By Karen Wall
PURE VIDA WINS 10TH PELAGIC ROCKSTAR OFFSHORE TOURNEY
Team Pure Vida released 62 sailfish to capture the championship at the 10th Pelagic Rockstar Offshore Tournament in Costa Rica.
Team Pure Vida defeated a field of 117 boats and 659 anglers representing 14 countries to take the title of Grand Champion, winning $885,000 with 6,200 points.
The all-release tournament, which featured $2,927,650 in prize money, saw 2,340 billfish released in 16 hours of total fishing time, which equals146 billfish released every hour, or 2.4 releases per minute.
The tournament had categories for sonar and non-sonar boats. Team Pure Vida was in the sonar billfish category. Second place went to Team Fish Tank/Galati with 46 sailfish, 2 blue marlin for 5,400 points. They won $505,910.
Team NsatiaBill was third with 53 sailfish for 5,300 points, winning $94,530.
In the non-sonar billfish division Team Mainline took first with 3,200 points and took home $187,235.
Team Carolina Gentlemen placed second with 3,200 points and won $18,617, while third place went to Team Five More Minutes, which also recorded 3,200 points and won $49,672.
Of the 2,340 billfish released, 2,324 were sailfish and there were 16 blue marlin. There were 23 dorado weighed, up to 46.6 pounds, and 30 yellowfin tuna weighed, including a new tournament record 184.7-pounder.
There were 34 different winners who received checks and/or trophies and prizes.
In the gamefish division, Team Reel Randy won the tuna category with 324.10 pounds for a 2-fish aggregate, including the new tournament single fish record 184.7 pounds. They won $51,087.
Team Swordfish 313 was second with a 2-fish aggregate of 284.9 pounds for $19,743, and Team Micco was third with a 2-fish aggregate of 260.3 pounds for $6,581.
Team Dealers Choice won the dorado category, weighing 64 pounds for a 2-fish aggregate and winning $76,287.
Team Sea Fly was second with a 2-fish aggregate of 61.7 pounds worth $57,263, and
Team Chunda was third, setting a tournament record with 46.6 pounds for a single fish and winning $28,661.
John Cook of Team Vaquero was the top angler with 2,800 billfish points. Ronette Carter of Team SeaDuction was the top female angler with 2,200 billfish points, and Elizabeth Arn of Team E&A took top junior angler with 2,000 billfish points.
KIMBUKTU TOPS CAPT. AL FLUTIE SAILFISH TOURNEY
Team Kimbuktu took top honors at the 37th Annual Capt. Al Flutie’s Over the Hill Rip-Off Sailfish Tournament in Islamorada, Florida.
The tournament, which honors local fishing legends and celebrities, hosted 47 anglers, all 50 years old or older.
Kimbuktu finished with 12 releases, including 5 by Jack Falcucci who won the Capt. Dirrk Reich Memorial High Point Angler award. Kimbuktu Capt. Dean Panos received the Capt. Al Flutie Memorial High Point Captain award, and the Ron Harrison Memorial High Point Mate award went to Casey Yaworski. Also part of the team were anglers Robbie Buckley and Robert Champagne.
Angela Wolf, fishing with her husband Winn Wolf, released the first fish of the tournament less than 30 minutes into the day aboard their boat Win-n-Angel, securing them the Al McLeod Memorial First Fish award. She also won the JayAnna Cohan Memorial High Point Female Angler award with two releases.
Cap. BJ Meyer aboard the Silent Hunter with anglers Bill Blum, Barry Mayers, and Jack Callion, all from Marathon, Florida, took second with eight releases to win the Rip Tosen Memorial Second Place award.
Third-place honors went to Mark Bush from West Lake, Ohio, and Dave Whalon from The Villages, Florida, who released seven sailfish while fishing with Marty Lewis aboard his charter boat Main One.
A 45-pound wahoo caught by Robert Collins on the Back in Business won the Joey Naples Memorial Most Outstanding Catch Award.
Donny Lange won the Junior Division Trophy, being the youngest angler in the tournament to release a sail.
The Captain Socko Gorenflo Memorial Senior Division, (Certified old fart) award went to angler Cecil White being the oldest angler to release a fish.
Nicole Ellis presented the Capt. Dick Sheppard Memorial Sportsmanship Trophy to Time Out’s captain Mike Mason who relayed hook-ups and releases for boats that could not reach the committee boat. The trophy is named for her grandfather.
“Nicole is the reason we are all here,” tournament director Dianne Harbaugh said. “Nicole was born with cystic fibrosis, and her parents Gary and Susan started the Redbone tournaments. Nicole was not supposed to live to be a teenager and because of our great community and people like our anglers and sponsors who supported years of research, she is now married and in her early 40s.”
CHEATHAM WINS 63RD INTERNATIONAL MASTERS TOURNEY
Lach Cheatham released 25 billfish and edged other competitors on time to win the Rybovich Master Angler award at the 63rd International Masters Angling Tournament in Costa Rica.
Cheatham topped a field of 30 anglers and notched his second victory in the tournament (his first win was 2024).
The Masters is an angling tournament; it’s just angler vs. fish. Two anglers per boat rotate to a new boat and new partner in the cockpit each day. Anglers hook up and then fight the fish “dead boat” style as they are clocked with a stopwatch and earn scores based on fight time.
Competitors logged 537 releases over three days in the tournament designed by John Rybovich six decades ago.
Rick Stavola of Jupiter, Florida, earned the Second Place Angler Overall award; he released 13 billfish on Day Two.
Tonya Love Cheatham of North Palm Beach, Florida, who logged 15 fish on Day One for Top Daily Angler honors, was third overall.
Dealers Choice, with Capt. Danny Solorzano at the controls, took Top Boat and Top Captain honors. There were 52 fish tallied on the Dealers Choice, including 9 by Dale Creamer of Saddle River, New Jersey, who was the Day Three Top Daily Angler.
Second Place went to the Scandaloso crew and Capt. Brian Shepard, who scored 43 releases.
Third place with 42 releases went to Reel Joy and Capt. Andy Helms.
Freshman (first-time) angler Ryan O’Boyle of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, fought a blue marlin dead-boat style in 6:25 minutes. Under the rules anglers may choose a boat assist on marlin only but O’Boyle’s fish earned him double points and added to his score for Top Freshman honors.
JC Gonzalez of Land O Lakes, Florida, scored a :5 second fight time that held on to the end and the Pete Boinis Fastest Fish Award.
MAGIC TOUCH WINS BISBEE’S BLACK & BLUE
Magic Touch landed a 459-pound blue marlin on the last day of fishing after putting a 344-pound blue on the scale and captured the victory in the 45th annual Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
The team from Texas and Florida took home $2,440,850 out of a $7,452,775 total purse for the tournament.
Capt. Kim Manning led the team on Magic Touch, which included anglers Ken Eberle, Ronald Weisfeld, Harry Esterley, Kieler Gentry and Tony Johnson, with mates Justin Drummond and Richard Ramsdell. Magic Touch, a 54 Bertram, is based in Cabo.
Coming in second was Rising Sons/Magnifico, with Capt. Drake Sawyer running the 60 Spencer. Anglers Jaselyn Berthelot, Toby Berthelot, Justin Delassus, Darwin Elision, Garrett Fraizer and Joseph Nixt were the team members. Robert Tyson manned the cockpit. The team won $2,588,675 for its second-place 457-pound blue marlin.
Capt. Ivan Gomez guided the Another Line team to its third-place fish, a 389-pound blue, good for a $1,742,400 payout. The team members included Ruben Gonzalez, Ryan Rodenburg, Ric Rodenburg, Victor Garcia, Arturo Ramirez, Richard Mena, Charlie Carter, Diego Gomez and Eduardo Jose Luis Pereyra Villaburo.
There were two daily release divisions, $2,000 and $3,000, for released smaller blue and black marlin. The three top teams include El Suertudo (Capt. Greg Distefano/80 Weaver), Meshuga Fish (Capt. Jeffrey “Tigger” Stolarz/Viking 68C) and Buojie (Capt. Zach Lewis/82 Viking). Each team earned $226,950 for their efforts.
A total of 177 teams fished and caught 10 black marlin and 113 blue marlin during the three days of fishing.
NO LIMITS TEAM, ANGLER JESSE SANTANA TOP LOS CABOS EVENT
The No Limits fishing team landed a 432-pound black marlin to capture the top spot at the Los Cabos Offshore Tournament out of a field of 139 teams and 880 anglers.
Brian Spicer and Capt. Jeffry Villarroel along with the team on the 61 Viking won $104,111 for the largest fish in the tournament.
The biggest payout from the $2.7 million in prize money went to angler Jesse Santana, who had the second-heaviest fish, a 424-piound black marlin. Santana, fishing and running the namesake 81 Paul Mann, won $1,114,361 with optional entries for that fish, with measured 106 inches long (lower jaw to tail fork) with a girth of 61 inches.
Team Greybull, a 98 Hatteras with William Cooper on the rod, boated the third-place marlin, also late on the last day of fishing to add to the drama. Copper’s black weighed 398 pounds and was worth $510,667. Tawnie Walley, fishing aboard Team Reel Energy, was recognized for her fourth-place fish, a 344-pound blue marlin.
The tuna division was won by Ludovic Agassiz, who weighed a monster 294-pound yellowfin worth $74,880. Agassiz was fishing on Los Caboss, a 1998 Pacific Time sportfisher.
Mas Crudo and angler Sean Green put a 272-pound tuna on the scales and Eduardo Beltran, competing on Estrella del Norte, a custom center console, recorded a 247-pound tuna, while North Star, a 36 Yellowfin scored a 185-pound entry. Team Marina Del Rey Anglers rounded out the fifth spot in the tuna category with a 177-pound fish. North Star and El Torito (angler Juan Luis Gonzales) earned $45,900 each on optional tuna entries.
Alex Moherek and his team competing on a Cabo sportfisher earned $120,780 with the top dorado, a 52-pound bull. Abram Lozano guided the team to its winning catch. Angler Mauricio Guluarte, with Eduardo Guluarte at the helm of Burro, weighed the second-place dorado at 43.1 pounds, worth $45,900.
Never Say Never, a 74 Viking run by Capt. Kevin Bohannon, took the Day One Billfish Release daily jackpot of $78,200 (650 points). Overtime doubled the payout to $156,400 by winning the release category on the second and final days of fishing (875 and 575 points). Capt. Brett Eller runs the 67 Bayliss.
There were 369 billfish caught, including 99 blue marlin, 116 sailfish, 148 striped marlin and six blacks. There were 15 yellowfin tuna weighed along with 11 dorado.
