ESPN Saltwater

ISLAMORADA, Fla. — Completing his second five-species SLAM at the Florida Keys Outfitters IGFA Inshore World Championship, Mike Gallops lapped the light tackle division field Thursday, capturing his second title in the event. A Naples, Fla., family physician, Gallops, the 2003 champion, was in his comfort zone in the multi-species event and was able to formulate a solid, concise strategy to maximize his fishing time and score a victory.

In the fly division, 19-year-old Jacob Raskob, a local guide, landed four of the five scored species and took the victory based on his points accumulation of 1,950. Both Raskob and Gallops won the competition by virtue of their banner performance on Wednesday, the penultimate day of competition.

Due to a recent tweak in the scoring format by the IGFA, the scoring was tilted towards catching multiple species and completing a SLAM — landing at least three of the five species — as opposed to loading up on one category. The tweak prevented anglers who specialize in a certain technique to tally up points and Gallops, expectedly, approved of the change.

Just needing one permit to round out his second SLAM, Gallops exclusively targeted the species Thursday.

"We had a sound strategy and we learned how to work together really well," said Gallops of the rapport between he and guide Larry Sydnor. "It's very important in a tournament like this to set your strategy and stick with it."

The banner day for Gallops and Sydnor was Wednesday. On the middle day of competition, Gallops was able to pick off four species and amass a number of points, effectively clinching the win.

A key to Gallops' and Sydnor's success was their ability to maximize the time spent on fishing strategy by cutting down travel time to particular spots. Considering Gallops is most comfortable working for redfish and snook, Wednesday morning, they targeted those two species and were able to capitalize, catching three reds and two snook during the first half of the day.

While Gallops landed a clear-cut victory, Raskob had to sweat it out. As a group, the fly division had a much tougher time and, though Raskob was able to accumulate a high point-tally — mainly due to the eight redfish he caught — he couldn't complete a five-species SLAM, only landing four.

Raskob's initial strategy eliminated the permit altogether; he felt that no angler could land both a permit and a bonefish. The local was right — only one competitor, Alex Cruz, landed a permit. Raskob set up his win with a strong Wednesday, and Thursday he knocked it out, landing a bonefish and the elusive snook along with three reds.

The snook, which satisfied his fourth category, didn't come easily.

"At 9:30, I hooked up with a huge snook and it pulled off," said Raskob. "I thought the day was over and was obviously frustrated. But we stuck with it and were able to get one on again at 12:30 p.m. That's the toughest fish to catch, so it was huge."

Finishing second in the light tackle division was Tony Pruitt and guide Rob Fordyce. In second in the fly division was Carlos Duncan and guide John Donnell.