Captain Jeffery A. Dunbar Co-Captain Nancy
J. Dunbar


a
SKA Professional Kingfish Tour Competition Angling
Team
July 1st, 2009
a

The 2009 SKA Professional
Kingfish Tour season has - thus far - been a continuing string of
disappointments for a lackluster FishDancer Angling Team. Not since we
began competing along the Pro Tour as the 73rd ranked team have we been in a
worse competitive position after 3 events- 49th place overall and 'THE'
FishDancer's chase for 2009 LAOY has been effectively ended. Nancy is
ranked 6th overall in the LAOY category but with 6 fish weighed and a mere
116.55 points the team's 19.43 pound 6 fish average will not do much to move us
up in any of the standings. We had BIG plans for the Port Fourchon event and had
some BIG fish just none when they counted.
We had made plans to work with
the Reel Won team - Bob and Sue Woithe - and in advance of the event - as the
'girls' made plans for meals and accommodations - the guys made plans for
fishing. The plans that Sue and Nancy made included all of the necessary
ingredients to have a week's worth of tasty and healthy meals - and while Team
FishDancer fished like jokers during the tournament at least both teams dined
like royalty during the week.

We feasted dockside on loin of pork, chicken,
tortellini with sauce, beef roast and salads thanks to the mini-fridge we
brought and the propane grill Bob and Sue brought. This abundance all
washed down by some good bloody mary's, 12 year old scotch or in Nan's case
Smirnoff Ice. Prefishing with The Reel Won was a hoot and before we got
chased by a huge thunderstorm...all four of us were all pleased to catch and
release a 50 pound king fish. We know the weight of this fish as we brought her
into the boat and put her on a scale. Unfortunately Bob incurred an
injury and so team Reel Won had to leave early to get Bob tended to. All
is well with Bob and he is on the mend.
Our original fishing plan was to
fish far to the West but the water conditions of the delta were dictating the
terms to all of the teams. The rain and runoff from the Mississippi
River coupled with the loop current of the Gulf and had created dirty water to
the west for more than 100 miles as well as mucking up the waters within 50
miles of the inlet. One day we ran 50+ miles due south and found Hydrilla
floating -- YIKES!!!!!!! But we had time to work through this and see if
we could locate some decent fish -- and we did, just not on tournament days. We
seemingly ran all over creation and during the event fished many many rigs to
include the Ship Shoals, South Timbalier rigs and a few other unnamed rigs.
We caught at least 2 fish OVER 50 pounds, many over 40 and too many 30s yet
during the tournament we could only scale the 2 smallest fish we have ever
weighed in at the Port Fouchon event.

Just to rub salt in our wounds, at a rig where the
water was perfect and we had released a 50+ a few days back and on the last line
out on the 2nd day of the tournament we got a huge strike!!! This was the
kind we had been looking for all day and the day before that - the reel screamed
as more than 300 yards of line peeled off. Time was now factor as it was
near 3:30pm and the end of line was at 5:00pm and we were almost 70 miles from
the inlet. Nancy took the helm and I got on the rod and we chased this
fish down with the thought that our efforts would be rewarded with a 50+
kingfish for the 2nd day. After a short struggle we got the fish doing
circles, another good sign of the right quarry and the circles were large a sure
sign of a big fish. Through the water down about 40 feet we saw the silver
flash of the fish and were heartened that it could be a big king. I worked
the rod as hard as I dared - given the time and the circumstances - so as not to
pull the hooks. Up came the fish ..... Nancy readied the gaff and we
both had pictures of a 50+ in our minds when we realized the fish had stripes.
Boo Hoo it was not a king mackerel...it was about a 60 pound Wahoo....YIKES.

So we released the fish and made the long run back
to the scales and made it with 4 minutes to spare.....all to weigh in a 24 pound
king. We also caught snapper, wahoo, jacks, sharks and a variety of HUGE
blue runners and little tunny (false albacore) but no tournament grade kingfish
for us during this event....so we limped home and began to think about the next
SKA Pro Event at Golden Isles, GA at the end of July....stay tuned, it has to
get better from here? Doesn't it???????


>>))))))">

Luciano Pavarotti sings (translated into English) with the usual
editorial license from Captain Jeff

To fish! … While gripped by frenzy,
I no longer know what I'm saying or doing!
And yet … you must …
force yourself!
Bah, are you a man? No, you're a clown!
Put on your costume and powder your face.
The audience pays and wants to laugh.
And when other teams catch 50s and you dinks
laugh, Pagliaccio … laugh FishDancer... and everyone will applaud!
Turn into jest your anguish and your sorrow,
into a smile change your sobs and your grief.
Laugh, clown, laugh at your broken performance,
laugh at the 50 pound king fish, which poisons your heart!
I have not been looking forward to writing and
posting the FishDancer Jensen Beach report. In fact I have been avoiding it.
Experience along the tournament trail always helps any angling team -- it helps
to keep everything in perspective. But this week seems to be the exception
that proves the rule. For many seasons when asked about what fishing on
the SKA Pro Tour is like, I have responded that
fishing the SKA pro tour was like joining the circus - packing up and fishing
from one city to the next. During this city to city circuit, sometimes you
had the chance to play
ring master and other times you were assigned the role of the clowns and only
the fish gods could predict which role you will play. Well in Jensen Beach Nancy and I
demonstrated this perfectly by wearing oversized shoes, sporting red noses and smoking
exploding cigars. All that was missing was Team FishDancer arriving at the
tournament site in a tiny car filled with
people. We played the clowns of the Jensen Beach event. In the midst of one of
the strongest weigh ins in SKA history all 'THE' FishDancer and I could muster
was a 10 and a 12 pound fish. YIKES. Like the heart sick Pagliaccio
that Pavarotti sings about...my heart is poisoned (and not by Mercury) by the
thoughts of continued unrequited action from big king mackerel......YIKES!!!!
The clowns were in attendance and laughing but the
fish gods were not happy. Neither "THE" FishDancer or Captain Jeff was
pleased. The only contented beings exiting this event, other than the majority of SKA teams who scaled great fish
(congratulations one and all) --
were the king fish themselves. I can personally attest that neither Nan or myself did any
damage to the fish stock during this event. Due to our poor performance Team
FishDancer has dropped into 48th
place and Nancy is now seriously handicapped in the Lady Angler of the Year chase.
We worked our plan....pre-fishing to the North
and ruling out some areas we really wanted to test. The waters to the
South were where the bite would be ..... at least we figured out that much.
On day one we headed to Lake Worth inlet and fished the morning south....by the
wall and Breakers. We were in sight of one team when they gaffed a good
fish (it turned out to be a 50+) and had received some reports of 30s and 40s
being caught in the same area. We went fishless. Deciding to move
around 11am to the Juno area we caught and released many kings......2 sails,
amberjack, sharks and a few other fish but the largest king turned out to be
just over 10 pounds. After coming back with our tails between our legs we
re-rigged cleaned up and prepared the boat and tackle for
day two. We decided to head a bit further South to Boynton Beach. The first
line out got struck and we boated a small fish.....this would be the fish we
would weigh -- a 12 pounder! After fishing for a bit we determined the current
was not there and with no winds to speak of we headed back into the pack at
Juno. We fished hard and caught many fish just nothing over
12......although 40s and 50s came from this area, there were more than
120 boats soaking baits in this area. We tried everything up, down, short,
long, skirts, beads, naked, runners, goggle eyes, ribbon fish, kite, trolling,
drifting, slow and fast, light line and heavy.....nothing bigger than 12. We did
have a mid 20s on and ready to gaff but the fish was claimed by a shark right at the boat
-- this is the first fish we have ever lost in this manner to a shark or cuda.
YIKES. In the end this event now represents the height of futility for
Team FishDancer -- I would have rather been skunked than to have caught 2 tiny
fish in such a strong bite. I have to admit that I do not ever feel
comfortable and dialed in fishin this area -- there is something I
fundamentally do not understand about it. We
have never done well at this event but we have never ever in our 150 events had
a more frustrating 2 days of fishing. I am both humbled and embarrassed
with the results and with my confidence shaken to its roots will begin
preparations for the third leg in Port Fourhon, LA....stay tuned.......

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Laugh Clown Laugh....

a
a




a

FishDancer Tournament Schedule
2009 SKA Professional Kingfish Tour
|
Dates |
Location |
Fish Days |
Hotel and Marina |
Points |
|
Jan 23rd - 25th |
Key West, FL
|
January
24th & 25th |
Marriott Beachside
Resort
Murray Marina
|
41.88 points |
|
April 30 - May 3rd |
Jensen Beach, FL |
May 1st & 2nd |
Hutchinson Island Marriott
Four Fish Marina
|
22.51 points |
|
June 4th - 6th |
Port Fourchon, LA |
June 5th & 6th |
Kajun Sportsman
Hotel and Marina
|
52.16 points |
|
Jul 30th - Aug 1st |
Golden Isles, GA
|
July 31st & Aug 1st |
Fernandina Beach, Florida
Golden Isles Marina
|
|
|
Oct 8th - 10th |
Little River, SC |
October 9th & 10th |
TBD |
|
|
November 19th -22nd |
National Championships
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
|

Team FishDancer 2009 SKA
Professional Standings
116.55 points - 49th place overall - Lady Angler 6th place
Fish 1 - 10.16 Fish
2 - 31.72 Fish 3 -10.34 Fish 4 -12.17

Fish 5 -
28.01
Fish 6 - 24.15 Fish 7 - tbd








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The Chum Slick
Editorial Comment by Captain Jeff
'You Never Know What's Coming For You'

Recently 'THE' FishDancer and I were watching the
movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". This movie
is a screen adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story of the same name
and is a story about a man who is born OLD and lives his life in reverse,
getting ever younger with each passing year. As part of the movie there is
thread woven throughout when someone says
"You never know what is coming for you".
Recent events in the world like the situation in Iran, the US Government's
actions in a variety of areas to reduce our freedoms as well as the passing of
Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson in a single week are proof of the
wisdom and accuracy of that idiom. No one really knows what is coming for
them but all is not lost. There is also a positive side of this fateful saying,
simply meaning that you never know what good things are coming for you as much
as you don't know what bad things might be coming for you. Too many times we all
only focus upon the negative.
Lets say for example all you
have is a small 18' boat with a single 90hp motor -- what would your chances be
of competing in any SKA event? You live out of state and have no idea of the
current water situation, if bait is near the beach and/or if there are fish
within your reach. Your speed, range and ability to safely navigate in bad
weather would be issues and many of today's computer anglers might decry the
'unlevel' playing field they have been faced with. Many would not even
consider entering any SKA event under these circumstances. Not our fishing
friend Bob Johnson, Captain of Traveler. Bob - a teacher in NC in real
life, has been facing these odds since 1993 and has faithfully and successfully
fished one of the toughest SKA divisions - Division 5 - and has qualified for
the Big Dance, even finishing 4th in the 23' and under division at the National
Championships. Recently Bob fished the 'OLD FASHIONED' way, put in,
checked out, caught pogies and put out the baits and was rewarded for his
efforts with a 48.64 pound fish and the Victory at the Nassau County Sportfish
Association's KMT held out of Fernandina Beach Marina. Way to go Team
Traveler, we could not be more proud of your accomplishment!!!
Following three lackluster SKA
Pro events, Team FishDancer is turning our thoughts to the
positive......remember "YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT IS COMING FOR YOU --- it could be a
73 pounder!
'Captain Jeff '

kk


This high energy husband and wife
team joined the SKA Professional Kingfish Tour after qualifying by
finishing 8th in SKA Division IV in 2002. In 2002 they won the
Kingfish Division of the Offshore Blitz, won 1st place Lady Angler in
the Two Way KMT, 2nd place Lady Angler and 9th overall at the Halfmoon
KMT. Team FishDancer won the final leg of the SKA Pro Tour in Louisiana
in 2003 by landing a 61.1 pound fish, the 2nd largest of the season and
the largest weighed by a Lady Angler. Team FishDancer has had 17
top ten day one performances on the SKA Pro Tour and seven top ten
finishes; including 2 top Lady Angler wins; Golden Isles leg of
the SKA Pro tour in 2007 and the Jacksonville leg of the SKA Pro
Tour in 2005. So far in 2008 the team has finished in 18th
place overall in the Junior Angler Jacksonville King Mackerel Tournament
and in 8th place at the SKA PRO tour stop in Brunswick, Georgia. In 2007 the team has finished 4th overall at
the Brunswick, Georgia SKA Pro Tour and earned 5th place in the 2007
ASWSC 20th Anniversary Sailfish Tournament, in Palm Beach,
Florida. The team performed well in 2006 with 4 in the money finishes,
including the 2 National Championships, 17th in the Rumble in the
Jungle, a 7th place finish in the 2006 Little River stop on the
SKA Pro Tour and finished 6th overall in the 2005 SKA Pro tour event in
Jacksonville. Nancy and Jeff, one of the top performing husband and wife
competitive angling teams in the nation, finished 14th overall for the
SKA Pro season with Nancy earning 3rd place Lady Angler. Nancy and Jeff
earned The team has completed the SKA Professional kingfish grand slam
weighing in fish in the 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 pound classes, holds
the SKA big fish (61.1) for Port
Fourchon, LA and has finished in the money 26 times in its SKA career.
Nancy is considered one of the top Lady Anglers in the nation and Jeff
has received the prestigious SKA Director's award for his 'unselfish
contributions to our sport"'
Nancy@FishDancer.net or
Jeff@FishDancer.net
email us we would like to hear from you

FishDancer Team Values
HONESTY,
HONOR,
INTEGRITY,
PROBITY,
FUN
Our goal is to
establish and maintain a credible and ethical presence within our sport.
As such we are committed to the success of the Southern Kingfish
Association and will publish this website with intellectual honesty and
present the facts as we know them. We will accomplish our aims by
practicing an honest approach to tournament angling, putting honor
before fame or fortune, competing within the rules with unquestionable
integrity & probity while enjoying the camaraderie, adventure and
excitement of the SKA Professional Kingfish Tour.

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