The Old Salt Loop Tournament benefitting the Childern's Dream Fund concluded today with the official weigh-in held just ahead of a potential appearance by an unwanted guest named Hurricane Fay. The skies were clear for the most part and the crowd that attended the weigh-in was obviously more interested in fishing than watching the local weather personalities talk about spaghetti models and hurricane preparedness.
The venue for the weigh-in was beautiful Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg, Florida. The event spectators enjoyed a calm sunny day on the waterfront. There were displays set up along the perimiter of the park featuring artists renderings of fish and other marine life. There were attractions to help tire out the kids including a climbing wall. There were boats on display from local dealers. There was food and plenty of adult beverages as well as booths with eager Real Estate agents, marine electronics retailers and Tee Shirt vendors. There was a guitar playing, harmonica blowing, electric powered skateboard riding singer they called "Joe Rockstar" who was pretty damned talented, as well as a few bikini clad hardbodies enjoying (and putting on) the show. You know what I'm talking about fellas.
The weigh-in took place in front of the stage and each of the crew of fishermen were invited up on stage as their catch was weighed in. The audiance took plenty of photos and shouted out their guesses of the weights of each contender. The official weights were announced and posted on the leaderboard. As the weigh-in progressed, the biggest fish were put on ice and displayed near the stage for anyone who wanted a closer look. As the fish were hoisted up on the scale the crowd made the same sounds as a crowd watching a fireworks display...ooohhhh, whhhoooaaaa, woooowwww!!!
There were two crowd favorites. No guys, not the hardbodies, the fish. One was a 109.08 pound Yellow Fin Tuna and the other was a 142.3 pound Swordfish. When these babies were hoisted onto the scale you could hear voices in the crowd yelling "sushi for everyone and tuna filet buffet".
Check out the photos and judge for yourself...
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Here are the pictures.
IF YOU THINK RUNNING A TOURNAMENT IS EASY, JUST LOOK AT THIS SHIRT!
NICE JOB GUYS, SEE YA NEXT TOURNAMENT!
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