The 25th Annual Sebastian Exchange Club Foundation’s Blue Water Open Charity Offshore Fishing Tournament was held June 2, with tournament headquarters at Capt. Hiram’s Resort in Sebastian. The event raised an incredible $70,000 for charity.
Anglers and organizers caught a beautiful weekend amid all the rain and wind of the past month or two. The silver anniversary tournament registered145 boats, although only 38 boats weighed in fish. It was reported as a slow day of fishing for east-central Florida.
The event included dolphin, kingfish, wahoo and grouper on the main board and bonus board, with additional payouts in each position to celebrate the tournament’s silver anniversary. The total purse was a guaranteed $19,000, which included $1,000 each for the biggest amberjack and cobia caught, as well as $2,500 for Top Boat.
The catch was dominated by dolphin and kingfish. However, the biggest dolphin, caught on Skeleton Crew, was only 23.55 pounds. Rounding out the dolphin board, second place went to Down Time with a 22.65-pounder; Wide Open took third with an 18.35; and fourth place went to team Shootout with a 15.65-pound dolphin.
The kingfish catches were larger, but still smaller than the norm. The first-place king weighed in at 36.45 pounds, followed by a 27.80 for second place, 26.80 in third and 25.9 in fourth place.
Top Grouper was a whopping 57.85-pounder caught on III Jiggers, captained by Todd Thompson. Second place grouper was 37.80, and third place was 15.35. These were the only grouper that met the 10-pound minimum at the event.
Only two wahoo were weighed in, but the first-place fish was a nice 51.15-pounder caught aboard Reely, captained by Mark Headley. Second place weighed 15.20 pounds.
Top Boat went to Easy Drinkin’, captained by Joel McKenney. The Top Boat award is based on an aggregate weight of three fish in at least two of the main-board fish categories. Although Easy Drinkin’s only board fish was the second-place kingfish, at 27.80 pounds, they also weighed in another king at 23.35 pounds and a dolphin at 12.4 pounds, for a total weight of 63.55 pounds.
The $1,000 amberjack award went to Ken Keaton aboard Salty Cracker with a 45.40 pounder. No cobia made the weight minimum for the tournament.
The Exchange Club of Sebastian has raised almost $600,000 over the years through the efforts put forth in the Blue Water Open. All proceeds go to worthy charities in the local community, with a special emphasis on preventing child abuse.
For complete tournament results, visit www.bluewateropen.com or like Sebastian Blue Water Open on Facebook.