How the winner of St. Pete’s 2022 King of the Beach tourney caught a 39 pound kingfish

Fishing tournaments have always been a family affair for Brian Hasson and team 99 Problems.

“I started doing the King of the Beach with my father and grandfather in 1990 and haven’t missed one since,” said the two-time winner Hasson. “This year my father couldn’t do it since he was having an operation and it’s probably the first one he’s ever missed.”

Joining Hasson’s crew this year would be the next generation of angler, his 2-year-old son, Wyatt, for the 2022 Old Salt Fall King of the Beach Kingfish Tournament in Madeira Beach, Florida.

Hasson was happy with his plan and weather for the Saturday morning start on Nov. 6.

“We prefished all week and had a good idea of where fish were and when they were biting. Our plan was to head out and never even get the boat on plane, so we idled out of John’s Pass at 6:45 a.m. and stayed close to the beach.

“When the sun came up we looked around at where the bait was and crab traps were and set up a three rod spread.”

With cool, clear skies and a light east wind, they had an ideal start to the day. Hasson took home last year’s fall crown while fishing through 4 to 6 foot seas in Tampa Bay, so a calm day was welcomed.

Early in the morning, the bait closest to the boat had a kingfish send a hooked ladyfish flying into the air. It took four attempts, but the speedy fish was finally hooked and Hasson’s fiancé Cory Maumenee grabbed the rod.

“That fish took off like a bat out of hell so we knew it was a good one,” Hasson said. “It ran offshore like typical beach fish do and we had to get it off a crab trap. It was a nice fish and after we got that one in we went back to fishing.”

After four hours of slow time, Hasson hadn’t given up hope for a bigger fish. During his prefishing days, he knew the early afternoon seemed to be the last chance for a good bite. When a drag started screaming, it was his turn to fight a fish as Mike Layton controlled the boat.

“That one didn’t act like a normal beach fish. It was hooked in 16 feet of water and ran toward shore. As the fish got tired it wrapped up on a crab trap so I slacked off and let the fish settle in. Mike got on top of the trap and we were able to get it free. We got down on top of him and got the gaff in. When it was in the boat we did a few victory cheers!”

Confident they had a top-five or top-three fish, the crew trolled back toward John’s Pass. They had one more hit but missed the late bite. Burning less than 10 gallons of gas provided two quality fish to take to the scale.

There Maumenee’s kingfish would weigh in at 28.21 pounds, topping the Ladies Division.

The second fish was the bigger of their two and brought to the scale, weighing in at 39 pounds. Without much threat from any challengers it would be enough for the victory, besting the 378 teams for the crown. Their winnings would be just short of $88,000!

“I still don’t set out to make money in these things,” said Hasson. “The winnings only keep us fishing. We use it to reinvest, fish more tournaments and keep the boat expenses paid. It was great to fish it with my son like I always used to growing up. He helped us load the boat and didn’t even nap until we were almost to the scales. He was into it all day long.”

Even late at night Wyatt kept the crowd pumped as he celebrated with the team for the victory. And what did he want to do the next day?

“He was up at 5:30 the next morning asking if we could go fishing again!”