Saturday, December 18, 2010

The Sailfish Kickoff



The Sailfish Kickoff is the first big tournament in Miami of the season and a tournament in which I have enjoyed great success. A few years ago on the L&H, with Captain Neil Orange we set a tournament record releasing seventeen sails and a one hundred fifty pound swordfish on the first day and ended up finishing second. A couple years ago while fishing with my family on the L&H we won the Top Boat, James won Top Junior Angler, and Debbi won Top Lady and Top Overall Angler. This year I fished with my friends Hanibal Moya, Albert Castro, Ricky Querejeta, House, Louis Isaias, and Captain Scott Leon on Louis's beautiful fifty-nine foot Jichi.

The first day we fished south of Fowey Light and had good action all day. We landed seven out of nine sails and in the meat fish category we were leading with the heaviest tuna, dolphin, and the heaviest kingfish. It was a great start and we were feeling confident going into the last day. We caught a few fish early in the morning to take the lead. Then after hearing about our fish another boat ran up and stopped right in front of us and caught four sails. We decided to run south and find an area we could fish by ourselves. The plan worked and when we got down off Triumph reef we began catching sailfish one after another. Again, the other boat came and stopped in front of us but they could not keep pace with the Jichi. We were on fire! No misses today, every fish we saw, we caught. In frustration, the other boat left and we continued to dominate. We ended up going nine for nine on the day. Our total of sixteen fish for the tournament was good enough for first place!!!!!! Our dolphin, tuna, and kingfish hung on to win heaviest of each category. It was a great tournament and we all had so much fun. Thank you Louis and every one on our team!

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