How a team of high schoolers won the 2022 Suncoast Saltwater Shootout fishing tourney
Before fishing last weekend’s 2022 Suncoast Saltwater Shootout Presented by Manasota Flooring, fishing team Wrecked ‘Em had a few responsibilities they needed to take care of.
“We’re all seniors in high school, so we were trying to balance school with fishing time,” said team captain Andrew Bennett. “We were fishing really hard leading up to it. I think I fished more than I was at school that week, so I was trying to make sure I stayed awake during class even though I was tired.”
Comprised of two 17-year-olds and two 18-year-olds, Team Wrecked ‘Em recently had to move up to the adult divisions after spending the previous years competing in Junior divisions. Teammates Andrew Bennett, Caleb Bennett, Carson Allison and Matt Garrott prepared the same way they’re used to.
“We prefished a lot. It’s important to know where the fish are, getting spots down. Everyone on our team went out, and we definitely made sure to know where to fish during the tournament,” Bennett said.
“This tournament started on Friday evening and finished Saturday afternoon, so we spent Friday morning making sure we had good fresh live bait. That’s the most important thing to us. We didn’t want any dead bait.”
When tournament time started, the team ran from the Manatee River to their first spot to snook fish. It didn’t take long and they got the first big one to the boat.
“We used big tackle and the first big one took about five minutes to bring in. There were a few issues but we got it clutched up and in the boat, that one measured at 38 inches, so we were happy to start the tournament with that. It was a long shot spot that ended up paying off.”
Needing only one snook, redfish and trout in the format, they changed plans. Their next target, trout, also came quickly.
“It wasn’t quite dark yet and we got our trout. At that point, we were really happy having two out of the three done so we could focus on our redfish. We grinded all night and eventually got a big redfish around 2 a.m.!”
Satisfied with their catch they grabbed about three hours of sleep before trying again to upgrade their snook. They got another big one, but it wasn’t bigger than what was currently on the board.
With a total of 97 inches, they were able to take first place in the tightly contested tournament, the first adult division win for the young team.
“I think the tournament season started out as well as possible, and we plan on continuing doing that. That score is not something we can do every single time, it’s fishing so sometimes it just doesn’t go as well. But we’re happy with this one and hope to do it again moving on,” Bennett said.
Second place went to take Wish Farms with 96 inches.
Third place, losing on a tiebreaker, went to team Manatee Marine Unlimited also with 96 inches.
Fourth place team Glory Days, fifth place Top Shop and sixth place team Double Bounty all came in with 95 inches, meaning the difference from first to sixth was only 2 inches.
The Suncoast Saltwater Shootout was the first leg of the Triple Crown series.
Teams competing will also look forward to the Crosthwait Memorial Fishing Tournament and Fire Charity Fishing Tournament in June, the middle and final leg of the series.