How a Bradenton angler won fishing tournament with massive Manatee River catch

When Captain Josh Prunier began fishing during the 28th annual Fishing Funds the Cure tournament, he found himself in unfamiliar waters.

“I’ve been doing it for six or seven years now. I usually come back down across the bay, but it was so windy this year, we found some fish up off Clearwater,” said Prunier, a Bradenton native who joined the tournament start out of Marine Max in St. Petersburg.

“We found some structure off the beach with a little dirty water around it, so when the tournament started, we went there,” he added. “Pretty quick, we got a 32-inch redfish mixed in with a bunch of black drum. They were feeding in the dirty water. I was happy to get one that size because I don’t fish up there a lot.”

The tournament brings together a variety of anglers, captains and sponsors to raise money for the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. It’s a two-day event where anglers search for the biggest redfish, snook and trout. Individual awards are given for the biggest in each category, as well as a slam division. Prunier has fished for the past six or seven years taking second place in the slam division before.

“It’s a great event. I get the same guys every year with Team Advance Auto Parts. They were super pumped when we got off to the good start. It was so windy, we ran down along the beach and found a bunch more fish, caught a ton more reds, but none were as big as the 32-inch,” Prunier said. “I thought that was a good one based on what we’ve been seeing this year. So we went trout fishing and got a 21-incher after catching a ton of trout.”

After the first day, Prunier was happy with their start to the tournament. All teams went home for the night and regrouped for day two. Prunier knew he needed a quality snook to round out his team’s slam on the final day.

Angler wins tournament with 41-inch snook

“We ran back south to the Manatee River on the second day,” Prunier recalled. “On the first bait, we got a 31-inch. On the next bait, we had an even bigger one!”

But there was a problem — Prunier didn’t have a landing net.

“I don’t usually like landing with a net because it can damage the fish, and forgot to put it in for the tournament. I wish I had it for this one. I had to grab it by the lips when it got beside the boat!” Prunier explained.

The second bait and second snook of the morning ended up being the biggest of the tournament. It made the first one look small, coming in at 41 inches. The run back to Prunier’s home waters paid off.

By tournament’s end, Prunier’s team would bring home the biggest slam at 95 inches and claim first place, beating many of the area’s best fishing guides. It was a great weekend of fishing, which he says will continue into the fall.

“This has been the best year for bait I’ve ever seen. I think this fall is going to be really good. Water looks really good. There’s all kinds of fish you want to catch. Inshore has been good. The beach has been good. Hogfish are showing up, and I’ve seen a lot of life out.”