Chinh Phan, center, wins Shoreline Showdown’s championship belt.
April 11, 2025
By Matt Badolato
Keeping it simple is Chinh Phan’s winning strategy.
Standing on the beach with a pocket of sandfleas, the St. Johns County surf fisherman has won over $22,000 in north Florida tournaments this year.
“You don’t need all this fancy stuff—painted sinkers, beads, all that,” said Phan, who took first place in the 4-event Shoreline Showdown tournament series presented by Fishbites. “Just keep it simple.”
Phan, who has been studying the North Florida surf for over 30 years, sticks to a simple two-hook dropper rig with no beads or floats when hunting for pompano and whiting.
“When the water is clear, you want a stealthy rig,” he said. “You don’t want the attention of ladyfish or blues, and you definitely don’t want sharks seeing that extra flash while you’re reeling in a fish.”
Phan takes presenting his baits seriously. He fishes three, 13-foot Over The Bar surf rods with either sandfleas or ghost shrimp caught from Matanzas Inlet, and places them strategically around a sandbar. If he’s not getting bit, he moves down the beach in 50-yard increments until he strikes fish.
“One rod goes as far as I can cast it, the second goes right on top of the bar, and one goes just inside the bar. If it’s a high energy beach with waves breaking close, I cast one right behind that breaking wave. A lot of people over-cast this spot. Fish are eating clams and sandfleas that are on land, so they are used to feeding close to shore.”
Phan placed in three of the four events of the Shoreline Showdown series. The Navarre Beach event, however, saw him struggle.
“I caught two fish in the morning, but the white sand made it so bright and hot I couldn’t stand it. That place is totally different. I wasn’t ready.”
The championship event, held in St. Augustine Dec. 8, featured the top 50 surf anglers to place in the prior events. Phan caught his winning pompano and whiting aggregate near Ponce Inlet. He caught big whiting all morning, but caught his winning pompanos in the last half hour as high tide peaked.
“For some reason, this year has been great for big numbers of big whiting,” said Phan. “And a lot of big pompano. I think it’s because we didn’t have a major storm come and wipe out the sandflea population. There are a lot of fleas this year, it’s been easy to find them all season.”
For more info and to register for the 2025 series, visit shorelineshowdown.com.
The top trophy at Palm Beach’s Sailfish Sweethearts.
SAILFISH SWELL OFF JUPITER
Combining the thrill of fishing with the camaraderie of a ladies-anglers-only event, the Sailfish Sweethearts tournament celebrates female anglers making waves in the fishing world.
Tournament director Maddy Hazlett, the heart and soul behind Sailfish Sweethearts, has been immersed in the world of fishing since her South Florida upbringing. Her mission: redefine fishing tournaments and create an empowering community that’s all about recognizing the passion, skill, and enthusiasm that women bring to the sport.
Dusty Adinolfe of Palm Beach Gardens and her crew of ladies took first place in the mid-November tournament with their seven sailfish releases—but it wasn’t easy.
“Conditions were extremely gnarly out of Jupiter Inlet,” said Adinolfe, owner of the 80-foot Viking Surfbum based out of Admirals Cove Marina. “Really big swell, but a relatively tolerable period between waves. Everybody was fishing in the same areas and getting along. Usually when we leave a spot, someone moves in and catches a fish, but this time it was us catching the fish.”
The extended crew of Surfbum, the winning team at the Sailfish Sweethearts event in Palm Beach.
At one point in the tournament the Surfbum crew had four sails on at once. They had to coordinate and cooperate, the ladies shuffling from bow to stern to land their fish.
Crew member Alexis Mueller of Palm Beach Gardens took the tournament’s Top Lady Angler award.
“The fish just gravitated to her,” Adinolfe said.
Adinolfe, who owns an electric sign manufacturing company, started fishing seven years ago and can’t get enough.
“I’m completely addicted,” said Adinolfe. “I love it and I love promoting it.”
A portion of the Sailfish Sweethearts proceeds goes towards supporting causes such as The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and The Billfish Foundation. Stop by sailfishsweethearts.com for more information.
SCHOOLING FOR BASS
Nearly 150 high school and junior high students from across the state gathered in Palatka this winter to show off their ability to read the river and connect with bass.
The young anglers were fishing in a Florida BASS Nation event—an official branch of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) known for its widely popular Bassmaster Tournament Trail and Bassmaster Classic.
The Florida chapter offers tourneys once a month at a different location in Florida or Georgia. Several high schools have their own teams, or young anglers can join a local club to enter in the tournaments. One high school in Georgia even allows excused absences from school for pre-fishing days.
Zachary Slivinski, 14, of Melbourne landed an 8.3-pound bass from the St. Johns River near Palatka in December.
Zachary Slivinski, 14, and his fishing buddy, Michael Petrides, have fished together since they were 6 years old. Now they fish every BASS Nation tournament together. Slivinski caught the largest bass in the Palatka event this past December, an 8.3-pounder.
“These kids put a lot of time into these tournaments and they learn a lot about teamwork, community, respect, and helping others,” said Slivinki’s mother, Melissa. “It’s a lot of stress and preparation, too. There are days when they’ll fish several 11-hour days pre-fishing, then fish an 8-hour tournament, sometimes in the freezing cold or rain.”
The Palatka event, held on the lower basin of the St. Johns River, was one of those windy, hard-to-fish days.
“It was tough fishing. Of the 141 boats, only 15 were able to catch a limit,” said Zachary, who lives in Melbourne and attends Melbourne High School. “We won 3rd place the first day, but 47th place on day two.”
With all the time he’s spent on the water chasing bass, Slivinski has learned a few tricks to get them biting when it seems hopeless.
“If you’re not getting bites, the first thing to do is work your baits slower,” he said.“Constantly switch up baits and move. Fish shorelines, then try open water. Just keep trying different things and eventually you’ll find out what’s working.”
The tournaments make priorities of safety, conservation, and even punctuality. Anglers can be penalized for not wearing life jackets, bringing in dead fish, or showing up even a minute late to the scheduled weigh-ins. Anglers compete in regional qualifiers to advance.
The kids—and their parents—take bass fishing seriously. Besides the life lessons and good company, dozens of full-ride scholarships are offered each year for dedicated student anglers to join collegiate fishing teams.
For more info on the Florida BASS Nation, visit floridafederationnation.com.