The second event of the Paddle-Fishing.com Challenge Series is complete. 45 anglers used lures provided by Mirrolure and Riptide to compete for a large variety of prizes. In addition, all of the angler contributed to a fund that gave $240 to Project Snook!

Full results here….

The initial scheduled date for PFCS #2 was October 27th. With a forecast (that did come true) of 30+ mph winds and small craft warnings throughout the bay area, we rescheduled it to the next date on our calendar, November 17. The event originally scheduled for November 17 will be rescheduled for some time in the spring.

Our paddle fishing community lost a good friend a few months back. Mark “CooknFish” Bellotte was a well known writer, kayak angler and friend too many within our community. The PFCS #2 was a tribute to Mark and held in an area he fished often and knew better than most – Weedon Island.

The day started off blustery with a solid breeze and fully overcast skies. We had a full list of anglers who had signed up to attend but a dozen or so must have changed their minds when their alarm clock sounded at 4:30 am and they stuck their head outside. The 45 anglers who did show up were rewarded with what turned out to be a beautiful day of fishing.

This event was sponsored by Mirrolure and Riptide. Both companies supplied a fish catching selection of lures for each of the anglers. After paying the $5 entry fee, each angler received a Mirrolure Mirromullet XL and Riptide Flats Chubs, Conley Grubs, 4″ Mullets and Realistic Shrimp. A solid fish catching assortment!

The Pic n’ Sip was held at the St. Pete Brasserie in downtown St. Petersburg. Owned by forum member and PFCS angler Jason “13” Chamoun, the St. Pete Brasserie will definitely be on our list for a must return to spot for future Pic n’ Sips and dining with friends.

With a very large launch area for this event, anglers were spread out over a large section of the bay. Many found lower tides then expected due to the north winds over the past several days preceding the event. This didn’t stop them from catching plenty of fish.

The format for this event was a slam format with substitutions. For the slam categories there were snook, redfish and trout. Bonus or substitution fish were flounder and snapper. Each had a minimum size qualification in order to count for points. After the slam categoriy we had awards for the largest of each fish.

The results for the Slam Category are:

1st Place – Daniel “carniekayaker85″ Hall with a 17″ trout, 27.5″ snook and 16.5” flounder. Daniel took home $112

2nd Place – John “jbdba1″ Bishop with a 20.75″ red, 19″ trout and 12.75” flounder.  John took home $68.

3rd Place – Mackenzie “MacMahi” Ruhnke with a 18.5 red, 17.5″ trout and 13.5″ flounder. Mackenzie took home $45.

In the largest Fish categories, the winners are:

Largest Redfish – Brian “Madocian” Arnold with a 29.5″ redfish (his personal best!). Brian took home a $25 Gift Certificate from Metalfab

Largest Snook – Dave “rugrat181″ Stewart with a 27” snook (his personal best!). Dave took home a $25 Gift Certificate from Masthead Enterprises.

Largest trout – Capt. Ryan “Remaxryan” Herrington with a 26″ trout. Ryan took home a $25 Gift Certificate from T.A. Mahoney.

Largest Flounder – Bob “Dunfly” Riggins with a 19.5″ Flounder. Bob took home a $25 Gift Certificate from T.A. Mahoney.

For this event we had a new category – Largest Fish by a Newbie. We’d like to encourage more first timers to come out and participate in this fun series of events so we added this category. The winner of this was Evan “Wonderboy” Bishop. Evan took home a $50 Gift certificate from T.A. Mahoney. Evan is the son of John Bishop who won 2nd place slam. Good day for the Bishop family!

The final category to report may have the most prestige within the PFCS. Known as the Paddle-Fishing.com Perpetual Jug, many anglers have given everything they’ve had to try and win this but have come up either too long or too short. It is awarded to the person with the third largest redfish. Every winner has signed it and brought it back to the next event so we can keep passing it on.

Paddle-Fishing.com Perpetual Jug winner – Olin “olinfins” Satterfield.

Following the announcement of the winners, we had the largest raffle we’ve ever had. EVERYONE took home something. The list of sponsors for the raffle included Columbia, Breaths Like a Fish, Slayer Lures, Addictive Fishing, FINS Superbraid, Salty Shores, Action Watersports and Dicks Sporting Goods.

Dicks Sporting Goods also gave each angler several valuable discount coupons and a $5 off coupon. Riptide supplied each angler with a coupon code for 30% off Riptide lures in their online store. As one angler said, “Between the lures, coupons, and gift certificates basically we were paid to fish. How sweet is that?”.

The Tournament Director for this event was Bill “Heywood” Howard. Heywood put together a solid show! Thanks Heywood, we’ll be ‘volunteering’ you to do another soon!

Congratulations to all of the winners!

In addition to the $5 entry fee, each angler donated $5 to a fund to be given to Project Snook in memory of Mark “CooknFish” Bellotte. By the end of the event, we had collected $240. Thanks for your generosity guys. Mark would have appreciated it!.

Our next event is scheduled for January 19, 2013 in the Fort Desoto area. The format for the event is not yet finalized but it will be a mystery lure type event where anglers won’t know what they are fishing with until the morning of the event. We’ll be sure to provide a solid selection so all you have to do is show up.

For more pictures and angler commentary, please visit the Paddle-Fishing.com forum.

The first event of the Paddle-Fishing.com Challenge Series is complete and, as it is named, it was quite a challenge for many. We decided to mix things up this season.  We’ve lowered the price of entry to $5 so that even those “I don’t fish tournament” guys would participate, we’re going away from the standard (and now boring) snook/trout/redfish slam format that all the other tournaments have and we’re emphasizing fun instead of wining one of the numerous prizes that are typically handed out.

The first event was held in the Palma Sola area. This really was just where the morning sign in and Pic n’ Sip were held as the launch area was anything south of Manatee Ave. in Bradenton.  Surprisingly, no one ventured very far south preferring to stay close and get one the water early.

This year we held the morning sign in at a well lit Publix parking lot instead of the dimly lit county park along the causeway. By 6:15, when the Tournament Director arrived, 15 or so people were already there waiting for the 6:30 start time for the sign up. By the time sign up was finished at 7:00 a.m., with the last guy arriving with one minute to spare, 42 anglers had signed in to fish. The online sign up only had 32 people making the 42 that actually showed up a great surprise.

The format for this event was different from anything we’ve ever done before. First, any lure used had to be chartreuse. If the manufacturer had “chartreuse” or “chart” in the color description it could be tied on the line. For the winning format, the anglers got the number of inches from their 2 largest fish (these two had to be different species) and a 5 point bonus for a jack, a lizardfish and a catfish. If the angler got all three bonus fish, he received an additional 5 point bonus. Some guys realized that they’d better really read the formats for the upcoming events. We see why shortly.

The anglers were met with a beautiful day to fish. The tide starting charging in around 8 a.m., the sun was bright and they had a gentle Northeast to East breeze all day. Perfect fall fishing. The entire Palma Sola and Perico areas had very few other fishermen out on the water which was suprising for as nice a day as it was.

Around 1 p.m. anglers started arriving at the Seafood Shack off of Cortez Road. The Seafood Shack had set aside a section of their dining room for the Pic n’ Sip and were well prepared for the 45 hungry and thirsty anglers as they arrived. Thanks Seafood Shack for the good food, great drinks and tremendous service!

The tally sheets were being stacked on the Tournament Director’s table and the judging began.  The Paddle-Fishing Tournament Series uses a system develop from the previous Paddle-Fishing.com One Lure and the Paddle-Fishing.com Tournament Series for keeping track of the entries as they come in. After a cut off time of 2 p.m., the winners were announced at 2:15. Virtually all other tournaments need at least an hour before they start announcing winners.

The winner for this event was Mike “MikeB” Belz. Mike entered a 33” redfish and a 17’ ladyfish for 50 inches. He added 10 bonus points with a lizardfish and a catfish for a total of 60 points. This got him $107 from the entry money collected.

“Wait a minute, did you say ladyfish?”. Some people said it, others had it written all over their face. Maybe some anglers had that slam format imprinted to deeply on their brain as it seems many didn’t measure all of their fish. The format was two largest fish. There was no mention of specific fish so a ladyfish, Spanish mackerel, shark or any kind of fish would have counted. The only specific fish were the bonus fish. I will refrain from calling the bonus fish – jack, lizardfish or catfish – trash fish as the guys who took home the money all used bonus fish to do it and will likely never call them trash fish again.

Chris “ChrisR” Ravelo took second place and he also did it with a ladyfish in the mix. His two largest fish were a 19.5” trout and a 14.5” ladyfish for 34 inches. Chris was one of only two anglers to catch all three of the bonus fish which gave him a full 20 bonus points making his total 54 points. Today was a first for Chris as it was the first time he’s ever taken a picture of a ladyfish he’s caught. Chris took home $64.

In third we had Steve “Manning” Manning. Steve caught a 25.5 inch redfish and a 17.75 inch trout for 43.25 inches. A jack and a catfish gave him 10 bonus points for a total of 53.25 points. Steve took home  $43.

The bonus fish added a new element for many anglers. Everyone has caught jacks, lizardfish and catfish many times but few had any idea how to specifically target them. There was plenty of head scratching and ‘cast and hope’ going on out there as anglers struggled to get bonus points after boating two respectable sized fish for the inch tally.

We had two other winner categories. Largest snook sponsored by Masthead Marine was won by Ron “Idle Speed” Young with a 30.5” snook. Largest Redfish sponsored by Metal Fab was won by Pat “pbr” Reischmann with a 27# redfish.

Overall it was a good day fishing for all. Everyone caught fish and 38 of the 42 anglers turned in a tally sheet. The four that didn’t turn them in caught fish but rightly figured their total was too small.

Thanks to all that came out for this event. The fishing was fun and the camaraderie at the Pic n’ Sip was, as always, very enjoyable. If you missed this event, please mark your calendar for the next one!

PFCS #2 is a tribute to Mark “CooknFish” Bellotte. This event will be held on October 27^th in the Weedon Island area. Sponsored by Mirrolure, Riptide and Breaths Like a Fish, all the lures you will be allowed to use will be given to you at the morning sign up. There is complete information about this event, along with a sign up list, on the forum.

The first event of the Paddle-Fishing.com Challenge Series is complete and, as it is named, it was quite a challenge for many. We decided to mix things up this season.  We’ve lowered the price of entry to $5 so that even those “I don’t fish tournament” guys would participate, we’re going away from the standard (and now boring) snook/trout/redfish slam format that all the other tournaments have and we’re emphasizing fun instead of wining one of the numerous prizes that are typically handed out.

See the full results…..

 

Our first event of the Paddle-Fishing.com Challenge Series is this coming Saturday, September 29. The huge launch area – anywhere from the Manatee River and south – offers lots of water to fish. We’ll be going back to Seafood Shack this year for the Pic n’ Sip!

For complete info and sign up…..

This season’s series has been announced! New name, new challenges, more fun!

Click here for more information…….