2012 Island Sportsman's Club tourney

It's a KING party with Team Eren's Addiction

Fished out of James Island Yacht Club

Lonie East IV and Lonnie East III loaded up

Sportsman boats welcoming committee

Rome Lamont and Mitch McCullers

The 8th annual Denny Ford Memorial fishing tournament saw 112 entrants go out and enjoy an absolutely fantastic day of fishing. Warm and tropical weather all week long kept the fish happy, and then an approaching cold front (still 36 hours away) helped to turn on the fish in a BIG way. One veteran angler told me they had not seen a king mackerel bite this good in 18 months, and then on a subsequent tackle shop visit another angler said it was the best king bite in the past FIVE years!! An even more telling stat might be that on the same a 20-pound king was landed off the Folly Pier, the ONLY king to be caught there so far in 2012!! Congrats to lady angler Melissa Langston for her first place king that went 33.64-pounds, earning the Sportsman Boats $1000 top prize, while fishing with husband Robert Olsen. Team Eren's Addiction took second and third place with Eren Bracewell's 30.57 and 29.37-pound kings. The inshore coolers were full of fish too and Lonnie East III knows where to look for a doormat when the bite is on, winning the flounder division with a 5.70-pound flat fish. Congrats to Johnny Spitzmiller for taking the top two spots in the sheepshead division with a 7.51-pounder and a 7.23-pound convict fish. Mitch McCuller finished third with a 7.12-pound sheepshead. The fellow that caught the king off the pier, Randy Robbins, managed to take the top two spots in the trout category with a 2.98 and 2.3-pound pair of specks. Youth female angler Brooking Limehouse Eager takes the top two redfish places with her 5.06-pound and 5.02-pound spot-tails. Youth angler Gavin Gelogotis won the redfish with the most spots contest, since his fish had a total of ten spots combined from both sides. Save the date for 2013 as the Island Sportsman's Club has locked up the first weekend of October as their annual fishing tourney date, to be continually fished out of the James Island Yacht Club. If this year's October fishing bite is any indication, this tourney will be a saltwater shootout for years to come!