ISLAMORADA, Florida Keys — David Seetapun of San Francisco was named grand champion of the 2006 Outback Steakhouse Golden Fly Invitational Tarpon Tournament, held May 21-24 in Islamorada.
Trailing defending champion Carlos Duncan of Houston by 1,400 points after two days of fishing, Seetapun put up 1,450 points in weight fish on day three to take the win.
In the Golden Fly’s scoring system, total release points cannot exceed total weight points. Fish must measure more than four feet to count for release points, and must weigh more than 70 pounds to count as weight fish.
Seetapun, guided by Captain John O’Hearn of Key West, had accumulated 800 points from release fish on the first two days of fishing, but could not count those points until he matched them with weight points. After day three’s weight points, Seetapun’s total was 2,250 points.
Duncan, guided by Rob Fordyce of Florida City, was first runner-up with a final total of 1,800 points.
Second runner-up was Butler Ball of Jacksonville, Fla., with 1,320 points. He was guided by Captain Matt Miller of Miami.
A total of 23 anglers scored 40 releases during the tournament. Six of those tarpon were logged as weight fish.
