After lengthy Irma cleanup, Bodner’s team wins King of the Beach tournament

When Hurricane Irma hit Florida, fishing was in the back of Joe Bodner’s mind.

“We worked 17 or 18 days straight,” Bodner said. “Sixteen-hour days at a time. It trickled beyond that, but it’s what we love to do.”

As a lineman for Florida Power & Light, he was helping to bring power back to neighborhoods around the state.

“Fishing was non existent.”

As the situation settled and Bodner got his 32-foot Donzi ZF back into shape, he was itching to go fishing. Specifically, Bodner wanted to be ready for the fall swing of west coast kingfish tournaments. His favorite has always been the Old Salts King of the Beach, held Nov. 2-4 out of Madeira Beach.

“I’ll fish it for the rest of my life, as long as I have a way to fish it I will. Old Salts is a great company and it’s a great event. The best tournament, biggest winnings and most exciting. I’ve fished the King of the Beach for about 20 years since I was 13 or 14 years old,” Bodner explained.

Bodner and the crew of Team Overdraft were part of the 543-team field, each with their eyes set on the $50,000 first-place prize. The single biggest kingfish would claim the victory and winnings.

The team started the tournament with some morning fishing about 70 feet deep west of Egmont Key.

“We were fishing an area of hard bottom we’ve had marked for years. We caught a small fish, then another one hit a small bluerunner on the down rigger. It about dumped the reel on its first blistering run,” said Bodner, who watched while his sister-in-law Melissa Bodner worked the rod.

“She (the fish) came back to the boat, then made one more small run. My brother was on the gaff, and he hit her. It was like she died right then.”

The fight was short, only five or six minutes. As a massive kingfish hit the deck, the team knew they had a chance to win the crown.

“It was pandemonium, we were all hooting and hollering. At that point we decided to pack it up and leave.”

The team was done by 9:30 a.m. Bodner figured their fish would weigh somewhere between 45 and 50 pounds.

When the weigh-in started, Team Overdraft was the first team to bring its fish in by car. At the scale their weight was accurately guessed, as the team’s king ended up at 46.99 pounds. Over the course of four hours, 201 other fish were weighed in, but none would top 46.99, crowning Bodner as the 2017 Fall King of the Beach.

For the victory, Team Overdraft would end up winning a total of $63,744.

“We’re splitting it up between the team and putting money away for other tournaments in the future,” Bodner said. “My wife will also be getting new appliances, and we’ll probably save the rest.”

This story was originally published November 11, 2017 at 12:17 PM with the headline "After lengthy Irma cleanup, Bodner’s team wins King of the Beach tournament."