|
|
Ft. Knox
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Final Standings |
Fishing Team |
Prize |
1st Place |
$19,880 |
|
2nd Place |
$11,880 |
|
3rd Place |
$7,920 |
Pirate’s Chest
(daily, 60, 40%)
| Final Standings |
Fishing Team |
Prize |
Day 1: |
||
1st Place |
$7,020 |
|
2nd Place |
$4,680 |
|
Day 2: |
||
1st Place |
$7,020 |
|
2nd Place |
$4,680 |
Fun Fish Fortune
(two-day aggregate)
| Category |
Angler |
Prize |
Dolphin |
$3,690 |
|
Kingfish |
$3,960 |
|
Wahoo |
$3,960 |
Complete Final Standings
Previous Results & Photos
Uptight Wins the 2006 Capt. Bob Lewis Boat Center-Yamaha Billfish Challenge
A
tradition that started with 5 of South Florida’s top billfish competitors
13 years ago has now become one of South Florida’s premier billfish tournaments.
This year’s event attracted 68 of South Florida’s top fishing teams
to compete in the 13th Annual Capt. Bob Lewis Boat Center-Yamaha Billfish Challenge
held March 4 and 5, out of beautiful Miami Beach Marina.
Once again, the historical Rod and Reel Club, located on Hibiscus Island, Miami Beach, was host to the Captain’s Meeting and Kick-Off Party held Thursday night. Captains and crews shared stories and discussed strategies for the upcoming two-day event, while enjoying the excellent food prepared by Chef Ray. The buffet featured his signature-smoked brisket. After leaving the Rod & Reel Club Thursday evening, the teams spent the day Friday catching bait and preparing tackle.
As
the sun rose in the east, Saturday morning, the flag atop the dock master’s
office at Miami Beach Marina, waved in the 15-knot winds coming from the northwest.
After several record-breaking years of sailfish releases, it looked, as if this
year would be another for the record books. By 8 AM, while the first baits were
being put in the water, the winds started to drop and switch directions.
The radio, manned by Capt. Dan Kipnis, was silent the first fifteen minutes compared to last year. The releases started to trickle in over the VHF. The barometric pressure began to fall about noon; the captains and crews realized that conditions were going to be tough for the remainder of the day. Fishing the calm condition would be work and mistakes would be costly. Helium balloons attached to kites extended over the rip off the coast of South Florida from West Palm Beach to the Florida Keys.
Capt.
Neil Orange had fished charters three days previously to the tournament and had
caught a lot of sailfish between Fowey Light and the Triumph Reef. “There
was a big pod of fish there for the last few days and I felt they still had to
be there or maybe a little further south.” Said Neil.
Saturday morning, Capt. Neil headed east out of Government Cut. His intentions were to run down below Triumph Reef, somewhere between Ajax Reef and Pacific Light. He felt the fish might have moved further south from the previous days. Neil ran out to the Sea Buoy in front of Government Cut and noticed that the water looked good. The fish he had caught the previous days still had him going south, down the rip. He headed past the hotels on Key Biscayne and saw a free jumper by the Monument Buoy. His good friend, Capt. Quinton Dieterle, was there aboard the Cutting Edge. The conditions looked good and they began to set up just south of the Cutting Edge. Just before lines in the water at 8 AM, the conditions deteriorated.
He
decided to run further south and stop and put them out when it came close to lines
in the water. His strategy was to pick up one fish real quick, with the first
fish really counting as two fish based on time. They made it to the yellow can
just south of Fowey light and put the kites out. He figured he would catch his
first fish and continue to move south towards Pacific Light. They set up and precious
time went by and nothing happened.
They decided to run down to Pacific light where he felt the fish from earlier
that week had to be. The water looked terrible in the depth he had caught them
in the previous day. He moved out to deeper water. “After about ten minutes,
one of my mates got a call and heard there was a bite off the Diamonds, which
is north of Government Cut and near Haulover Inlet,” said Neil. The caller
reported good water and free jumpers in the area. They packed it up and began
to run north.
As the Uptight was headed north, Capt. Neil noticed several boats just north of the monument buoy were sitting in about 175 feet of water with very little or no current. He continued to run further north. Being up in the tower for most of the morning and with all of the running, Neil had no idea of how many fish had been caught and who was catching them.
The
Uptight team made north of the Diamonds and he noticed the Cutting Edge sitting
in approximately 175 feet of water. The water did not look that great and there
was no current. Capt. Neil moved just north of the Cutting Edge and set up a bit
deeper in 236 feet of water. There was a current edge with blue water and a nice
swell on the outside.
The Uptight team sent the kites back out again. They were still waiting to
catch their first fish. Just as they set up, Capt. Neil saw a free jumper in 175
feet of water. He slid back and they caught the first fish of the day. While fighting
the sailfish they splashed a kite in the water and things got a bit hectic. After
setting
back up, they sat in that depth for a while and saw nothing else.
Capt. Neil pushed back out to the current edge. There were birds working the edge and there were plenty of dolphin working it as well. They fought off the dolphin and picked at the sailfish for the remainder of the day while jockeying for the north position with some other big boats in the area.
By the end of the day, Uptight, skippered by Capt. Neil Orange, Sr., topped the first day with 9 sails. They had picked at them all day long and only caught single fish. Jeffery Fiorentino, fishing with his dad Gilbert aboard the Uptight, released 8 of the team’s sails earning him the top angler of the day. Jeffery is a 16-year-old sophomore at Gulliver Academy. The Liberty, with Capt. Quinton Dieterle, followed closely with a total of eight releases. In third place was the Rodholder with 7 sailfish released. Wound Up was fourth with 6 releases followed by the Yachtzee with 6 releases.
As
the boats returned to Miami Beach Marina to turn in their catch cards and weigh
their fun fish, many enjoyed the dock barbecue sponsored by Boat Center and Contender
Boats. There was plenty of food for all while the anglers and crews shared their
stories of the day. It did not take long for the docks to clear, for many knew
they had another tough day of fishing to come. A total of 68 boats reported 143
billfish releases at the end of day one including one blue marlin released by
the Snap Bean.
As
the sun rose on day two, the flag perched on top the dock master’s office
barely moved. Weather conditions were calm with winds being variable out of the
east-northeast. Crews were loading helium tanks into the boats and some were even
assembling balloons to attach to kites before check out began. The top boats picked
up their observers from the dock masters office and headed out government cut
at 7 AM. As expected, fishing conditions were less than desirable and the reports
of billfish releases slowly started to come in after lines in the water at 8AM.
Capt. Neil and the team of the Uptight headed back to the Diamonds. When they got there, they noticed the current had died. He had heard on the radio that Capt. Jimbo Thomas of the Thomas Flyer had released a few fish. He knew that Capt. Jimbo was off the Key Biscayne near the Boil area. When he got to the Diamonds, the current died shortly after.
The
Uptight packed them in and headed south to the hotels off Key Biscayne. They sat
there for a while and did not catch any fish. The pulled the kites in again and
ran north along the edge looking for pristine conditions. As he was running he
could hear releases being called in over the VHF. He knew those boats were north
of him.
As he got closer to Haulover Inlet, he noticed the Cutting Edge fighting a fish along with the Rod Holder just north of them. The Uptight throttled down and deployed the kites. It was not long before they picked up a double. The three boats jockeyed for position the remainder of the day.
At
one point, the Cutting Edge was setting on a hard current edge off Hollywood just
north of the Uptight. The Rod Holder was sitting just south of them in the same
depth. Capt. Neil saw a fish come up and they missed them. The sailfish was headed
right for the Rod Holder. By this time Neil felt comfortable with the lead but
knew that the Rod Holder and the Cutting Edge were fighting it out and trading
fish and places for second and third.
Just as the sailfish reached the Rod Holder’s bait, the balloon popped and the kite tumbled down, spooking the fish. Capt. Neil chuckled to himself thinking, “How in the world could Capt. Quinton shoot that balloon out of the air from that far of a distance?” Of course he knew Quinton really did not do that.
Uptight,
skippered by Capt. Neil Orange Sr., held on to win top boat honors of the 13th
Annual Capt. Bob Lewis Boat Center-Yamaha Billfish Challenge with a total of 14
sailfish releases. Jeffery Fiorentino, a 16 year old, caught 11 of the team’s
fish to win Grand Master Angler and Grand Master Junior Angler awards. The team
won $51,580. Rod Holder was runner up with 12 release winning $44,480. Third place
boat was Wound Up, 11 releases with Janice Sands being the Grand Champion Female
Angler catching 3 of their fish, winning $12,920. A total of $140, 850 was paid
out in the 13th Annual Capt. Bob Lewis Boat Center-Yamaha Billfish Challenge.
110 billfish were reported for day 2, making the two-day total, 253 billfish releases, for the 13th Annual Capt. Bob Lewis Boat Center-Yamaha Billfish Challenge. This year’s outcome was quite different in several ways compared to last year’s record, catching year of 393 billfish releases. Last year, Uptight, finished last in the 12th annual event, while Neil Orange, Sr.’s son, Neil Jr., finished first as the captain of the L & H. “This year, my son got to congratulate me,” Neil Sr. said.
Gilbert
Fiorentino, owner of the Uptight, said Sunday’s win was very special to
him because the late Capt. Bob Lewis was his offshore mentor, showing him how
to tie knots and deploy his fishing kites. When asked of their success, Capt.
Neil said, “We had a positive energy on the boat from day one. You could
feel it from the owner, anglers and crew. It was as if nothing could go wrong
or bother us. We did the same thing we do every tournament, this time we just
had the positive mojo to push us over the edge.”
Capt. Bob Lewis Billfish Challenge Design & Hosting by CyberAngler
PO Box 560237
Miami, FL 33256
305.662.2766 Phone/Fax