2016 Captain Mel Trout & Redfish Classic
Celebrate The Life & Passion of Captain Mel Berman
To register and to get complete tournament information and detailed rules, go to www.capmel.com and click on the “Captain Mel Classic” button.
This is an amateur only, All-Lure “Trout and Redfish”, Catch-And-Release tournament. This is the fifth annual event. The event will continue to honor the departed colleague, media icon and friend who graced the airwaves for decades and became the “Granddaddy” of Tampa Bay fishing.
Captain’s Meeting- Friday May 6th: the Fat Cat Tavern in Largo. Participants will receive instructions and be able to ask their questions about the event.
Tournament date: Saturday May 7th with the “Post-fishing party, awards and raffle”- also at the Fat Cat Tavern.
Tournament Format:
Trout and redfish: The “longest” in each species per division and a “combined inches” one redfish/one trout “Grand Prize” category. Cash payouts, prize payouts are going to be a percentage of entry fees for certain categories and selected prizes for others. Trophies will be awarded to the top winner in each category in all divisions!
Entry Fee All divisions: $30.00. For all divisions, a “Bonus” $5 buy-in for Flounder. The longest flounder in each division wins the total money pool. An “overall pool” option, $10 to enter, money payouts for redfish, trout and combined inches divided for winners who paid the $10 buy-in.
Divisions: Open, No Motor, Fly, Ladies, Junior. Anglers must select one division.
Lures: Participating (non-Fly Division) anglers are going to receive
A MirrOLure; One bag of 12 Fathom lures; One Joe Jig; one Edje weedless jighead; Silly Willy jig. Anglers may also purchase and use product from our lure sponsors.
Anglers who select the Fly Division will only be able to use the flies that they get in their Angler Bag.
Check-in-Deadline on tournament day
Anglers must “check in” with their data card/camera by 2:30PM to qualify for a prize. This rule is rigid: When the alarm sounds, if you are on site but not in line, you will not be in contention for any prizes. Starting in 2015 we had the participants email in their photos, something that worked very well. Please keep your measuring device with you for the awards banquet should the judges request to verify a board.
There will be a raffle for great donations made by tournament sponsors. Donations are used for prizes for winners and all the extra donations go into the Raffle. All the money raised in the raffle goes to the charity.
Charity Event: For the second straight year our charity recipient will be the Suncoast Animal League. Mel worked with this group and these people. In 2015 we raised over $2000 for the League.
- The Neil Blog… - July 26, 2023
- The Catfish - July 26, 2023
- update - July 22, 2023
