The Flagler County Sportfishing Clubs Annual Bucket Full “O” Fun tournament to benefit Hospice of Volusia/Flagler County was a huge success last weekend. The event, along with gorgeous weather, brought out 158 anglers fishing out of 72 boats vying for a spot in the top five winning places. The weigh in was held at Mad Dogs on the river in Flagler Beach. As anglers weighed in their catches they kept an eye on the leader board that was constantly changing. When it was all said and done the first place winner was Joe Ricke who weighed in a limit of flounder that totaled 17.5 lbs and earned him a cash payout of $1,680. 2nd was Hap Meekins, 14.25 lbs - $1,400.00. 3rd was Tim Anderson, 13.9 lbs - $1,120.00. 4th was Charles Dodgen, 13.0 lbs - $840.00. 5th was John Baggott, 11.75 lbs - $560.00.
On the junior angler side, anglers 12 and under, 1st place went to Adam Adrian with 2.2 lbs and 2nd place was Joey Cortese with 1.55 lbs.
I participated in the tournament along with my partner Sal Pasalaqua whose company, Craig-Flagler Palms Funeral Home, was one of the sponsors of the tournament. We found the morning bite to be a little on the slow side but did manage a couple of nice trout. Sal fished with live shrimp and landed a trout weighing 4.8 lbs., the largest of the tournament, and another that measured 22” but we released that one as you could only weigh in the legal size and bag limit of fish. I must say that Sal did a heck of a job for only his third time fishing inshore. We released a couple of other trout that were on the boarder line of 15”. We weighed in 3 trout that totaled 8.7 lbs and were in first place for a while with 20 minutes remaining to the weigh in. Overall we wound up in 9th place out of the 72 boats.
If I could make one suggestion to the Fishing Club it would be for everyone, including the weigh master, to have the exact same measuring device in it’s tournaments. It would eliminate illegal fish from being weighed in and also eliminate any doubt of fish that are boarder line legal size when measured using something other than that of the weigh master. It’s something to think about guys.
The surf and pier are producing whiting, pompano and a few flounder.
Action offshore is producing dolphin (fish), cobia and red snapper.
Photo: Sal Pasalaqua holds a trout he caught while aalive lining a shrimp.
On the junior angler side, anglers 12 and under, 1st place went to Adam Adrian with 2.2 lbs and 2nd place was Joey Cortese with 1.55 lbs.
I participated in the tournament along with my partner Sal Pasalaqua whose company, Craig-Flagler Palms Funeral Home, was one of the sponsors of the tournament. We found the morning bite to be a little on the slow side but did manage a couple of nice trout. Sal fished with live shrimp and landed a trout weighing 4.8 lbs., the largest of the tournament, and another that measured 22” but we released that one as you could only weigh in the legal size and bag limit of fish. I must say that Sal did a heck of a job for only his third time fishing inshore. We released a couple of other trout that were on the boarder line of 15”. We weighed in 3 trout that totaled 8.7 lbs and were in first place for a while with 20 minutes remaining to the weigh in. Overall we wound up in 9th place out of the 72 boats.
If I could make one suggestion to the Fishing Club it would be for everyone, including the weigh master, to have the exact same measuring device in it’s tournaments. It would eliminate illegal fish from being weighed in and also eliminate any doubt of fish that are boarder line legal size when measured using something other than that of the weigh master. It’s something to think about guys.
The surf and pier are producing whiting, pompano and a few flounder.
Action offshore is producing dolphin (fish), cobia and red snapper.
Photo: Sal Pasalaqua holds a trout he caught while aalive lining a shrimp.