Madeira Beach tournament keeps growing
The rockstar of kingfish tournaments has crowned another king. And for the next five months Joe Bodner, of Team Overdraft, will be wearing that crown. Joe’s team, made up of family members, won the King of the Beach by catching a 46.99-pound kingfish. For their efforts, they’ll be taking home $63,744 for first place. What Jacksonville had in the early 1990s Madeira Beach has now—a “happening” that you don’t want to miss if you’re an offshore angler in a nearby zip code. And judging by the number of “Traveling Angler” entries, lots of other zip codes as well.
In its 24th year the event just keeps getting bigger. Five years ago the first-place fish received a total of $16,000. In this year’s fall event the fourth place fish took home $16,000 and third place took home $29,000.
“It’s all about the average angler,” said Dan Casey, the reigning king from fall 2016. “Every penny the angler pays in registration fees gets paid back in prizes.”
“It was a great event,” commented Blair Wickstrom, Publisher of Florida Sportsman, who fished the tournament with his brother in-law and nephew from Seminole, FL. “They clearly have the tournament figured out. The decision to put in reasonable boundaries…
