The 2020 Sailfish Smackdown was full of thrills, excitement and multiple EKFT records. As the weather reports came in for the scheduled event taking place January 18th and 19th, the EKFT committee knew this two day event would become a one day tournament. Unfortunately Saturday was cancelled due to unfishable conditions, but Sunday still looked promising. As Sunday approached, anglers were rested and ready to put everything on the line in one day.
Shoot off was at 7:30am and within the first hour the SA Co. safety boat received the first call of a sailfish hookup. Angler Jon Venarchick was the first angler to land and safely release a sailfish. Soon after that first anticipated recording, it was sailfish hookup chaos. The SA Co. safety boats were racing to get to the anglers that were hooking up. One release after another was recorded all morning long. There was even a double header recorded at 9:33am and 9:40am by angler Stephen Klein.
As far as EKFT records go, Rob Rodriguez did the unthinkable and caught 4 sailfish during the one day tournament. A total of five anglers recorded two sailfish release each, including the double header. An astonishing 22 sailfish were landed and released and 17 sailfish managed to spit the hook during the one day event. The results are as follows.
1st – Rob Rodriguez, 4 sails $5,000.00 Yak Gear & Turbo USA, Global Fish Mounts Sailfish trophy.
2nd – Stephen Klein, 2 sails (double header) 9:33am, 9:40am $2,000.00 Nautical Ventures, Global Fish Mounts plaque
3rd – Christian Childs, 2 sails 9:55am, 10:57am $1,000.00 Dodge Ram, SA Co. Global Fish Mounts plaque
4th – Shaun Roles, 2 sails 9:02am, 11:28am $500.00 Nautical Ventures, Global Fish Mounts plaque
5th – Justin Ritchey, 2 sails 10:04am, 11:40am $250.00 Global Fish Mounts plaque
6th – Jon Venarchick, 1st sailfish 8:40am Global Fish Mounts Sailfish plaque
$600 Kingfish Calcutta – Jared Schuster 13.6lbs
Anglers can now register for the inaugural Exotic Bass Roundup scheduled for April 18th and the popular Extreme Kayak Fishing Summer Slam Series will be taking place May 30th and August 29th. For more information on these events and pictures and videos of previous events go to www.extremekayakfihshing.com.
Joe Hector
954-895-4527
Extreme Kayak Fishing Inc.
www.extremekayakfishing.com
joe@extremekayakfishing.com