Outdoors Column | Winning local fishing’s Triple Crown did not come easy for this team

Tiger Woods. Tom Brady. Michael Jordan. Capt. TJ Stewart?

At the top of their game, elite competitors seem to always find a way to not only be the best consistently, but find a way to raise their performance when pressure is at it’s peak. One look at their trophy cabinet will show championship after championship.

Heading into 2021’s three big six-fish live release inshore fishing tournaments, one team had all the eyes on them. If Vegas cared about fishing tournaments in Bradenton, the overwhelming favorite in each event is the Capt. TJ Stewart lead Richardson Stinton Roofing powered by Skeeter Boats.

“Everyone thinks it’s easy, we just go catch fish,” said Stewart. “It isn’t that. I think a lot of it is hanging in there and staying with it. I go through a lot of different ideas and tactics. Fortunately, we’ve got a good team who will stick it out and hang in there when it’s not going well.”

For Stewart the most difficult challenge came in the final event of the King of the River Triple Crown. After taking home the victory in the Suncoast Saltwater Shootout and the Crosthwait Memorial Fishing Tournament, the finale at the Fire Charity Fishing Tournament did not start as he had planned.

“Going into the night we only had three good fish. We got a pair of mid-30 inch redfish early then got one big snook (44-inches), but our trout and one mangrove snapper were small. We then tried for tarpon fishing around bridges and caught five that were all too small at 34 or 35-inches!” Stewart recalled.

“At midnight, we decided to regroup and get showered to get our minds back in it. We couldn’t give up knowing there were other teams of great anglers coming for us. That’s when we got lucky.”

Shortly after getting regrouped, Stewart said they lucked into another big snook.

“We were discussing what we wanted to do when we got a 41-inch snook while waiting. That immediately rejuvenated us!”

From there Stewart went back on the hunt for tarpon. But after making trips between the Skyway and Longobat bridge, neither had their lights on and neither was holding fish in the darkness. He ran up to bridges in St. Petersburg, also devoid of the silver king. When the sun rose so did the winds, pushing him to a new plan that would lead them to a pair of trout in the low 20-inch sizes.

“We had what I would call a good catch but not a great catch. I always think we can do better so am never happy with the result. 100% I know I can always do more. Not catching a tarpon? That’s not what I would ever say is successful.”

Their point total 428 was more than respectable. As tournament host Erik Nicholson called scores of 363- for 3rd and 381- for 2nd, Stewart thought his team was all that was left.

But they weren’t called for first.

With a matching total of 428 points, Team Hoff and captain Trevor Hoff took to the stage to celebrate as their name was called as champions.

“For the first time ever, one of our folders disappeared which had us miss one of our winners,” Nicholson said. “When we found this mistake we went to Stewart and let them know and what I was met with blew my mind.

“At first I was like, maybe they have an overall winner for the triple crown division,” Stewart recalled. “It put us in an awkward position because we didn’t want to make a scene out of it. I tried handling it the best way I could. They were up there celebrating so we waited for it to settle down before saying anything. We’ve fished with those guys every year and actually had the same score during a three-way tie in 2018 so we both know it can be close between us.”

The end result was an agreed upon first place tie and a sharing of the stage for the championship.

But for Stewart’s team, it was the culmination of three hard fought victories, sweeping the Triple Crown series with a win in each event

“It definitely made us fish a little harder than we normally do,” said the champion Stewart. “It was a great ending for us. I’m not sure what we’ll do next year. Right now we’re taking it all in and enjoying it. We may or may not do it again.

“These tournaments are fun for me because it’s something different from the daily grind of charter fishing. I get to try new stuff and fish myself. The team we’ve put together has made it enjoyable, but it’s not something we can do forever.”