Massive sailfish helped these anglers win Crosthwait, Tampa’s biggest fishing tournament

For Eric Lowney and team Red Lion Rods, tournament fishing has been a new adventure.

“This was our first time entering, and our first year doing any tournaments,” Lowney explained. “We did the Dogfish 25 tournament earlier this year and wanted to do the King of the Beach, but the boat was damaged. This was our first Crosthwait and we loved the format.”

With multiple divisions up for grabs in the Crosthwait Memorial Fishing Tournament, Lowney and teammates Jack Suarez, Derrick Hitt, Jake Desrosiers, Ethan Cash and Oulay Campasouk opted for the highly competitive limited offshore division.

While the unlimited offshore division has no boundaries, leaving Friday afternoon before returning Sunday, the limited division has a boundary that extends about 50 miles west of Anna Maria and south to Venice with a return on Saturday afternoon.

It’s a one-night sprint to get the best six scoring fish possible with limited options.

“I thought everyone would have tuna and maybe a wahoo or something to go with it. Pelagics were going to be the difference. Everyone can get grouper and snapper, but some guys are going to get big African pompano or permit with tuna and would be tough to beat,” said Lowney.

When they left Friday, their original plan had to change when multiple boats were already sitting on a spring they hoped to fish for African pompano.

“We got some jacks, but it just wasn’t happening. There was another spring nearby, so we bounced around looking for grouper on the way to it. We would fish huge shows in 140 feet and get one or two fish but then had to move.”

On their slow journey, Lowney saw a dark shadow approach the boat. “Big wahoo or sailfish!” he yelled to his crew. Jack Suarez grabbed a bait from the livewell and pitched it in the direction of the shadow.

“He looked at me and said ‘I’m on,’ as the line was peeling out of the reel. It was a sailfish and jumped all over. We fought it for 12 to 15 minutes. There were about three times we had it to the leader but couldn’t quite get it good enough and after one of them, the line started to rub on the side of the boat. We finally got it and after the release felt the line, it was all marred up from the rubbing!”

With three of their six fish needed for weigh-in and sunset approaching, Lowney journeyed slowly east in search of good fishing.

Many of the ledges had red snapper, which are out of season and not good for points. Eventually, in 85 feet they settled on one that had what they were looking for. When they arrived at 11:30 at night, there were four snapper in the boat. Lowney fell asleep and when he woke up at 5:30 a.m., his crew told him they had caught 56 more for their limit!

A pair of four-pound mangrove snapper would be what was weighed for their snapper.

“At sunrise we ran back out deeper to the Mexican Pride to try to get a tuna or kingfish for our sixth fish. There was nothing, no bait or life. We then ran into the Fin Barge and it was the same. We were running out of time and needed a sixth fish. We went to a ledge with some shrimp and pass crabs and at the last minute I tossed a crab out on a Hogball and got an 18-inch hogfish!”

With six fish, including the released 100-point sailfish, they would total 341 points and claim first place out of 10, beating team Sawdy Electric who had a total of 314-points. The win secured a $5,000 prize. In the unlimited offshore division, with 22 entries, team Too Tight with captain Trey Creadon wowed the crowd with a pair of big black grouper at 80 and 50 pounds on their way to 578 points and $10,000.

Team Richardson Stinton Roofing Power by Skeeter with Joe Medred and captain TJ Stewart continued their dominance of the inshore tournament series with a massive 431 points for first place over second-place Sandhoff Construction’s 411 points. The division had 49 total entries.

Team NDC, Sweet n Salty and captain Cooper Duquette would win the junior division, while the spearfishing division was won by team Pokin’ Holes with 481 points.

Full results can be found on the page https://www.ianglertournament.com/crosthwait-memorial-fishing-tournament.