Florida angler advances to regional championship after Gulf Coast tournament victory

When Alex Keith began fishing Oct. 21 for the Power Pole National Redfish Tour Gulf Coast Go Live One-Man Tournament, he had a familiar person by his side.

“My wife was my marshal, she was dialed in with it,” said Keith, who fished his home waters of Port Charlotte. “But I had to do everything solo. Casting, fighting, netting and weighing the fish. She can film and write down the weight, but that’s it.”

The tournament Keith participated in was a unique challenge. It requires anglers to catch, weigh and film three redfish no larger than 8 pounds in a day. An 8-pound fish is perfect but 8.01 is too big. With boundaries of the Gulf Coast of Florida, anglers could begin fishing at 7:30 a.m. hundreds of miles apart. Being further south may have given Keith a slight advantage over northern anglers as a front pushed through early Saturday morning.

“First thing in the morning, I had a 7-pound fish in the boat at 7:34. Then at 7:45, I had another 6-pounder to get me close to 14 pounds. But one of the rules in the tournament is we have to use artificial lures, and we can’t fish by anyone chumming. A boat came in and started chumming, so I had to leave,” said Keith.

“The pressure change came early and it was drizzling. I think that turned on the fish, but I knew the rest of the day was going to get changed up.”

Keith then began to bounce around nearby spots. At his Plan B, he hooked into a quality fish.

“I had a 7- to 7-and-a-half-pound fish on the line. I saw him belly roll and somehow he got off. I ran back to my A spot, but there were boats still there, so I went to my C spot. Caught a couple 4-pound fish and threw them back. After that, I went back to the B spot and got a small 1-pound fish there. After that, I knew I had to do something. Luckily, I was able to get close to the fish with my new Power Pole Move trolling motor.”

Throwing a variety of gold spoons and Gulp! baits, Keith kept grinding, working over areas he knew had small groups of quality fish. Looking through his BAJÍO sunglasses Keith saw the right-sized fish, finding another he could weigh in. It upgraded slightly with a 5-pound red before getting his biggest fish of the day tight on the line. But the problem of being too large came into play, and after releasing a 9-pound redfish, he kept searching.

“I figured my 19 pounds would be top 10 to get into the championship but not win. When it was over, my buddy called me and said he was pretty confident I had won,” Keith said. “He was following along all day.”

To track catches, all fish videos are posted to the Power Pole National Redfish Tour on Facebook. It’s an exciting way to see a variety of fishing happening live. Keith and team Avail Gear / Power Pole would finish with 19.15 pounds, beating Jeremy Himes by more than a pound at 18.02 pounds.

For first place, he would win a GoLow 14-foot skiff valued at $10,000 and a chance to fish in the championship on Jan. 14 against qualifiers from across the southeast.

“I’ll be competing against Louisiana, Texas and Carolina boys. I don’t think I’ll have a disadvantage,” said Keith. “I go into any tournament thinking I can win it.”