First Tampa Bay KayakSlam gets Chilly Welcome

The second leg of the KayakSlam Series, West Coast Division, was held March 1^st at The Joe’s Crab Shack in Clearwater. A mid week cold front dropped air and water temperatures, and participation in this first Tampa KayakSlam event.

The anglers that did brave the elements reported good catches of trout and redfish, but the elusive snook was tough to come by with the cool water.

“A beautiful start to the KayakSlam Tournament”
Photo by Pete Poletti

Tailing reds were abundant based on reports from competitors. Many of the anglers fished the normal Tampa hotspots such as Weedon Island, Fort Desoto, and Cockroach Bay. Several Anglers chose to run south in search of warmer waters and a stronger snook bite.

“Adam Gross of Team Emotion Kayak scores a nice red”
Photo by Mark Couch

At the weigh in, the first angler to check in was Tony Lai, who worked an all night shift at his job in order to be able to fish on Saturday. Despite being up almost 24 hours straight, Tony scored the first slam of the event. Almost every angler managed to catch one or two species, good for the point total, but not usually enough to win without a slam. Two of our youngest competitors made the run south to the Venice area to fish and came back with some healthy scores.

With only three slams caught, the top anglers were easy to pick.

17 year old Spencer Goodwin, one of the “Young Guns” of The KayakSlam Series, posted 3 good fish for a total score of 68.50”. Spencer edged out his fishing buddy and other “Young Gun” Cameron Schurlknight who entered a slam worth 67.25”. Tony Lai finished third with 55” slam. The Big Snook award went to Tony Lai, The Big Trout was won by Pete Poletti, and the big red at 26” went to Spencer Goodwin. Cameron Schurlknight was earned the DOA Lures top Youth Award.

Spencer Goodwin with his first KayakSlam Win!

Cameron Schurlknight takes second and the DOA Top Youth Award

Tony Lai rounds out the Top Three with Big Snook Honors Too.