Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By RICK FRAZIER
Published March 20, 2005

The Old Salt Fishing Club drew 129 competitors for its 18th annual TV John Trolling Tournament on Saturday. Only trolling hardware and artificial lures could be used to catch grouper (red or gag), king mackerel, Spanish mackerel and bonito.

David Metheny on Metheny's Jeanie caught all four species to win the master angler award and a 36-inch color TV.

Metheny fished with Jean Gifford, and they were the only participants to weigh kings. He won $500 for his 9.04-pound king, and Gifford won $300 for second-place king. Metheny won $500 for his 0.74-pound Spanish, and Gifford won $300 for her second-place Spanish. Metheny also weighed a 7.04-pound bonito for another $500.

They wouldn't give up their spot, but Metheny said: "We traveled an hour and a half south." The team used a chrome and blue big-lipped diving plug to catch kings and grouper. The bonito hit a surface plug, and the Spanish ate a silver spoon on a planer. Taking first in the grouper division with a 16.54-pound gag was Randy Comans on Voyager. Comans trolled a 6-inch gold broken-back plug behind a No. 2 planer in 38 feet off St. Pete Beach and won $500.

Rick Frazier runs Lucky Dawg Charters out of St. Petersburg and can be reached at (727) 510-4376.

[Last modified March 20, 2005, 01:08:30]