Critter Control Fishing Team Takes Honors

The Critter Control Fishing Team took several honors Jan. 7-8, as Jill Clark led all 38 anglers after day one of the Key Largo Sailfish Challenge..

KEY LARGO, Fla. — The Critter Control Fishing Team took several honors Jan. 7-8, as Jill Clark led all 38 anglers after day one of the Key Largo Sailfish Challenge, going 10 for 10 on sailfish before having one cut off by another boat. She then landed four in a row on Sunday to win the women's high point angler honors for the tournament. Jill fished with her husband, Critter Control CEO Kevin Clark. With his five sailfish, the team tallied 19 sails overall.

A total of 349 sails were hooked-up, and 219 were released during the two day event, which was won by the vessel Nadine with 33 fish, followed by the Kalex with 28 fish, and the Contagious with 23.

Shortly after losing an engine to a fuel vapor-lock early Sunday, the team hooked-up four sailfish at once. Since Jill and Kevin were the two registered anglers, only they could fight the fish. Each of them handled two rods at once by alternately placing a taught rod in a rod-holder and reeling whenever a fish gave them any slack. After a chaotic hour and ten minutes they miraculously landed the last of the quad - despite their boat's limited mobility.

"Fourteen out of fifteen sailfish on 12 pound line-test is a tremendous achievement for Jill," noted Kevin, an International Game Fish Association representative. Jill also had a 12.5 pound blackfin tuna and a 4' dusky shark to her credit, winning awards for the Largest Tuna and Most Unusual Catch in the tournament.