SHARKATHON 2014 PRESS RELEASE + PHOTOS
ATTENTION: ANYONE USING THIS INFORMATION MUST CREDIT SHARKATHON FOR THE PHOTOS, AND CONTACT SHARKATHON VIA EMAIL AT INFO2014@SHARKATHON.COM WITH DETAILS OF THE PUBLICATION AND DATE OF RELEASE.
The 11th annual Sharkathon took place on the Padre Island National Seashore starting on Friday, September 26 through Sunday, September 28, 2014 with around 950 anglers in the tournament. Sharkathon is a CPR event, where anglers in shark, redfish, speckled trout, women’s and kids divisions, efficiently, catch, photograph and release their catches. The shark division anglers also tagged and collected valuable fin clips for research. The first place shark winner, Sean Curless, walked away with $20,000 plus an Ocean Kayak Malibu II XL, a Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters custom rod with an Avet 80 W 3-speed reel. Sean Curless, a San Antonio native, also won the most inches prize with a $210.25 check for the $1 per inch of shark he released plus a Jawbone Hammer paired with an Avet 50 Wide 2-speed. Sean’s weekend total of cash and prizes was $23,840.20. The most inches of shark prize goes to the angler with the most cumulative inches of shark species released. The most inches winner isn’t always the shark division angler that catches the largest shark, and most times it is the angler that catches the largest quantity of sharks.
The big story was the weather as prime weather windows sandwiched the tournament, but the actual tournament weekend conditions were poor to say the least. High surf battled the anglers the entire weekend, but a weather system pounded the entire 60 mile stretch of beach. Anglers faced heavy sideways rain which pushed water to the dunes. Some anglers decided they had enough, and there was an exodus on Saturday afternoon. Many anglers stuck around and were rewarded with tournament winning fish and less competition at Sunday’s Awards Ceremony with the door prizes and drawing for a free entry in red, trout, tarpon, and shark next year (survey drawing and door prizes must be present to win).
Winners are also published @ https://sharkathon.com/Winners/2014-Winners
Several winners had placed in past tournaments in either the same or a different division including Joseph Prince, Melinda Cedillo, Richard Reyna, Blayne Mozisek and Daniel Bussell. There was a mother/daughter pairing of Audrey and Melinda Cedillo placing first in both the Kid’s and Women’s divisions respectively. Father/son Joseph and Jackson Prince also placed 2nd in the shark division and 3rd in the kid’s division respectively.
$77,104.98 in combined cash and prizes was given to the winners.
$25,000 was raised with our raffle to be given as donations to various causes.
Winners photos below with detailed prize winnings. Visible photos are very low resolution, each winner has a link to a high res version of the photo and may take some time to appear due to size.
2014 Shark Division Winners:
1st – Sean Curless – $20,000; Roy’s Bait & Tackle Custom Rod paired with an Avet 80 Wide 3-speed Reel from Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters; Ocean Kayak Malibu 2 from Wind & Wave Watersports. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 1st Place Shark
2nd – Joseph Prince - $10,000; Roy’s Bait & Tackle Custom Rod paired with an Avet 50 Wide 2-speed Reel from Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 2nd Place Shark
3rd – Blayne Mozisek - $5,000; Roy’s Bait & Tackle Custom Rod paired with an Avet 30 Wide 2-speed Reel from Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 3rd Place Shark
Most Inches – Sean Curless - $210.25, Jawbone Hammer paired with an Avet 50 Wide 2-speed Reel all from Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res Most Inches of Shark
2014 Redfish Division Winners:
1st – Kyle Hunter – $8,000; Buddhahead Custom Surf Rod paired with an Avet LX Reel with MC Cast Control from Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters; Ocean Kayak Scrambler from Wind & Wave Watersports. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 1st Place Redfish
2nd – Steven Pineda – $4,000; Buddhahead Custom Surf Rod. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 2nd Place Redfish
3rd – Richard Reyna – $2,000; Buddhahead Custom Surf Rod, Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 3rd Place Redfish
2014 Trout Division Winners:
1st – Daniel Bussell – $4,000; Custom Ocean Tackle International Inshore Rod paired with a Quantum Boca 50 PTS from Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters; Ocean Kayak Scrambler from Wind & Wave Watersports. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 1st Place Trout
2nd – Tod Mitchell – $2,000; Custom Ocean Tackle International Inshore Rod. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 2nd Place Trout
3rd – Javier Balderas – $1,000; Custom Ocean Tackle International Inshore Rod. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 3rd Place Trout
2014 Women Division Winners:
1st – Melinda Cedillo - $2500, Sharkathon Custom Rod, Avet LX Reel from Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters, Ocean Kayak Venus from Wind & Wave Watersports. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 1st Place Women
2nd – Nora Cantu - $1250, Sharkathon Custom Rod. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 2nd Place Women
3rd - Christina Reyna - $625, Sharkathon Custom Rod. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 3rd Place Women
2014 Kids Division Winners:
1st - Audrey Cedillo - $1000, Bimini Custom Rod, Avet LX 2 speed Reel from Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters, Ocean Kayak Frenzy from Wind & Wave Watersports. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 1st Place Kids
2nd - Conner Hickey - $500, Bimini Custom Rod. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 2nd Place Kids
3rd - Jackson Prince - $250, Bimini Custom Rod. Click link for high resolution version of picture below. High Res 3rd Place Kids
