The weather certainly cooperated for the Extreme Kayak Fishing Tournament (EKFT) Sailfish Smackdown on January 10th with cool, calm conditions that were perfect for targeting sailfish from a kayak. Though it was cold early, it warmed up quickly. The outgoing tide was a bonus, as it helped all of the tournament anglers get offshore quickly, for that early bite!
An angler from Oregon hooked up right after shoot off around 8am. His fight lasted quite a while, until the fish came unglued and spit the hook. This gave the rest of the kayak fishermen excitement knowing it was an early bite.
At around 8:30am the tournament saw its next angler locked in a battle with a sailfish. Richard Bulot from Louisiana landed his prized sailfish at 8:58am. Bulot was sitting pretty in first place. It was an epic moment for him as he had never fished offshore before. There was solid action for most of the morning with lots of fish hooked and lost between 8am and 9:30am. Then, local angler Greg Nolan landed his sailfish at 9:40am.
Competition remained tight with consistent bites continuing until noon. Christopher Wollerman leadered his sailfish at 10:30am, followed by Howard Kirk at 10:40am, Tan Raul at 11:02am and Mike Andrews at 11:39am. Greg Nolan caught his second Sailfish at 11:54am to overtake the lead from Bulot.
For the rest of the day the bite slowed down. However, there were still several anglers that hooked up late, only to lose their sailfish.
For complete stats on winners and prizes visit extremekayakfishing.com.
Joe Hector
954-895-4527
Extreme Kayak Fishing Inc.
www.extremekayakfishing.com