Five bass net anglers King of the Glades win
Rodd Sayler and Steven Forssell took advantage of falling Everglades water levels that have moved fish fromthe flats into the canals to win Sunday’s King of the Glad es Open Team Tournament out of Everglades Holiday Park.
Flipping jigs and throwing Zara Spooks, the reigning Kings of the Glades caught five bass weighing 28.82 pounds to top a 50-boat field and win the final qualifier tournament for the June 5 Classic, where they will attempt to win a third King of the Glades title.
Donny Bass and David Anderson were five pounds behind in second at 23.82 and won the tournament trail’s points title. Ernie Alvarez and Clayton Hubbard were third at 21.56, followed by Dean Belits and Justin Falzetti at 21.37 and Mike and Chris Hueston at 19.37.
Forssell had the big bass at 7.51. Terry McCartha had the second biggest at 7.38. Cody Davis had the big bass of the year at 9.26, which he caught in the first tournament in January at Lake Okeechobee.
Fish of the Week
Grouper season in Atlantic waters opened Sunday and Sienna Megna of Margate put what she learned at Saturday’s “Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing” school to good use by catching a 40-pound black grouper fishing in 120 feet off Dania Beach on Big Game with Capt. Rod Roydhouse. The fish ate a small live bonito. Another highlight of the optional trip for students was a 300-pound hammerhead shark released by Lisa Ciampa of Boca Raton.
Benny De Bowe of Lantana caught two dolphin, one on a live sardine and the other, a 20-pounder, on a Gulfstream Flash Minnow jig cast to the fish as it was pushing up schools of small flying fish, while fishing with Capt. Willie Howard in about 80 feet off The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach.
Capt. Alan Zaremba reported a good Everglades bass bite early in the morning twitching Bagley Minnows and swimming Gambler ribbontail worms on the surface. Later in the day, his top lures were suspending Rapala X-Raps and Storm Twitch Sticks.
Zaremba and Ted Sander of Cooper City caught 31 bass up to 3 pounds, 75 oscars, Mayan cichlids, spotted sunfish and warmouths on a morning trip in the L-38W Canal along the west side of U.S. Highway 27.
Tim Gray of Coral Springs caught 61 bass, 22 Mayan cichlids, some oscars, spotted sunfish and warmouths in the L-5 along the Broward-Palm Beach county line.
Lance Benson of Miami and his father, Jerry, of Hollywood, caught 60 bass up to 3.5 pounds, 30 oscars, chain pickerel and warmouths in the north canal at Sawgrass Recreation Park.
Seth Waller of Parkland and John Socol of Davie caught 25 peacock bass up to 4 pounds in the Lake Ida chain of lakes. Bob Badgley of Delray Beach and Byron Webb of Stuart caught 16 peacocks up to 3.5 pounds on a morning trip in the C-8 in Miami Lakes.
Jeff Schneider and Joe Feller of New York caught 15 peacocks up to 3 pounds in the G-15 along I-595. Wil Nance of Birmingham, Ala., and Kevin Myers of Indianapolis caught 23 peacocks up to 5 pounds and three largemouths up to 3 pounds in the Lake Ida chain.
Keith Brunner and Chris Schirling caught a two-day total of 46 pounds to win the Weekend Bassers tournament on Lake Kissimmee out of Grape Hammock. Jay Trudel and Paul Gale were second at 34.7. OB O’Brien and Johnny Panozzo were third at 30.4. Neal Capoarle had the big bass at 10.1. Trudel had the second biggest at 9.5.