Team Lagerhead shows off their winning 38.87 pound king mackerel at the 28th Annual Old Salt Spring King of the Beach Fishing Tournament on April 30, 2022.
Provided by Steve Papen
For 25 years, Captain Steve Papen dreamed of becoming the king of the beach.
“I didn’t miss any,” said the veteran offshore captain. “We fish both spring and fall, so we made about 50.”
For Papen and the crew of Team Lagerhead, they finally got to the top step of the podium last year during the 28th edition Old Salt Spring Beach King’s Fishing Tournament.
It’s one of the biggest tournaments around, not only in terms of winnings, but also in terms of participants.
At this year’s 29th annual spring event held over the weekend, a total of 506 boats lined up to find the biggest trevally in hopes of taking the crown and a big payday.
But for Papen and his crew, the last day of April 2022 felt more like April Fool’s Day.
“We fished down south all morning and had a good game plan. Everything looked phenomenal and we dragged the mackerel. But we only caught six or seven sharks,” Papen explained, before changing plans at 11:30 a.m.
“I told the boys we weren’t fishing the second and said we had to go to the hole. I knew there was a major feeding time at 12:30 and the ebb tide would also start at that time.
As bad weather sets in, the crew continues to fish. A line of thunderstorms and lightning did not deter them from reaching the goal as they dragged bait around Egmont Key. Almost five hours after they started fishing the hole, and with only 48 minutes until check-in time, they had a bite to eat.
“At 4:12 a.m. this fish was broadcast on our line. Dave Bayes grabbed the cane and he fights it. I told him we had about 6 minutes. If that fish isn’t in the boat in six minutes, we won’t make it. He fought it off and I kept running and getting stuck on it to stay on top. We usually try to stay tight and keep a good angle, but we didn’t have time for that. The first hit we got, Cory cornered him and threw him in the boat. I think before that fish even hit the deck, I had us flown in for the weigh-in.
Heading back north to John’s Pass, Team Lagerhead made it to the weigh-in and raced to check-in with less than 5 minutes to spare.
“We knew we had a good fish, but we weren’t sure it was enough to win. We thought it was around 38 pounds. We had cell service all day and there was a lot of chatter about a few boats having 40-pound fish, so we thought at the time we might finish third.
When they weighed their fish, Team Lagerhead’s 38.87 pounds would replace Team Oceana Grace’s 37.09 pounds at the top of the leaderboard.
“We had to wait and saw little fish after little fish. Then a few of the bigger ones came in, but nothing more than 40. There were 12 more sacks left, mostly singles deciding which division they wanted to go into,” Papen said.
“The last big fish came in at 37.75 and I looked at our team and said, ‘Did we just win? “”
And they won. Taking all possible side pots and options, Team Lagerhead’s winnings totaled $107,179. The repeat win was the first time anyone has gone back-to-back at the event.
The Ladies Division was won by Amanda Blackall with a kingfish of 22.78 pounds, while the Youth Division was won by Caleb Pate with a 25.51 pounds.
Sam Averett and a 5.28 pound Spanish Mackerel won the Spanish Mackerel Division.
