BLUEWATER CURRENTS
Eager anticipation marks this year’s historic event
Now in its 84th year, West Palm Beach, Florida’s Silver Sailfish Derby is celebrated as the world’s oldest sailfish tournament. In keeping with those historic traditions, which includes the presentation of the Mrs. Henry R. Rea perpetual trophy—a magnificent silver sailfish sculpture awarded to the top individual angler, which dates back to the event’s origin in 1935—this year’s tournament was a mix of nostalgia and excitement as the participants eagerly awaited the first day of fishing.
While early January can be a toss-up when it comes to the weather off Palm Beach, this year’s fleet of 47 boats was
greeted on Day One by reasonably good conditions. The first release occurred just 14 minutes after the call for lines in echoed across the VHF radio: Ian Goldstein on the 37-foot SeaVee ShellYeah drew first blood. The releases steadily continued as the clock marched toward lines out later that afternoon.
By the end of the day, the competition was well underway, with Capt. Ryan McBride’s Gator One team releasing eight sailfish to win the daily aboard their 39-foot Yellowfin. Capt. Mark Lamb and the Doing It All/ Hardway team, fishing a 39-foot Contender, posted seven sailfish releases for the day to land in second, with four of those coming from top daily angler Daryl Deka. Fish On, captained by Andrew Dotterweich, was third for the day with seven releases on the 48-foot Viking, just missing second place on time of release.
The second and final day of the tournament saw a slowdown in fishing, meaning that teams had to take full advantage of every bite. The wind also switched around, howling from the west, building seas and scrambling the conditions offshore. The ability to read a change in conditions from one day to the next is one of the most important paths to triumph; that was the case with the Miss Texas team, fishing aboard a 40-foot Gamefisherman with Capt. Matt Bierley at the helm. They scored eight sailfish releases on the second day to win the daily, kite-fishing south of Palm Beach Inlet. The crew of Gregg Hemingway, York Pottratz, Chris Hodge, Paul Murray, Chris Gilbane, Freddy David, Joey Salvo and Tom Land claimed their spot in the history books as the winners of this year’s Derby with a total of 12 sailfish releases.
The Silver Sailfish Derby uses video verification in order to score releases, with each team required to clearly show the species identification as well as a successful release. Unfortunately the tournament rules committee was forced to disqualify a fish in this year’s event that proved costly.
Priceless, a 48-foot Viking captained by Nick Carullo, was pushing hard to catch
Miss Texas on Day Two, but one of their videos didn’t have all the required elements, resulting in a second-place finish with 11 confirmed sailfish releases.
Doing It All/Hardway started Day Two with a doubleheader and high expectations, but unfortunately blanked the rest of the day to finish in third place overall with nine total releases. A similar fate befell Gator One, who added just one more fish to their column on the leaderboard on the second day of fishing—they returned to their first-day hotspot only to find that the conditions had changed and the fish had moved on, resulting in a fourth-place finish for the team.
The changing conditions, however, were a blessing to Capt. Dave McGaha’s team, KiteKeeper. Fishing aboard a 35-foot Strike, the team released nine sailfish to earn the title of top small boat and fifth place overall. Mike Simko was on the rod for all nine, winning top angler. The team managed to tag each of their fish to win top tagging team honors as well. Simko’s name will be added to the long list of those before him on the Rea Trophy, which is on display year-round at the West Palm Beach Fishing Club.
The Top Lady Angler trophy is sponsored by the Hampp family of New Jersey in memory of Rose Hampp, who won the honor in the 1957 Derby. Carly Desmond was this year’s recipient, releasing five sailfish for the 48-foot Viking Day Sea.
The Silver Sailfish Derby is produced by the West Palm Beach Fishing Club and continues to be the organization’s marquee event. From the club’s inception, it has played an important role in conservation, innovation and education. In 1938, the club was the first to develop and promote the use of red release pennants as an alternative to bringing sailfish back to the dock. For this year’s tournament, 196 sailfish were released over two days of fishing, 25 of which were tagged.
OPERATION SAILFISH GOES TO SHOWTIME/REMIX Team takes an early lead in the Quest for the Crest series
The first leg of the 2021 Quest for the Crest Sailfish Series, produced by Bluewater Movements, was Operation Sailfish, which attracted 47 boats and was held out of Sailfish Marina on Singer Island, Florida. At stake this year was a cash purse of $533,000 and the champion’s engraved dog tags.
Amid challenging conditions and tough fishing, the Showtime/Remix team clawed their way through the ranks to emerge as the event’s top boat, pocketing $67,500. The team released eight sailfish on time, five of which came from angler Frankie Villasante, who was also named the tournament’s top angler.
Fielding a new Viking for this year’s tournament series, Capt. Trey Claus and Team HMY waged a back-and-forth battle with Showtime/Remix throughout the event but fell just short in the end
to finish in second place with eight sails. However, they did have a big first day with six releases to win $53,100 for the daily, ultimately taking home a total of $75,360 once the spray had cleared.
In one of the tightest finishes in tournament history, the Goin’ Raptor team also released eight sails to place third, with release times again determining the final order of finish; the team took home $11,340. Thanks to their participation in several of the tournament’s optional jackpots, Fish On actually won the most money this year—$102,715—as well as a fourth-place finish with six sailfish releases. Reel Synergy rounded out the top five, starting off the second day of fishing to a strong start with a quad, ultimately winning $85,260 as the top daily boat on Day Two and fifth place overall. Team Blue Moon swept the top three places in the meatfish division to earn $55,250.
CABANA WINS BIG IN ROCKSTAR Records fall in Costa Rica
Now in it’s fifth season, the Pelagic Rockstar Offshore Tournament in Quepos, Costa Rica, had 67 teams and 364 anglers fishing for a whopping $971,500,
the largest purse in the tournament’s history. Fishing was up to the usual high standards as well, with 877 sailfish and 39 marlin released over two days of competition.
Capt. Eddie Wheeler and the Cabana team earned a hard-fought first-place victory with 34 sailfish releases and 3,400 points, sweeping all five levels of daily jackpots on the first day and setting a blistering pace for the rest of the fleet to match. They won $296,440 along with the grand champion award, a custom Pelagicthemed Fender electric guitar. Cabana is a 64-foot Spencer.
Game Plan, a 60-foot B&D captained by John Brennan, placed second with 26 sailfish and three blue marlin, good for 3,500 points. Chris and Laura Jessen on Fish Tank landed in third with 34 sails and 3,400 points. Vaquero and then Dragin Fly rounded out the top five.
In the small-boat division, Rockstar won with 15 sails and two marlin, scoring 2,100 points in a 32-foot Regulator that’s part of the Pelagic fleet at Marina Pez Vela. The team on Gamefisher II placed second with 11 sailfish and one marlin, good for 1,400 points.
Pelagic’s Colin Sarfeh, the event’s tournament director, graciously thanked the Marina Pez Vela staff for their hard work, as well as the teams who participated, all helping to make this event the largest and richest in Central America.