A Trio Of 60-Pounders Lights Up The Leaderboard At Hog's Breath In Key West!

by Jack Holmes

It's one thing to catch and scale a 60-pound king, but when you weigh one in the sixty-pound range and end up third, that really hurts. Over the past 15 years only a handful of SKA anglers have bagged a 60, which by all accounts is a once in a lifetime fish, but the waters off Key West, Florida gave up four of them during the 10th Anniversary Hog's Breath King Mackerel Tournament, and with all of the drama seen in any event in many a year.

The weather was anything but good with winds blowing in excess of 20 mph. But with areas around the island that teams could fish, the event was on. “All it took was one team to decide to make a Tortugas run and a whole bunch followed suit,” explained SKA Director Jack Holmes. “We knew the weather would be better on Sunday, but some just couldn't wait, they knew the big fish were to the west. Some paid the price.”

But the scales told another story. At the end of day one, Team Sundance Marine had the lead with a 64.74 followed by the No Doubt with a 61.47. Two bruisers set tongues waggin, but with the jubilation came worrisome news. Hannon's Cannon was on one motor and was 50 miles from the scales. He returned safely to port around 10 p.m. but early next morning we scaled his king just to see what the breakdown cost him. You guessed it, another 60-pounder.

The Sundance Marine team decided that a 64-pounder was good enough to sit on the hill. How many teams have done that in the past? Catch a good fish on day one and invite the rest of the participants to try and catch you. More often than not it works, but not this weekend. The Texas team, Lured Away, scaled a 66.77 with the Sundance Team looking on shortly after the scales opened on Sunday afternoon, capturing the win and the Mercury powered Contender boat sitting on a Continental Trailer.

Before you say that it was too rough for the Class boats to compete this weekend, the weigh-in proved everyone wrong again. The Brute Dusky, No Limits, and Outaline all had 41-pounders with just a half-pound separating first from third.

Captain Bobby Schoenfeld, Chico Chamorro and Wally Mercado headed their 36’ Mercury powered Donzi, the Lured Away, out Saturday morning into rough conditions with big kings on their minds. “It was rough, we really took a beating,” recalled Schoenfeld. Fishing through the day the team only managed a low 30-pounder, “we didn’t weigh her, we decided to go look for bait to be prepared for today,” reported Schoenfeld. With many teams having difficulty locating bait and reports of teams still searching past noon both days this was a wise decision. Loaded with bait the team headed out Sunday and made the 85-mile run to fish near the Tortugas, and were ready when the big girl came calling at 11 a.m. “She took off 450 yards just screaming, came to the surface, Chico ran the boat up on her as I reeled in the slack line. She was on the surface and Chico stuck the gaff in her. It took seven or eight minutes,” reported Schoenfeld. “I mean, she just smoked it, I was telling them ‘hurry up, hurry up, she’s going to burn it!’ But then she came to the surface and we ran up on her and she was just lying there. I guess she killed herself she ran so hard,” grinned Schoenfeld.

The team had had a great day of fishing up to this point, landing 10 to 12 fish in the good 30-pound range before 11 o’clock. “Then we caught this big girl and I said ‘let’s get out of here,’” said Schoenfeld. At the docks the team learned that their slab would tip the scales at 66.77 pounds and take the lead, inspiring cheers and high-fives all around. “Did you call Albert yet?” asked SKA Director Jack Holmes, referring to the Lured Away’s Captain who wasn’t able to fish the event. “Are you kidding? I called him from the boat!” was Schoenfeld’s happy reply. You know he was on that phone, there’s got to be a little good-natured ribbing after you miss out on winning the first tournament of the year, scaling the team’s biggest king in competition, weighing the largest king ever brought to the dock in the ten-year history of the Hog’s Breath Tournament, and taking home a new 21’ Contender complete with Mercury Outboard and Continental trailer. That’s one heck of an accomplishment considering this was their first time competing in the Keys!

Team Sundance Marine got a late start on Saturday, didn’t have time to get any good information on the area, and missed the bimini start, but they didn’t let that deter them. Captain Kevin Kates, Tom Hill, Joe Clawdges and Wesley Thomas headed their 36’ Mercury powered Wellcraft west looking for good water, and like many teams were frustrated by the weather. “It wasn’t fun, probably one of the worst days I’ve ever fished,” said Kates, reporting that the good three- to five-foot seas were intermittent with six- to eight-foot swells. “It was real hard to keep everything straight trolling.” But considering their late start the team didn’t have to battle the conditions long, and at 9:15 trolling the reef line west in 108 feet of water the team savored an incredibly welcome sight as a huge slab skied their bait in the prop wash. “It looked like a dock piling coming out of the water,” said Kates, “she flew up a good ten feet.” Twelve-year-old Junior Angler Wesley Thomas grabbed the rod and the fight was on! Wesley handled the smoker like a champ and closed the distance between the team and the king for over 25 minutes before the line wrapped around a lobster buoy. Brief chaos ensued as Joe drove the boat, Tom gaffed the lobster line and Kevin managed their line out and around it, but shortly after Tom put the gaff to their slab and the team heaved her into the boat. At the scales the big mack weighed-in at 64.74 pounds, at that point the heaviest king in Hog’s Breath history. With Schoenfeld’s team knocking them down in day two the team finished second, earning a new Mercury Outboard and naming Wesley Thomas the Top Junior Angler.

The incredible bite isn’t the only success story of the weekend. The Appreciation Cocktail Party on Saturday night raised over $2,000 for Wesley House Family Services, a local charity that benefits children and families in Monroe County. “This was one of the most successful events we’ve had so far. It was just a great weekend for both the fishermen and Wesley House,” smiled Douglas Blomberg, CEO of Wesley House.

An incredible start to the season, the Hog’s Breath King Mackerel Tournament set the stage for a dramatic year. With fishing this strong you know the first leg of the Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour in the Keys will be a slab-hanging free-for-all, and a tournament not to miss. Plus, Division 10 anglers have to be wondering if they’ll be seeing Lured Away making a run at the Division 10 title with that huge king of theirs. We’ll find out as the 2006 Mercury Tournament Trail heats up in March at the Fort Pierce Kingfish Classic.