With his guide, past title holder Robert Collins, Naples, Fla., had a game plan for Wednesday, the final day of fishing in the seventh annual IGFA Inshore World Championship.
It worked...twice.
Collins was awarded the Grand Champion title for accumulating the most points for all five targeted species beating out 27 other competitors from around the world. He had also won the International Game Fish Association tournament in 2005. Hailed as the "super bowl of inshore fishing," the world-class catch-and-release format had the anglers stalking the surrounding waters of the Florida Keys for bonefish, tarpon, permit, snook and redfish. A field of 22 men and six women light tackle and fly anglers from as far away as Uganda, Africa, and Darwin, Australia competed in the "tournament of champions" event.
Guided by Capt. Larry Sydnor of Key Largo, Collins needed a snook and a redfish to complete the five fish slam to put him in the running among a dozen competitors still in contention after two days.
By 8:45 a.m. he had caught and released three snook off Flamingo and then just an hour later he also had three redfish.
"I was just one bonefish shy of a second slam," he related. "Larry headed to the Atlantic Oceanside of the Keys and we searched for the fish and I finally caught one at 2:22? just 38 minutes from the close of the tournament."
"This tournament had all the makings of a wild finish," said Collins with a chuckle. Both he and his guide also credited Sydnor's wife Sharon with getting up at 4 a.m. and driving to Dade County to buy the biggest live shrimp she could for the next day of fishing after first acclimating them to the high temperatures of the Florida Bay waters.
Troy Pruitt, Naples, Fla., also completed the five fish slam but fell short by one fish to compete a second one. He was awarded runnerup grand champion based on points over defending champion Joe "Pepe" Lopez, Coral Gables, Fla. who also collected a slam.
Entering the final day guided by Capt. Greg Poland, Islamorada, Pruitt needed a tarpon to complete his slam. He got three by 9:30 a.m.
"At that point I just needed a bonefish to complete a second slam. But like others in the heat of the day Pruitt came up short on that critical bonefish. "Had I got it, with my extra fish caught on circle hooks earlier it would have been a closer finish with Robert," he laughed. "It was my second world championship and I already won a qualifier to return."
Richard Black, of Tavernier, a young first time competitor to the IGFA IWC who lead in overall points through the first two days needed a tarpon and a permit to compete his first five fish slam. Black, a soft spoken 17 year old, said he and Capt. Billy Dahlberg, Islamorada, went for those two species but the only interest he got was "the bonefish and tarpon circling my bait." Without any action he went back to a proven area in the back country for more redfish and snook adding points to his artificial division run to win that title.
David Collier, New York City, N.Y. won the fly division title capping off the final day with two permit and one tarpon on fly guided by Islamorada Capt. Chris Jones. Previously he had one snook and three bonefish on fly, just a redfish shy of a slam.
Barry Shevlin, Bay Harbor Islands won the bait casting divisions with a final day rush of a permit, a bonefish, three redfish and a snook with guide Capt. John Guastavino, Key Largo. He caught six bonefish the previous two days.
Ms. Glenda Kelley, Ft. Lauderdale was the only other angler to score a slam.
The IWC is the second in a series of world wide competitive fishing events that includes the eighth annual IGFA Offshore World Championship held in May in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
