Loose Lucy captures Kingfish Tour title

The last couple of weeks in Biloxi, Miss., turned out to be quite lucrative for the Charleston-based Loose Lucy Sebago fishing team. Capt. Mike Kaminsky, his wife Susan Kaminsky, Gary Stecki of Beaufort, Jimmy Stecki of Lake City, Fla., and David Van Lent of Mobile, Ala., took first place in the FLW Kingfish Tour Championship Nov. 14-16 and then last weekend finished fifth in the Southern Kingfish Association Nationals. Both national events were held on back-to-back weekends.

The Loose Lucy team (named after the Charleston-based clothing chain owned by the Kaminskys) won $56,250 for a two-fish aggregate weight of 85 pounds in the FLW event. They netted about $9,500 in cash and merchandise from the SKA Nationals, where the crew finished with a two-fish aggregate of 80.35 pounds.

"Our goal was to win back to back, and we came darn close. We lost a fish that would have won it at the SKAs," said Susan Kaminsky.

Both events were plagued by bad weather. Loose Lucy, a 32-foot Yellowfin powered by twin 350-horsepower Yamahas, qualified for the FLW event ( which features the top 50 boats from the Pro Series) with consistent top-10 finishes in the four Pro Series tournaments. The team had the No. 2-ranking going into the championship. The format calls for fishing two days with the top five advancing to the final day of competition, but the second day of the FLW was cancelled because of weather.

Loose Lucy weighed in a 57-pound, 10-ounce catch by Gary Stecki to take the first-day lead, then won the overall title by more than two pounds with a 27-6 catch the final day of competition.

"That was a beautiful fish," Susan Kaminsky said the 57-pounder. "It was 62 inches long and had a 28-inch girth, which on the chart is a 64-pound fish. It wasn't real fat, just solid. It didn't fit into the fish bag. We had three other fish that day that would have been top-five fish. We caught a few 45- to 50-pound fish."

The top 50 pro teams in SKA also automatically qualify for Nationals, and Loose Lucy was 19th going into that event. The bad weather continued, prompting a change in the format. The overall champion is based on a two-fish aggregate total, normally one fish per day. But because of bad weather, boats were allowed to fish captain's choice and could weigh one fish each day, or two on one day which is what Loose Lucy elected to do.

"Normally, you would think on back-to-back weekends you could get on the fish but the weather changed every day," Susan Kaminsky said. "The conditions were brutal, 35 mph winds out of the north, northeast and 30-degree temperatures. They were very adverse conditions.

"We went out Friday, like many of the other boats. But less than 100 of the 400 boats even went. You couldn't run. It took three hours to go 10 miles, so we came back in and rested for Saturday. We caught a 41- and a 39-pound fish which managed to get us fifth place."

It had been three years since the Loose Lucy team won the local and pro titles in an SKA tournament in Fort Pierce, Fla.

"We love doing it," Susan said, " but it's a lot more fun when you win. It will be a nice Christmas. I saw Mike smile for the first time in a long time. The money's already spent when you have a boat. But it was nice to get a win under our belt."

--Momma's Money II of Walterboro, captained by Richard Warner, finished eight in the Class of 23 at SKA Nationals with a weight of 52.90 pounds. In 2 Deep, captained by Kevin O'Neale, was 15th with 34.43 pounds.