There were snook aplenty at recent Big Art Memorial fishing tournament

Tournament anglers can put in hours and even days of preparation figuring out the best time and place to fish. Preparing for when and where you’ll be with what baits and tackle can drive us a bit mad.

We often deal with long periods where fish don’t want to bite. The waiting game can be difficult at times. Then something out of the ordinary happens, and fish decide to eat everything in front of their previously lock jawed faces.

For anglers fishing last weekend’s first-ever Big Art Memorial Tournament presented by Blenker Boatworks, the fishing was nothing short of phenomenal.

The tournament came together to remember Art Shiver Sr., who lost his battle with cancer in early June. Friends Lee Blenker and Ricky Gullet approached Shiver’s son, Art Shiver Jr., with the idea of a tournament to fill the void of the lost De Soto fishing tournament. The format was to catch and release the four largest snook while videoing their size and release as well. The fishing time would be 24 hours.

“We kind of got it together with word of mouth between friends and through social media,” Shiver Jr. said. “We wanted to raise money for Hospice. In the end we were able to donate almost $2,500 in my father’s name since they took great care of him.”

When anglers left at 6 p.m. Friday from the Manatee River, most would experience some of the greatest snook fishing of their lives.

“It was without a doubt the craziest 24 hours of snook fishing I’ve ever seen,” Capt. Will Osborne described excitedly. “I lost count of how many pigs we caught. There was only 14 spaces for fish on the weigh-in sheet and we filled every one of them. We caught 21 snook over 36 inches and 10 over 40 inches!”

Osborne and teammates Colby Gregory, Elliott Taylor and Andrew Ditsworth ran north from the start, catching their first large snook near John’s Pass after only 30 minutes. “Going into the night we kept upgrading. We’d get a 37, then a 38, 39, 40, 40.5. They just kept coming.”

They worked their way south through the night eventually ending up near Sarasota Bay. “At daylight we had a doubleheader of 39 inchers. We didn’t even need them at that point, so we released them right away.”

By the end of the tournament their total of 164 inches (a 40.5-, two 41-, and a 41.5-inch snook) would take home first place and more than $1,800.

Why was the fishing so good? “I think the fish felt the low pressure coming from Tropical Storm Emily and went into feeding mode,” Osborne said. “We all agreed this was the best snook bite we’ve ever had.”

The second-place team, Myco Trailers and Capt. Beau Bell, also had a fantastic day of fishing. Their total was 162 inches (a 40-, two 40.5-, and a 41-inch snook) after catching almost 200 snook. Within that haul, 14 were over 37 inches and six were over 40 inches!

Team Sea Saw and Capt. Jeremy Rzonca would bring home third place with a four-snook total of 159.5 inches.

The Ladies Division was won by team Netfish & Chill and captain Leslie McHugh with a two-snook total of 59.5 inches.

The Juniors Division was won by team captained by Lucas Engel with a four-fish total of 91 inches.

This story was originally published August 5, 2017 at 12:03 PM with the headline "There were snook aplenty at recent Big Art Memorial fishing tournament."