 49.09. When she hit the scale we all thought we had another fifty to talk about but it wasn't to be this weekend. I'm sure Rob was still happy to go back to Camp Hill, Pennsylvania with third place money.

"I'm excited, however we really thought the fish was around fifty-five." Rob explained. "We didn't have a scale or a fish bag on the boat so we came in when the scales opened. I have all that stuff ordered now."

The team was fishing next to Constant Chaos at the Tail End Buoy but caught their fish an hour before they caught theirs.

Fourth place went to the Fort Pierce team of Doug Miller, Mark Blackwell, Joey Casson, and Brian Black on the Miller Tyme. Fishing the Evinrude powered SeaHunter, the team scaled a 47.40 on day one and was never challenged after that.

Fifth place went to a non-member.

Leon Wilcox, who fishes with Ted Charles, James Hammonds, and Jimmy Stecki on the Native Premonitions, picked up sixth place thanks to their nice 45.77. Wilcox, from South Florida, is a regular Division 10 participant and a Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour regular. Wilcox picked up 835 Pro points for that fish.

Another great Fort Pierce team, Getcha Some, walked away with seventh for their 45.53. A good score for Division 10 points. However, they also earned Robbie Yancy Top Junior Angler honors plus Melissa Blandford and Christy Roberts Dobrea for Top Lady honors. The ladies won a gold and diamond tennis bracelet worth $2,000. They will have to determine who will wear it for special occasions.

Eighth place was awarded to the X-tended Play with a 44.90. Glenn Bailey, Ozzie Fisher, D.J. Wood, Christian Fischer, and Weston Bailey, made up the team. Christian and Weston earned second place junior honors.

Ninth place went to ProMarineUSA.com / Kingpin with Ken Dellane at the helm. The team scaled a 43.98.

Tenth was Arik Bergerman on the Caliente with a 42.53.

Moving to the Class of 23, Peter Weisberg, Robert Weisberg, Jenilee Pharo, and Brittany Orlando, on Strickly Fishing, a Yamaha powered Contender earned the number one slot. They also caught their king on day one, a 43.08, and were never challenged. The Class boats were able to run anywhere they really wanted to go on Saturday, but were limited on day two. When you fish the Class you must take advantage of the elements as they did.

The Trailer Trash team of Wayne and Marcus Davila also did what was required of them on day one and scaled a 36.00, which earned them second place. They also fish a Contender but with Mercury power.

The 14th Annual Key West event was one of the best in recent years although fishing was not quite as good as some previous years. It never amazes me how well SKA fisher people rise to the occasion and adapt. The Key West Harbour Marina is one of the finest locations we have ever fished out of.

A special thank you goes to Lee and Billy Murray of Murray Marine who host this event each year for us. They are great hosts. Those who fish Key West in the middle of winter are treated to some spectacular fishing. It's a long drive for most, but as I was told by both Danny Wallen (Hook M Dan-o) and Phillip Brock (Judy Bee), "We've been coming here for years and wouldn't miss it!"

Congratulations to all who fished the opening event of the 20th Anniversary year of the Southern Kingfish Association.