By Capt. Jim Stoner
Over the past couple of years I have started to enter fishing tournaments, which
is a change in policy for me. Years ago when I was into offshore fishing I was in
several tournaments. After competing it didn’t take long for me to realize that I
was out of my league; not because I couldn’t catch fish but because I couldn’t
afford to roll with the big boys. It takes time and lots of money to win offshore
tournaments and I didn’t have either at that time. So in the late 70’s I made the
decision to stop competing in tournaments.
Okay, fast forward to 2007 and the
RedSnook Tournament. I was contacted by a couple of guys from M&I Bank, which is
one of the sponsors of the RedSnook.
They wanted to hire me to guide them in
the tournament. I agreed and along with my
son, Capt. Doug Stoner, we took on the
RedSnook. Much to my surprise we did
really good - taking second place in the
guided bait division. Heck we even got our
pictures taken with Rolland Martin.
So, game on. I was back in the saddle again and ready to take on the tournaments big time. There is nothing like a win to bring out the ego in a person. I formed a team comprised of my son, Capt. Doug, and his friend Robert.
Both of them are excellent anglers. One element that I didn’t count on was that
these guys may not be the best tournament teammates. Why would I say that if
the two of them are so talented at fishing?
At the earliest opportunity we signed up for the 2007 Gene Doyle Memorial
Tournament only this time I funded our effort without the help of clients. We were
vested this time. No free ride. Let me say right now that neither of these
competitions are money tournaments but rather for a nice trophy and the honor
of winning, which is good enough for me.
Gene Doyle 2007
Day one and we have a plan. We go after the fish with a vengeance. The format
for the Gene Doyle at this time was such that each angler was competing against
the other even though they were on the same boat. I did not consider this when
picking my team.
Right out of the box my guys start catching Snook with my son Doug missing
several nice fish. Doug made a decision not measure small fish with Robert
measuring any fish small or large. This resulted in Doug telling Robert he had to
quit fishing after he filled his slot with Snook. That’s when the attitudes went
south with the two of them cursing at each other and one of them threatening to
quit fishing altogether. My team was falling apart before my eyes 30 miles from
our home port. All I could think was our ship just sank. After much coercing I
finally got the two of them to settle down and start fishing again. Needless to say
no one was saying much for the next few hours. Finally at the end of the day
everyone kissed and made nice, thank God.
Day two and the fishing is hot only this time Doug goes with the plan to fill his
Snook slot early and Robert holds out for the big ones. As the tide wore down it
became apparent that Robert was in peril of not catching all of his Snook and
again the tension began to build. While Robert struggled, Doug whipped up on
every Snook in the area. The fact is he was on fire and caught Snook even when
he wasn’t trying. While Robert gave it his best shot Doug filled his card with the
all of Redfish he needed. Soon Robert was whining about the lack of Snook and
the mosquitoes. Finally I had enough and told him to shut up and fish. I tied one
of my favorite jigs on his line and said don’t
give up you still have time to pull this off.
Well not more than five minutes later
Robert hooks up with a big fish and after
several seconds it becomes apparent it’s a
jumbo Redfish. We all know that if he lands
this fish we have a really good shot at the
big fish trophy. After an extended fight we
land the fish and all of us are ecstatic.
With only minutes to leave and make the
long run home we have just landed what
we believe is the big Redfish of the
tournament. That night at the banquet we
are awarded the trophy for the biggest Redfish, a beautiful 15 pound fish. Ah,
winning is so sweet.
RedSnook 2008
My M&I Bank clients are back and want me to lead them to a win. They tell me
not only do they want to win the team trophy but also the corporate team trophy.
Tall orders considering that the fishing has been off and the tide for the
tournament is poor.
This tournament stuff is starting to feel a lot like work. I ask my friend’s son,
Tiger, to join my crew as mate. Without hesitation Tiger agrees to help me out.
My son, Capt. Doug, is also hired to field a second team from M&I Bank. The
RedSnook is my tournament. I like the people and the festivities are great. The
kickoff party is fun and always at a great location.
Day one starts out tough and we fish our hearts out. It’s a low outgoing tide and
we have to work for every fish we catch. The clients are starting to rib me a bit
about the lack of fish but I reassure them that as soon as the tide turns we will be
into the fish. The problem is the tournament deadline is going to be close to the
tide phase we need but I know this and keep forging ahead. With only half an
hour to spare we fill our slot with some nice fat Redfish. I have to blast back to
the dock at full throttle to cover the 15 miles to home and the tournament
deadline. On the way in the middle of Chokoloskee Bay I hit something hard and
I just press ahead with no looking back. At the dock with only seconds to spare
my clients check in the pictures of the fish while I check out the lower unit on my
outboard. What I see is that most of my skeg is missing. Apparently everyone but
me knows that there is a hunk of hurricane debris out in the bay that extends to
the surface. Note to self: don’t run across the middle of that bay again. Days like
this take the fun and profit out of tournament guiding.
That night I decide to go to dinner with my girlfriend instead of attending the
scoring banquet. My son and my mate Tiger go to the banquet because of the
free food. They end up sitting with Rowland Martin, which is a very exciting
experience for young Tiger who has watched Rowland on TV for years.
A little side note about Rowland is in order here. Earlier in the day when we were
running across an open bay we came across a boat with the anglers waving
frantically for help. As a rule I never pass up someone that needs help so I went
over to investigate. It turns out to be Rowland Martin and crew. They have run
out of 2 stroke oil and the motor will not run over idle speed. I am running a 4
stroke on my boat so we didn’t have extra oil to give to them. Being the happy
anglers that we are, we set off to find Rowland Martin some oil. Luckily for him
and us we found someone with a bottle of oil and were able to get them up and
running again in less than half an hour. This proves to be good karma for us.
Later that night I find out that we are winning our division.
Day two and we head out in search of our Snook and Redfish. With the
experience of Day one behind us we have a better idea of what worked and what
didn’t. Much to my delight we easily fill our slot early with all of the fish we need.
It’s that good karma at work together with a good team effort.
That night we head to the awards meeting not knowing how we stand. After
some other awards are handed out we are awarded the trophy for second place
in the guided bait division and first place in the corporate division. Needless to
say my clients are very happy about our success.
Two days later we find out there was a scoring mistake and that we really won
first place in the guided bait division. Sweet.
Gene Doyle 2009
Based on our previous experience with this tournament and our angry team I
decide to remix the team. This year it’s going to be my son and Tiger. My son
and I both agree this is going to be
a great combination. We agree that
we are not going to get mad at each
other and this is going to be our
year to win the Gene Doyle.
Day one starts out pretty good. We
have a plan and it’s working. We
run our back country boat (my
Ranger Banshee Extreme) because
we know that we are going to end
up fishing some skinny water and
this is the boat for the job.
Our first stop is an oyster bar that has produced for us many times, only this time
no one is home. Across the creek is another bar that hasn’t produced much for
us but this time it is hot. The first cast yields a small Snook and a rather nice
Trout. A short run around the back side of an island and we score a nice Snook.
Things are looking up.
After several hours of fishing we have the Snook we need to fill the slot and a
couple of Trout; however, it is apparent that we are not going to be able to get
the six Redfish we need. Reds can be tough to find at this time of year in the
Ten Thousand Islands.
With this knowledge in hand I decide we should concentrate on Trout because I
feel they are do-able. With that I head to a creek that I know the Trout frequent.
We break out some Cajun Thunders and some DOA Shrimp and go to work.
After several minutes we have one Trout and we still need several more. It’s
going to be hard to catch the rest of the Trout and make it back to the dock in
time for the close of fishing for the day. At this point we are all discouraged and
about to give up but I have decided that I am not willing to throw in the towel.
Tiger is giving it his best because we both agreed that we would be able to catch
Trout in this creek but Capt. Doug is not happy and has basically given up.
Now I am put off and I demand that Doug give me the rod even though if I do
catch a Trout it won’t count for points. So I begin casting and after two casts I
hook a nice Trout, proving that they are indeed in the creek and biting. This
makes Doug pretty mad but he takes the rod back and starts fishing again and
after casing a couple of times he connects with a Trout. Now we are back in
action and catching fish so everyone’s attitude is improving. Our problem is we
are rapidly running out of time. Tiger has managed to catch a couple of Trout but
is still short a fish. With minutes left before we must leave to make the long run
home, both of my anglers are casting their butts off as I make my way toward the
entrance the creek. Seconds later Doug lands his last Trout, filling his slot and
making him extremely happy. I give Tiger a few minutes to catch his last Trout
before I fire up the Banshee and head for the dock. With time running out we
leave for home at full throttle.
We arrive at the dock seconds late but the tournament committee doesn’t seem
to notice and they accept our pictures and we have just entered our fish for day
one of the tournament. We are short a Trout and six Redfish but otherwise have
a solid catch considering we have fished all day in 20 knot winds on an extremely
low tide.
Later that night we attend the scoring party and find we are in second place and
within reach of the first place team which has managed to land the same fish as
us except they also have one of the elusive Redfish that we couldn’t find.
On the way back to Chokolosee we hatch a plan to run way south to the Rogers
River in the hope that we can add some bigger Snook to our ticket and perhaps
some Reds. We know this is a gamble but we all agree that it is worth a try.
The next morning we head south as fast as the little Banshee can go and we
arrive at the Rogers only to be greeted by dirty and low water. Twenty minutes
later we have caught a nice Snook and Trout. Our team is feeling that we made a
good decision but even as we were catching those fish the wind was picking up
and the water was blowing out of the river. With that the fishing shut down and
we had to move on.
We head far into the back county and picked up several small Snook. On our trip
home we stopped at the creek that had produced the Trout the day before. Only
today they just were not biting and with time running short we head home.
That night at the awards banquet we were not called to the front to get a trophy.
We were just like many of the other anglers in the room, left to rejoice in some
other person’s victory.
What is the moral of this story? First make a plan and stick with it, second work
as a team and third never and I
mean never give up.
So often in fishing it is that last cast
or that idea about fishing one more
spot that saves the day. Although
we didn’t win we did learn from our
experience.
Last Friday I fished with my son and we had a great day. At the last spot wefished we hooked a monster fish. A fish that we normally would have given up onbecause we were out classed on the tackle we were using. I told Doug, “Don’tgive up and use short pumps and we will beat this fish”. That is the fish shown in
the picture because we didn’t give up.
Capt. Jim Stoner
Everglades Pro
www.evergladespro.com
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