Hog's Breath Tournament 2008

(pictures located at the bottom of report)

    The Murray Marine Hog's Breath Tournament in Key West was our first tournament for the 2008 year and let me tell you that I was really excited to participate in this tournament. We fielded a team of 2 anglers, consisting of Jay Hegland and Thomas Ryan (junior angler), while I captained the boat. Our fishing platform was my personal boat Cool Seas which is a 23 foot Sea Craft powered by a 225 Mercury Optimax.

    We are very fortunate that we have very kind sponsors that are willing to go out of their ways to help us out in a big way. Capt. Rob Harris and his wife Missy, owners of Conchy Joes tackle shop in Key West, allowed us to keep our boat in one of their wet slips at King's Pointe Marina in Key West. Besides that, they allowed our team to spend the nights on their 80 foot yacht so this way we wouldn't have to commute to and from Key West from Marathon. As if this wasn't enough, Capt. Rob gave the boys a lesson in setting the drags on the reels and tying kingfish rigs using wire and stinger hooks. Conchy Joes also provided us with new mono for all of our reels, hooks, wire, ribbonfish, ice, and so much more!!!!

    Saturday, January 26th, 2008: Wake up call at 5:00 am. Once everybody is up and functioning we start getting everything ready for the day of fishing. The rods are taken to the boat and the rigs are tied on. We start the engine up, fill the live wells, double check all the electronics, pumps, tackle boxes, and make sure were are ready to go. We pull out of our slip at 6:30 am and idle over to our bait pen and load up our well with about 2 dozen live blue runners. After the bait is loaded we start to head out of the channel...at this point the adrenaline is starting to run and we are all getting pumped up. We get in line with the other 125 boats fishing the tournament to check out and wait for the signal on the radio.

    The call: (Radio) it's 7:00 am GO! GO! GO! Throttles down GO!!! And at the 125 boats take off at wide open throttle. We headed in the west direction from Key West with the original plan to possibly fish the Tail End buoy. Well it was a bumpy ride and by the time we made it to Coalbin Rock I decided to stop and fish there. Things started off decent for us...I thought. Our first 2 baits are in the water for maybe 15 minutes and both reels start screaming. Thomas brings in a nice barracuda while Jay's fish came off. The boys put 2 new baits on and a few minutes later Thomas is hooked up again to a nice fish. Again, it's another barracuda...dang not what we are looking for. We pack up and headed west towards Cosgrove Shoal. The baits went back over and the slow troll began again. I worked the area for a while when all of a sudden Jay's reel starts screaming. A nice fish has the bait and made a huge run...like a big kingfish. Jay is fighting the fish when the line goes slack. After he reels it back to the boat we find the head of the runner still stuck to the nose hook and the tail still stuck to the stinger. The fish had a perfect bite, got the meat of the bait, and missed both hooks!!! The rest of day one was spent working east hitting the bar, the sea buoy at the SW channel, and finally Western Dry Rocks all with out one kingfish.

    Sunday, January 27th, 2008: Wake up call at 5:00am. This time things are a bit different. The weather forecast is calling for an intense cold front to push through sometime late morning or early afternoon and a small craft advisory would be in effect. Capt. Rob and I decided that the 2 of us would run to the east this time and hopefully just find some fish for the boys. At 7 am we check out and throttle down to the East. We arrived at our first spot and start the slow troll with live runners. Right off our starboard side we see a Contender boat hooked up and a while later a nice kingfish estimated right around 28-30 pounds goes in the boat. We worked that area for a while with out one hit, then we get a call from Rob telling us that he is in the fish and not far from us. We ran over to where he was and started to work that area. While we are working it, Capt. Rob gets a few hits and lands 2 fish, while we couldn't buy a bite. Capt Rob and I spent the rest of the day slow trolling side by side all the way to American Shoal. Once we got to the tower we split...Rob worked in the direction of offshore while I stayed in closer to the tower and worked that area. Time was wasting away and we couldn't get anything going. I decided to make one last loop in a good looking area when Jay's reel starts to scream...FISH ON!!! Jay fights the fish for a few seconds and the fish gives up, so we thought. When the fish saw the boat he took off and a nice fight ensued. After a few minutes of fighting the fish and rough seas, Jay was able to get the fish to the boat where I was able to stick him with the gaff and bring him in. Finally a fish in the boat. Once we got the fish in we could see the front approaching us. The decision was made to fish for another 30 minutes and then head in. After the 30 minutes had passed we began to store everything and get ready for the ride back when the storm hit. All I can say is nasty...winds near 30 mph, hard rain, and big seas. The boys were brave and we fought our way back to the dock where we were the first ones to weigh in a fish for the day. Jay's fish ended up going 13.38 pounds and giving our team a top 10 finish in the class of 23.

    Fishing this tournament was an awesome experience for everyone involved and the boys had a blast fishing it. Again, we would like to extend a huge thank you to Capt. Rob and Missy Harris for everything they did for us. They went out of their ways to help make this happen for us. Providing room and board, wet slip, tackle, ice, bait, and plenty of support!!!  Many thanks also go out to Capt. Scott Stuempfig from the charter boat Loquito for donating blue runners on both days. Thank you to Matt from Crowder for providing the awesome rods. For those of you reading this...if you haven't used a Crowder Rod, do yourself a favor and go to the tackle store and buy one. They are hard to beat and have a great warranty, great price, and the best customer service. The pictures were taken using our new Canon EOS 30D that was donated by John from Canon Cameras. Our Red Daze visors were provided by Mogills.com.

Thanks for reading this report and keep checking in for future reports, pictures, and information regarding upcoming events.

Tightlines, Capt. Luis Leal Jr. 

The Easy Rider...our mother ship for the weekend.

Thomas Ryan, Capt. Luis Leal, & Jay Hegland with Kingfish

Thomas and Jay with their Crowder Rods.

Thomas and Jay with their Marathon High School Fishing Team shirts and Red Daze visors provided by Mogills.

The boys showing the backs of their team shirts...which we do have for sale for $15 each.

Jay and Thomas on the Cool Seas...our little boat that we braved the weather in!!!!

Our weapons of choice...conventionals with high capacity, loaded with several hundred yards of 20lb Sufix mono.

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