[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ometimes, the stars align—perfect weather, conditions just right, and the top tournament sailfish teams present. One key ingredient missing, hungry schools of sailfish, however, can throw a monkey wrench into the mix and make for some incredibly tough fishing. Two days of fishing by 12 of arguably the best of the best tournament sailfish boats along the East Coast yielded a paltry 21 sailfish releases. Not the best sailfish action Stuart has ever seen, although the dolphin, blackfin, and bonito did keep the anglers and mates on their toes and busy rigging baits.
With so few numbers of sails caught and released, each fish was critical to potential victory and there were a few heartbreaks that would have shifted the final tournament results—pulled hooks, missed fish, and a broken snap with the leader just out of the mate’s reach. Such is tournament fishing.
Final tournament standings of the Third Annual Fish Heads of Stuart Sailfish Invitational saw first place honors go to the Big Oh captained by Mike King with eight releases. Big Oh angler Anthony Rizzo took the Top Angler Award with five releases. Second place was earned by Showtime! captained by Wink Doerzbacher, with four releases. Nancy Hardwick of Showtime! took Top Lady Angler with one release. Jackpot, captained by Scott Rhein took third place with their two releases. Honorable mentions to the Intents, Off the Chain, Floridian, Champagne Lady, Sneaky Pete, and Bone Shaker with their releases.
The Fish Heads of Stuart Sailfish Invitational, held at Sailfish Marina, continues to be a crowd favorite of the tournament boats. Look for more good things to come from this tournament in the coming years.
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