RESULTS: Palma Sola Classic

[KayakFishingClassicS]

02 Feb. Palma Sola Classic Results

Although it may not look like it, spring must be right around the corner because the bite was on in Palma Sola on tournament day. The Kayak Fishing ClassicS put on the second tournament of 2014; the Palma Sola Classic and all but one angler caught fish. That is pretty darn good fishing in what was looking bleak throughout the pre-fishing period.
The weather was cold, windy, cloudy and generally nasty mixed with rain and more wind throughout the week preceding the tournament. The common feedback that we received was there are plenty of big redfish in Palma Sola however just about all of them had lockjaw. A few were caught and released but mostly small ones and very little trout activity was reported. This was not looking too inviting. We were tracking the weather closely and saw what looked like the handle to the dinner bell.
The weather would be nice the day before the tournament which should get the fish at least thinking about eating and the day of the tournament would bring negative change in the weather pattern. That should really turn on the bite and it did…Ding, Ding…get it while the getting is good.
The anglers met up at Manatees Sport Grill in Bradenton to receive their fishing token at 6:00 am and headed to the launch area for a 6:30 am launch time. The weather was calm and cool with clouds building all day and rain threatening an early Saturday night bath for all. The wind stayed down for most of the day allowing anglers to hunt the fish with a variety of lures. Former champion Marty Meakin was in the hunt and that always means high competition as if there wasn’t enough but that’s a different story.
Anglers used a spread of lures including Live Target ‘s new shrimp, MirrOlure MR17’s, D.O.A. CAL, Z-Spooks, and a couple of big reds came unbuttoned on Yo-Zuri in shore series Sashimi lures due to operator error. Too bad because they were both game changers at 35” plus.
Contestants were fishing for 2 redfish and 2 trout so let’s take a look at how they did:
We congratulate Robert Brown who caught 4 fish for a total of 82.2”
William Lusk scored 80.1” total & 2nd place with 4 fish all on top water…told you spring is right around the corner. William also landed the tournaments largest fish; a 30.9” redfish…great job William.
Eric Henson landed 3rd place with 4 fish and 79.1” on soft plastics.
Michael Julian scored a total of 76.7” with 4 fish to take 4th place. Another great job Michael.
Jimmy Cook captured 5th place with 75.7” also with 4 fish and turned in the 2nd largest fish with a 29.7” fat redfish.
Marty Meakin won 6th place with 4 fish and 74.3” total.
Fred McClendon turned in 4 fish with a 70” total to place 7th.
Otis Coblentz scored 3 fish for a total of 59.9” total for 8th place.
Olin Satterfield hooked 9th place with 3 fish for a total of 50.6”.
Mark Murane landed 10th place with 3 fish and a total of 47.7”
The mighty redfish eluded many of the contestants on Saturday and that made all the difference in the scoring. Just about all of the anglers caught nice trout with the largest measuring 23.2”. Not bad at all. Whenever there are some great anglers mixed with some new to the series anglers on the water and just about everyone catches fish, we get real happy or is that reel happy? We congratulate all of the anglers and thank all of our wonderful sponsors and Manatee’s Sport Grill for making this such a great event. Next up is the Mosquito Lagoon Classic on March 15th. We know we will see you there. The lagoon is known for monster trout and redfish alike so this should cook up to be another great Classic.
Take a look below to see the running series scoring.