FORT PIERCE - John Parks and John Williams know that the key to landing
a large king mackerel often relies heavily on fishing super light drag and
angling finesse.

Saturday morning, the Jacksonville, NC pair hooked into what they hoped
was a smoker kingfish while fishing in 15 feet of water a mile north of the
Fort Pierce inlet. They had a big bite on a 2-pound blue runner in the prop
wash and immediately lost 200 yards of 20-pound test line off the
conventional reel.

Parks grabbed the rod, and patiently began a battle that would stretch
over the next 45 minutes - taking care not to horse the fish. Williams
followed the fish with the 30-foot Wellcraft enabling Parks to maintain a
workable amount of line on the reel and keep close to a would-be tournament
winner.

"I'm glad we did, because when we saw how the fish was hooked, we knew
how lucky we had been," Parks said. "All it had was one little No. 4 treble
hook hooked into the end of the king's nose."
Parks had joked with Williams saying that he thought he fish was smart
and had tried to throw the hook several times. Little did he know that the
fish was barely hooked at all.

"We had to use two gaffs to boat the fish," Parks said. "As soon as it
hit the floor, the hook fell out on its own."

The team reported to the scale for the 2004 Yellowfin Kingfish Classic
and were rewarded with the announcement that their fish weighed 52.98
pounds. The weight edged out day one leader Team Young Guns of Bunnell, Fla.
who scaled a 51.06 on Friday.

For their finesse, Parks and Williams earned a new 23-foot Yellowfin
boat, a Mercury outboard and Loadmaster trailer - a package worth over
$60,000 retail.

"That was the biggest fish we ever caught," said Team Young Guns' Lee
Way. "Oh, well, what can you do. That's fishing."

The first day leader in the tournament's Class of 23 - a division for
boats under 23 feet in overall length - also was nudged from the top spot on
the leader board. Miss Behavin's Danny Duncan, Bill McNeely, and Bruce
Schmitt lifted a 52.68-pound king onto the scales and landed a 17-foot
Yellowfin flats boat with Mercury outboard and Loadmaster trailer worth
about $30,000. Another half pound, and they could have won the overall
prize.

"We're glad to have this fish because we lost two nice ones on Friday,"
said McNeely. "We got tail-whipped on the fluorocarbon on one fish and then
had another bite through the wire. All you can do is cry about it, and keep
fishing."

Miss Behavin fished a well-known area off Sebastian known as The Pines
and used a bluefish for bait. According to Schmitt, the bluefish bite there
was so thick, they caught them on the ribbonfish they were using as bait.
The Yellowfin Kingfish Classic was fished by 194 boats and included 92
boats that are fishing this year's Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour, the
Southern Kingfish Association's elite division. Pro teams were fishing for a
purse of $100,000 in cash based on the best two-day aggregate weight of one
king per day.

C & H Lures' Don Combs, Steven Grant, and Thomas Cowan weighed a
38.02-pound kingfish on Friday to get a good start on the lucrative pro
tour, but it was a 34.20-pounder Saturday that netted the Jacksonville, Fla.
based team $30,000 in cash plus electronics from Raymarine. C & H's combined
weight of 72.22 pounds edged out the 71.52 pounds turned in by Southport,
NC's Direct Connect. John Hunt and crew collected $16,000, plus third place
prize money in the general tournament for the team's 49.55-pound fish.
Fort Pierce's Gator Bait led by Sandy Smith took third in the pro
division with 65.87 pounds to earn a $12,000 payday. The top local finisher
in the general tournament was Fort Pierce's Larry Ivey of Misstressed who
took fourth with a 45.04-pounder caught Saturday.

Tournament competitors were impressed with 10 fish weighing in excess of
40 pounds including three over 50 pounds. While many boats reported fishing
the area off Jupiter on Friday, it sounded like there were more boats north
of the Fort Pierce inlet Saturday. According to anglers, there were more
bites Saturday and some better fish.

Up next for Treasure Coast tournament action is next week's Stuart
Kingfish Brawl fishing out of Northside Marina in Stuart. The Captain's
meeting will be Friday night at Wahoo's at 6 p.m. For more information, call
904-669-8353 or visit www.fishska.com.