Local anglers Danny Fox and Bobby Rego are heading south to defend their title in the 14th annual Key West Light Tackle Tournament in Florida.

The pair were overall winners in last year's edition in which Fox also accumulated the highest individual points total.

The tournament, to be held over a four-day period, is primarily a catch and release event with bonus points being awarded for catching three or five of certain species using six and eight pound test line.

Fox and Rego will be accompanied by Keith Winter, Crayton Greene, Francis Patterson and husband and wife Peter and Cindy Mitchell, who will be among the 16 teams competing out of the Oceanside Marina.

The teams of two will alternate boats during the tournament.

While stringent restrictions have been placed on Tarpon, Permit and Sailfish with teams only allowed to land three fish per angler in order to seize maximum points, they will be allowed to land five per angler with species like Kingfish, Cobia, Dolphin, Blackfin Tuna, Amberjack, Barracuda and Grouper.

"To make it fair, the boats are seeded because of the level of expertise," said Rego. "I think that our chances are great as we now have a good feel for the type of fishing we have to do in order to catch certain species.

"We will be doing a little practice fishing on Saturday. The wind conditions in April are going to be like 15 miles per hour which is going to make it a bit bumpy, but we will only be fishing some 35 minutes off the northern Keys, so you only have to deal with a bit of discomfort for about an hour."

The tournament begins next Monday and concludes next Thursday.