This event is so much more than just fishing. It is a 3 day waterfront festival with all types of marine and art vendors, food with local flavor, live music, boat displays and a kids zone. “Combining a community festival into our tournament seamed natural to us. Fishing is part of our community, so we welcome all to join us,” says Old Salt President Tom Verdensky.
The event will be held at the newly renovated Madeira Beach Recreation Field. There is some parking near the event but more is available at the Madeira Beach Middle School and shuttles are available. The event starts Thursday night with a captain’s party, this is where are the local fisherman will gather to get all the info on the tournament, register to fish and to raise money for their youth programs with a huge raffle and silent auction. Everyone is welcome whether your fishing or not. Friday is a community day with live music, food from local vendors and boat show. Saturday is the big dance, all the fisherman come back to weigh in their catch and to possibly be crowned the KING.
Have you ever tournament fished? If you have then you know what the “King of the Beach” is and if you haven’t and always wanted to, it is the best starter tournament in town. There are 3 main reasons …
- LEVEL PLAYING FIELD: The Old Salts have made the competition one of the most fair to ALL levels of fisherman. They implement a 30 mile boundary to ensure any size boat can compete. They also offer extra places to single engine vessels. There are also no intimidating check outs or shotgun starts.
- OVER 50 PLACES TO WIN: The tournament has 5 divisions: Overall, Single Engine, Spanish Mackerel, Ladies and Youth. Each division has cash and/or prizes with approximately $200,000 up for grabs.
- LOW ENTRY FEES: You can enter the tournament for as little as $195 which is almost half the cost of most Kingfish tournaments. So the risk is smaller and at the same time the rewards are bigger. 1st place overall wins $50,000 guaranteed.
Event Hours:
April 28th; Thursday Night 5pm til 10pm • April 29th; Friday Night 5pm til 10pm • April 30th; Saturday 2pm til 9pm
The Old Salt Fishing Foundation hosts this semi-annual event to benefit several local charities – The Children’s Dream Fund, www.childrensdreamfund.org; P.A.R.C., www.parc-fl.org. This year they are raising funds specifically for the new fishing pier to be built behind the recreation building at Madeira Beach. This fishing pier will be the site for fishing seminars and youth fishing programs.
To find out more information or to register for the tournament, go to www.OldSaltFishing.org, email amy@OldSaltFishing.org or call 727-216-6601.