Fish Fever 2/Strike Zone nets Kingfish Tour title at Sarasota

Team cruises to easy victory during first Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event of 2008 season

SARASOTA, Fla. – Heading into the final day of competition at the Wal-Mart Kingfish Tour event in Sarasota, Fla., the top five teams were so closely bunched together that only 5 pounds separated the entire field. However, in the end, the finals proved to be no contest as Team Fish Fever 2/Strike Zone Melbourne dominated the last day of tournament action.

When all was said and done, third-place team qualifiers Fish Fever 2/Strike Zone crushed the competition on Sunday, landing a 40-pound, 5-ounce fish which turned out to be nearly 12 pounds heavier than the next largest catch of the day.

Needless to say, the winning team was more than satisfied with its accomplishment.

“We’re very glad. We wanted to get at least a 40-pounder today, and we did that,” said Fish Fever 2/Strike Zone Capt. Ed Mecchella. “We’re very proud today. We worked hard for this.”

Fish Fever 2/Strike Zone teammate and captain’s son Shawn Mecchella agreed that victory was sweet.

“It feels good. It feels real good,” he said. “We thought we’d be one of the top two teams heading back to weigh-in, but we knew there were some good teams out there today. It’s just really nice to finally get our victory after two years of trying. It’s a great feeling.”

Although the margin of victory was comfortable for Fish Fever 2/Strike Zone, that didn’t mean the final day of fishing was easy by any stretch. The team not only battled high seas and stiff winds, but did so for approximately 350 miles – the complete roundtrip distance the team covered over the course of the day.

“It was really rough out there today, and we only had about one and a half hours total to fish,” said Shawn Mecchella, whose team ran all the way to the Florida Keys. “But the fishing was good. We couldn’t keep more than two baits in the water at one time. Basically, the fishing was nonstop. We probably caught about 15 total fish, and we had three over 30 pounds. So it was a good day.”

The team ultimately landed the winning fish at around 11:30 a.m. using blue runners. Combined, team Fish Fever 2/Strike Zone posted a healthy 78-pound, 12-ounce total weight for two fish to secure the title.

“Big baits were the key to this win,” said Ed Mecchella, whose team recorded its first-ever trip to the Kingfish Tour finals this week. “If you have small baits, you’re not going to catch big fish.”

In the end, the team walked away with over $45,000 in prize money and memories to last a lifetime.

“We had some long runs this week, and we’re all really sore,” said Ed Mecchella. “But we all hung in there. We’re really happy. I’m proud of our team.”

Team Hard Way falls to second

Day-two tournament leaders Team Hard Way came up a little short in the finals, registering a final-day catch of 28 pounds, 10 ounces for a tournament total weight of 69 pounds, 9 ounces.

“We had a pretty good bite as soon as we got to our spot. And our second fish wound up being our biggest fish,” said Team Hard Way member Josh Denton, whose team made an approximate 240-mile roundtrip trek to south Florida during the finals. “We caught six more fish the rest of the day, but that was the biggest one. We’re consistent all tournament long. But today we’re never able to catch `The Man’ – the big one.”

Denton also wound up with some battle wounds after landing the second-place catch – which came in about 70 feet of water on a blue runner.

“After we got that fish in the boat, the fish flew off the gaff, slid across my foot and sliced my toenail wide open,” said Denton, who arrived at weigh-in with a bandaged and bloody toe. “But that’s the price you have to pay sometimes.”

Ultimately, Team Hard Way walked away with $26,000 in prize money.

My Three Sons lands in third

My Three Sons made a 130-mile one-way trip to register a total weight of 67 pounds, 12 ounces. However, in the end, the team’s effort was only good enough for third place.

“We ran a long way, and we worked really hard this week,” said My Three Sons Capt. Terry Grantham. “Hopefully we can do better next year. But any time you can make the top five at an event like this, it feels pretty good.”

My Three Sons took home $19,500 in prize money.

East Coast Sports nets fourth

Using a total catch of 55 pounds, 13 ounces, East Coast Sports finished the Sarasota event in fourth place. But it wasn’t for lack of trying.

“Fishing was slow for us today, and it was a blessing to catch that one fish,” said team captain Randall Edens. “We came here to win. We knew we couldn’t do any worse than fifth, so we decided to go for broke. But the bite today wasn’t as good as it has been, for sure. When we caught our fish, it was a sigh of relief. It just wasn’t the size we needed.”

Making matters worse for the team was the fact that approximately 90 miles from their return trip to the marina, the team blew an engine.

“That basically means that your speed is 15 mph slower than usual,” said teammate Jeremy Newton, whose team traversed nearly 240 total miles in the finals. “At that point you have to regroup. We’re pretty beat up right now.”

In the end, the team won $13,000 in total earnings.

Logan’s Run cut short

Of all the teams in the finals, nobody had a more difficult day on the water than Logan’s Run.

“We lost our starboard motor 15 to 20 miles away from the beach this morning,” said David Logan, whose team had initially planned on making a huge run today. “We turned around and tried to get it repaired, but we couldn’t fix it. At this point, you don’t really have another game plan. We’re just hoping to get lucky.”

With time running out and only two working engines, the team was forced to fish locally in waters that hadn’t been very successful for kingfish anglers recently.

“We had a couple of locations where we heard there were fish, but we didn’t really find anything,” said Logan. “We didn’t prefish around here, mostly because nobody had been catching anything here all week. I guess we should have had a `Plan B,’ but who plans on a motor going out like that? This was probably the worst day of my life.”

Adding to the frustration was the fact that the team knew they had the spot and the fish to win the event.

“We knew where we could catch the big one,” said Logan. “But we just couldn’t get there. At that spot, we would have caught a 25-pounder at the very least, guaranteed. All we had to do was get there.”

Because of the mechanical problems, Logan’s Run failed to land a fish in the finals – finishing in fifth place. Ultimately, the team recorded a total catch weight of 40 pounds, 14 ounces and walked away with over $7,000 in winnings.

Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour action resumes Aug. 15-17 at Venice, La.