Huge wahoo wins Big Dog Fat Cat Shootout
As expected, Sunday’s full moon produced some good wahoo fishing on Saturday for South Florida anglers.
Logan Jaime caught a 65.9-pound wahoo fishing on Double Play, his 26-foot Mako, with MichaelMummert andMaxHoward.
The fish, which ate a live goggle-eye in 115-120 feet off Palm Beach, won heaviest fish honors in the Big Dog Fat Cat KDWShootout out of Palm Beach Shores.
“It’s actuallymy firstwahoo,” said Jaime, 19, ofWest Palm Beach, who won $5,000 plus assorted prizes. “We just got lucky.”
The three friends started fishing north of Hobe Sound, but their only bites were a barracuda and a shark.
So they decided to run south toPalmBeach, where they set up in green water and put out a goggle-eye on a flat line and one on a downrigger.
Jaime said the bigwahoo hit both baits in 115-120 feet offMar-a-Lago around12:15 p.m. The drag on one of the reels was loosened so he could fight the fish on the other outfit.
He said he needed 45 minutes to an hour to land the fish using 30-pound line, whileMummert drove the boat.
“He made one long run and kind of sat mid-water,” said Jaime, who added that he got a good look at the wahoo when it came up after about 20 minutes. “The fish was so big, we didn’t want to pull the hook on him. Once he came boatside, we couldn’t believe howbig hewas.”
Howard gaffed the fish, then Double Play headed straight for the weigh-in at Sailfish Marina, arriving at 1:15.
“Itwas the first fish at the weigh-in,” said Jaime, who also said the wait as other fishcameinwasn’t that bad. “It was hard to beat. We knew itwas a winner.”
The second-biggest wahoo was 27.3. Casamigos had the biggest kingfish at 45.8. Debatable had the top dolphin at 30.6. Keri-N-On had the biggest snapper at 12.4. Team Tuppens won the aggregate division with 126.2 pounds and Spiced RumIIIwas second at 125. Fred Collida at 20-2, Carlos Garcia and Papo Rojas at 19-9 and Bill Boliek and Roland Crawford at 17-10. Rojas, who was fishing as a guest of the club, had the biggest bass at 8-1
Underwater poker: The inaugural Lady Luck Underwater Poker Tournament is July 23 on the artificial reef offPompanoBeach in honor of the one-year anniversary of the ship’s sinking.
The free Texas Hold ’em tournament is open to players of all abilities. Qualifying rounds will be held online, with the final six players winning a free dive trip to compete for the championship on the Lady Luck poker table, which is 80 feet below the surface, using special playing cards and poker chips.
The winner gets a trophy and prizes, will be featured on a “ScubaNation” television show and will be the first diver on the Okinawa reef, which will be sunk Aug. 19 off Pompano Beach.
To register, email your nameand phone number to info@southfloridadiving .com. You will receive an emailed invitation link to the Lady Luck online poker group with instructions and rules. The registration deadline is Sunday. Visit southfloridadiving.com or call 954-783-2299.