After taking a lot of pictures for posterity, George told the crowd that this was not his biggest king ever caught. He had a seventy-one several years ago. He also thanked his team for working so hard. “We fished a lot of baits today,” he continued. We caught her in 110 feet of water with a blue runner dangling on the kite.”

George Mitchell works with Yamaha Outboards in a public relations capacity, fishes tournaments, and does Yamaha’s Saltwater Fishing School. He has been the focus of many television shows, and is a very accomplished angler. Snake Dancer is a Yamaha powered Contender. Eddie was the Top Junior Angler both for the tournament and the SKA.

We were not over yet. Two more bruisers came to the dock!

The first weighed when the scales opened at three o’clock came from David Albritton, James Addison, and Anthony Oakes fishing the Class of 23 boat ProMarineUSA.Com / Gatorfan. It was a great fish and the trio held her up for me as I snapped many pictures.

As fast as they could get her back in the bag they were off to the scales. It was a beautiful 55.70 and everyone there said this was our winner as I snapped more pictures on the stage.

David explained that they were fishing due east of the Juno Pier in eighty feet of water on their Yamaha powered Contender. “We had a forty on and were clearing lines when the big fish hit a goggle eye on the downrigger,” he continued. “The commercial guys have been catching them here plus this has been a hot spot for all the tournaments fished in South Florida.”

This was the team’s biggest king ever scaled and David went on to say that James had her on but gave it to Anthony to finish the fight. I asked him if he had heard about Snake Dancer’s king? He had talked to George who informed him that he thought the king might be fifty. With that, you’d expect this early fish to be the winner of the second annual event.

It wasn’t! Imagine catching a nearly fifty-six pound king and watch two other teams come in and bump you down the leader board. Gatorfan ultimately had to settle for third but did finish number one in the Class of 23.

We know what George did to them but when the event was just about over Brad Emmons and James Gilchrist slid up to the dock and pulled out what eventually went 57.64 for pictures. The Yippy-Ki-Ay had done it to Gatorfan also.

“We caught her at seven thirty in the morning,” said Emmons. I then had to ask why they didn’t bring her in early. He responded, “We thought we’d need a sixty plus to win and we were right.”

The second year SKA team, fishing a Yamaha powered Venture, fished north in seventy-five feet of water and caught their magnificent king off a blue runner on the kite. They will now join the SKA’s fifty-pound club. It was the biggest king ever caught by the team! That one king should get them to the big show in November.

Leon Wilcox and Robert Sims had a good day’s fishing on the Native Premonitions, an Evinrude powered Yellowfin. They finished fourth with a 41.85. “One of these days we’re going to win one of these events,” said Leon as he came off the stage after getting his loot. I reminded him that I believed he would, but if he was going to win one make it a Pro event, which carries a $40,000 plus payday.

Leon went on to explain, “Bobby caught her at eight-thirty using a goggle eye on the surface. Then we just worked, trying to improve. We caught fish all day using up all our baits however we just couldn’t get one bigger.”

Moving to fifth place, it went to Preferred Marine / Team Invincible with a 40.06 caught by Kody Beattie who is the teams junior angler. “We did good,” said Kody’s brother Kirk, who is Captain of the boat. “We went north but it was slow, mid afternoon we got a call to come south,” Kirk explained. “The seas were running to four foot at least. I sure was glad we were in the Mercury powered Invincible, it’s one awesome boat.”

The team stopped at Boynton Inlet and went to work. “It was late, close to five PM and I knew we had to go when Kody and Samantha Schmidt’s lines went off. We had half dead goggle eyes swimming in 42 feet of water when they got hit. I hollered to get them in and they cranked down. I didn’t have the slightest idea these were two good fish.”

They were the next to last to weigh. Kody won second place junior angler, the Mercury Scholarship $500, and Samantha earned Top Lady Angler for her 38 pound king.

Ralph Hawkins and Angel Martinez earned sixth with a 38.76 plus won first in the Bottom Fish Aggregate Category with 25.42 pounds of fish. They fish a Mercury powered Sea Craft named Outta Control II. “I would have liked to have had a bigger fish but like everyone else we wore ourselves and the fish out,” said Hawkins. “Just lots and lots of fish but we just couldn’t find one like Snake Dancer.”

Seventh place went to Arik Bergerman and his Caliente, Mercury powered Yellowfin, team. Arik, Brian Hasson, Luis Urbay, and past National Champion Randy Keys scaled a 38.61. “This is great,” said Arik. “We’re not only fishing the Pros but will fish as many other events as possible this year.” Remember they had a fifty plus at the Pro event in Jensen Beach this year.

Ninth place and your probable winner in the Open Class’ Division Ten were Jason Naumann, John Beech, and Andy Lemmel on the Keri-N-On. Ninth was nice with a 38.30 but with that king they moved atop the Division Ten overall standings with 128.19 points. Count on them going to Championship on the SKA.

Rounding out the top ten was William Poertner and Bill Poertner on the Yamaha powered Pathfinder, Imagine That. They caught a 35.60 and also finished third in Class of 23.

It should also be noted the SKA teams also dominated the events Dolphin Division. Double Time, with David Kalil at the helm won with a 27.70 while Lil’ Devil’s Mike Jacquin picked up second with 24.55 points. Locking up the final money spot was Tommy Mulligan’s Wound Tight with a 23.99.

A special thanks to Jim Scharfschwerdt and his family who worked hard to give us a special event. Another thank you goes to the Friends of 440 who were the events charity and the crew at the Lake Park City Marina who made us feel very welcome.