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Old 06-26-2006, 09:15 AM   #1
Spearchucker
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Tampa, Florida
Age: 54
Posts: 4,687
Story and pics - SOuthern Open

Well, another Southern Open has come and gone, and Team Relentless has kicked ASS again. While I was not able to defend my title from last year, I was very happy with a third place finish, and also the fact that my boat crew finished 2nd (Ritchie Zacker), 6th (Jerry Lancaster), and 8th (Rich Hermes), so Team Relentless took 4 out of the top 8 spots. Also, a big congratulations to Paul Renner for winning this thing. Paul consistently gets it done, and he kicked ass on Saturday.

The day started really, really early when we met at my house at 2:00 AM. The boat was already loaded, so all we had to do was drive to the ramp. We pushed off the dock at 3:15AM heading for our first spot at about 96 miles out. Their was a NE breeze, along with thunderstorms in the area, so the water was not completely flat early on, more like 2's with an occasional 3. As the day wore on, the seas really flattened out which made the cruise back a cakewalk.

We got to our spot a little after 6:00 AM, and were in the water by 7:10, which was about the earliest we had decent light. Working north to south, we consistently found fish all day. I think we all dropped 8 or 9 times, for a boat total of somewhere around 35 drops. Of that 35, I think maybe 2 drops resulted in no fish, all day. It was a very fishy day.

Here are some pics:

These first two are of my 31# (28 gutted) Yellowfin grouper (Fireback). This is the first one I have ever seen under water, and I have been diving for 24 years. He is on his way to Lee's Taxidermy for a mount.





Here is a pic of Ritchie with his 52# gutted weight Jack, which was 2nd largest jack in the tournament. Rich is also in the shot with his real nice female hog that he shot on the last drop of the day:



Here is myself and Rich with some nice hogs and a jack, back at the dock:

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