The Easter bunny brought us perhaps the best all around fishing of the year along with chocolate eggs the spring icon gave us the return in force of the mahi mahi, black fin tuna, kingfish jumping into the boat, red hot sailfish action and last but not least swordfish in the daytime and at night. The 2010 Bahamas Championship debut was a down to the wire inaugural event. The last of the Sailfish tournaments ended with the World Cup in Key West .It was another star crossed contest featuring wholesale DQ’s [Disqualified fish] for fishing beyond the boundaries. Every sailfish event this year had hassles and controversy; unless they can bring some order back to sport the future of these contests looks bleak.
The Central Abaco Championship, the first leg in the Bahamas Billfish championship proved to be an exciting event with the winner in doubt until the last second. When time ran out it was the Blue Herron with Mark Knowles at the helm in first place with 2100 points. Don McKinney’s Double Dog took second with 2000 points. Fourth place went to newcomer Luis Isaias and his Jichi with1756 points. Luis and Captain Rick Lindner decided to try their luck on the marlin circuit after tiring of the sailfish venues with all the donnybrooks. Isaias told the sailfish tournaments to go fly a kite and returned to his area of expertise blue marlin fishing. I believe Luis is the reigning blue marlin champion of his native Ecuador.
On the first day of the event Captain Lindner had to leave the helm for a spell and Luis took over. He made a snap decision to charge at flank speed farther out searching where he knew the big fish lurked. In no time Isaias spotted a big blue. He quickly called the captain to the helm and went down to the chair and in no time he was hooked up. It became a battle between the giant fish with his great strength and the athletic, superbly conditioned and crafty South American champion. The fight soon ended with skill subduing the leaping brute. Teammate Ricky Q. brought closure with one lightning shot with the gaff. Hannibal Moyo and Ricky Q. shouted ole’s at the pescador when the fish was boated. The marlin tipped the scales at six hundred and fifty six pounds. It appears the Jichi and crew will be big time players in the coming marlin events.
Captain Ray Rosher’s Miss Britt proved that our fishing was exceptional with two trophy catches.
Ray’s Gal Friday Kristen Kramer sent us these two reports:
Captain Brett Wilson ran the 43 ft Miss Britt with mate Markian Galadza [the guy with the red hat] in the pit when they caught this big mahi mahi. The angler was James Andrew of Miami an old friend of Markian.
Soon it was déjà vu all over with Captain Brett and Markian this time from the 34 foot Miss Britt. On this trip the duo fished Scot Segal from the Windy City [record holder on the Miss Britt with 30 sailfish releases in one day on a previous outing] Brad Nannen wife Sandy and son Wes from Atlanta. Brad captured the humongous 59.7 pound king. The gang fished for three days with Brett and Markian and had a smorgasbord of fish. They released 19 sails and caught 3 blackfin tuna, a few more kings and two mahi mahi in the 40 pound range.
Miami entrepreneur and former U.S.C. Trojan athlete Jeff Williamson [He was a real man of Troy but not quite Reggie Bush] entertained his nephews Sam and Ben Williamson from Piedmont, California during spring beak. The lads caught a mackerel and retrieved a succulent stone crab from cousin Juliana’s trap no. 5 and were eagerly awaiting an offshore excursion to catch what they refer to as Dorado in the Golden State. Dorado is what we in the Tropics used to call dolphin but now we have borrowed the appellation of mahi mahi from the Aloha State. To simplify all this it must noted that porpoise are also dolphin. In September we also see the appearance of the large dolphin in the 250 to 350 pound class and believe it or not these dolphin follow a giant tuna. This group of dolphin are feisty in late summer but usually fade away in early December as they are rather ponderous and lack jet speed.
The Cat Cay blue fin tuna season should be in full swing but alas so far no one is fishing for the beasts. The most prolific tuna man of this century Captain Sherwood has been sent on a two thousand mile odyssey by his boss Motown’s Big Don Barnes to bring his Tiara to Michigan for the summer or to find the Northwest Passage to the Far East which ever comes first. Captain Bart was the first boat through the Erie Canal in 2010, another feather in his cap for his ever impressive resume. The last communiqué we relieved from Sherwood he was two hundred miles from his goal weathered in at a small marina in Michigan by 45 knot winds, heavy snow and zero visibility. Unfazed by the conditions the always upbeat Captain Sherwood vowed he would soon fly back cross over to Cat Cay and catch a giant tuna for Jimmy Vernor and then capture a larger one for Don Barnes. Never underestimate Captain Bart, he will probably catch three.
Miami Palmetto High School Panthers recently had a fishing tournament to benefit the Athletic Department. This brought to mind that this school has produced some of the great fishing captains in our area. Such luminaries as Captain Quinton Dieterle, Jimbo and Rick Thomas, John Louie Dudas, Clark Bergner, Bric Peeples, Cap Hinckley and a host of fine anglers were proud Panthers. It was Brett [ice man] Dudas noted for his 95 mph plus fastball who played baseball at the school and turned down professional offers in the sport to follow his love of the sea.
That’s it for this month fans. As usual I close with the quote of the month:
Captain Bart Sherwood allowed, “Anyone who calls a calm sea as being smooth as a lake has never navigated the Great Lakes.”
Tight lines,
Dude Perkins
