The fourth month began with all fools day and the action was furious all through the period and was still going strong on Earth Day .April featured the last of the sailfish tournaments as the season closed until the leaves fall in early autumn. The dolphin AKA mahi mahi appeared en masse heralding the approach of summer and kingfish were a sure thing . Daytime sword fishing slowed down for the first time in months .Wahoo and yellowtail were plentiful in Bimini . In other words fishing was red hot . The Bahamas marlin season started with the B.B.C. now in full swing and the shootouts are in the offing . May will bring about the annual collision course between the bluefin tuna and the classic forty three foot Merritt boats . The Smith boys tried their luck as the month ebbed and proved the mahi mahi had arrived . A.T.&T’s Brian Smith fished from his cousins’ 21 foot Dusky . Brian , cousins Ernie and Kevin [ all Smiths ] hooked up with six and captured four of the green and gold battlers. Three were in the twenty pound class . Ernie and Kevin work for Poole and Kent the giant construction company . Smith is a fairly common name but not as popular as Rodriguez. < The Yamaha Contender Miami Billfish Tournament was another great success with 388 sailfish being caught and released . Ray Rosher’s Miss Britt won the event with 2800 points [ 14 fish released ] with Captain Jim Mulcahy , a talented lad of Erin ,at the helm .Viking 50 finished second also with 2800 points but lost out on time . Third place went to the Priceless Amanda Nichols captured the woman’s master angler title with 2,000 points , she was fishing from Captain Randolph Smith’s Bouncer’s Dusky . Ecuadorian master angler Luis Isaias won the gentlemen’s master angler division with 1,600 points . Luis was fishing from his C&L fishing machine Jichi . Light tackle champion and fly fishing maven Rick Gunion has scored again . The Miami barrister trekked to the Bahamas with Captain Brett Dudas and his sibling David [ still dreaming about the good old days aboard the family yacht Katy-Did ] in search of giant predators . Rick captured a 493 pound tiger shark on his trusty fly rod , the largest fish ever caught on a fly . The skillful Mr. Gunion was using a sixteen pound tippet . To prove this was no fluke Rick took up his eight pound spinning outfit and caught a two hundred and ninety five pound lemon shark . Captain Brett ran Gunion’s 31 foot Contender Island Fever and brother David took photos . Marlin Harry Tellam of Key Biscayne journeyed down to St . Thomas in the Virgin Islands to pursue the mighty blue marlin . The veteran angler was fishing with brother in law Jim Lambert from his Merritt Reel Tight off the area’s productive south drop . During Tellam’s stay they caught nine white marlin , seven blue marlin and a host of dolphin . Harry extolled the skill of Lambert’s crew of Captain Eddie Herbert , Fly Navarro , Joe Fiegel and Eric Leach of the I.G.F.A.’ Leaches . Where was Johnny Depp ? Tellam also reported that Sam Jennings released a blue in the 800 pound range from his Revenge. Jennings holds the Bahamas blue marlin record [ 1061 pounds ] and is the father of Swordfish John Jennings . Larry Reeder reports the CRYC -BBYC marlin tournament was a successful tournament and a fun outing for all . The event should really be called the Reeder Marlin Hunt . The Reeders have always believed there were marlin lurking off our shores ready to be captured . This years event kicked off with a captain’s meeting where Elias Rodriguez and K.C. Crook of Crook and Crook helped get the event off the ground and where soon to be CYRC Rear Commodore Rick Brophy [ this will put Brophy one grade under General Petraeus ] marked his secret spot on a chart and Tom Duane gave his lecture on water temperatures [ lots of ice just a little water ]. It was like attending a seminar on big game fishing . Alas there were no marlin caught in this years event . Kingfish Trey Reeder won the kingfish division fishing solo from his Contender Pick Up Line. Chuck [Gator ] Baumberger made the orange and blue proud when he caught the largest wahoo from his boat , you guessed it called Wahoo II . Bobby Reider caught the largest dolphin fishing with Ross Fisher , whose air line transports “sports teams” to a lot of places ending with -STAN . Captain Peter Bristow sent Bill Harrison this picture of small craft warning conditions in Madeira . Captain Harrison had his doubts about the authenticity of the photo and E mailed Peter suggesting the picture was a fugazy .. Peter replied . “ Photo was real The small hotel Penha Franca , where most of my anglers stay got a hammering . It did extensive damage to the pool area . There was sand in the car park on the street level . We were lucky it could have been worse . “ If you charter Captain Bristow this summer bring your surf board. Prolific blue fin fisherman Captain Bart Sherwood captured this 55 pound dolphin on a recent charter from his Merritt boat Fighting lady .Holding the fish is his mate for the day Captain Luis Herrera AKA Disco Louie . Disco fished and mated for all the great ones such as Ricky Resto , Buddy Carey and arguably the best fisherman of all ,Captain Joe Criscuilo. Captain Herrera is called Disco because back in the day he cut a mean swath through the area’s discos dancing and breaking hearts . Disco was John Travolta before John Travolta . The sailfish season closed with the most prestigious , lucrative and entertaining event on the circuit , the World Sailfish Championship out of historic Key West . This contest has everything but Tony Albello . This years event went down to the wire as Miami’s Rock Star , with Captain Scott Leon at the helm , came from behind to claim the title . Ecuador’s Jichi finished second and Veteran Tim Maddox and his Vitamin Sea Too took the third spot . The big story of the tournament was the bittersweet performance of the Jichi , Luis Isaais and his crew . They have fished all the tournaments and usually finished at the bottom of the pack . The Jichi a speedy C&L was piloted by Rick Lindner the stormy petrel of fishing captains who has made more comebacks than Rocky Balboa . The crew was made up of Captain Neal Orange , the elder, Ricky Q. and Hannibal “ the animal “ Moya and anchored by owner Isaais , master angler of the Miami Billfish tournament and Ecuadorian marlin champion These feisty guys were in contention from day one and were just nipped in the stretch . The crew gave one hundred percent and the boss gave his usual one hundred and fifty percent effort . This second place finish proves perseverance pays off .They have their act together , watch out for next year . Isaias is a man for all seasons, an entrepreneur ,hunter , plays golf and tennis . The man is a true sportsman . He is rumored to have just composed a love ballad entitled , Dancing with the Mesero “ . That’s it for this month fans! As usual I close with an insightful and pithy quote of the month . Larry Reeder ended his informative recap of the CRYC - BBYC marlin carnival with a bon mot that applies to life and fishing . “Sometimes your good and sometimes your lucky” Tight lines Dude Perkins |
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