When do you know you have a fat fish? It's always a good sign for tournament anglers when a fish is large enough to ruin the gaff.
Team Slade'em, with anglers Marty Slade, Jon Willis, and Matt Hoffman, didn't think its king mackerel was all that large until the trio tried to get it into the boat.
"We didn't realize how big he was at first, then he bent the gaff," Slade said.
The team isn't worried about the big hook after winning the 16th annual Randy Keys Kingfish Classic. The 30-pound king gave Slade'em its first win in the tournament after three top-three finished.
Glen Taylor finished second with a 26.6-pound king that topped the leaderboard for much of the weigh-in. Tommy Schrader finished third with a 25.3-pounder.
Jill Haverfield won the women's division with a 15.1-pound fish, and Mike Howes was the top junior with a 15-pounder.
Slade'em caught the winner, which wasn't very long but was incredibly fat, on a deep-trolled blue runner in 70 feet, but many tactics were used to land the early season kings. Artificials such as trolled spoons and skirted baitfish accounted for many of the fish weighed.
- To get in touch with Neill Holland, call 727 893-8123 or send him an e-mail, Holland@sptimes.com
