It was a familiar scene for Sarasota’s fishing lovers on Aug. 7 where boats arrived at Marina Jack full of fish as part of the Sarasota Slam fishing tournament.
The Manatee-Sarasota Building Industry Association-hosted tournament, which started Aug. 3, had 51 boats heading out for a lengthy competition that had teams catching the most impressive fish they could and returning to have them weighed.
It was a slower tournament than usual — the ongoing red tide in Sarasota had some inshore teams struggling to find as many fish as usual — but MSBIA CEO John Mast was still happy to see the number of participants and the sense of familiarity the tournament brought to town.
“It’s just a great tournament,” Mast said. “It always is.”
The highlights of the weigh-in for both Mast and the audience were a pair of massive Warsaw groupers caught by Gulf Shore Offshore and the Double Nickels. Gulf Shore Offshore’s grouper weighed at 320 pounds while the Double Nickel’s fish broke Sarasota Slam records at 400 pounds.