Kaminsky and Derhake claim SeaArk win at Decatur
by Ron Presley
Big Fish Honors and Top Lady Angler goes to Team Taylor
The 2023 SeaArk Boats Owner’s Invitational Catfish Tournament was held on April 21, 2023. Originally scheduled for Saturday, April 22, the competition was moved up one day in the interest of angler safety.
Monitoring the weather forecast preceding the tournament indicated high west winds were possible. Regular competitors on Wheeler Lake know that high winds from the west bring dangerous conditions to the popular catfish lake.
The Tournament Committee evaluated the weather conditions for Friday and Saturday and in the interest of keeping everyone as safe as possible set the tournament on Friday. Any anglers that could not accommodate the change were refunded their entry fee.
On tournament Friday, 184 registered SeaArk boats completed livewell checks and launched smoothly from Ingalls Harbor in Decatur, AL. Fishing began at 6:30 am and continued until 2:30 pm. Anglers were required to check in at the chip boat by 3:30 pm. The winners would be determined by the heaviest 5-fish bag with only 2 being 34 or more inches in length.
The first boat to take off on tournament morning earned that spot in an auction the night before at the Captain’s Meeting. Kevin Kegin’s number one blast-off spot was auctioned off with the proceeds going to benefit Marley Wilbanks. The high bid was $550 which was matched by SeaArk Boats. The reward for winning the bid was a 60-second head start on the rest of the field. They were followed immediately by the A Flight and the competition began.
The weigh-in crew accommodated 88 boats that brought fish to the scales. At day’s end, there was a total of 4964.82 pounds of fish caught and released back into the harbor alive!
First Place and 2nd Big Fish
Wade Kaminsky and Jake Derhake claimed the win at Decatur with 132.33 pounds. Their bag included the 2nd Big Fish of the tourney at 67.02 pounds to help them earn the first-place check of $9,000.
Kaminsky and Derhake began tournament day on a spot where they had found some fish during practice on Thursday. When the tournament was moved to Friday they expected that the weather conditions would be similar and the pattern they fished on Thursday would have the best chance of holding up.
“We chose to fish where we did based upon the fact that it would be easier to pull boards into the wind,” explained Derhake. “We made just one drift all day long, using 4 boards and two long lines. We caught fish with both setups.”
The team used skipjack, mostly heads and chunks, that they had caught fresh on Wednesday before the tournament. Their strategy did not include boating a huge number of fish but felt like they had a good chance of catching some good-sized fish.
“We caught 8 fish total,” reported Derhake. “We had 3 overs and 5 unders on what was a consistent bite for us. We averaged about 1 fish per hour on the first 6 fish and finished up with two more before the tournament ended. Our fish came from water that ranged from 20 to 25 feet deep.”
Derhake concluded by thanking his partner Wade and his wife for their support.
Second Place, Big Fish, and Top Female Angler
Gary and Tiffany Taylor teamed up to bring 118.09 pounds to the scales and earn the runner-up check. Their bag included Big Fish of the tournament at 71.25 pounds to add Big Fish honors to their day. To top it off, Tiffany was named Top Female Angler.
The Third Annual Lynn Lange Award for Top Finishing Female is provided by Doc Lange in honor of his beloved wife Lynn Lange. Lynn was an avid catfish angler who helped pave the way for other women in the sport of catfishing. Tiffany Taylor was extremely pleased to earn it.
On tournament day the husband/wife team pulled baits in the main channel to claim their spot on the leaderboard.
“It was a cloudy overcast day with a front moving in,” noted Gary. “We were pulling baits in 25 feet of water. We varied our trolling speed from 0.4 to 0.7 mph. We varied our bait size also, using some small and some big baits.”
Their strategy helped them catch 5 overs on the day. Their Big Fish of the tournament weighed 71 pounds and they add a 49-pounder as their other over. They also caught 2 mid-40 fish and a small over that measured 34 1/8 inches. In the end, they needed some better unders.
“We just couldn’t get our unders,” declared Gary. “The bite was slow but we kept working the fish we saw and got the big ones to bite.”
“It was a fun day on the water,” concluded Gary. “I would like to thank MadKatz Rods and Tombstone Tackle for great products and SeaArk boats for having the tournament.”
Third Place
Craig and Tyra Williams (OUTTA LINE ROD RACKS and Dirty South Dragging Weights) and Kevin Childress teamed up to earn the third-place check. In a tournament that Tyra didn’t expect to fish, the trio brought a total weight of 112.45 pounds of Wheeler cats to the scales.
“I wasn’t even supposed to fish. My partner canceled but I got lucky and got to go,” joked Tyra. “Kevin Childress was our first pro staff and we were quite honored to fish the tournament with him.”
The team fished the main river making one long drag after making the morning run to reach their starting spot.
“We put the trolling motor in as soon as we made our run,” explained Tyra. “ And we pulled the trolling motor out at 2:30 PM and headed back in. We had no idea what kind of bag we had.”
Good, bad, or indifferent they were happy with the day. They reported using their own Dirty South Dragging Weights, a product originated by Josh Brown and purchased by the Williams company about 4 years ago.
“Our Outta Line Rod Racks held up amazingly,” added Tyra. “And our Shattered Cat Rods pulled the Spread Em Planer Boards like a dream. Those rods don’t load up while pulling the boards and we pulled boards the entire time with Dirty South Dragging Weights. The bite was pretty consistent throughout the day. We were fishing in water that averaged about 30 deep.”
Other Winners (The tournament paid the top 20 places)
4th Place — Richard Rackley, Jesse Chronister, & Andrew Young — 107.68
5th Place — Craig Norris & Tyson Burnett — 106.75
6th Place — Jamie Johnson & Scott Hesse — 102.62
7th Place — Michael Carpenter, Brian Ellison, & Tim Daily — 102.09
8th Place — Brad Elliott & Jordan Johnson — 101.04
9th Place — Jimmy Whitmore & Jake Bosie — 100.14
10th Place — Jason Hamilton, John Berglund, & Eddie Henney — 95.13
The Boat Giveaway
Anglers also had a chance to win a new SeaArk ProCat 200 with a Suzuki engine and Marine Master Trailer valued at $65,000. To be eligible for the drawing anglers had to weigh or check in one live catfish (blue cat, flathead, or channel cat).
The winner of the giveaway boat was Paul Petrowski. Paul was fishing with his wife Nicole and dad Paul.
“We didn’t weigh in at the tournament due to low weight,” said Nicole Petrowski in a Facebook post following the tournament. “But we stuck around for prizes…. and WE WON THE FREAKING BOAT!! We never win anything, but we won a boat. How wild is this life?!”
“Stoked, beyond blessed, and extremely thankful,” added Paul. “Thanks, SeaArk for hosting an amazing tournament, getting to see everyone is always a good time. Winning the boat was the icing on the cake. Especially with my wife and pops, memories last a lifetime.”
Final Thoughts
The 2023 SeaArk Owner’s Invitational Tournament did not disappoint the competing anglers. It provided them with great food, groovy gear, a great location, and an opportunity to mingle with other SeaArk Boat owners. Most participants cite the camaraderie provided by the tournament as one of the best rewards but they also had their eyes on the boat giveaway.
The tournament organizers are very conservation-minded. A fish revival station is set up behind the weigh-in stage where any fish in trouble can be placed in oxygenated water to be resuscitated. When the fish were considered ready, they were released back into the harbor via a water-lubricated slide system.
“The tournament was a huge success,” confirmed SeaArk President Steve Henderson following the event. “We schedule this event so that Saturday is the targeted day but we have the option to move it to Friday in case of bad weather. We had to move the tournament day to Friday to avoid possible high winds out of the NW on Saturday.”
“Winds from the west blowing against the current can produce some large waves,” continued Henderson. “So we choose Friday with winds out of the south. We generally have customers that are new to tournaments and new to Wheeler so we wanted to ensure that we never put people in harm’s way.”
“Wheeler Lake is considered the Mecca of catfishing,” concluded Henderson. “It presents both the river fisherman and the lake fisherman with the opportunity to catch record trophy cats. We look forward to returning in the future. Stay tuned for other big event announcements coming in the near future.”
For more information on SeaArk Boats visit their website at www.seaarkboats.com and follow them on Facebook.
