As Crosthwait looms, anglers must scout sites and craft strategy

In one week, the Grand Daddy of Manatee County fishing tournaments will have the Bradenton Yacht Club packed with anglers, spectators and the hardworking committee at the 34th Annual Crosthwait Memorial Fishing Tournament presented by Yellowfin.

Over the next week those fishing will be incessantly checking the weekend weather.

“What will we do if it’s calm? What will we do if it’s rough? Where will we go first? Where will we fish at 2 a.m. Sunday morning?”

All of those scenarios and more will be going through the minds of those leaving either Friday in the offshore division on Saturday in one of the inshore divisions.

While the Crosthwait has been built on tradition, a few changes have been introduced to allow more participation from beyond Bradenton and for anglers who may have struggled to find the ability to devote two whole days to fishing. There will be multiple starting locations in addition to the traditional mouth of the Manatee River. Teams may now leave from Marina Jack in Sarasota and the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.

Teams will be able to change anglers at the dock easier with clearance from the committee. This will help those who may have prior commitments, such as one of the many graduation ceremonies that will be occurring in Manatee County.

Inshore anglers will compete for a larger first-place payout of $10,000. The hope is this increase in money will prompt inshore teams to push harder for bigger fish.

Looking at the inshore scoresheet, there are big points to be had with tarpon, snook, permit, and perhaps a huge redfish or trout. A team realistically could earn up to 450 points from their combination of 6-fish.

Big snook will be needed for a chance to win this tournament. Many linesiders over 40 inches have been landed locally in the past few months, and two of that size would add at least another 180 points to a team’s total.

Tarpon may elude most anglers: The mass of fish that arrived at this point last year has yet to show up. A tarpon measuring longer than 3 feet is worth 75 points.

Permit reports have been good this spring. The lack of rain has offshore waters extremely clean. At two points per pound and 20 pounds per fish, a couple of 20- to 30-pound permit would add up to 80 points each to a team’s total.

Round out the combined catch with another 59-point redfish (36-plus inches) or 60-point trout (26-plus inches), and the potential six-fish catch would surpass last year’s 410 points from winning team Adios Reality. That is every team’s goal, but 400-point tournaments are seldom accomplished.

Offshore teams will not only deal with potentially rough seas — strong winds are in long-range forecast — but closed seasons on popular fish. The season for amberjack, which have always been a staple at the Crosthwait weigh in, was closed earlier this year for the remainder of 2017. The seasons for gag grouper and red snapper remain closed until June.

Offshore teams will look to catch as many 100-point fish as possible. Each billfish will be worth 100 points, while it takes a 70-pound Warsaw grouper to earn the maximum 100 points and a 70-pound cubera snapper to earn the maximum 100.

Many offshore boats will bring in a variety of red and snowy grouper or mangrove, yellowtail and mutton snapper.

The biggest wild card in the offshore division will be tuna. Tuna are worth 20 points per fish and two points per pound. The more common blackfin tuna regularly weighs in around 30 pounds. But yellowfin tuna, which often exceed 100 pounds, have been known to frequent deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico. A pair of those will alter Sunday afternoon results in a hurry.

Registration to fish as well as all rules can be viewed at CrosthwaitFishing.com. The weigh-in will take play at the Bradenton Yacht Club starting at noon on May 21st. Offshore boats need to be at the dock by 3 p.m.

This story was originally published May 13, 2017 at 5:55 PM with the headline "As Crosthwait looms, anglers must scout sites and craft strategy."