Captain's Log: December 1, 2006
| December 2006 |
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| This weekend we went up to compete in the 5th annual Flor de Cana, Toyota Cup, Billfish Championships of Nicaragua. We drove the panga 111 miles up Nicaragua’s coast to arrive at Marina Puesta del Sol in Chinandega. We went to the event last year and got stomped pretty hard, so we were on a mission to let the Nicaraguan sportfishing community know that Team Surfari could hang with the big boys even if we are in a panga. On the first day of pre-fishing we went out 30 miles and lucked into an intense sailfish bite right off the bat. We released two sailfish in the first hour and were feeling confident going into the first day of the tournament. This tournament is a big deal in Nicaragua. All of the big ballers send their macked out sport fishes up and then they show up in their private helicopters. This is kinda intimidating when you are in a little panga, and had to scrape together enough money to pay the $750 entry fee! Lucky for us, our good friends on the Rum Runner (that is Carlos Pellas’ 65ft Viking, the guy that owns our favorite rum, Flor de Cana) hooked us up with some sick baits and remodeled our outriggers for us so we could have two teaser lines. Special thanks to Captain Joey Crawford of the Rum Runner for taking such good care of us! On the first day of the tournament we went out to where we had gotten the bites the day before. As luck would have it they were there again. About 5 minutes into trolling, a sailfish billed our right rigger behind our teaser and I dropped back the bridle rigged ballyhoo, FISH ON!! Then Casey "Flaco" Weldon was on his toes with the center line and managed to hook up another for a double header 10 minutes into the tourny!! These two fish were pissed, they jumped over the lines and did everything they could to get off. Unlucky for them, the circle hooks were tight in the corner of their jaws, and we were putting a smack down on them!! We got them both boat side, and tagged them for the extra 25 points each, and then released them both for a 200 point start. For about an hour we were in first place!! The rest of the day we caught a nice mess of dolphin, including a 29.9 lb which would put is in second place at the end of the first day for the fun fish category. The second day was a little windier but we still managed to pull a sweet spread and catch some nice dolphin. We saw numerous free jumping sailfish, but could not manage to hook one up. The highlight of this day was when we trolled toward a group of birds working some bait. Flaco and I watched the spread closely and to our surprise got to see the coolest shit we had ever seen behind the Va Pue. Our shotgun bait was running perfectly with a fat ballyhoo, when all of a sudden a black marlin around 300 lbs jumped clear out of the water straight at the boat. Flaco and I about shit our pants as the marlin landed short of the bait and a 25 lb bull dolphin robbed the bait a split second before the marlin!!! We dropped back our pitch baits and worked the area for hours to try and get another shot to no avail. The second highlight of the day was when we got to see a pod of killer whales swimming along the Nicaragua coast. Who would have ever thought you would see killer whales in Nica. Then we also saw a pod of humpback whales! At the final weigh in there was a nice 320 lb Marlin that would be the winner of the Toyota cup. We had a nail biter as numerous dolphin got weighed in that all looked bigger than the one we caught the day before. First a 29.7 lb then a 29.3lb. We could not believe it! Our dolphin held 3rd place in the Fun Fish category behind a 67 lb wahoo and a 31 lb dolphin!! We managed to catch the second biggest dolphin in two days against 29 other sport fish yachts!! That night at the grand awards party. There were belly dancers, Flor de Cana girls, rum, trophies, and big cardboard checks! Jeff accepted our award for third place. We received a $500 cardboard check, a trophy, and best of all, a case of Flor de Cana! It was a great event and we could not have been more stoked! |
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