The weather caused us to push our original tournament dates back a couple of weeks, but it was worth the wait.  Overall the seas laid down for ideal conditions, we couldn’t be happier with the decision.  We ended up with 11 boats in the tournament and some teams who came to win.  This is a fun tournament with a portion of proceeds going to charity (Boys and Girls Club), but the competition was tight until the end. 

Congrats to team ProPayroll for taking overall 1st and the Cup at the 2011 SCALES Bahamas Open!! They also took down heaviest Tuna with a 79.5 Yellowfin…good enough for 1st in the calcutta, and 1st place deep drop with a 40.5 lb Mystic….their overall aggregate weight was 187.5 lbs. Great job, get ready to defend the cup next year!!!

Team NAUTI GIRL had a solid showing, taking 2nd place overall with a total weight of 142.5 lbs…consisting of a couple of tunas at 46.5 and 41.5 lbs, pair of phins at 19.5 lbs each and a grouper at 11.5 lb. They also grabbed 3rd in the Deep Drop category.

Defending champs Team LIQUID came in 3rd overall, and took down 2nd place calcutta with a 52 lb Tuna.  They also won 2nd place in the deep drop with a total qualifying weight of 32 lbs.  I know they will back to next year to try and get the cup back…

Congrats to SCALES pro team SANDMAN for winning the 2011 World Sailfish Championship out of Key West.   SANDMAN is a 63 ft Spencer owned by Sandra MacMillan and led by capt. Neil Orange.  Crew members include Wes Stevens, Robby Waddick, Corey Ryan (all from Pompano Beach), Jason Roe (Ft. Lauderdale) and Domie Adames from Miami.

71 teams participated in the WSC and ended up with a total of 335 fish released.  SANDMAN released 17 fish over the 3 day tournament, which was enough to take home $255k.  “It means a lot to us,” MacMillan said. “We’ve had a really good year. But to win the World Sailfish Championship with kite baits is amazing.”

Great job team SANDMAN.

The Mayor’s Cup wrapped up this past weekend with 50 of the top sailfish teams in South Florida competing for the prestigious cup!  The Get Litfishing team continued their winning ways by catching 29 sailfish over the 2 day tournament leading the team to a 9 fish victory!  Congratulations to Christopher “Kitt” Toomey who won top angler with 15 releases and the rest of the Get Litteam led by Cap’t Quinton Dieterle who won over $65,000! The scales pro teams had another strong showing in this tournament led by Qualifier with Cap’t Terry Claus who finished in 2nd place with 20 releases.  Top Lady Angler also went to the Qualifier team and was awarded to Janene Claus!  Scales pro team member Sandman has been on a tear lately and the team continued to show their consistency with a 4th place finish in the Big Boat Division!  In the Outboard Division, Hard Way ran away with the victory leading from start to finish!  Another Scales Pro Team member Encore finished in 3^rd place in the Outboard Division and 10^th overall! 

photo: Endless Imagery

EndlessImagery.com

Scales pro team member Sandman takes down the 48^th Annual Buccaneer Cup!  The best part is, this team who is one of the best live bait tournament sailfish teams switches up to dead bait trolling to take advantage of the point differential and the move proved victorious!  Sandman released 18 sailfish on dead bait for a 3-day total of 5400 points.  Congratulations to Cap’t Neil Orange, Jr., owner Sandra MacMillan and the entire Sandman team for the victory!  2^nd place went to Weez in the Keys, followed by Boneshaker in 3^rd!

The inaugural Super Sailfish Bowl was held on Saturday January 11th, 2011 out of Palm Beach, FL.  This event, which benefits the Heath Evans Foundation, was a success with 15 of the top sailfish tournament crews competing in the one day shootout.  Congrats to SCALES pro team member Cap’t Chip Sheehan and the crew on the Chip’s Ahoy as they won the event with 12 sailfish releases!