Am I Missing Anything?

[Deep C]

This new tournament ride I have is about to spread its wings and fly. I sat out the last few local tourney seasons opting instead to focus on chartering. With the price of fuel just getting to Florida has slowed that trade some. The owner of my tourney rig is past just special, he is a gift from above and I intend to do everything humanly possible to make us competitive.

Our inaugurla event was to be Bimini for the Wahoo Challenge. Weather had other plans though and we used that window of time that would have been for Bimini, instead to work on getting tight for this event in Islamorada. We did very well for our practice run.
Fresh anglers with no bad habits to break seem to have natural skills enough to make me confident in them. The boat is a gem. I have her speeds and her sea handling dialed right in. I'm confident in her. Our tackle is top shelf with nothing lacking there. Deep Deckhand has been broght to speed with Keys style fishing and I feel good about him being on his game. I was pleased to see that I havn't forgotton how to blister the live ballyhoos and we hooked up with a great young fellow to supliment them with fresh caught goggle eyes.
My kit has 50 fresh live bait rigs tied. Bridles made for the gogs. Tags. Flags. Bait tricks. Super sneaky teaser rigs made up. Enough stuff to make 200 more rigs. Spare everything a man could want. Spare line, spare spools for the spin reels, spare leader, spare hooks, spare notepads, spare cameras, spare sunglasses, spare chumbags, spare livewell pumps...
The competition is as stiff in this one as any on the circuit. I have two granite blocks to get past, Ray Rosher and Joe Neber on Contender one. These guys have game! They have bait holding facilities like no other. They actually condition their baits in them. Feeding special diets, vitamins, regrowing slime, temperature controled enviroment... Then they bring like 500 baits to an event to pick and choose the very best.
John Q Public can't begin to compete with that. So I gotta find a way to rise to the occasion. I gotta hope that the fish want hoos instead of gogs or threadfins. I get the edge there. I gotta hope for calm weather and slow bite where I seem to shine. Hot bites and its up to their more experienced anglers to get the leaders to the tip before the fish even know theyre hooked. I hope I have my guys trained well enough to kep up if it does get cookin.
So there it is. Months of prep all in place. What if anything am I missing?

[gradywhite273]

alexa

[Deep C]

alexa

She is indeed a good luck charm... The guys I have are similar to her in a way. Their ears still work! No macho ego in the way. They started their billfishing on circles so no bad habits to break...

[Jack Hexter]

What if anything am I missing?

All the local knowledge that Ray and Nieber, as well as the many other South Florida captains bring to the table. Bouncer, John Louie Dudas, Alex Castellanos (Ray's Captaain on the Miss Britt when he's on the Get Lit.), George Mitchell. All of these and more and most have crews that don't miss a fish. That is the number 1 key to winning a tournament - don't blow ANY opportunity - don't miss a fish.

[Deep C]

We're far enough off their home base and its my old home base so finding the fish is gonna be pretty even. If its slow I know some of the very specific spots they hole up in. Their bait system is their big key. As you mentioned missing very few if any is another. With the circle hook I have quickly grown very comfortable after a little tweaking in producing near 100% hook up rate using live hoos and with gogs still high at 80 or so %.
Where I'm worried a bit is multiples. The two fish we have missed were during cover ups and the men getting a little flustered. I'll prefish tomorrow and Thursday and hope to smooth them out on that.

[Jared D]

Good luck to ya...

So now people are conditioning baits? Wow... where does it end? I thought them "amping" the baits up with blasts of O2 was getting out there... but nutrients and rebuilding slime... Geesh, I think I will just fish for fun!

[Jack Hexter]

Where I'm worried a bit is multiples.

Gotta catch one at a time. When you get doubles or triples, pick one and go after it. It might not be the first fish hooked up. Make sure your tackle has enough line to let the others run. Back off the drags and let them go until you get the first fish in the boat, then go after #2.

And just because Ray, John Louie, and Neiber are away from their home base, they have a network to tell them where the fish are. I've seen Neiber leave Miami Beach Marina and fish as far as West Palm to the north or Crocker, Davis or the Eagle to the South. That's an advantage of a Contender with triple 250's. You can get to the fish, have enough time to score and get back in time.

[Deep C]

Gotta catch one at a time. When you get doubles or triples, pick one and go after it. It might not be the first fish hooked up. Make sure your tackle has enough line to let the others run. Back off the drags and let them go until you get the first fish in the boat, then go after #2.

And just because Ray, John Louie, and Neiber are away from their home base, they have a network to tell them where the fish are. I've seen Neiber leave Miami Beach Marina and fish as far as West Palm to the north or Crocker, Davis or the Eagle to the South. That's an advantage of a Contender with triple 250's. You can get to the fish, have enough time to score and get back in time.

If they can bow em. I can work em... Getting the boys to set the hooked rod down and bow the second or even third each is the weak spot. The only two they missed was because they froze on bowing the second each...
Tight geographic area for this event. Pickles to just bleow Alligator. I have the network thing too and a couple scouting days on my side. We got a quick Contender too...
That bait thing is my biggest concern. They have massaged, hand fed, seasoned bait and about 500 travelling with each of them. I'll have a hundred hoos and a couple dozen gogs a day... maybe even some pilchards if they are around...

[Wireman]

The only thing you may be missing is a good dose of humble. You've verbally elevated yourself up there with some pretty tall company and stellar sailfish catching reputations. These other captains catch more sails by accident in a given season than most catch in a lifetime. You have several more captains to keep a close eye on than just Ray and Joe. Hope it works out for you.

Jack H. hit the nail on the head. You can't afford to miss any bites, because your competition certainly won't!

Best of luck.

[Jack Hexter]

Which tournament and what are the dates. Charlie Scoble is the one to watch out for in that area.