Spot the spots: How a Florida angler a won a fishing tournament with a twist

Most fishing tournament winners are determined by the biggest fish.

Be it the heaviest or the longest, anglers usually rely on their ability to find and catch quality over quantity. But last weekend, there was a variable in the mix at the 17th Annual Sarasota Redfish Spot Tournament.

The tournament, hosted out of the southern end of Sarasota Bay, had participants searching for redfish. The biggest prize wasn’t going to the biggest or heaviest fish; it was going to the one with the most spots on a single side in a catch-and-release format.

Redfish typically have one black spot on each side of their tail, a false eye, to fool predators. But some have more, making it a bit of luck to get one with multiple spots.

“My strategy is to get on a big school,” explained angler Jaime Stephens, who has won the tournament in the past. “The more you catch, the more chances you have to get one with a lot of spots on it. But the best part of this tournament is the camaraderie, and what they do is really awesome. It’s not about winning, it’s about participating. Things like the raffle with prizes from Premier Tackle and Jeremy Lee make it worth the price of admission alone.”

Born in Sarasota before relocating to Okeechobee for work, Stephens circles this tournament every year to come back and participate. He and teammate Mike Montgomery have tournament fished around the state, but they treat this one as a fun event with friends.

“Mike still lives in Englewood, so he’s been fishing a bit. I was about to get out Friday and prefish a little. The morning of the tournament on Saturday we were able to find a school of about 300 fish early in the morning. We caught about 25 to 30 and the last one of the morning, I said, ‘That could be a good one.’”

The good one to Stephens was a fish he noticed with a cool pattern on the tail. It was a mix of four spots. They took pictures with their needed items in the tournament to prove when it was caught. And then when he flipped it over, Stephens noticed something better.

“It had four on the tail and two more spots on the pectoral fins on the other side. I thought six was pretty good. After that fish, a pontoon boat ran through the school and spooked the fish, so we went snook and trout fishing the rest of the day for those calcuttas.”

With six spots, the redfish was more than a good one. It would capture first place and $2,500 for the duo, beating second-place Team Bay Walker, who caught a redfish with 5 spots. Third place also had five spots, but lost on the tiebreaker.

In addition to the most spots, there was a variety of calcuttas anglers could enter, meaning side pots for other categories. Winning the 1st place combination of three redfish was Team Burkhart Heating and Cooling, who had a three fish total of 92 inches.

First-place snook would go to Team Overhead Door, while trout would go to Miller Portable Welding.

The second-place redfish was caught by 5-year-old Ezra Dietz, who would also win the junior division with his five-spot redfish.

The tournament also raised nearly $50,000 for the Gator Wilderness Camp.