Sarasota Billfishing tournament 4-8th First place in Billfish division!
Steve Doss (my buddy who has the invisible sinker company) invited me to fish the Sarasota Bill fishing tournament with him I was very stoked to go that far offshore.. Tuesday was the Captains meeting at Marina Jacks in Sarasota very nice and professionally done.. Got to the Boat Early Wednesday and got the boat loaded up with gear food ice all that good stuff.. The Crew assembled on the Whiskey Tango a 45 Ocean which was Captain Steve Doss, David Doss, Rich, Chad Paul and myself. We topped off on fuel at Gulf port Marina and filled up 3 55 gallon drums full of diesel and started chugging out.
We got out 130 miles out into the gulf and had lines in the water at sunrise.. On the way out and the 1st day of fishing was absolutely flat calm and glassy.. We had one white marlin come up and hit the bait and threw it.. Then Rich was hooked up on a white Steve continued to troll and then I got the other fish that hit the left long so we got a double and got the release for both fish.. We got a few smaller Dolphin and one 19 Lb fish. We worked our way out to 5000 feet of water we had the yellow fins airing out on bait and busting all around we didn't invest to much time in the yellowfin because we were not in the tuna division.. We worked back into the more blue water.. Just before sundown Chad hooked up on another white we got the release and this one fought a little bit different it wasn't acrobatically like the others it stayed down the whole time.. 
We got back to where we setting up for swordfish and Paul and I were interrupted by a rain storm in the middle of the night we both tiddyed up the cockpit and ran inside and slept on the salon couch.. We noticed the swells were starting to pick up.. We never got a bite on the squid all night.. Before sunrise we were ready and lines were in the water... It was a little bumpy through out the day . The weed lines had a bunch of dolphin on them today a bunch of good eater size.. Got another clone that was the same size as our other bigger dolphin.. We had a small wahoo come un hooked as Paul was trying to get it in the boat..
It was all fogged up from being in the Salon with the Ac and then going out in the summer heat.. Towards the end of the their was 3 to 8 foot seas and we went through a serious lightning storm before sundown and got dumped on for a couple hours.. We had a cut off as the sun was setting that a nice wahoo... The guys up in the bridge got to witness a blue Marlin trashing a bait and free jumping and going nuts for a nice show Paul and I were scrambling around the cockpit thinking they were saying we had one in the spread.. We pulled the lines in the boat by about 9 and picked and made run back to Sarasota New pass. We were docked up just after Sunrise. Rich was happy to be back on land he was pretty sea sick.. Chad and I had to do the ritual jump in the water for first whit Marlin!
We got First Place overall in the Bill fishing Division and won a check for $14,700 Very fun and a great experience with some new friends! Rich's wife took pictures of the weigh in and made a cool video to remember! Check it out!
http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4d5441334f4441344d7a64384d6a45314e6a51344e44633d0d0a&sb=1
Heres the you tube video of the releases..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IomQyRHe05w
We got out 130 miles out into the gulf and had lines in the water at sunrise.. On the way out and the 1st day of fishing was absolutely flat calm and glassy.. We had one white marlin come up and hit the bait and threw it.. Then Rich was hooked up on a white Steve continued to troll and then I got the other fish that hit the left long so we got a double and got the release for both fish.. We got a few smaller Dolphin and one 19 Lb fish. We worked our way out to 5000 feet of water we had the yellow fins airing out on bait and busting all around we didn't invest to much time in the yellowfin because we were not in the tuna division.. We worked back into the more blue water.. Just before sundown Chad hooked up on another white we got the release and this one fought a little bit different it wasn't acrobatically like the others it stayed down the whole time.. 
We got back to where we setting up for swordfish and Paul and I were interrupted by a rain storm in the middle of the night we both tiddyed up the cockpit and ran inside and slept on the salon couch.. We noticed the swells were starting to pick up.. We never got a bite on the squid all night.. Before sunrise we were ready and lines were in the water... It was a little bumpy through out the day . The weed lines had a bunch of dolphin on them today a bunch of good eater size.. Got another clone that was the same size as our other bigger dolphin.. We had a small wahoo come un hooked as Paul was trying to get it in the boat..
It was all fogged up from being in the Salon with the Ac and then going out in the summer heat.. Towards the end of the their was 3 to 8 foot seas and we went through a serious lightning storm before sundown and got dumped on for a couple hours.. We had a cut off as the sun was setting that a nice wahoo... The guys up in the bridge got to witness a blue Marlin trashing a bait and free jumping and going nuts for a nice show Paul and I were scrambling around the cockpit thinking they were saying we had one in the spread.. We pulled the lines in the boat by about 9 and picked and made run back to Sarasota New pass. We were docked up just after Sunrise. Rich was happy to be back on land he was pretty sea sick.. Chad and I had to do the ritual jump in the water for first whit Marlin!
We got First Place overall in the Bill fishing Division and won a check for $14,700 Very fun and a great experience with some new friends! Rich's wife took pictures of the weigh in and made a cool video to remember! Check it out!
http://smilebox.com/playEmail/
Heres the you tube video of the releases..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IomQyRHe05w
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