Boat Control and Sonar Tech Lead Team "El Nino" to $100,000 Flounder Tournament Prize

Minn Kota^® and Humminbird^® pro team El Nino hit pay dirt at the 2019 Flounder Pounder tournament in Millsboro, Del. with a fluke topping the scales at 8 pounds 6 ounces, thanks in large part to the team’s use of the One-Boat Network^™.

Team El Nino, consisting of five long-time buddies, has been fishing together for more than 20 years. Much of the team grew up fishing the artificial reefs off Cape May, which is all within striking distance from the Delaware side during the largest fluke fishing tournament of the year, the Flounder Pounder, held Aug. 14-18, 2019.

But despite the collective hours and hours of time spent on these waters, the team largely credits Humminbird and Minn Kota with being a key to winning the $100,000 cash prize. After the scales closed, team member Nino Aversa was quick to praise his Humminbird SOLIX^® G2 fish finder with MEGA Imaging+ which helped locate hidden underwater structures where the winning fish was holding.

“For fluke fishing, we target heavy artificial structures like army tanks, shipwrecks and decommissioned railroad cars,” Aversa said.

“By having the SOLIX units linked directly to the trolling motor, I’m able to run MEGA Side Imaging®, mark the structure, and then deploy our Riptide Ulterra^® trolling motor and go directly back to the structure right from the cockpit.”

Along with SOLIX units, the team’s 2015 Parker 2320 SC was equipped with a 72-inch Riptide Ulterra trolling motor, which features i-Pilot^® Link^™ GPS technology. Anglers can utilize i-Pilot Link to control their trolling motor from the Humminbird unit, the mobile app or the i-Pilot Link remote. The motor also offers Minn Kota’s industry-leading GPS anchor technology, Spot-Lock®, allowing team El Nino to navigate and fish the entirety of these large structures.

“Since fluke are flat-bodied, bottom feeders, you have a hard time seeing them on sonar like you would other species,” Aversa said.

“That’s why the Riptide Ulterra trolling motor was incredibly important to our success at this tournament. Once we found fish-holding structure, we’d use Spot-Lock and Spot-Lock Jog to navigate and pick apart the entire structure where these fish are usually holding.”

Spot-Lock Jog allows anglers to lock down on a spot and finetune their boat positioning by moving in 5-ft increments in any direction – ideal for picking apart large and small pieces of isolated structure.

Things got off to a quick start for El Nino. After locating a structure on their Humminbird SOLIX unit, the team hooked their 8-pound-6-ounces winning catch 30 minutes into the first day of the tournament. Over the course of the next four days of the tournament, the team played the waiting game as they continued to catch quality fish but none that could quite overtake their first day’s catch.

The team caught more than 50 pounds of fish during their three days on the water, all of which was donated to the local food bank including an additional 6-pound-2-ounce, 5-pound-8-ounce and 5-pound-6-ounce catches, but it was the second catch on the first morning of the tournament that sealed the deal for team El Nino.

“Without this equipment, you would either never know the structure was there or you would just be drifting over the top of these structures so fast you wouldn’t be able to target any of the fish,” Aversa said. “With the Minn Kota and Humminbird products working together as the One-Boat Network, we can easily find and stay on top of the best spots at all times.

“Beyond fishing effectively, there is a huge safety aspect that comes along with Spot-Lock by not having to worry about anchoring or being tied to the bottom. That can be extremely dangerous in an offshore situation if waves or wind become an issue.”

For more information on One-Boat Network products, please visit www.minnkotamotors.com/one-boat-network.