As V.P. of membership development for the Gilchrist Club, a private quail plantation, Leiza has been able to incorporate her passion for hunting and fishing into her career. She is a proven competitive tournament angler, she and her partner have won numerous tournaments and are the first women's team to ever qualify, the first year on tour, for the Ranger Redfish Championships. In 2006, Leiza and her partner Merrily Dunn had several top-20 finishes in Redfish Cup tournaments and placed in the top-10 ESPN All Star Redfish Series which features the best 25 pro redfish teams in the country. They finished 4th in the IFA Redfish Championship in 2005 and ranked as the #1 ladies redfish team in the country for the past three years.

Leiza and Merrily are the first women’s team to ever qualify, the first year on tour, for the IFA Redfish Championship and the O’Boy Oberto Redfish Cup Championship. Leiza has hosted and cohosted several television shows.

Here is a fish picture! I just returned from the Amazon. I took my Teramar 8-12lb class rods and my Sustain 4000. I was told my tackle was too light! My answer was “ it is not about the size of you rod but in how you use what you’ve got” that matters. All the fellows hooted and hollered! The second day of the trip I hook and land with my light tackle, a 24lb peacock bass. The world record is 27lbs. I never question the ability of my Shimano gear! It worked like a charm!

Not only was I able hold the honors of biggest fish of the 10 day trip on the Amazon Nemo but I also caught a Crocodile on light tackle!

For years I have been taking friends and family fishing, most of them generally knew a little bit about fishing but on this Saturday morning I had three gals fishing with me that did not know anything about fishing except that they wanted to catch something.

I met the ladies at sun up with a live well full of bait and the anticipation of a great day of fishing. We headed to the Ft. Desoto area of Southern Tampa Bay to target redfish and snook. We hit several places and landed some small fish but nothing to write about. We were just getting ready to wrap up the day so we hit one of my last spots.

The day had gotten really hot and our bait was struggling. I stared to dump the bait that was struggling in our live well into the water around us. I had put about two small dip nets full of dying bait into the water when the surface of the water started popping.

There were snook everywhere hitting the struggling bait. I turned to the ladies and said hold on to your rods someone is going to get a strike. At that point one of the gals started to scream as her drag did the same. I thought it would never stop. I asked the other gals to reel in their baits and for one of them to get on the trolling motor and turn the bow of the boat towards the running fish which was heading for the mangroves.

She asked where and what was a trolling motor. We were scurrying about the boat and it looked like a scene from a keystone cops movie. We turned the boat and started to chase the fish, the gal who had the rod was afraid she was going to lose the fish so she handed me the rod. Now, I was running the trolling motor and trying to fight the fish at the same time, not easily done.

Our fish ran under the mangrove with the intentions of breaking the line on the oysters that encrusted the branches. I stuck the rod tip in the water and did not pressure the fish at all. I watched with anticipation as the fish stopped pulling against the drag and started to swim back out into open water, I followed the fish with the rod tip and reeled as it swam.

Once the fish reached deeper water, I put the pressure on again and worked it from left to right. I made sure that I did not horse the fish or allow it to roll and use its gill plates which are sharp as knives, to cut the leader. As the fish tired I asked the gals to get me the net. They handed it to me but it was folded closed and I had to give instructions on how to open it. Once it was open I tried to hold the rod and net the fish at the same time. It could not be done and the fish was almost too big for the net. I had one of the ladies hold the rod and turn the fish slowly towards the boat. As the fish neared the side of the boat I scooped it up, head first. The fish barely fit, tail and head were both sticking out over the sides.

As I lifted the net a roar came from our left. There were three charter boats with several men in them; they had watched us catch this fish. They started chanting “we’re not worthy, we’re not worthy”. It was a great accomplishment. It was the ladies first snook and only big fish of the day but it was one they will never forget. After we took many pictures, I slid into the water and took nearly 30 minutes to revive this magnificent fish. It swam off and the day was complete!