The 37th Annual Islamorada Bartenders Sailfish Open kicked off with great food and fun at the Lorelei Restaurant and Cabana Bar. 55 anglers, who are bartenders or restaurant employees representing 16 different bars, released 15 Sailfish on February 12th. With lines in at 8:30 on a windy day, it took only 2 minutes before the Live Action hooked up to a sailfish. But as with many of the hooks ups on this day, the fish would become unattached before the leader could get to the hands of the crew.
The first released sailfish would go to Kayla Heille on the Islamorada Beer Company boat winning a bottle of Champagne from the Trading Post Grocery store in Islamorada. Before noon 7 fish were released with a tight battle of the bars. Skyler McGarry from Dillon’s Pub fishing aboard the Broad Minded had released two fish putting him in first place. Islamorada Beer Company’s Stephani Harper would release a sail giving the team second place with two fish. Skippers Dockside would be in third on time with a release by Allison Sikora. Also with single fish at noon would be Chris Jordahl from Sea Grapes Wine Bar and Patrick Naughton from the Islander Resort.
Shortly after noon Chris Barnhill fishing for the host bar Lorelei would release a sail. Then the Olympic Gold fishing the team from Hog Heaven would turn on the heat. Amber Spaulding would release the first fish followed by three releases for Hayley Rosser taking the team to victory. The Buzz On fishing last year’s winners from the Ocean View Sports Bar would release fish for Brittney Violette and Erica Rogers. And the final fish for the day was released by Amanda Blamowski from the Green Turtle.
Olympic Gold’s Captain Doug Mientkiewicz fishing with mate Tommy King took home high point captain and mate awards. Hayley was awarded the high point angler trophy as well as the JayAnna Cohan founder’s award. The team including Aimee Hamel and Carrye Gaulin were also awarded a check for $1,000 sponsored in part by the Ocean View Lounge and Mangrove Mikes Café in memory of Trapper John, who was a long time bartender and participant in the event. The Bartenders Sailfish Open perpetual trophy is proudly hanging at Hog Heaven for one year.
Beautifully designed Jimmy Mac bar trophies would go to second place Dillon’s with 2 releases and 3rd place Islamorada Beer Company with 2 releases on time. The 2nd place Lobster Trap Art trophy went to angler Skyler McGarry from Dillon’s with his two sails. There were also awards for third place angler Kayla Heille from Islamorada Beer Company with one release and fourth place for Allison Sikora from Skippers Dockside also with one release. The hard luck bucket of booze from Martini’s of Islamorada was awarded to the Mar Bar fishing aboard the Legasea who lost not only their steering, but sailfish throughout the day, and finally ended up being towed in.
The Lorelei treated anglers to a fabulous kick off and awards ceremony on the beach. “My favorite part of this tournament is that we have so many anglers who catch and release their first sailfish” stated tournament director Dianne Harbaugh. “The reason Jayanna Cohan started this tournament was because she loved to sailfish and she wanted others to have the same opportunity. I would like to extend a special thank you to all the local businesses who helped to support this event for our hard working bar and restaurant employees!”