David Kids Win Bob Lewis Tournament On L&H

I have fished nearly every Bob Lewis Tournament in the past ten years.  This year I was especially excited about the tournament because they made it a kids only format.  We worked hard getting ready and made sure everything was perfect, leaving nothing to chance.  Nearly every fish was worth some points, with a maximum of five fish per species and there was no limit on the number of lines you could fish.  With James, Laurel, and Christopher as the anglers for the day, our plan was to fish three kites as well as some flat lines and bottom lines.  This meant we would be fishing thirteen or fourteen baits and the kids would be very busy!  As soon as the tournament started the kids started hooking and fighting fish and that is how it went for the next six hours!  James and Laurel stayed very busy with kingfish, bonito, snapper, grouper, jacks and anything else that happened to swim by!  Both kids caught their limit of kings to over thirty pounds by noon so I decided to run south and try for a sail.  Down off triumph reef we found blue water and we set back up.  Within minutes a sail came up and ate the long bait on the center kite and Laurel was on!  Seconds later another sail crashed on the left short kite bait, but instead of getting the bait the sail got tangled in the leader.  From the tower I yelled to James that the fish was wrapped up and started backing down hard.  The L&H charged back toward the confused sailfish as James reeled quickly to gain line.  In a matter of seconds, Jim grabbed the leader and released the sail.  I spun the L&H hard and roared back on Laurels sailfish!  As usual, Laurel did an excellent job, and she had her fish alongside the boat for release minutes later!  I was Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited it was just what we needed since we had already limited out on other fish.  It seemed that no matter what we tried to do, it was working for us and I remembered what my friend Louis Isasis told me "When its for you, its for you!!!" and he couldn't be more right!  The kids continued to catch fish up until the very last second of the tournament and even baby Christopher Marlin added a small snapper and trigger fish to our tally!  As we ran toward the tournament weigh in everyone was very happy and satisfied with our catch, but there was no way to be sure how we ended up.  There were so many boats it was difficult to tell who caught what.  After weighing our catch and turning in the release forms we knew that our team had done very well!  It wasn't until the awards ceremony that we got the great news!  Christopher placed third in the under five year olds with his catch, his sister Laurel won first place for six to ten year olds, and big brother James won his division for eleven to sixteen year olds and was also named top angler in the entire tournament!  Last but not least, with all of their catches, our wonderful children propelled the L&H into first place, by a landslide!!!!  It was a wonderful day of fishing with my family and I was one very proud father!

Good Two Day Trip For Bazen Family

Our friends, the Bazen family came to fish with us for two days and we had a great time!  The first day was good action with the sails and we picked away at them throughout the day.  Mike fishes with his two boys, Sidney and Richard, along with his wife Sandra and her brother Kent.  These guys are very good fishermen, catching all kinds of fish in South Carolina!  They are all very good at kite fishing and hook the fish themselves.  We ended the first day with five sailfish releases and a nice size king.  The second day was a little slower, but we still continued to get action!  The boys did great and everyone worked hard at keeping the baits out and looking good.  As the afternoon of our second day wore on, our team had already released three sails, and we had a nice blackfin tuna in the box.  One of the boys was fighting a wahoo and all of the sudden, a big dark shape appeared under out fish!  It turned out to be a very big and hungry hammerhead shark!  In an amazing burst of speed, the hammerhead raced to the surface and ate the helpless wahoo in a matter of seconds!  The wahoo looked to be at least thirty pounds and the shark I couldn't even begin to guess.  It was an amazing sight to see and even though we would have like to catch that wahoo it was unbelievable to see such a big shark move so very quickly!  After that it was time to head back and let the Bazens begin the trip home.  As usual it was a fun trip fishing with our friends and we looking forward to the next time.