Islamorada Presidential Challenge

[eppefour]

Islamorada Presidential Sailfish Tournament a huge success!

The weather was right for Sailfishing on January 16th and 17th and the Islamorada Presidential Sailfish Tournament took advantage of it. 27 boats sporting 85 Anglers braved the weather forecast. Saturday night at the awards most Anglers and Captains agreed the weather was no where near the forecasted seas. A total of 123 Sailfish were released out of 177 called in hook ups.
Day one would find the Wet Dream fighting a double header at lines out. The two sails would put them in the lead for the tournament. Anglers Jill and Kevin Clark knew how important both fish were. As Jill’s fish got close to the boat it rushed underneath the vessel and the line wrapped around the propeller shaft. Captain Glen Miller took the engines out of gear. Mates Sam Worden and Hunter Barron had Jill back off the drag. Hunter jumped in the water to see how bad the line was wrapped up. The team decided to have Jill get in the water and see if she could unwrap the line. After as short swim Jill managed to get the line untangled and the fish was still there. She climbed aboard, tightened the drag and fought the fish back to the boat for a legal release. Meanwhile Kevin still had his fish on. Captain Glen maneuvered the boat in his direction and the fish was subsequently released. A quick call by Kevin to Mike Myatt of the IGFA confirmed Jill’s fish would meet all IGFA rules. The rules committee of the Islamorada Presidential agreed that the fish was caught within the rules of the tournament. The Wet Dream would take day one with 6 Sailfish releases. Captain Paul Ross of the charter boat Relentless would release 5 fish that day.
On day two the Relentless’ anglers Fenton Langston, Jimmy Hendricks, Debbie and Jimmy David would release 6 Sailfish. The 11 Sails would land Relentless in the winners circle receiving original wooden hooks by local artist David Wirth. Second Place would go to the Wet Dream with 9 releases. Third place Reel McCoy fishing Larry Amyotte, Sean Smith, and John Watson also released a total of 9 Sailfish. Captain George McElveen’s last release would be just minutes after the Wet Dreams putting the team in third place on time. Forth place would go to Captain Scott Stanczyk’s Catch 22. Anglers David Spilman, Jimmy Fakler, John Soltysiak and Ty Mayers would release a total of 8 fish over the two days. Bob Rich and George Kreimer fishing aboard the Esperanza would take home the 5th place artwork by Pasta Pantaleo.
The Islamorada Presidential Sailfish tournament awarded the high point angler trophy to Jill Clark of the Wet Dream with 6 Sailfish releases. The Wet Dream would also be awarded trophies for the most tagged fish with 3 tags.
The tournament director Dianne Harbaugh would like to give thanks to all who helped make this event a huge success. After the fire at Cheeca Lodge the management cancelled the Cheeca Presidential Sailfish Tournament. “In 9 days with the support of the Islamorada Charter Boat Association and so many others we were able to make this almost impossible task possible” stated Ms Harbaugh. Pasta Pantaleo and David Wirth manufactured 1st thru 5th place trophies in less the 9 days. Screenprint Plus designed and printed tee shirts in 5 days. Island Custom Embroidery did bags, visors and jackets in less than one week. Our host Marker 88 restaurant put up a nice tent, served excellent food and beverage with the classiest presentations. The tournament committee offered excellent assistance to make everything run smoothly. A 50/50 raffle was held during the awards ceremony for the Islamorada Fire Department. In true keys spirit the winner of the raffle, Dianne Harbaugh, donated all the winnings back to the fire department. The Islamorada Charter Boat Association will be the benefactor of the tournament.

[sportfishingusa]

JIMMY WON THE TOURNEY ON SATURDAY AND MADE IT UP TO RUN MY CHARTER ON SUNDAY (YESTERDAY)

what a great freaking guy! glad they won..