79 teams and several hundred anglers converged on the IGFA Hall of Fame museum on February 24th to sign up for the Sailfish Challenge. There was a lot of talk about mediocre fishing conditions and how it might affect the bite for the tournament. Despite light winds and calm waters, the action got off to a fast start after the 7:30am lines in announcement. Fortunately, the tournament committee in the radio room was able to keep up with the fast paced call ins thanks to the specialized communications technology provided by Tow Boat US Ft. Lauderdale.
Within the first hour of fishing, it was clear that the best bite seemed to be off of Miami Beach. The Midnight Blue team caught and released 5 Sailfish in that area before 8:30am. Team Jichi, also in Miami, had 4 releases of their own early on and the Rhonda Beth team, fishing out of Hillsboro Inlet, has 4 early releases as well.
While the bite slowed for many of the boats in the late morning through mid-day, Midnight Blue continued to peck away at a few more fish. By late afternoon they held the lead with 9 releases and would not relinquish it. Midnight Blue led the tournament from start to finish...quite an accomplishment. They collected a paycheck for $69,100 in first place.
The 2nd place team, Fish Tales, made the latest charge in the tournament catching 4 fish inside the last two hours of the tournament. They finished with 8 releases and a paycheck for $39,280. Jichi finished in 3rd with 7 releases and a nice payout of $41,240. The 4th place spot was occupied by El Palacio de Los Jugos with 6 releases followed by Wound Up in 5th with 6 releases also. Wound Up place higher in a couple of the calcuttas to collect a paycheck for $23,000 in the tournament. Team Keri n On caught the heaviest fish of the tournament, a 38.3 pound Dolphin. They also weighed the heaviest Kingfish at 37.9 pounds. Both of those fish earned them a $15,500 check. For more results, visit http://www.sailfishchallenge.com
Catching a Dolphin this size is tough. Catching it on a circle hook is even tougher. Congratulations to the Keri n On team. They pulled into the weigh-in at Hillsboro Park for the Sailfish Challenge with a bag full of quality fish. This 38.3 pound Dolphin was the heaviest fish of the tournament, earning them the Soup du Jour hall of fame honors in this month's edition of FishHead Soup. As it turns out, their 2nd heaviest fish would have been enough to win the big fish title too! Way to go boys.
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