How Tampa Bay anglers reeled in giant kingfish to secure fourth King of the Beach victory
In the weeks following Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Brian Hasson wasn’t thinking much about fishing.
“My house on Treasure Island had three feet of water in it,” said Hasson, who owns multiple properties that were affected by the storms. “My boat was full of water after the batteries died from the bilge pump always running. I had to do a complete rewire in order to just fish.”
Hasson turned his focus to helping others in the aftermath of the storms. He contracted a crane to remove boats from yards and other areas they shouldn’t have been. After spending weeks working, he kept one date circled.
“We had the boat back in the water the week before we were supposed to have the King of the Beach. With another storm sitting out there, they postponed it, which was for the best,” recalled Hasson, who said he would not have fished on the original date. “There was so much debris with floating docks and palm trees, the extra time off helped clean up the water, which was needed.”
On the rescheduled day at the end of November, 185 teams dealt with rough conditions, dirty water, red tide and many other reasons to stay home. Hasson and the rest of Team 99 Problems had done no pre-fishing and simply ran off historical knowledge in the search for the biggest kingfish needed to be crowned king for the fourth time.
“I figured it would be tough. There was red tide in about 40 to 60 feet of water offshore. Water conditions were not clean, looking like a brownish tannic stain. I didn’t anticipate a ton of fish being caught,” Hasson stated. “It was blowing 15 from the north-northeast, which typically means those fish shut down and stay down. We decided to head to Tampa Bay and fish the channel.”
With lines in the water allowed at 6 a.m., Hasson was a bit later than normal to start fishing. They arrived at 6:20 a.m. before getting their first bite 30 minutes later.
“At 6:50, we had our first bite. By 6:52, we had our first fish — about 34 pounds — in the boat.”
Fishing heavier drag than most kingfish anglers allowed Hasson’s crew to navigate the dangers of fishing in Tampa Bay between other boats, channel markers, bridges and more.
“About an hour later, the same downrigger goes off again. The fish pushed the bait up to the surface and we saw it boil when it ate the bait. The fish took off and I grabbed the rod. It took off toward another boat and they worked with us and pulled out of the way. That fish fought for about 2 minutes, as well, and when we landed it, we knew it was bigger than the first.”
The rest of the day was a bit more relaxing for the team. They watched dozens of other boats in the area fish beside them and in that time none caught a fish, raising Hasson’s confidence.
At the scales Team 99 Problems’ kingfish would weigh in early at a heavy 43.79 pounds. Boat after boat weighed in, but none would top the eventual winners and Hasson would claim the crown for his fourth King of the Beach victory. For the tournament win and the aggregate victory in combination with the spring, Hasson would take home around $43,000.
In second place, Team No Surrender and captain Pierce Chambers would win $4,000 with a 36.2-pound kingfish, while Team Pro Marine and captain Jim Nasat would bring home third place at 33.9 pounds winning $3,000.
This story was originally published December 8, 2024 at 5:50 AM.