On April 26, we had Steve Schmidt, Pacific Fins Partner, and 21 guys down for the first annual Pacific Fins Invitational Tournament. The guys fished competitively for 2 days and had Sunday as a lay day, with some of the guys opting to fish for "fun". The fun fishing day resulted in several sails and 7 Yellowfin Tuna brought in by the Captain Hook.

Here are the official results of the inaugural, "SOLD OUT", 2008 Pacific Fins Invitational Tournament:

Two day tournament results:

Circle Hook: 3100
Captain Hook: 3000
Allure: 2600
Fishy Business: 2600
Hooked Up: 2500

The teams earned 100 points for each sailfish and 500 points for each caught marlin.

Tournament Highlights:

On Saturday, the fishing was fast and furious. Circle Hook and Fishy Business raced out to leads with 26 and 24 releases respectively. Allure had 15 releases and 1 blue marlin. The boat Hooked Up had 18 releases. Captain Hook had 7 releases and 1 big blue marlin (well over 600 pounds). The Captain Hook was at a disadvantage on scoring because of the marlin fight that lasted 2 hours, plus another 45 minutes trying to revive the fish (which they eventually did).

Fishing slowed a bit on Monday. Capt. Eddie aboard the Circle Hook only had one fish on day two but it was a blue marlin. Ron Hamlin was way behind on Monday but found the fish at 1 pm. He had 38 raises and 33 bites Monday. The next high boat had only 8 raises on Monday.

The Rules on Monday were strictly IGFA. With novice anglers on board, Ron Hamlin came up 1 fish short after a furious comeback. The tie-breaker would have been the largest weighed Tuna, Wahoo, or Dolphin, and Captain Hook had a 38 lb. dolphin (dorado) on board.

In the end, the fishing was great, the barbeques were fabulous and camaraderie at the bar each night was priceless. Most of this group had never fished in Guatemala, and they came away in awe, saying they can't wait to get back!

Capt. Ron Hamlin / Captain Hook - Iztapa, Guatemala