The Stuart Sailfish Club’s 39th annual Junior Angler Tournament started off very wet with two-inches of rain on the Friday evening registration of 77 young anglers from Boy Scout Troops 888 and 840, Lahia House kids, Florida Sheriff Youth Ranch (FSYR) kids from Bartow and Live Oak and Stuart Sailfish Club members kids and grandkids. Everyone huddled under a large tent at Sailfish Marina, anglers met their captains for Saturday’s event, while enjoying pizza, and hoping the skies would clear the following morning.
Prayers were answered and early Saturday did bring clear skies and 18 local fishing boats for the eager anglers. Boats that took some of the kids fishing were led by head boat Safari 1, charter boat Wet and Wild, brokerage boats from Sovereign Yachts and Marine Max and some private member boats like Dr. Paul Shoppe’s Fifth Day.
The results were a mix of 15 fish species with everything from sailfish, dolphin, kings, grouper, corkies, large bonito, amberjacks, tuna and cobia resulting in 40 trophies for the young anglers. The Safari 1 had the wild finish with 3 big cobia weighing up to 44 pounds. After an official weigh-in by Alicia Fischer, Marena Shoup, and Kaysea Shoup, photographs were taken and anglers learned new fishing skills from Captains Chris Callaway and Richard Shoup before a barbeque lunch.
Every kid won a raffle prize that included 19 bikes and assorted sporting equipment, all donated by club members and sponsors. Many of the local kids who won bikes, donated them generously back to kids from FSYR and LAHIA HOUSE. A 4-HP Yamaha outboard motor, donated by Manatee Marine, was raffled off and won by Jim Penix of Sovereign Yachts. The day finished with each kid receiving a rod and reel from Fish Florida, as well as a check presentation by the Stuart Sailfish Club to Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch in the amount of $2,000.
The primary sponsor of the tournament was Ted and Lynne Glasrud along with Sailfish Marina, Manatee Marina, Fish Heads, Whiticar Boat Works, Shurhold Products, Lewis Marine, Ferreira Construction, Tentlogix, Marine Max, Fish Florida, Procedures Solutions Management, and Carlson Enterprises. A team of 24 volunteers was led by Dave Powell, tournament chairperson for the ninth consecutive year.
Significant catches: Austin (FSYR-Safari 1), cobia 44-pounds; Andrea (FSYR-Safari 1), cobia 31-pounds; Willow (LAHIA-Safari 1) cobia 28-pounds; Zane Price (Daymaker) amberjack 22-pounds; Kyle Hann (First Draw), tuna 13-pounds; Annabell Begna (My Horse), kingfish 11-pounds; Michael Hines (Blue Fins), dolphin 10-pounds; Camden Konesco (Hope), bonito 9-pounds; Connor Grout (Charlies Dream), sailfish release.
Zane Price won this year’s Ted Glasrud Perpetual Trophy for 2017 outstanding junior angler.
