Outdoors | Variety will win big at Crosthwait tourney
The Sam Crosthwait is the unofficial kickoff of Summer for me," Chapman said, "and it has been for 30 years now.
"I circle this time of year on the calendar every January. Now I add a day and get in an extra half-day of pre-fishing Friday before."
Since he is my brother, I help him out. I may not partake in the tournament during the fishing hours, but it keeps alive my memories and love for the Crosthwait. Our new tradition has me show him what may or may not be good ideas for his team.
It wouldn't be a fishing tournament if there wasn't adversity, and this year it started earlier. I received a phone call that his GMC Acadia decided to break down somewhere in Palmetto after 200 miles on the interstate. I left the boat, picked up Rob and teammate Jonathan Allen, and we were on our way.
Last year's pre-trip was highlighted by big snook, one lost and one caught, as we dodged storms around Sarasota Bay and the Manatee River. The bad weather continued into the weekend as anglers inshore and off dealt with lines of storms and wind.
This year we left to an afternoon sea breeze and clear skies, something every tournament angler is happy to see.
We gathered a bit of bait at the mouth of the Manatee River before turning south to do a little scouting. It was a trip down memory lane as we tend to fish the same areas this time of year, with stories about remembering when the big one was caught over here or over there, and will they be there again during the weekend.
After landing one mid-slot sized redfish we searched a flat alive with mullet to notice many big trout and a few big redfish. Looking at the point schedule, he wasn't sure if they would be targeting redfish as it takes a freakishly large one to be worth big points. Snook and trout would be the more reasonable target.
We killed a few hours looking around for snook and trout, and he swore me to secrecy until the end of the tournament about what we found. We did play with a school of small snook for fun to empty the live well.
His team, Outdoors360, will be competing against 66 other boats in the inshore division. There will be 15 offshore, 1 legacy, four under 16, and seven under 19 teams competing for division crowns and prizes in the 33rd Annual Crosthwait Memorial Fishing Tournament. Each division will require six fish with only two of a single species, with point designations based on species and weight or length.
For this weekend I expect to hear stories about tough fishing during the day. Slow tides combined with a weak front bringing north winds could make the bite on the flats tough. It wouldn't surprise me if the top teams did most of their big fish catching at night when the outgoing tide will have been best.
Big point fish like permit and tarpon will be great additions in addition to big snook and trout when going for the inshore title.
Offshore boats are going to be able to cover plenty of water in the Gulf of Mexico as sea conditions have been under two feet, according to the eastern Gulf buoys. The weigh-in should provide plenty of "Ooohs" an "Ahhhs" with big fish this afternoon at the Bradenton Yacht Club.
Only two billfish max can be weighed in for 100 points each, meaning diversity will be required when weighing in a team's six fish. Black grouper will fetch big points and if a team is able to bring a large yellowfin tuna back to the docks they will no doubt be in the running for the title.
Look for tournament report on Monday.
This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Outdoors | Variety will win big at Crosthwait tourney ."