Anglers light it up at the Vonderau Slam

The iAngler Tournament system is gaining steam, and once again the 4th Annual Vonderau Slam (Dunedin FL, June 25) showed why the west coast of Florida just north of Clearwater is such a great fishing destination.

“The beaches are incredible, and there are fresh water springs hidden on the flats with cool water,” said Keith Mannion (Palm Harbor), who was the captain of the winning fishing team. “You can forget about fishing for a while and cool off,” which helps on a hot summer day.

But when fishing in tournaments, you can’t leave the fishing for long if you want to win, and Keith needed a good part of the day to bring his team to victory. His group of anglers brought in 84 inches worth of snook, trout, and redfish, which gave them 3.5 inches more than second place.

“Our plan was to get to a spot where I had some pre fishing luck right at first light, and try to get a big snook and trout on the board early,” he recounted. He knew he was working with an outgoing tide pretty much all morning and he was prepared. The plan worked – sort of. “We lost one of each very early on. It was a big trout too.” As it turns out, big trout were few and far between across the fleet.