ESPN Saltwater

KEY WEST, Fla. — Mitch Howell didn't catch the most fish Saturday, but he caught the most important ones to claim top angler honors for Day 1 and the lead in the Mercury Southernmost Light-Tackle Anglers Masters (SLAM) Tournament.

Howell, of Plantation, Fla., caught and released a tarpon, a bonefish and a permit, which constitutes a flats grand slam. Unless some of the other anglers in the tournament complete a slam during the final day Sunday, Howell will win grand champion angler honors.

Fishing Capt. Tim Carlile and neighbor Larry Vaught, who caught a bonefish, Howell caught a tarpon on bait, worth 100 points, a bonefish on a jig (150 points) and a permit on a jig (200 points) for a total of 450 points.

Mo Smith, fishing with Capt. Mark Krowka, had the most points of any angler (800) with eight bonefish on bait.

Two anglers each had 700 points: Tom Beatty had seven tarpon using live pilchards for bait (100 points each) and David Collier had a bonefish on bait (100), a bonefish on fly (200) and two tarpon on fly (400).

If Collier catches a permit Sunday, that would give him a slam and total points would determine the winner between him and Howell.

Beatty's fishing partner, Bruce McAllister, had four tarpon on bait and one on a Hogy soft-plastic lure to give them a team total of 1,250 points fishing with Capt. Aaron Snell.

Cal Collier Jr., who fished with David Collier and Capt. Justin Rea, had a bonefish on bait, a bonefish on fly and a tarpon on fly for 500 points and a team total of 1,200, but they lead the team standings because they've caught two species.

Former astronaut Bruce Melnick was the top celebrity angler with a permit on bait for 100 points.

Anglers caught and released a total of 34 bonefish, 32 tarpon and seven permit.

Beatty, of Crawford, Ga., and McAllister, of Winter Park, Fla., caught all their tarpon from about noon to 3 p.m. in one spot near Key West. Snell had tried to fish that spot first thing Saturday morning, but lightning storms chased away him and his anglers.

"I've been hit by lightning, playing football my senior year of high school," McAllister said. "It hit the bleachers and knocked the whole team — 90 players — to the ground."

Fortunately, everybody was OK. Saturday, Snell wasn't taking any chances.

"There was lightning all over Key West," he said. "We ran to the south side of Sugarloaf Key, away from the lightning, and we pretty much sat around for a while. As soon as the rain lifted, we ran back down."

Snell staked out his boat in a spot where tarpon ranging from 5-20 pounds would appear periodically.

"We'd see them and we'd get a cast out at them," Snell said. "It was a lot of sitting and waiting. Then 10 would come out, we'd catch one and they'd go away. Ten minutes later, they'd come again and we'd catch another one."

Steve Waters is the outdoors writer for the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. Read more of his stories at sunsentinel.com/outdoors